photos and review by Chelsea Schmid

Generally, we think of going to the big rock show like we think of going to the carnival: there will be lots to drink and the music will take you for a ride; and for some reason these events seem to cause people to release their inhibitions and liberate themselves from the constraints of whatever peeves them or holds them back.

For me, the big rock show became a place of learning. If the show really must go on, then these must be people who know how to get things done. Well traveled companions who see things from the perspectives of varying towns dotting the roads we see on our maps. What were they interested in?

Saturday March 15, it proved to be history and environmental concerns. It started in the afternoon, when Stevie Benton and Mike Luce of Drowning Pool sat down at the high round table upstairs at Dos Amigos to do an interview with me. We had begun by discussing climate and segued into a lengthy discussion of global warming in which Stevie explained precisely how the motion of the ocean affects the weather cycles. This led to a delineation on how global warming is effecting our planet and what the end result will be. We also talked about their tour of Kuwait.

With these things in mind, I returned to the venue that evening for a show that boasted one of the biggest turnouts I've seen at Dos Amigos as of late. Some 2,500 people filled the venue from front to back, with hardly any empty space between them. Drowning Pool and Saliva had packed the house.

A band by the name of Royal Bliss went on first and played to the early-comers. The set was good, but a clear gem emerged in their last song when frontman Neil said, "See if you guys can relate to this one." He then began a more country-rock tune whose first line went, "Well I was drunk"...., which was a well-received drinks-in-the-air rock and roll ballad that indeed the crowd did relate to very well.

Next, City Sleeps took the stage and played a blend that sounded almost like an industrial/active rock fusion. The set was pretty energy-ridden and as the venue gradually filled, people began to put on their rock faces.

Saliva played main support and it didn't take long for them to catch the crowd. They started the set with a couple of new jams, but by 'Click Click Boom,' the audience was engaged. Next Josey said they were going to play a song that was his favorite to perform live and the band swung into 'Ladies And Gentlemen.' Of course prefacing a set with these two jams would require some serious follow-up, and the set climaxed with 'Always.' Singing along to 'I love you, I hate you/I can't live without you', chicks went up on the shoulders of men and screamed with their heart and soul. The set concluded with 'Your Disease' and the hands scurried out to do the set change.

Between moving Saliva's gear off and clearing up the extra mic lines that had been run for the three openers, I disappeared into the green room with the bands for some fun-fact learning. As I've said, it was history day at Dos Amigos, and it was during this set-change that I got my facts straight about a certain Civil War general and the flavor of Jack Daniel's.

Saliva's Johnathan Montoya for whatever reason began talking about how General Sherman burned his way from the north to the south. It was around this time, says Montoya, that a distillery in Tennessee was burned to the ground, leaving nothing but charred barrels of whiskey. They thought they had bested those Tennesseans, but Montoya (a Tennessean himself) relates that people from TN are all alcoholics so they drank the whiskey anyway. Since then, they've burned the wood of the barrels to maintain that same unique flavor.

We didn't drink any whiskey that night, but there was a jar of a mysterious liquid the boys had brought along....it turned out to be maraschino cherries a la moonshine; a gift from an old man in Kentucky who had knocked on the door of their tour bus bearing a gift of three jars. He didn't even stay for the show, Montoya said.

Next, Drowning Pool played and the night's energy reached its maximum. I hadn't seen DP play since their show at Old Kelley's last September, and I don't know if it was the great weather, the couple of thousand people or the new stage, but DP kicked ass all over that stage like I hadn't seen in a long, long while. Suffice it to say, they exemplify the genre "active rock."

DP rocked from the onset, and about three songs in, Ryan broke his mic and had to use another. The old one wouldn't come off the stand so he was forced to sing with his mic in hand. He then jumped off the stage to stand on the back of the barricade and serenade those fans who had gotten in early and squeezed in close, then found that Dos Amigo's new stage (quite a bit higher than the old one) had been built without a set of steps. A security guard gave him a boost and he jumped back up.

The band played a very clean set. I've seen numerous bands who orchestrate their movement about the stage (in fact, most of them do), but Drowning Pool moved about with a purpose. When Ryan Spoke, Stevie and C.J. stood in front of their amps, not detracting from what their vocal liason to the crowd was saying. And I'll be damned if the crowd didn't respond in the same way. Captivated by the vocalist, members of the crowd in row 1,000 listened every bit as intently as those illuminated by the stage lights in the front.

Drowning Pool played all of their hit songs, old and new, but having spoken to them about 'Soldiers' earlier that day, I felt particularly moved to hear them play it. At this point, the crowd wasn't enthused enough for me. I wished they could all hear the band talk about their experience with the soldiers and listen to the passion in their voices as they spoke about writing the song. I wanted to see them go wild; see them lose their minds. I wanted to see the bodies hit the floor in a venue-wide mosh pit.

Taking a turn from your conventional rock show, Drowning Pool swung into Billy Idol's 'Rebel Yell.' The song was completely unexpected; I had a copy of the set list and even I was curious as to how they were going to pull this off. Much to my surprise, the transition was seamless. Ryan nailed the song with a rock and roll edge our 80's companion couldn't muster, while still maintaining the feel-good vibe of the original.

The set concluded with 'Bodies,' which was exactly what the fans had been waiting for. As soon as they played the opening licks, heads started banging, and the tide came in. A sea of people pushed forward, smashing tits, guts and faces against the metal barricade, and booted shoes of crowd-surfers assailed the heads of those unwary of what was going on behind them.

When the music was spent, the crowd quickly dissipated and I retreated back into the green room. There I met Ryan McCombs and learned that despite the vamped performance he had just put on, the man was actually quite ill. Of all the rockstars I've met, the guys from Drowning Pool were some of the most sincere. We talked for a minute of whiskey cough remedies (thanks mom!) and then he retired to his bus, I to my car. The rock and roll gods smiled and bid us a safe drive, then the show packed up and moved on to the next town.