34Bliss Concert!

Does anyone remember me mentioning I would be going to a concert by my friend Jared's band 34Bliss? Well, tonight was that concert! They played at the Emerald Theater, in Mt. Clements, MI. It was a really amazing show, and I had tons of fun.

Jared had me go as his "bass technician", which is a fancy word for "roadie that carries my amps". Hey, I got in to a $10 concert for free! Plus, I got to go onstage to set up his amps, which was sweet. I'd love to do it again (at the concerts without a minimum age), but some circumstances I'll mention further on might keep that from happening. It's nice because it's a chance to network a bit, and get to know some people that could help me with my own music. A bunch of my friends went as well, including Jared's sister and our mutual friend Leah (who I'm sure I've mentioned on here before).

34bliss...played...amazingly. I have their E.P., which consists of 5 tracks, 4 of them original and the fifth a cover of some Alice Cooper song I don't know. The E.P. (Scream) is pretty good, but live they are exponentially better. Their singer, who has had 5 years of opera singing lessons, was much more intense and passionate onstage than in the studio. The guitarist had a bunch of great solos, as did Jared. They also played a cover of a blues song that isn't on Scream, and it is definitely my favourite song of theirs.

They were opening for another local band, Steven Who?. They were not great. They should have opened for 34Bliss, not the other way around. They had two bassists, one guitar and one drummer, and were a (very sloppy) cover band. Actually, I probably wouldn't have minded them too much, except for the fact the main bassist dissed Jared's soloing, saying "Anyone could do that...". Trust me, he couldn't have. Jared's an awesome bassist, while the guy who criticized him looked more like he was going to accidentally stab himself with his ridiculously pointy guitar than play anything exceptional. They were also very young, around my age - and the singer might have been younger.

So, although it was an awesome concert and an awesome night, one thing did go quite poorly. I rode over there in Jared's car, with Jared driving. I had promised my mom his parents would drive, but I opted to ride with him so I could show up at the same time as the equipment. I made a really bad choice, and I regret upsetting my mother's trust. I wouldn't have done it if there had been even the slightest chance of danger, because I'm very cautious and good at worrying, but doing the exact opposite of what I said would happen was wrong. As it is, I'm grounded, and there's a good chance I won't be able to go to another show for a while.

All in all, a great concert, with a bunch of good friends and some great music. I'm glad I went, and I had a lot of fun.