But, let me tell you the amazing story leading up to this unforgettable Saturday night.
Around the time RED came out with their third album, "Until We Have Faces" (which is probably the best of the three they've released) in February of this year, I began anticipating and hoping they would return to the Chameleon Club soon; after listening to this album, I really wanted to hear these songs live. Spring and summer came and went with no hint of a show coming to town, and I kept checking the Chameleon Club web site for new shows and looked for emails with the newest acts. Then, in September, I saw an email from the Club that listed RED as an upcoming headliner on their "Kill th3 Machin3" tour. I was pumped! Finally, they would be coming back to Lancaster!
Now, a little back story. While they were on the Winter Jam tour last winter, they started doing this special event called the Acoustic Experience. There are only eight tickets available per show, and for $40 a pop, you are invited on to the tour bus to meet the band, hang out and ask questions, get autographs and take pictures, and hear them play an acoustic version of one of their songs. When I saw this, I thought to myself, how cool would that be? Yet, I was a little discouraged because so many of those private shows sold out extremely fast. They had a Reading show, which was one of the ones I considered going to for the general admission, but the private show tickets were long gone. I still had hope though that I would snatch one of those Acoustic Experience tickets, and I kept looking for any close shows that would have the tickets available.
Fast forward to about a month and a half ago. I got on Facebook, and saw RED was announcing that Acoustic Experience tickets were available for shows on the "Kill th3 Machin3" tour. I quickly went on to the ticket page, but didn't see Lancaster listed. I thought, oh well, maybe it's a small enough venue that they weren't going to do it. About a week later, I was at work and hopped on Facebook real quick to look at my News Feed. Again, RED was advertising Acoustic Experience tickets, and they listed the locations in the post. To my surprise, Lancaster was listed! I rushed onto the ticket page again, but still didn't see Lancaster there. I thought to myself, it has to be on here somewhere. It was then that I saw a Location dropdown list on the left side of the page. I expanded it, and Lancaster was listed! Quickly, I navigated to the page, and there were tickets available. I thought, NO WAY! I immediately reserved two tickets, and then texted my friend Kyle and asked him if he wanted to go with me, and he promptly replied that he would. I was ecstatic and purchased the tickets. Needless to say, I was giddy for the rest of the day.
Here's what topped it all off. That night, RED posted a blog video on Facebook that they did while on the Rock Allegiance tour. They made a side trip back their hometown, because they were invited to be the grand marshals of the the town's annual parade. As I watched this video, I discovered that Randy, Anthony, and Mike grew up in the town where my grandparents lived and where my mom grew up, which was Linesville, a town only 30 to 40 minutes away from where I grew up in Cochranton. I just sat there in stunned disbelief and thought, what a small world. It just made me even more excited to meet them!
The countdown to the concert night ensued. Saturday finally came, and the fact that I would be meeting my favorite band didn't sink in until Kyle and I were standing outside the entrance of the Chameleon Club at 7:15 PM with six other people waiting for the tour director to come get us. Finally, he came and checked our tickets, and then led us down Water Street and up Chestnut Street to where the tour bus was parked. When we got to the bus, he told us to wait outside for a few more minutes while he went in to let the band know we had arrived. He disappeared into the bus, and I stood there with Kyle and the others, trying to keep my composure and contain my excitement. I was debating whether or not to tell them where I was originally from and how I had family that lived in their home town. I told Kyle this, and he threatened to mention it to them if I didn't bring it up. I was like, no, don't do it! I will try!
After about five minutes, the director came back out of the bus and told us we could come in. We all hesitantly walked over (nobody wanted to be too eager) and climbed into the bus, up the steps, and through a curtain. We entered into a lounge area with two couches along the sides and a kitchen area in the back, and sitting on the counters of the kitchen were the band members: Anthony, Mike, Joe, and Randy, who greeted us with warm smiles. I could not stop smiling myself; I just couldn't believe that I was on my favorite band's tour bus, getting ready to chat and hang out with them before the show.
They were very welcoming and happy to have us there. We traded a few questions, but I think all us fans were struck dumb for a little bit because at one point, Randy was like, stop smiling and ask some questions! We loosened up after that, and I found myself doing a lot of talking, joking around, and asking questions more than the other fans. Randy had asked us where we were from, and we went around the bus and mentioned where we lived. Shortly after that, I said I wasn't originally from Lancaster, and Randy asked where I grew up, and I said Cochranton. Randy, Anthony, and Mike all knew where that was, and Anthony said, ah yes, good ol' Cochranton. They ask me a few more questions, like if I graduated from the high school there and when. After that, I mentioned about my grandparents living in Linesville, and Randy asked me who they were, and told them. They didn't know who they were and apologized, but that was okay; I was just pleased to have mentioned anything about my home town and theirs!
We talked about song recordings and video shoots, and I asked about the filming of the "Feed the Machine" music video, which turned out to be a rather extensive story told in tandem by Randy and Anthony. At one point, I made a poor attempt at sarcasm when Randy mentioned that Joe doesn't talk much during the acoustic experiences and one time, a guy asked one of them how long Joe had been with the band. They were like, he's sitting right here; why don't you just ask him. So then, I sarcastically asked, so Joe, how long have you been with the band? He was like, is that a serious question? I was like, sure, why not? I thought, good job, Channing....
Near the end of the half hour on the bus, Anthony asked us what song we wanted to hear, and I instantly said "Pieces", one of my favorite songs from their first album. Randy said that was probably the most requested song they have on stage. I then said, I was going to suggest "Let It Burn", which was on their third album, but Anthony said they wouldn't be playing that one live until the following year. So, they asked us if we liked "Hymn for the Missing", which is an emotional song at the end of their third album, and we all agreed that we liked it, so they played it for us (Randy said they made a "dude version" since a chick was singing with Mike on the album version). Anthony played the acoustic (which was black and had "End of Silence" printed in white across the front of the guitar) and Mike sang lead while Randy added some harmony.
When the song was finished, the tour manager came back on the bus and told us we had to start wrapping things up. At this point, we could get anything we brought with us signed. As we had walked into the bus, there was a stack of one foot by one foot posters sitting near the driver's seat, and we all took one and got them signed. I brought the "Until We Have Faces" album with me and got the inside slip cover signed by the all the members. Then, once autographs were finished, we came outside and took pictures in front of the tour bus. Kyle and I stood in the middle, with Anthony and Joe on my side and Randy and Mike on Kyle's side. My only regret was that I wish I had brought my camera with me, but we got a picture with Kyle's phone.
When all the pictures were taken, they came around to each of us and shook hands, and we thanked them for an amazing time, and then we went on our way back to the Club for the show. The group of us had almost instantly bonded through the experience, and we all agreed it was so worth the money to meet them.
Since the show had already started at 8, I was afraid we wouldn't get a good spot to stand on the floor or in the balcony. I thought the 21 and older section was upstairs like it had been before (with the bar), but they had switched it to the downstairs, and the floor was actually not that crowded. The first act was finishing up when we got inside, and while they were changing equipment, Kyle and I weaseled our way through the crowd until we were three rows deep at the left center part of the stage. There were two more acts to follow before RED: Icon for Hire and Brian "Head" Welch (formally the lead singer of Korn), and then they came on around 11.
The show was incredible, as usual. You could tell they were excited to be there and the crowd was amped. They opened with "Feed the Machine" and "Watch You Crawl" and then took a small break to speak with the crowd. One of the funniest moments of the show occurred during this time. Mike got the crowd going, and once we calmed down a bit, Randy said, the last time we were here, I was rocking out so hard that I ripped my pants. At this point, I turned to Kyle and started laughing really hard because I mentioned this to Randy on the tour bus earlier when we were talking about the show in 2010. Then he said, and you know what, I did it again, right down the back. My underwear are red, so at least I'm wearing the right color, right? The whole club burst into laughter, and the music started up again.
They played "Confessions", "Not Alone", "Best Is Yet to Come", and "Death of Me", to name a few. In the middle of the set, Randy, Anthony, and Mike went off stage while Joe did a drum solo to a medley of different popular songs ("Hey Yeah" by the Black-Eyed Peas was one of them), which was phenomenal. Then, the rest of the band came back on and kept going. Before "Not Alone" and "Best Is Yet to Come", Randy and Mike gave awesome witness stories to how they've come to discover God in their lives and that life is nothing without Him. I was at first surprised by their stories, but it was totally appropriate and very inspiring! In the set, before they sang the song "Shadows", Mike came down from the stage and into the crowd, which he told to form a circle. He said he wanted the whole floor to turn into a big washing machine, and that he would run around the circle with them while he sang "Shadows". He moshed with them and would stop at certain people and encourage them to sing the song with him. Part of the way through the song, he came over to where Kyle and I were standing to get back on the stage. As he walked by us, I patted him the back as he went around the barrier and got back up on stage. The show continued to be amazing after that all the way until the end.
Near the end, the band ran off stage again, which prompted us to continue to cheer and shout for an encore. The lights were out, and eventually I could see Randy messing with a keyboard off to the right on stage, and Anthony brought up a stool and sat there with his acoustic, waiting to play a song. They were having technical difficulties with the keyboard, and there was a lot of down time. The crowd could see Anthony sitting there even though it was dark. While he was waiting, he grabbed a bottle of water and started drinking it. Someone in the crowd started yelling, "Water, water!" and all of a sudden, I saw Anthony hold the almost full bottle out in front of him and squeeze as hard as he could, spraying the front and center part of the crowd with water. They were shocked and started laughing, and you could see the grin on Anthony's face.
The technical issues weren't resolved, and they decided to skip the song. The whole band came back on stage and they ended with a combination of three songs strung together at certain parts, which was really awesome. And then, sadly, the show had to end.
I walked out of the club elated and excited, and I've slowly been riding the star-struck high back down to reality. That was my first celebrity experience, and it couldn't have been with better people. They were genuine, funny, and everything I thought they would be. After Saturday night, I am definitely a fan for life.
Meeting them, in a way, completed the circle of experiences I've had through their music ever since I started listening to them back in 2008. And, in the next blog post, I will share my thoughts on how their music has helped me through some tough times and has led me to discover other bands who sing (and rock out!) for God.
(By the way, if you made it through this ridiculously long post, THANK YOU for reading and sharing in my experience!)
Laus Deo!
RED's links:
http://www.redmusiconline.com
https://www.facebook.com/redmusiconline
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