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Stacked to the rafters

If you're looking for a complete review of last night's Foo Fighters show at AAC, look here. As somebody who had to split halfway into their two-and-a-half hour set (the 4am wake-up call meant I had to cut out at 11, right after "Cold Day in the Sun"), I can't give a full review. However, I'll share some random musings of what I saw.

-Against Me! put on a short set where they played almost all of New Wave, including the couple of songs I could really care never to hear again, along with a couple of songs from Searching for a Former Clarity. Zilch from Cowboy or Axl Rose, but this was not a proper, full-on AM! set. It was great to finally see them play live, but certain vocal people around me were just not into them. And they made it known. And it was annoying.

-One of these new non-AM! fans -- wearing a Lamb of God shirt, no less -- felt the band "sucked" because they sounded like "GWAR without the theatrics." What the hell is that supposed to mean? Well, I later heard him be all excited that Alice in Chains has reunited with a new singer and is touring and making a new album.

-Jimmy Eat World played a pretty spot-on zip-through of their most upbeat material from Bleed American, Futures and Chase This Light. But like when I saw them last time (where they pulled out Static Prevails' "Seventeen" to much of my delight), they pulled out Clarity's "Blister," much to my delight.

-Couple songs into Jimmy Eat World's set, a rather loud (and possibly drunk/high) female near me screamed for "old shit." Thinking maybe she wanted to hear "Lucky Denver Mint" or "Rockstar," I was wrong. She wanted "The Middle." It was then I realized how at least three generations of fans have gone through this band since 1994. I'm sure there's somebody somewhere who pines for "Chachi" and "Cars" to be played again . . .

-When I last saw the Foo Fighters, Franz Stahl was playing guitar for them and There's Nothing Left to Lose had yet to be recorded. So, four records later, I finally see them again.

-I gotta commend the Foos for playing a relatively unpredictable setlist. A sign that it wasn't a "greatest hits" kind of show: they pulled out Dave's Nirvana b-side "Marigold" and it was pretty fantastic. They even played "This is a Call." As far as material from their latest album, I really dug "Cheer Up Boys (Your Make-Up is Running)," making me reconsider giving the album another listen.

-The split-stage reminded me of Metallica's 1991 tour. Being on the floor, I had a pretty good view until they moved to the other stage for the acoustic set. I didn't want to lose my spot, so I stayed put.

Overall, this was not a bad show at all. I was pretty amped as I headed home and I only got about three hours of sleep. Yet today wasn't really a drag at all. Though the afternoon nap really helped . . .

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