I arrived to this show good and early to stake out a nice spot but apparently four hundred and twenty seven 15 year old girls were thinking the same thing. I did get a decent spot though and along with a fresh buzz, my Canon Powershot Elph digital camera and 3 buddies, I was happy dude. I was, you see, going to see one of my favorite bands in the universe.

John Ralston & Hot Rod Circuit were the opening acts for this evening. Both bands sounded like DC and the lead singer from HRC's raw emotion was reminiscent of DC's Chris Carrabba. I liked Ralston so much that I parted with 5 dollars of my hard earned money to take home his latest CD. Unfortunately I left it in my friend's car so I think it's pretty much history.

With his hair slicked back and decked out in a tan jacket & jeans, Carrabba took the stage around 10 something and began his solo, acoustic performance with "The Good Fight". Then world's biggest campfire sing-a-long was off to a great start as A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar gems "Am I Missing" and "So Beautiful", "Remember To Breathe" from the So Impossible EP and Swiss Army Romance's "Again I Go Unnoticed" followed.

The play list I tried to keep in my head goes a bit fuzzy after that though, due in part to Carrabba's between song commentary and mid song improvisations. Incredibly he worked in a kick ass Weezer B-side called "Jamie" (a song they wrote about their lawyer), O.C. theme song and Phantom Planet hit "California" and a line or two from the obscure 90's alt-rock hit "Stars" by HUM. " She thinks she missed the train to Mars, she's out back counting stars..." Hearing that come out of Carrabba's vocal chords was a bit surreal considering HUM, like DC, was in one point in time my favorite band. I felt like a super rock nerd because during their improvisationals, I was letting everyone around me know what song they were playing. Yes, I was that guy. Hey at least I wasn't that guy who wears other band's concert t-shirts to a totally unrelated band's show!

I'm pretty sure he also played "The Best Deceptions", "So Impossible, "The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most", "Screaming Infidelities", "Saints And Sailors", "Carry This Picture", "Ender Will Save Us All, and " The Swiss Army Romance". In fact, I think they damn near played their complete catalog except for the 2 songs that I was dying to hear, "This Ruined Puzzle" & "Several Ways to Die Trying".

Carrabba ended the show with Vindicated, a song that he mentioned "was written last summer" (it was on the Spiderman 2 soundtrack) and the song he wrote about the best date he has ever had, yes I'm talking about Hands Down.

I managed to sneak some video of the show even though they were taking people's digital cameras from the crowd. I'll never understand that shit. You can download the clips I made into one long clip HERE...