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Last night the wife & I went to our first rock concert in quite a while (at least 4 years) at the Vogue Theatre in Indianapolis.
We got there about 20 minutes before the opener started to get some seats so we wouldn't have to stand the entire show (4 hours counting setups).
The opening act is a punk-ish trio called Ume from Ausin, TX. The lead guitar/vocalist was very good and had a ton of energy. She started off with a Jaguar, then a Strat, and finished with a butterscotch blonde Tele Deluxe through a Marshall JCM900. Unfortunately the sound for the vocals were either tuned for the soundguy on the main level (we were on the 2nd) or were just muddy for all 3 acts.
https://www.facebook.com/umemusic
I was very impressed with their entire performance. They paused between songs (no more than 20 secs) to tune, but that's expected since they didn't have any guitar techs unlike the headliners. I've been to a fair amount of concerts before and I feel confident saying they were the best openers I've seen.
Helmet was next and for a 52 year old Page Hamilton can rock out. I was only familiar with Milktoast from The Crow soundtrack, so it wasn't exactly like I was following along closely to the lyrics. They use Fryette amplifiers and Page (lead guitar/vocals) has a few custom model ESP guitars with Wilkinson bridges. It sounded as if the rhythm guitar & bass player were about 15-20% louder than the lead which wasn't fantastic because what I could make out of the solos was excellent.
http://www.helmetmusic.com/
The final act is what got me to buy a ticket: Toadies!
Todd Lewis has got excellent stage presence and also had the best cumulative sound of the night. I was thinking the vocals were better, but knowing 2/3rd of the songs already makes a huge difference. Todd (rhythm guitar/vocals) played 2 red Gibson SGs and Clark Vogeler played a black Jazzmaster, flatmount Floyd with D-Tuna, and a bound pearloid neck & tortoise pickguard. Todd played thru a Marshall & Clark used an Orange (not sure of models).
http://thetoadies.com/ (drummer put on a GoPro cam on his head for the Encore songs)
They've got a new album out this coming Tuesday (although wikipedia says it came out a week or so ago).
They looked like they were having quite a bit of fun, Ume & Helmet sat offstage to watch. They all looked like they were having a great time.
Triple encore finishing with the song I Burn plus Ume & Helmet & 1 Guitar tech on and extra set of tom & snare each was a nice ending to an excellent night.
I recorded 1 song which I think is from the new album (because I didn't know it). I made the mistake of filming in portrait which translates horribly to youtube.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0e5KM_gHlM
We got there about 20 minutes before the opener started to get some seats so we wouldn't have to stand the entire show (4 hours counting setups).
The opening act is a punk-ish trio called Ume from Ausin, TX. The lead guitar/vocalist was very good and had a ton of energy. She started off with a Jaguar, then a Strat, and finished with a butterscotch blonde Tele Deluxe through a Marshall JCM900. Unfortunately the sound for the vocals were either tuned for the soundguy on the main level (we were on the 2nd) or were just muddy for all 3 acts.

https://www.facebook.com/umemusic
I was very impressed with their entire performance. They paused between songs (no more than 20 secs) to tune, but that's expected since they didn't have any guitar techs unlike the headliners. I've been to a fair amount of concerts before and I feel confident saying they were the best openers I've seen.
Helmet was next and for a 52 year old Page Hamilton can rock out. I was only familiar with Milktoast from The Crow soundtrack, so it wasn't exactly like I was following along closely to the lyrics. They use Fryette amplifiers and Page (lead guitar/vocals) has a few custom model ESP guitars with Wilkinson bridges. It sounded as if the rhythm guitar & bass player were about 15-20% louder than the lead which wasn't fantastic because what I could make out of the solos was excellent.

http://www.helmetmusic.com/
The final act is what got me to buy a ticket: Toadies!
Todd Lewis has got excellent stage presence and also had the best cumulative sound of the night. I was thinking the vocals were better, but knowing 2/3rd of the songs already makes a huge difference. Todd (rhythm guitar/vocals) played 2 red Gibson SGs and Clark Vogeler played a black Jazzmaster, flatmount Floyd with D-Tuna, and a bound pearloid neck & tortoise pickguard. Todd played thru a Marshall & Clark used an Orange (not sure of models).

http://thetoadies.com/ (drummer put on a GoPro cam on his head for the Encore songs)
They've got a new album out this coming Tuesday (although wikipedia says it came out a week or so ago).
They looked like they were having quite a bit of fun, Ume & Helmet sat offstage to watch. They all looked like they were having a great time.
Triple encore finishing with the song I Burn plus Ume & Helmet & 1 Guitar tech on and extra set of tom & snare each was a nice ending to an excellent night.
I recorded 1 song which I think is from the new album (because I didn't know it). I made the mistake of filming in portrait which translates horribly to youtube.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0e5KM_gHlM