Review

04-24-08

POM at Pensacola, NAS

I have a few photos from before the event uploaded to my MySpace photos.

www.myspace.com/puddleofmuddfanpage

ONLINE LINKS:

Watch for pics at www.odsrockshots.com - Sorry I missed ya'll in all of the chaos. Thanks for taking some great photos for the fans, love ya and see you next time.

TK101 pics:

http://www.tk101.com/cc-common/gallery/display.html?album_id=112558

Wes Interview Podcast with TK101's Mark the Shark coming to TK101.com soon, so check their website at www.tk101.com

Pensacola News Journal, nice interview with Doug

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008804180307

Pensacola News Journal Pics

REVIEW:

First off, thanks to Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR), Naval Air Station Pensacola (NAS), and TK101 for hosting the event with the other sponsors.

I heard NAS gave 7-8K tickets to military personnel and 3K to civilians – and I think almost all of those showed up at the Portside Recreation Complex. It was an open field and the weather was perfect.

Early on I had to opportunity to catch up with an old-timer from the POM camp, Hammer, who is back with POM and in charge of merchandise. I love that guy for a lot of reasons, he's doing great, and it's nice to see him back. He needs to watch out for Carol's duct tape stories lol. So if you go to the merch booth, be extra nice, he's there to help you get something to take home to remember your POM concert.

I get to the entrance gate early – us short people have to wait in line a long time to guarantee a front spot so we can see well.  Chilled with a group of kids who were going to their first concert, shout out to Katherine, Kevin, Michael, and Jacob – ya'll rock and I had a good time hanging with you guys. Zack (POM's guitar tech and I am sure he has other things he does in his unofficial job description) walks by and I do my greets to him, he deserved a hug for everything he does to keep POM up to par on stage. The line starts to get long and security makes the announcement, no cameras, if you have one go put it back in the car. If you come in with it you will get put out if you are caught. Good thing I was parked close, so I don't have any concert pics except what is embedded in my head :)  But when men with guns say no cameras, you don't ask questions, you just do it. We were the guests on a military facility and you respect their requests. 

We all get up front. First up is Deepfield, I'll just say they weren't my bag. Some enjoyed them, others not so much, to each their own.

Meriwether was next, I liked them pretty well. Got a sticker from one of the band members who was promoting along the front before they played. Sorry I don't know who is who in the band.

The sun was setting and it was time for Taps – absolute silence as everyone turned towards the flag as it was lowered, a cricket didn't even chirp, it was dead quiet. Even Mark the Shark from TK101 commented he'd never seen that many people quiet at the same time.

POM comes out – the stage is long and narrow with a very low overhang. I worry someone from POM is going to bounce around under it and get a concussion. I think Doug and Christian came close more than a couple of times during the set. Ryan wasn't on a riser, he wouldn't have had any arm-flinging space!

Setlist in order: Control, Out of My Head, Away From Me, Psycho, Famous, Drift & Die, Bring Me Down, We Don't Have to Look Back Now, Spin You Around, Merry-Go-Round, Living On Borrowed Time, Breed and for encore Blurry and She Hates Me.

Noteworthy comments on the songs: Control was out of control, lol off the hook, very popular and it included War Pigs. Away From Me had the extended intro with deep tribal intonations, I love the intro I think it is a great compliment to what is already a POM classic tune. Psycho was probably one of the loudest sing-a-longs with the audience. Everyone must either have the new record or were paying attention when it was number 1 on the charts for 9 weeks and being played on radio. I could hear the echo behind me and it wasn't just during the chorus, they knew all of the words. Famous was very popular as well and a lot of people were singing to that one too. I was hoping for the new addition of 'Home… take me home…' intro for Drift & Die but it wasn't meant to be. But it did include the guitar solo in the middle - POM knows how to keep their oldest material fresh. Everyone around me seemed to know it. Some others around me also knew Bring Me Down, so there were some Come Clean fans in the crowd.

Wes said We Don't Have to Look Back Now was going to be the next single. I know it has been said before in interviews, I hope it stays the choice it is a very good song that has hit written all over it in my opinion. It is different live versus the album cut in a good way. Without being able to replicate the piano work, the guitars are stepped up and it is more of a rock song and less of a ballad live. You'll like it added to the setlist. Wes said at the beginning of the song, we all make mistakes, don't look back, focus on the positive and move forward. Great advice to all of us. Spin was dedicated to all of the ladies in the house, Wes and Doug were on woohoo duty, nice job on the song, a softer side of POM in the middle of the rock.  Living On Borrowed Time, all out rocker song, it's pretty much like the video clip on POM.com from House of Blues in Chicago, what you see is what you get, it's a keeper song.

Wes introduced Breed by one of their favorite bands, the crowd went nuts as POM played homage to Nirvana. They took a short break then came back out for the encore. POM wasn't going to get let off base without bodily injury if they didn't do Blurry and She Hates Me, lol. All during the night the audience would break into chants of She Hates Me. Wes said 'ya'll like that song? We dropped it from the setlist,' which set off a round of boos. He asked us to boo again and he said ok, they'd add it back. Blurry still gives me chills when I hear it. I'm a sap. POM closed with a rabble-rouser version of She Hates Me complete with Summer Lovin'. I think everyone likes to drop the F-bomb with 9,999 of their closest friends in unison, great closer song.

Other miscellaneous things from the night, someone down from me must have had a birthday sign, Wes sang happy birthday and when he got to the name part he added… "I don't know your name" but I'm sure it made their day to be serenaded by Wes, nice moment for a Muddfan's birthday!

Wes was extremely talkative and animated, I like that he shows a lot of  personality on stage. He said for those of you going to Iraq, we'll see you there and everyone yelled kudos. The Marines were there in force, which led to their traditional calls of OohRah a lot, everyone participated, and it was the night's anthem. Wes joined in adding give me an OohRah… (OohRah replies) OohRahRah… to which he said, I better not add that other Rah, the commander might come over and throw me in the pen for changing it up, all in good fun, no disrespect to the military for the extra Rah intended.

After the show Christian walked along the front and did some high 5's, everyone was reaching out hoping for a slap. It's like he has been in the band forever now, he's found his home by giving a Stone tweak to the tunes. He was energetic and kept the crowd participating with hand motions, etc.

Ryan ripped up the drums, I don't know why he doesn't have whiplash. He's a great drummer, pay attention to him and you'll see what I mean.

Doug gets in that zone where he's in another dimension and even though he is interacting with the audience, the bass man in Doug gets lost in the deep tones and provides the heartbeat behind POM. Major props, you are the pulse.

Make sure you watch Wes, he's picked up some new moves. Some serious shakin' going on there on the center stage, some groovin' and movin', hand gestures, and he doesn't miss a lick on the guitar while singing and doing all of the above.

I did meet up with a couple of MySpacer's, NHRA Dale and his daughter Tori and her friends. She's lucky to have a dad that takes her to shows, very nice to meet ya'll!

After the show, I bought a Psycho shirt from my buddy Hammer, and a couple of stickers to add to the POM collection. I really wanted the star shirt he had on, he said he could have sold it a lot of times tonight if he would have taken it off. He didn't have any for sale at this show. I figured I'd let him keep his shirt and I'll get one from POM's MySpace Merchandise Page. Over at the fence, POM was signing stuff for fans, talking, and taking pics with those that snuck cameras in. Wes and Doug signed my shirt, we talked a bit. Doug was the last one there, taking the time to talk with some of the last arrivals from the merch booth. Everyone had taken a break and Doug spent the time talking to some young teenagers who were just getting into music and asking his advice. He was genuinely interested and giving them great tips. He offered to get the others to come back out and sign their stuff and they did. Ryan and Christian signed my shirt as well, we talked about the show, and they also talked to the teenagers about pursuing music. It was a good night for everyone and I got my hugs bye from all the guys. While I was walking to my car, two of the kids who were talking to Doug about music came up and were so thrilled that POM took the time to talk to them, one even saying he couldn't believe he was talking to a rock star. I said POM is like that, just regular guys that love their fans. Doug really made their night as well as Wes, Christian, and Ryan for coming back over, thanks you really inspired them. I made sure to thank everyone along my way out for hosting the event and letting the civilians share their night.

I'm sure I'll think of something to add that I forgot. Sorry it's a day late for the review, but one day in the sun takes me 24 hours to get over.

Thanks to everyone in POM and their crew for a great night. Also the security at the event who stayed on top of things to keep everyone safe. I'm still tired, forgive any typos.

As I was walking across the field to the car, which had been a disaster area with the littered cups and debris but the soldiers had almost 100% cleaned up in just over an hour, I saw something I hadn't seen probably in 20 years. Fireflies. It was like rewinding to a simpler time in life. POM brought the magic in more ways than one.