March 24th, 2007; The Punk The Clock Team consisting of Catjia, Dart, and myself with special guest Ryan from Inamere rolled into Asbury Park NJ in anticipation to rock out to the sweet tunes of the Taste Of Chaos. This year’s tour was headlined by TOC veterans The Used along with 30 Seconds To Mars, another TOC veteran band Senses Fail, Saosin, Chiodos, and Aiden. Unfortunately we got there fashionably late and missed Aiden and Chiodos. I personally was really disappointed that we missed Chiodos because I love that band and have never gotten to see them live. I guess I’ll have to wait until Bamboozle. Missing Aiden was no biggie, I’ve seen them at least 4 times and they aren’t anything special. Once we made our way through the doors and the herds of 15-year-old scenesters we made it to the stage just in time for Saosin’s set to begin. I’ve only heard a few of their songs and liked them better with their old singer before he left to make Circa Survive, but we all were very impressed. Their guitarist has great stage presence and it added to an already energetic set. The crowd ate it up and the band sound great. Next up was Senses Fail, one of my top 10 favorite bands ever. Now I’ll admit right now, this was my 10th time seeing these dudes rock out live and I wasn’t expecting much from their live show since Buddy usually sounds terrible live. Well, I wouldn’t say they sounded excellent, but it was one of their top 3 shows I’ve seen of theirs. I think a lot of it had to do with the Convention Hall’s tremendous sound system. They only played for half an hour though which kind of bummed me out. On a good note, they played mostly new songs of their “Still Searching” album and I personally love that cd! I was surprised that they didn’t play 187 or Lady In The Blue Dress. Oh well, it’s better to hear new songs I haven’t heard yet live. The band looked like rock stars up there and why the hell wouldn’t they when they have Heath of Midtown playing with them?!?!? After the Senses Fail set it was time to go backstage and get some food and snoop around a bit. Nothing too great at the moment so we went back out and got ready for 30 Seconds To Mars. I totally don’t understand this band, but I gave it a chance. Their drum kit sounded so good words can’t describe it. Jared Leto seemed to know how to work the crowd and they all loved every second of it. They played for 45 minutes and the whole time I was just looking for hot chicks and joking around with Dart and Ryan. Finally they ended their set and everyone was getting prepared for the headliners; The Used. Catjia and I decided to see how far our passes could get us so we snoop all around the Convention Hall. We ended up basically on the stage during their set and Bert was literally 10 feet away. It was pretty intense my friends. We ditched the set to snoop around even more and ended up in 30 Seconds To Mars dressing room (minus the band) and I peed in their personally bathroom. We also stumbled upon all the bands gear and saw it all getting loaded out. I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot, but hopefully my partner in crime Catjia will update you guys with some more juicy details. Back to the Used….they were pretty good live and better than two years ago when I saw them play Taste Of Chaos. I’m looking forward to their new album out in May. The tracks they played off of it seemed good enough to buy. All in all, the show was great and we were so happy to be there! Any other Punk The Clockers wanna elaborate?
We all would love to give a huge thanks to Alternative Press for hooking us up with guest list and backstage passes. PTC <3 AP!!!!
-RiCCioLi
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Share your thoughts on the tour this year please. We would love to hear from our fans!
