Second Summer of Seether, May 29, 2022 It's the Day! part 1 Giovannie & the Hired Guns, Dead Sara, Fuel

 

Dallas Weather Sunday May 29, 2022

We drove into Dallas after breakfast Sunday, glad that the concert was not on a weekday or even on Saturday.  Traffic was pretty light and we allowed two hours to get to the venue by the time the parking lot opened.  We got to the lot at entrance #9 like the directions said.  Nope, it was #10 so we went back around and a kind, red-bearded employee said we were in the right place but sadly admitted than restrooms were inside the venue which opened at 2:00.  Aakkk! Walgreens is the closest restroom so we went there, making a U-Turn, of course, because I headed the wrong way down the street Walgreens was on.  You should be used to this by now.  You may be wondering why my husband doesn't insist on driving.  Well, I get bored just sitting there and if I suck at directions while driving, think of what it would be like having me provide directions while you drive.  Nope.

I headed towards the restroom behind a gal with a tattoo on her shoulder.  "Are you going to the concert?  Who are you going to see?"  Bush is the band she's going to see.  She said she'd seen all the others live before.  I was back at the restrooms waiting for my husband who was waiting at the front and she kindly told him she thought I was in the back.  Thank you!  People watching out for each other.

We arrived again and got in a line to go in before the line extended past the shade.  What line are we in?  Fastlane.  Do I have tickets for the Fastlane?  Um, maybe.  Well, I did by the time I got to the front of the line.  Thank you to another rock fan who kindly pointed out the forklift trying to get past while I was buying tickets on my phone.  I appreciate you not letting me get taken out by the forklift before the concert even started.  We waited on a couch by the Dos Equis bar.  No, I stuck with water.  The heat and an empty stomach would take me out faster than the forklift.  Admired the tattoos, hit the ladies room and went to the Pavilion entrance.  The tickets are on my phone, I show those to one of the ladies at the entrance and once in, showed them again to the man who gave me directions to our seats and who has a mountain of large plastic cups.  No cans down near the stage.  Our Liquid Death cans of water ("it's just water, right? Nothing else?') we dumped into a clear container and went to find our seats.  Well, sort of.  Here is the map of the Pavilion (above).  We went in between the 102/205 entrance and was directed to the middle section #101, row C, which is 6 rows back from the stage.  The seats are comfortable folding chairs, but have no numbers on them.  We asked the one guy on our row what his seat number was and we happened to be right next to  him.  That lasted a minute and I apologized and said, it wasn't him, it was the heat.  He was tall and well-built.  My husband and I are tall and well, built on the heavier side so it was just too tight sitting right next to him and way too hot.  We would move when the people who had #21 realized we were poaching on their space.

2:30-3:00 Giovannie and the Hired Guns

Background: Debut album in 2017, this Texas based Southern rock band includes frontman/songwriter Giovannie Yanez; Milton Toles, drums; Jerrod Flusche, guitar; Carlos Villa, guitar; Alex Trejo, bass. 

Definitely had some fans here, but I think a lot of the crowd is waiting for later bands and is not familiar with the songs.  We enjoyed their music and performance very much.  Despite the heat, they looked happy to be up there.  The tuba was a cool surprise for sure and fit in with what they were doing.  Vocalist has a nice smile. Don't know song titles or which song the tuba is on, but have a listen to Rooster Tattoo.  Dang, these guys are good.  Setlist: Bad Habits, Change, I Don't Mind, Rooster Tattoo, Ramon Ayala, Vultures.

3:30-4:00 Dead Sara

Background: Both Emily Armstrong (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Siouxsie Medley (lead guitar) played guitar and were songwriters early on and were introduced in their mid-teens and began writing songs together in 2002.  By 2009 they had completed their first studio recording, changed their name to Dead Sara, released an EP and added Sean Friday on drums and Chris Null on bass.  To date they have three more EPs and three LPs.  Their bassist, Chris Null, left the band in 2015.   I have been trying to find the name of the bassist who played with them this past Sunday with no luck.  She is pictured below wearing the Merch Girl T-Shirt. If you know her name, send me an email, please. The band is from Los Angeles.

Dead Sara took a little big longer with the set-up.  There seemed to be some difficulty with the sound balance which continued into the performance.  We could hear the instruments, but the vocals, except for the higher notes Emily Armstrong sung, were difficult to hear.  The acoustics in general at the Pavilion are echo-y and lyrics are hard to make out.  My hearing is such that I have difficulty anyway, especially when the musicians talk between songs to the audience.  The echo makes it so I can't understand what they are saying.  But the balance improved as Dead Sara went through their set.  I had never heard the band before.  Much of the crowd didn't know the songs, but the band were good sports about it and they are very much worth hearing.  Emily has a lovely high voice and a great scream. Setlist: Lemon Scent, Uninspired, Mona Lisa, Hypnotic, (unknown), Weatherman, Unamerican, Freedom.

4:30-5:10 Fuel

Background:  

Another band I am not familiar with, Fuel, began in 1989 in Tennessee, transitioning through several iterations until they agreed on the band name Fuel.  Their first LP came out in 1998. The next decade saw a change of band members. The most consistent members over the last thirty years have been Brett Scallions (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Carl Bell (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jeff Abercrombie (Bass).  The only member currently in the band is Carl Bell.  Kevin Miller is the last of five drummers over the years who was in the band in 1998-2004 and came back in 2020.  John Corsale (vocals), Mark Klotz (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) and Tommy Nat (bass, backing vocals) are relatively new and have only been part of Fuel since last year.  Although I could tell they were all experienced musicians, I had trouble warming up to them at first, but by the second song I could see the appeal that their fans felt.  These guys know how to rock! Hemorrhage is one of their big songs and was one most of the audience knew.  Setlist: Last Time, Ozone, Shimmer, Bad Day, Bittersweet, Hard, Empty Spaces, Untitled, Don't Say I, Guitar Solo/Eruption Hemorrhage (in My Hands).

It's a nice venue, unless you are out on the lawn.  Those poor people in the sun. I don't know how they managed.  By the time Fuel was on, it was 91 degrees with 45 percent humidity. The bands looked pretty warm as well.  We we under cover and could feel it.  I can't imagine playing instruments, singing and moving around.

  
The set-up is a little different than usual.  Because all the bands use the same stage, one after the other, there is a half hour between each act to take down and set up for the next band. As the bands got more well-known, there was less done by the band members and the venue staff and more by the band's own crew.  By 5:20 pm the crew had removed Fuel's equipment and started setting up for The Hu.  The drum sets are on rollers and a large steel door at the back of the stage is rolled up and the drum set is rolled back in one piece to the trucks behind the stage.  The setup for The Hu is more complex than the previous bands of 4-5 musicians.  There are four mics in front, another two behind them.  There are two more mics over a standard rock drum set and another on a set of three large drums about 2 feet in diameter with varying depths.  The drum set for Bush was also brought up and put in the back to the left of the door (stage left) and covered with black cloth.  After loading, the crew lowers the steel door back down and raises a black backdrop over it with the band backdrop/logo raised in front of that.  The pictures below show the stage between setups and the stage with The Hu's banner.

Stage set up between The Hu and Bush, I think. 

This is getting long so I will post this much and resume tomorrow.

EM