So a couple weeks ago we went to see Chevelle and Bush. Well, Bush was the headliner but I don't really care about Bush, well I didn't. Chevelle has been moving up the ranks as one of my favorite bands ever. Great edgy tunes, admittedly not a whole lot of content to hang onto in the lyrics department, but it's not like the songs don't mean anything. It's just that I don't know what some of them mean since the words are sometimes vague and the phrasing is fragmented.
I had seen Chevelle before last year but it was at an outdoor festival-type show and they only played like 6 songs. I was excited to see a full set indoors. And, I had never been to the 1stbank center either. Got all sparkled-up and we went out to eat at Bloom in Broomfield. This place is overpriced for what you get, but they have the best calamari appetizer we've EVER had, so we go pretty much just to get that. Anyhow, bellies full and happy we got over to the show.
We missed Filter, but they're a one-hit wonder anyway, so no tears there. Chevelle came onto the stage before we had even found our seats. So we ran in there (yes I ran in 4-inch heels - props to girls that wear heels all the time, there IS, in fact, some athleticism involved) and settled in. I bought the tickets late, so the seats weren't awesome, but the 1stbank center isn't very big, (row 16 and we were in the back row of seats) so we ended up being pretty close since our section was to the side of the stage.
Chevelle was awesome. Just the rock-out I expected. 1stbank has great acoustics...even on the side we were pounded with the sound. We had forgotten our earplugs so we were sorta glad we weren't in the direct path of the amp-stack. Some nice mosh pits got going down on the floor too. Since I started liking Chevelle back in the day in T-town when I was a regular mosh-pit participant, watching this ironically gave me warm-fuzzies. They played all my faves, except sleep apnea. I was a little bummed that they didn't improv more than about 1 minute on any particular song, but they are a bare-bones band, so I guess you get what you see. Not the all-time greatest performers...but they played hard so that's all I ask, really.
Bush came on. Honestly we thought about leaving, but we decided...ok, we know some of these songs from college so we'll stick around to listen. I was skeptical at first, and made the comment that their songs sound like souped-up Duran-Duran. But overall, they actually ended up being really good. Gavin Rossdale is a great performer, and the band was super talented. I now know why he was in the running against Val Kilmer for the role of Jim Morrison in the Doors movie back in the 90's. I was also taken aback at the difference the extra guitar made in the fullness of the sound...(Chevelle is a three-piece band)
Then the good part. I don't even know the name of the song that they were playing, but it was somewhat of a ballad/relationship type theme...and Gavin started going around the arena. He started out on the other side at the level of the stairs/coming out from the tunnel, and I realized he was going to come all the way around. I went down there to the landing and watched as he came closer. I noticed that the people in the row next to me were all dudes pumping their fists, sorta oblivious that the rock star was about to pass by. He was about 5-6 people over and he saw me standing there waiting. He actually reached out his hand to me and I grabbed it and pulled him through the dudes and to the stairs landing with me. Of course there was a spotlight and a bunch of frantic security guys coming along with him.
There I was in the spotlight with Gavin Rossdale. His arm around me, my arm around his waist (He was sweaty) in the spotlight as he sung a verse of the song to me. I was surprised he's a pretty big guy, he was the same height as me with my heels on, and they make me at least 6 feet tall, and he's a pretty good beefcake. I was acting dumb...Except for when I was pulling him through the dudes, I didn't ever really look him in the face...He was singing...I was wiggling around and waving my other hand around with this big goofy smile. Meanwhile there was some sort of security scuffle behind us and I felt a beer go down the back of one of my legs. Totally worth it. Then as he let go and turned to keep going I did manage to run my fingers through his hair/pet his head one time (also sweaty and he needed conditioner). So I haven't bought the new Bush album yet, but since I had a date with Gavin, I suppose I might give it a listen. Good way to sell records, Gavin...good strategy, indeed...
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