Band • Members
of Staind (from left) Mike Mushok,
John Wysocki, Aaron Lewis and Johnny
April
launched their new CD with a bang,
giving 10,000 fans in Boston a free impromtu
concert. Paul Brown
Staind
fans enjoy new album at concert in Anaheim
Concert
review
By
Niki Payne
Daily Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
Staind, a Massachusetts-based band, has started yet another chapter of their
musical journeys with the debut of their newest album, “Chapter V,” released
Aug. 9.
The band had their first performance in February of 1995 and came out with
their first self-released album, “Tormented” a year later. Since
then, they have experienced 10 years of continued success with the help of
their many devoted fans.
To help kick off the newest chapter of their musical lives, Staind held a concert
last Saturday at the Grove in Anaheim. Not surprisingly, the band kept the
crowd waiting in anticipation for an hour until they finally came out to perform.
There were a lot of devoted fans, young and old.
The crowd went wild as soon as they came out and started playing, nodding heads
in beat and singing along to almost every song.
Whenever the music got harder, those in the front started moshing. Whenever
the music softened up, you could see all the lighters swaying in the crowd
on the monitors overhead. The soulful audience was very into the concert.
For all the guitar or bass players out there, you would have been ecstatic
to see how many instruments they had. After every song, the singer and the
two bass players would switch out guitars. They played one or two guitars per
song.
By the time they got to the third song, I heard someone behind me say, “Wow,
he’s on number six or seven now.” After almost every song, Mike
Mushok, one of the bass players, kept throwing out his pick to the audience.
After all, he did have a pick for every guitar he was playing that night. He
was so unbelievably good. A couple times, he was playing two different guitars
in the same song.
Someone would run it out on a guitar stand, Mike would play it for the intro,
send it back and rock out until the end with another guitar until the first
guitar was run out to him again and he would play the closing part of the song.
Each of the band members were very into what they were doing. They loved their
music and most of all, they loved their crowd. At the end of the show, before
their last song, the band even showed some love to the backstage crew.
A round of shots was brought out for everyone on stage on behalf of Staind
as they made their tribute to a dear friend, the backstage crew and the fans.
The energy of the concert was great, totally matching the energy of the crowd.
If you haven’t heard of Staind, I would definitely recommend checking
out their latest album. |
