The Rockstar Supernova Concert

R and I went to see Rockstar Supernova on Saturday night. We had gotten tickets as soon as they went on sale, soon after the TV show concluded. We had been voting along for who we thought the best singer for the band would be, and when I suggested we see the concert, he was definitely enthusiastic!

R hadn't been feeling well on the day of the show, and we realized he might be starting to get the illness B had earlier in the week. So I gave him some Tylenol, and he took a nap. I wish now that I had brought the Tylenol with me.

We met friends who were seeing the show with us, and had dinner beforehand at a restaurant called Archie Moore's which was fun, and where my food was great. I'm glad we arrived a little early at the Chevrolet Theater. We got a really good parking spot, bought our shirt, used the bathroom, and found our seats in plenty of time. The 3600 capacity theater was about 2/3 to 3/4 full.

Dilana came on exactly at 7:30 and played for 20 minutes. That woman is awesome. She's the one I went to see. I can't wait till she comes out with some amazing music for me to buy. Magni actually showed up playing guitar for her too.

Toby's band, Juke Kartel came on next, after almost no break, and the crowd went wild. People had obviously come to see Toby. R really enjoyed their perfomance a lot. I did too. They are an amazingly energetic band, and remind me of U2 before they got into who they are. They played for about 30 minutes. After Juke Kartel I went back out to the merchandise table and bought their CD, which although it only has four songs on it, is really great. While out in the lobby our we noticed a huge line forming for a "meet and greet" with the performers. So when the next band came on and our friends weren't back, we knew where they were.

The Panic Channel is Dave Navarro's band and they don't get a link. They were awful. When the band leader told the audience we were all his bitches, I had to laugh because I don't think anyone in that whole entire audience was there to see them. Unless of course their mothers were there. They seemed very out of place with all the Rockstar TV performers. Toward the end when the singer proclaimed that he had "one more little nugget" for us, someone behind me said "oh no, please don't". Enough said. The only redeeming part of seeing this band was at the very end when they played AC/DC's Highway to Hell and Dilana came out to sing it. It really made sitting through all their other crap worth it. That chick rocks.

Our friends came back to their seats in time for Supernova, oh excuse me, Rockstar Supernova. They had gotten to meet Dilana, Toby and Magni, and other band members from Toby's band Juke Kartel. Our eight-year-old friend had her shirt signed by all the performers. She was very psyched. And some kind strangers took photos of her schmoozing it up with them all. They all apparently loved her and fawned all over her. What a great first concert for her! We had actually met up with our friends on the line, but R was feeling low by that point and didn't want to get on line with them. So we headed back to our seats, and were happy to see them return and share their adventure with us before Supernova came on.

So how was Rockster Supernova? R had voted for Lukas and was looking forward to seeing the show. He really liked all the lights which looked like stars. The rest of the lighting though, was awful. This is the very first show in the dozens I've gone to, where the lighting actually distracted from the show. They had all this back lighting which was glaring in the audiences faces. Maybe they wanted to see the audience, but we wanted to see them! I sincerely hope the lighting designer gets fired, and they are able to fix that mess before the tour is over. I hope they realize how awful it is.

The whole set design was actually quite poor, and very amateurish. There was a large platform about 10 feet or so back from the edge of the stage, which all the performers were on. So, a stage on a stage. It really separated the performers from the audience, and some of their wires weren't long enough for them to step closer to us. Also, Supernova had a platform above Tommy Lee, and some stairs to his right. So he wasn't centered, and he certainly wasn't up high enough. Like I said, it looked very amateurish.

The music was way TOO loud. Even through the earplugs. And Lukas? Lukas needs to get over himself. He is way too cocky. I don't know why the heck they decided to perfom Boys of Summer. Lukas was singing out of his throat the whole time and he actually couldn't reach some of the notes. If he keeps singing this way, it's just a matter of time before he loses his voice. On another song (I don't remember which one) he was actually off key for the second half of it.

The girls were going bezerk for him though; screaming his name and all. I was pleased that the infamous tittie-cam was not brought out. (Wherein the drummer uses a small video camera to encourage female audience members to lift their shirts and be broadcast over the giant screens above the band.) Special thanks to Tommy Lee for recognizing that some younger fans would be attending this band's concert. And to Lukas for not cursing as much as in his interviews.

I have to admit to being disappointed at how poorly their whole show was produced. I had listened to their album half a dozen times and thought the show should be pretty good, but I was disappointed. R enjoyed what he could, but I could see he was getting sleepy, so I asked him if he wanted to leave. He stayed another couple of songs before asking "are you sure you won't mind if we leave?" I'm guessing we only missed two or three songs. And there were a lot of other people leaving at the same time as us.

My poor R. I feel badly that he wasn't himself for the show. But he says he did enjoy it, and he got a new t-shirt. I'll take a photo soon and post it here. As for myself, I'm glad to have seen Dilana and Juke Kartel. And to have had dinner with some friends. The rest of the night was totally expendable.