Wednesday October 11th, 2000- The Masquerade
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| Ultraspank, Mudvayne, Nonpoint, and Boiler Room Wednesday October 11th, 2000- The Masquerade |
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| Ten days before this show, Melina and I had seen Ultraspank at Big Day Out. We had told Pete and Jerry that we would be seeing them at the Masquerade show as well. I remember being outside and waiting for the doors to open. Melina and I saw this really cute guy with dreads walk by and go inside. Immediately she said, "I bet he's in one of the bands." The first band to play was Boiler Room. They were ok. We felt that the lead singer was trying to act too much like Chino Moreno though. Then Nonpoint came on. To our great surprise the lead singer was the guy with the dreads who we had seen before the show. My word I just thought he was so beautiful. When Nonpoint started playing, I was just completely blown away. Never in my life had I been so impressed by a band that I had never heard of or had seen before. They were amazing on stage. They had so much energy and even though most of the crowd didn't know who they were, it was obvious that everyone took to them by the end of their set. Their songs were amazing, loud and full of aggression. And this lead singer, the man with the dreads, had such a stage presence that made it impossible for you to take your eyes off him, even for a moment. I had found a new band to listen to. After Nonpoint came Mudvayne. Honestly, when they first took to the stage, I was really scared, seriously. They just looked so gruesome and horrible; I didn't even want to see them play. When they started playing, I really didn't care for their music, or their fans. There was this group of about 4 or 5 guys who went crazy when they played. They kept bumping into us and everyone else, and tried to get in front. But we wouldn't let them. Mudvayne, with their obscenely painted faces, struck me as a band that lacked talent and therefore needed a gimmick to get people to pay attention to them. Their lead singer has a long ass blue goatee, and their guitarist was way too intense for being in a poser metal band. However, their bass player was very good, and fine as hell. I also liked his hair. He had two little devil horns on the top of his head, and while it didn't add to his "evilness" I thought it was pretty cool. Last but not least was Ultraspank. Melina and I were so stoked to see them. We purposely placed ourselves on the right side of the stage, because we knew that's the side that Jerry played on. But during the course of the show, we got pushed over more right than we wanted to be, and we were worried that we wouldn't be directly in front of him like we wanted. However, when the band took the stage, we were happy to see that Jerry placed himself right in front of our gazing eyes. It was like heaven. Just imagine having a front row seat to see the most beautiful man in the world play. It was amazing. Ultraspank was great. They played all the songs that we wanted to hear, including 5 and Where. I remember at one point of the show, Pete came on our side and held my hand. Thinking about that, and how nice he was to me when we met him at Big Day Out, really made me see him as a sweet and genuine person. Also during the show, the lead singer from Stuck Mojo came out and did Butter with the guys. That was pretty cool. While the Masquerade wasn't packed in the slightest, everyone in there made sure to let the guys know that we loved them and appreciated them playing for us. They even came back to do an encore after they left the stage. Pete said that it was the first encore they had ever received, and I think that made him happy. After the show, the guys were shaking everyone's hand in the crowd. I asked Jerry for a pic and he gave me a yellow Dunlap one. I felt so special. Melina and I decided to leave after that, kind of battling with whether or not we should stick around and try to talk to the guys. But we were so tired and we had a long ride back to school so we decided against it. Big mistake. Ultraspank would break up a few months later after getting dropped from their record label. Melina and I were crushed. It's nauseating that there are so many crappy bands out there, selling out arenas and selling millions of CDs, yet a really talented and awesome band like Ultraspank couldn't even sell out a small club because people don't have the sense to give good music a try. Pete and Neil are gonna continue on with a new project but the others are not doing anything with music at the moment, which is sad. I hope all of them decide to spread their talent to the world. And I hope that one day, if I'm lucky, I'll see Jerry again. | ||||
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