Concert Season Is Finally Here!!!

Well it is finally here...the snow is gone...the temp is rising and the Real Rock is coming!!! We are proud to welcome, among others...KORN, Staind, Shinedown, Chevelle, Offspring and many more as this concert season kicks off. I remember my first concert...BOSTON was the show and it absolutely rocked. I was hooked...I had to see all my favorites live and vowed I would!!! Well many years later here we are and maybe I haven't seen "all" my favorites but I have seen more than my share of incredible shows. I have been blessed to meet some awesome people along the way and believe it or not...many of them are no different than you and I...regular people that have found themselves in incredible situations being able to play their music in front of tons of amazed fans who scream and cheer from the opening note to the final curtain. I would have to say that my most memorable concert experience would have to have been "Ozzfest 2002" at what was then called the CDNOW.COM Amphitheatre on July 13th. I was there with another station I worked for and had the opportunity to visit backstage and interview all the people I could throughout the day...the "person" that I ended up with as a tour guide was none other than Dave Williams of Drowning Pool. Bodies was a huge hit, and was followed by their songs Sinner and Tear Away. I was a huge fan of the band and couldn't believe I was able to just hang out all day with this guy who was just as amazed as I was that he was there. He was like a kid in a toy store with a pocket full of cash!!! A regular person, in an amazing situation...in absolute disbelief that he was performing for the second year on the biggest concert festival stage in the entire country and he was genuine. He wasn't a full of himself, pompous, celebutard, jaded by the "sudden" fame...probably because it was anything but sudden...that band worked hard for a long time before any of us knew who they were and here they were on their second tour of duty with Ozzfest...he couldn't believe it. Dave was showing how things worked backstage with the prepping areas for each band's stage gear...introducing me to tons of people both in bands and working the staging area. I had a blast and the show absolutely kicked ass. We talked about the show, the interviews, the performances and the crowd for days on air after returning home and going back to work. All that excitement ended one month later...when the word arrived that Dave was gone. He had died in his sleep on the band's tour bus from a previously undiagnosed heart disease at only 30 years of age. I've had the opportunity to spend time with Mike, CJ, Stevie and singer Ryan McCombs who have carried on the Drowning Pool flag and they remain as humble and as down to earth as Dave ever was...and that is something that will always stick with me no matter how many shows I see or bands I meet...my youngest son got to spend the day with Drowning Pool...Mike even bought him some new guitar strings...I know he will always remember that day as long as he lives. He's still playing on those strings...and who knows maybe he will someday be the man who meets some wide eyed fan on their first time backstage at a show and I hope he will be as humble and as appreciative of their attention as Dave was to us...here is to a summer full of amazing moments, cheers and lets kick some ass together this summer.

Until Next Time...
The Bonedriver