Rearview Mirror
La Crosse, WI
The Warehouse
April 12th 2002
by: Cade Gentry 

Hmm…where do I start? This show was probably the best 
show I have ever been too. Granted I have not been to 
many big name shows but this was awesome! Not only was 
the show great but before the show Trevor and I and a 
few of our friends got to talk with the band, get stuff
 signed and just hang out. I have to warn you, this is a
long review. I will start in the beginning…

We got to The Warehouse around 6:20, walked upstairs, 
and looked around. There were a few people here and there.
 The first band was setting up on the stage. Trevor spotted
 Matt standing over by the bar and we went over to talk to
 him. He said that the rest of the guys went for a walk 
downtown. We went back downstairs to talk for a while and
 wait for Adam, Jason and TJ. Matt called them on his cell
 and said that we were waiting and that they should come 
back and talk to us for a bit. We waited around for about 
five minutes and then I saw them walk across the street. 
They came up to us, we introduced ourselves and got to know
 each other. They said they had to do a sound check pretty 
soon so we asked a few questions, talked a bit more then 
they went back upstairs. We followed. 

As we got back up to the top we saw that the band was on 
stage doing some stuff. They were putting up this huge banner.
 It looked really nice (we got some pictures of it in the 
pictures section). Trevor saw Andy walked by us and he said
 something. Andy was really nice about everything. He said
 that we could get some more time with the guys to get some 
CD's signed and ask a few questions. He told us to sit tight
 because the band was doing their sound check. We waited around 
for while and then Andy walked by again. He told us that we 
should wait down stairs and the band would come down when they 
were ready.

We waited downstairs for a while watching people walk by. 
Andy walked downstairs and told us that the band was waiting
 for us upstairs in the back room. We walked back up and followed 
Andy. The guys were all sitting down signing stuff. I had brought 
in a few CD's to get signed for a contest on the site. I was really
 amazed at how they were with everything. They were each signing huge
 stacks of posters and flyers that were going to get sold that night.
 I got the CD's signed and then we got a few good pictures taken. You
 can see them on in the picture section as well. After we had that 
taken care of they asked us if we had any more questions. I asked a
 few things, Trevor asked a few things and so did the other three 
people we were with. TJ got kind of angry at the official web site 
because it never gets updated. He said that RVMFANS.net is doing a 
lot better. They all were pretty angry that the show that night was 
not even on the official site. We wrapped things up. They thanked us
 for taking the time to make the fansite and we walked out.

By this time it was about 7:30 or so. We walked back outside 
and noticed that the group of people was getting pretty big. 
I was told that the doors were supposed to open at 7:30. They
 didn't let anybody up until around 8:30. We waited outside 
talking to other fans for an hour. I saw Adam and Jason come 
out the door and start talking to everybody. People were taking
 pictures with them and just hanging out. This really showed 
that RVM loves their fans and are making music because they 
love to do it.

8:30 came around and the doors opened. The line up the stairs 
moved slowly but we eventually got in. We found a seat upstairs
 and the first band started at 9:00. They were ok but not what
 I came to listen too. Joel (a friend of mine) and I decided we 
wanted to go downstairs and sit in the movie room. They first 
band played for about an hour and when they were done we went 
back upstairs. Joel and I hooked back up with Trevor and we 
talked for a few minutes. It didn't take long for the first 
band to take down their stuff and the second band to set theirs 
up. They started. They had a really nice sound. It was kind of a 
heavy metal rap. The band even had a DJ that was mixing it up on 
the turntables. Again I didn't really feel like listening to 
that style of music so Joel and I went back downstairs. 11:00 
rolled around it was finally time for RVM to go on.


Joel and I walked back upstairs and found Trevor. We went up to the
 front to find a good spot to get some pictures. The front row is the 
best place to be at an RVM show. You can snap some awesome pictures 
and you get to see an awesome show right up close. One of the first 
things I noticed was that Adam and Matt were standing barefoot. T
hey did the whole show like that. By this time the place was pretty 
much full. It was hard to move around and it was really hot. That 
didn't stop anybody from have an awesome time. The guys did a few 
last minute tests and then it was show time.

They started things off with All Lights Off. Everybody threw 
their hands in the air and started screaming. When Adam started 
signing everybody in the crowd sang along. There was so much energy
 right from the start. The crowd was going wild and RVM loved every 
bit of it. When the song ended the crowd burst into a loud roar. 
We all had to hear more, and we sure as hell go it. They played S
tronger Before and Study Me. After these two songs Adam started talking
 about how much La Crosse meant to them, he said that they used 
to play in bars around town every weekend. Out of nowhere Matt started 
playing the intro to In The Beginning and the crowd went insane. 
All the while Trevor and I were getting some really good pictures.

In The Beginning is a great song and its even better played live.
 After that song was over they played City Walls, Blade, then Animal.
 Animal was so awesome. People started going crazy. 
They were moshing and having a blast. This song was fully of intensity.
 I watched TJ pound like crazy on the drums. He never missed a single 
beat. They played Like They Were, Dead Air, Thank You and then 28/7.
 Right before they started 28/7 Adam said that they had one more song 
for us. They played, the crowd went nuts, and when it was over they 
thanks everybody, the lights came on, and they started walking off stage.
 We all knew this was not going to be the end of RVM that night. 
They hadn't even played Guilty! 

Everybody in was screaming and yelling for them to come back on stage 
and play some more. Jason walked up the mic and asked if we wanted more.
 Of course the place blew up with cheers. Matt, Adam, and TJ walked 
back to their places and they played Guilty. That made everybody happy.
 Then after that they had one more surprise for us. Adam said, "
You might have heard this one before. It's the title track off of our 
first album, Blown Out. Sing along if you know the words, cause I probably don't.
" This is my favorite RVM song and I was so happy to hear it get played. 
I watched Matt as he ripped off the intro, which is so awesome. 
This song was so intense and had so much power to it that when everybody 
jumped you could feel the floor moving up and down. This was a great 
ending to a great show. But that did not mean the night was over.

The show ended at about 12:00. The Street Teamers that were at the 
show started handing out stickers to the people as they walked out 
the door. Everybody wanted at least one of them. After most of the 
people had left we walked back up to the stage. Matt was up on the 
stage taking his stuff down. Joel and I offered to stay a while after
 the show and help out. Trevor couldn't stay with us because he still
 had to drive home that night. I thanked Matt for an awesome show and
 he thanked Trevor and I again for making the fansite. Trevor took 
off and Joel and I stayed behind. TJ told us that we could take down 
some of his drums. We took them downstairs and were supposed to 
wait for the van. It was not there. TJ came down with some stuff 
and sat down to and started to talk to us. It was so cool that he
 wanted to sit down there with us for 20 minutes or so and talk 
about stuff. He talked about how he was pissed off with the official 
site not being updated again. We just chilled out for a while. 
The other guys came and went with stuff. Joel went back upstairs 
to help Jason bring down a really heavy chest. I had to stay with 
the stuff to make sure that nothing got stolen. Everybody walking 
around downtown was pretty good about it though. Andy was supposed 
to have gone and got the trailer. It was taking him quite a while. 
We chilled with the guys some more. Andy finally showed up with the
 trailer and we started loading all the stuff up. When everything 
was ready to go it was about 1:00 in the morning. The guys thanked 
us, we thanked them, and then it was time to go home. We started 
walking back to our car and they got into their van. It was a great
 night and everybody had an awesome time. I can't wait to go to 
another show.

I got the set list from Jason, here it is:

All Lights Off
Stronger Before
Study Me
In The Beginning
City Walls
Blade
Animal
Like They Were
Dead Air
Thank You
28/7
Encore: Guilty and Blown Out