02/12/2005 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory

[Steve]

Post your reviews here.

[Dogstar]

AWESOME SHOW!!! I'm at work, so I can't post a full review, but suffice it to say the boys were their usual kick-ass selves. I'll post more later...sorry for teasin' y'all ...Teri may beat me to it anyway, hehehe.

[TeriB19]

Alright, I'm going to try to post as much as I can remember and if I leave anything out, hopefully Kerri or Linda will fill in the blanks.

Submersed was up first (I was actually disappointed that Silvertide didn't go first because IMO they were less than average, but more on that later). Don't ask me what their set list was because I'm horrible at remembering that stuff. But they came out blazing! Donald had us all working out, arms in the air the entire set. Donald was so happy to be back in Philadelphia and said that the Electric Factory was their very favorite venue to play in the entire country. That got a huge ovation from the crowd. During their set, in between songs, he announced that it was one of the Silvertide guys' birthdays, so he brought out everyone from Silvertide and Creed along with the crew and everyones' families and we all sang Happy Birthday to Brian from Silvertide. Then, going along in the same vein with family and how important loved ones are, Donald brought his girlfriend Whitney to center stage, got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. It was awesome, Mark was holding the ring for him and after Mark handed him the ring, he asked her to marry him, she happily (and in shock!) accepted. It was fantastic!!

They continued on with their set and rocked the house completely. I said it before and I'll say it again. They have come so far since NYE in Philly, last stop on the Weathered tour. They are so relaxed now on stage, so at ease. Eric is a monster on guitar, as is TJ. You could tell they were all having a blast and enjoying themselves and wanted the crowd to enjoy it as much as they did. Our arms were raised in the air during the entire set. If no one has heard their stuff yet, I HIGHLY recommend doing so.

Silvertide came on next, and since they are a local band from N.E. Philly the crowd was their hometown crowd and there were lots of kids (young kids) who were friends and family of the band. So when the lead singer came onstage and yelled something to the effect "Hey motherfuckers, let's get fucked up!" and then proceeded to sing a lot of songs laced with the word fuck, I was a bit turned off. I didn't warm up to them at all, especially after he continued to call us 'motherfuckers' during their entire set. Linda said something to the effect that they were like frat brothers, which was dead on to describe them. Their lead guitarist (who looked JUST like a little girl that plays on One Life To Live) was pretty decent but he wasn't enough to make me appreciate their less than average music. To add insult to injury, there was a young girl of about 17 next to me with long blonde hair. I know this hair intimately because it was flipped into my face during their entire set. Lucky for her she left the rail after their set because had I brought scissors along, she'd be sporting a buzzcut today.

Now onto Alter Bridge. These guys get more awesome everytime we see them. (Steve, I said hi to Michael for you). They came out hard with One Day Remains and slammed into Watch Your Words. Phenomenal doesn't even begin to describe how great they sounded. We were on the rail by Brian this time and he's such a cutie. Man that man plays a mean bass. Flip, as usual, busted his ass on the skins. Mark was a guitar maniac!! It's such a treat to watch him enjoying himself blasting out all the solos and
just letting loose. They did Zepplin's Rock And Roll, and they brought out Nick Perry, the guitarist from Silvertide. Mark, Myles, Brian and Nick all lined up and the 4 of them NAILED it. Myles was perfect on vocals and the guitars just blew us away. At one point, Myles said he wanted to see all of our arms in the air. Most of us happily complied with his request, and he said there were some in the back that didn't have their hands up. He ran to the side and grabbed a spotlight, obviously to shine on the crowd in the back without their hands up. Slight problem though. It came unplugged. So here he is, shining a dark spotlight out onto the crowd. It was pretty funny.

After one of the songs, Myles said something like: "I wanna hear some more guitar, Mark, play some more for us will you?" and Mark was more than happy to oblige. I immediately thought to myself, I think those are words that probably would NEVER have come out of Scott Stapp's mouth. Anyway, Mark's fingers moved so fast and furious on that guitar I started to get warm. I can't say enough about how great he sounded.

After the show, Mark and Myles came down to the crowd and shook our hands. I don't mean they just touched or high fived us, they physically took our hands and shook each one. I honestly felt touched by that, because it seemed to me that it was truly genuine, that they were honestly happy to have us there and glad that we enjoyed being there. Mark put a pic in Kerri's hand and afterwards, Michael was cool enough to hand Kerri a setlist that was taped to an amp.

I'm sure I am missing several other things that happened but it was all so great it's hard to get more specific. During In Loving Memory (which brought tears to my eyes) I had a moment with Brian. Last time at this venue, during the song, I waved to him and he smiled and gave me the peace sign. This time, during that same song, he was right in front of us and I smiled and waved again. He flashed me a great big smile and it made my night. Kerri and I also ran into Mark on the street when we were coming back from getting a bite to eat. He's so down to earth and easy going. I love these guys.

[Steve]

Wow, great review Teri. Can't wait to hear Kerri's... and please post that setlist so I can add it to the site

[TeriB19]

Steve, you know I suck at remembering these things. I can only remember this and hopefully Kerri can help out as well:

One Day Remains
Watch Your Words
The End Is Here (I think)
Broken Wings (I think)
Find the Real (I think)
Burn It Down (I think)
Shed My Skin (I think)
Metallingus (I think)
Down To My Last (I think)
Rock And Roll

encore:
In Loving Memory
Open Your Eyes

The songs are all there, but the order may be off.

[Dogstar]

TERI -- Great job, you nailed it and I'll be happy to add my two cents, and hopefully I won't be repetitious, LOL.

Here is the setlist, as provided by Michael (THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!).

One Day Remains
Watch Your Words
Shed My Skin
Find the Real
Burn It Down
Metalingus
The End Is Here
Broken Wings
Rock and Roll
Down to My Last

Encore:
In Loving Memory (acoustic)
Open Your Eyes

Now, Save Me and Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith were printed on the setlist but not played. I'm wondering if Donald's marriage proposal ate up some time, LOL...

I, too, was bummed that Submersed wasn't second because they probably would have had a longer set, but nonetheless, they kicked ass. Donald's voice represents soooooo well live. I, too, can't get over how much they have matured in their live set since their opening for Creed on NYE. We were in front of TJ this time instead of Eric, but it was cool nevertheless. TJ was on fire. He was all over the stage and Eric really has developed quite a stage presence. He makes a ton of eye contact with the fans, as do TJ and Donald. Teri was right about Donald getting everyone to put up their hands, clapping and pumping and devil-horning all over the place. I don't remember the order of the songs, but I think this is what they played:

Divide the Hate
In Due Time
Flicker (FUCKING AWESOME)
Piano Song
To Peace
Hollow

I was very psyched about Piano song, as it has become one of my favorites. And Flicker is just awesome live...soooooo grooving. Loooove the bass lines and guitar in that one. And Donald was just amazing on Hollow. He hit all the high notes and sang it just beautifully. That man can flat-out sing, end of story.

Silvertide was mediocre at best, but at least they were better than Crossfade. I really wanted to like them because they are from Philly and all, but they just seemed like generic, frat-boy rock to me. They had a sort of GnR, Allman Bros. kind of flavor to their stuff, but I really wasn't impressed. Their lead guitarist has some interesting tricks up his sleeve playing-wise, but other than that, they didn't impress. The lead singer was trying too hard to impress, I think. He was all over the stage, running all over while singing. I thought he was going to take out one of his band members, LOL. And he looked like Kyra Sedgwick's sister. That's the best way I can describe him . He also did an Eddie Vedder by scaling the speakers and climbing the rail along the loft, but I seriously thought he was going to fall off the rail, but he made it down safely. There were a lot of youngsters there for them, though, so it was nice that they had the home-crowd support.

Ok, Alter Bridge. What can I say that Teri hasn't already covered? They just get everybody cranking it. I can't reiterate enough how happy the guys seem up on stage. There was a moment when Myles was singing and I looked at Mark, and he was playing but watching Myles with this look of appreciation and satisfaction all rolled into one. It seemed like a really honest moment, that's all I can describe it as. It just made me smile, too. And Myles, I think, is still quite taken by the crowd reaction he's been getting at shows. He just smiles all the time while he's up there. He was soooo awesome on Find the Real. At the end, he hit that looooong, ascending note and I can't tell you how many times I nudged Teri or Linda and said, MAN, can that guy hold a note or what???? It's awesome on the CD, but live...WOW, to pull that off is really something, and night after night, too.
Burn It Down again was just amazing. This has become my favorite song on the album and the intro is just soooo cool. It's such a mood-setter, and Myles sings it with a ton of emotion. It sends chills down my spine every time I hear it live. He really gets into it toward the end end.
Down to My Last, Broken Wings and Shed My Skin seem to have become the biggest audience-participation numbers. Several times Myles asked the audience to sing the choruses and Philly did them proud. He even commented that he recalled Philly having some good singers, LOL.
Metalingus...OMFG...that song is just kick-ass. Everybody gets to show off on that one, especially Flip. I enjoyed being in front of Brian this time because I got a really good view of Flip. He works his tail off and he looks like he's having fun doing it. I just love that he has a bigger presence in the music now. And Brian...what a cutie. He just does his thing, very low-key, but he, too, did a lot of smiling. I got some eye contact with him, too. It was sweet.
I have to say that, being a HUGE Led Zeppelin fan, I was thrilled beyond words to hear Rock and Roll. I was pretty much out of my mind headbanging and singing and fist-pumping and jumping up and down. It was one rousing rendition. All those guitars!!!!!!
Speaking of guitars, Myles played a lot more this time around, on several songs. I really like that extra oomph his playing gives the songs. It's a fuller sound and he's pretty cool with the axe. He's got the moves down pat!
Oh, I have to say The End Is Here is really sweet live. I was lukewarm on that song initially, but it has really grown on me since I've heard it live.
And In Loving Memory...man, I choke up EVERY time it's played. It's just beautiful. Flip does bongos on that one, and it's pretty sweet. I can't understand how anyone can't be moved by that song. It's definitely their WAWO, but I think it's an even better song. Myles nailed it, too. I so want a boot of that show!

Anyway, I hope I didn't repeat too much of what Teri said....I get to do this again Tuesday night in D.C....these guys are so addicting. Can't WAIT.

[kariyanine]

Man I can't believe the drubbing that Silvertide is getting from you guys. I was overly impressed by their live performance after having thought that the album was mediocre. They had so much energy on stage and the guitar playing from them was excellent.

As I said the last time I think that Submersed is great but the sound system just doesn't seem to be set properly when they hit the stage. It was better this time around but the bass was still set to high and it droned out the excellent guitar playing. At least you could hear the vocals this time around though. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands and I actually went more to see them this time than anything else. I do wish they had a longer set though, I would have liked to have heard some of their other songs as well.

As I said two paragraphs up, I personally thought Silvertide was very good. A huge improvement over Crossfade, whom I almost ran over last time in Philly. They remind me of the Black Crowes when they started out, straight up rock and roll. The lead singer had a wealth of energy and the guitar player was great. They are certainly a better love band in my opinion than their album would suggest.

Finally on to the headliners, and once again they didnt disappoint but it does seem like the show went much quicker this time around. Mark and the guys sounded great but truth be told I felt their best song of the night wasn't even their own. Their cover of LedZep's Rock and Roll was downright amazing with Mark and the lead player from Silvertide alternating solos. Amazing stuff. I would have liked to have heard Save Me but I'm not crying over it not being played. Once again, I think the biggest pop of the night came from Down to My Last, it seemed like the whole crowd was singing along with that one. All in all a fantastic show once again.

[TeriB19]

Quote: (Originally Posted by kariyanine)

Man I can't believe the drubbing that Silvertide is getting from you guys. I was overly impressed by their live performance after having thought that the album was mediocre. They had so much energy on stage and the guitar playing from them was excellent.

I do agree they did have a lot of energy, but I didn't find anything overly impressive about their music. I can say, however, that the cursing for cursing's sake didn't really win me over. And their song SFC really didn't impress me either. I talked with my 12 year old nephew the day after the show and he said Silvertide's a really good band. I wonder if my brother knows his son is listening to songs like So Fucking Crazy. Anyway, one person's great band is another person's reason to stock up on Tylenol.

Quote:

As I said the last time I think that Submersed is great..... I do wish they had a longer set though, I would have liked to have heard some of their other songs as well.

I definitely agree!

Quote:

As I said two paragraphs up, I personally thought Silvertide was very good. A huge improvement over Crossfade, whom I almost ran over last time in Philly.

I would have to agree with you here, kariyanine. Crossfade, IMO, just plain sucked.

[Soundslave]

I also agree that Silvertide brings a lot of energy, but I when I saw them in Boston, the singer was just down-right offensive. he used the word "fuck" in every sentence, and asked women in the crowd to take their shirts off.

[Dogstar]

Silvertide just seemed to be more style than substance. I will say that the lead guitarist was decent. I just found them blah musically.