"Now that we're here, It's so far away . . ."

It was a hell of a night! The Alternative Reel crew caught three incredible bands live—StainD, Seether and Papa Roach— at one of our favorite Orlando venues—Hard Rock Live—and managed to get totally shitfaced in the process! When all was said and done I had to admit it was the best triple shot of my career. But then again, you had to be there . . . 

Of course, as usual, things did not start off well. First, we arrived at Universal Orlando well after 6 PM (doors opened at 5:30 PM) and the traffic was bumper to bumper. I couldn't believe that they could cram this many fans into Hard Rock Live (capacity: 3,000) and I had unholy visions of the joint being packed to the rafters. Now normally I don't mind a crowded show but I intended to drink a shitload of booze tonight and didn't want to wait in line either at the bar OR at the urinals. To top it off, the parking lot attendants were all drooling imbeciles—how hard could it be to direct traffic in a parking garage, you don't necessarily need a Ph.D to point cars toward an available space. We finally parked the damn car and looked around. This can't be right, I thought, I saw a couple of fans decked out in faded black T-shirts mixed in with a mob of overweight, obnoxious tourists wandering aimlessly toward Universal CityWalk. Then we realized that these fat sweaty slobs were here for Halloween Horror Nights, "the premier Halloween event" at Universal Studios.

After picking up our media credentials and milling around outside Hard Rock Live, we grabbed some booze bracelets and made it through the gauntlet of security that boasted more metal detectors than the Orlando International Airport. Unfortunately, by then we had missed the entire set of warmup band, Red, although we didn't feel too bad since we caught this highly talented alternative metal band at another great House of Blues concert in April that also featured great performances from Seether and Flyleaf.

The first thing I noticed as I scanned the concert hall was the extraordinary amount of eye candy surrounding me in all directions, providing the perfect complement to an ideal concert experience. Papa Roach soon took the stage and I must admit out of the three bands I was least familiar with their songs so I planned to retreat to the back bar during their set while Jim Foley made his way to the pit to take some photographs. However, I started listening to the band while I ordered a rum and coke served in a huge Hard Rock Live souvenir cup and actually started enjoying their sound. Frontman Jacoby Shaddix led the band through a high-energy set that was well received by the exuberant crowd. Let me qualify that, the standing-room only crowd near the stage was going ape shit, while the much more reserved balcony section was deader than dogshit. It was essentially a bland bunch of lawyers and accountants, along with their trophy girlfriends, sleepwalking through the concert. In fact, I witnessed one of these losers at the back bar with a total hottie at his side who was much more obsessed with the fact that his beloved Dallas Cowboys were losing to the Arizona Cardinals than that he was at an awesome concert with a bored hottie at his side. Anyway, I headed back to the right front of the stage and enjoyed the rest of the Papa Roach set, which included many of their hits, including one of my favorites, "Getting Away with Murder." By the way, Papa Roach's new album, Metamorphosis, will be released in March 2009.

Next up was a solid set by Seether, which offered a veritable greatest hits selection that bounced back and forth between hardcore alternative tunes such as "Fake It," power ballads such as "Broken" and popular new hits such as "Rise Above This." Some relatively harmless mosh pits formed and disbanded during the Seether set but I kept my distance and spent my time near the closest beer stand to the stage. Lead singer Shaun Morgan had a lot of energy and really connected with the fans (the balcony crowd was still sleepwalking through the concert though). Last year, Seether released a great album called Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces. However, I would definitely recommend you view Seether live if possible or at least pick up the band's live acoustic album, One Cold Night, which contains such classics as "Gasoline," "Driven Under," "Fine Again," "The Gift" and "Plastic Man," among others. 

By now I was truly plastered, just in time for StainD to take the stage. I must confess going in I was really looking forward to the StainD set since we had caught lead singer Aaron Lewis' concert at Hard Rock Live the year before and it was totally amazing (still waiting for that acoustic album, Aaron, but I hear it's in the works). StainD did not disappoint, they launched into a blistering set that ran the gamut of the band's hits from 1996 onward such as "Mudshovel," "It's Been Awhile," "Outside," "Everything Changes" and my favorite Staind song, "So Far Away." Some chick in front of me was holding up a sign that read, "Play the Beetlejuice Song," but no such luck. My only regret is that StainD didn't play some of their awesome covers such as Pearl Jam's "Black" and Tool's "Sober". It was a solid set and the perfect complement to a great night of alternative rock. However, it was all over too soon. Drunk and stupid, we wandered out to the parking lot and headed home . . .  

The Illusion of Progress

StainD released its sixth studio album, The Illusion of Progress, on August 19, 2008, and the album immediately rocketed onto the Billboard 200 at No. 3. Featuring the singles, "Believe," "All I Want," "Lost Along the Way," "Tangled Up In You" and the politically charged anti-anthem "Rainy Day Parade," The Illusion of Progress was produced by Johnny K and recorded in the home studio of StainD vocalist Aaron Lewis, with the original band lineup, including Mike Mushok (guitar), Jon Wysocki (drums, percussion) and Johnny April (bass, vocals). The band calls the new project the "most musical CD" they've recorded to date, and even treated their fans to a series of intimate, behind-the-scenes "webisodes" posted on www.staind.com, documenting their recording process.

Comments Lewis: "We went into the studio with the mindset of making our heaviest record yet, but the record that came out has flavors of Pink Floyd and straight-up blues. We didn't use the same rigs that we use onstage; we used all vintage guitars and amps, and I'm pretty psyched about it! The songs are pretty timeless in their texture."