Friday March 23rd, 2001- Uncle Doctors: Columbia, SC
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| Cryptopsy, Candiria, Origin, and Poison the Well Friday March 23rd, 2001- Uncle Doctors: Columbia, SC |
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| Melina and I were SOO excited about seeing Poison the Well. She�s the one that found out about them first, and when I heard them, I was blown away. I wasn�t much of a hardcore fan, but when I heard them, I was very impressed. Not only is the music itself good, but they lyrics are incredible too. Very sweet. Jeff writes very well. Anyway, they weren�t coming to Atlanta, so we had to make another trip to South Carolina. This was my third time traveling to South Carolina for a show, first Fort Mill, then Spartenburg, now Columbia. We had pleasant experiences on our prior trips to SC, so we didn�t think this one would be any different. We left at around 4 in the afternoon. We didn�t know how long it would take us to get there, so Melina wanted as much time as she could have to get lost and turn around if that�s what was gonna end up happening. I had to go to Portuguese an hour early and take my test with the 2:30 class so that we could leave on time. When I was done with my test, Melina and I hoped in the car. We listened to Incubus and Poison the Well on the way. We stopped along the way to get some food. We were very hungry and Melina randomly wondered why pizza places didn�t have drive through windows. It was one of those weird thoughts that just pops into your head from out of nowhere�except we weren�t on drugs or anything we she thought of that. Anyway, we were talking about how we were going to monopolize on the drive through pizza industry when we pass a Pizza Hut with a drive through window! I couldn�t believe it. I�ve never seen that. Only in Angus, Ga. So there went Melina�s great idea. Anyway, Melina got some pizza through the drive through which took 15 minutes and I got something at McDonalds. We had a great time on the way to the show, eating and laughing and singing to songs in the car. Our road trips are always fun. We got to Columbia a lot earlier than we thought, probably because Melina was speeding like a mofo the whole way. But its all good. We actually went passed Uncle Doctor�s at first. It�s off on a side road so we had to turn back around. We pulled into the lot and saw a group of guys in a circle talking.Melina recognized some dudes from Poison the Well. Since it was still early, around 7, we went to a gas station so we could use the restroom. Then we sat in the parking lot of the gas station. Melina was putting on makeup and taking forever! But she was just stalling because she didn�t want to go and talk to the PTW guys. Their hotness made her nervous. Haha.When we went back to the venue, we saw a few kids there, some were standing outside the venue, some were in their cars, some were talking to the bands. We saw the lead singer of Candiria way off to the side, away from everyone just kind of squatting on the ground. I don�t know what he was doing. Maybe meditating or something or just enjoying some alone time. Melina decided that she maybe didn�t have enough money to get a PTW shirt like she wanted so we had to go to an ATM. So we drove away from the venue again. The ATM was so close by, we could�ve just walked. After she got her money, we drove back into the parking lot for the third time. We got out of the car and stood off to the side of the venue, next to the door. More and more people started showing up. Most of them looked like they were there to see Poison the Well. A lot of them were straightedge. Lots of them had piercings and plugs in their ears, tons of tattoos. It was pretty easy to figure out which band they were there to see. Melina saw this one kid who she remembered from previous hardcore shows. He was this little tiny dude who she use to see at shows in Atlanta a lot. I guess he and his friends made the Friday afternoon trip as well. Anyway, Melina said this kid was really annoying which I believe. Just the way he was acting around everyone, wanting attention from everyone around him. It was annoying. But what can you do? While most of the kids there were there for PTW, there were some there for Origin. How do I know? Same way. Punk/Hardcore kids dress a center way, and Metalheads dress another way: lots of black, long stringy hair, huge ass boots, black T-shirts with metal band names on them. The lead singer of Origin was walking around and seemed to be in disbelief at all of the people that were obviously NOT there to see his band. Then he came up to this metalhead kid next to us and said, �I was beginning to think there weren�t any more of us here.� I thought that was pretty funny. Anyway we waited for a long time for them to open the damn doors. We saw this guy who works the shows in SC there. His name is Dino. He�s this heavy set Hispanic dude. He seems pretty cool. We saw him at the Chimaira show at Ground Zero as well. Anyway, we wanted to ask him if Will Haven would be playing with Soulfly at Ground Zero. And while Melina kept egging me to ask him, I waited. The guys from Poison the Well kept walking in and out of the club. We saw these two girls go up to Jeff and he recognized them and gave them hugs. The girls looked Hispanic and since Jeff is Cuban I figured they spoke Spanish as well. If that made any sense. Anyway, the doors opened around 7:30 so we went in. Dino was right there so I asked him if Will Haven would be opening for Soulfly. He said no because they were still working on their new album. While we were waiting to go in, we heard Nonpoint over the speakers. Melina said to me, �Hey isn�t that Nonpoint?� and I said, �Yeah, it is.� Then one of those girls who had been talking to Jeff before said, �Oh you guys like Nonpoint?� We said, �Yes.� She said that back in the day she used to see them a lot. I asked her if she was from Florida since that is where both Poison the Well and Nonpoint are from. She said that she was but that she recently moved to SC. She asked if I knew how Nonpoint was doing and I told her that they got signed to MCA which is a pretty big label. Her eyes got really big and she said, �Really? Wow.� Anyway, it was cool that some random person knew about Nonpoint. I love them! Anyway, we went inside the venue and just stood around because we didn�t really know where to go. Everyone was standing near the merch and no one was out on the floor. Since we had never been there before, we didn�t know what to do so we just stood near the merch as well. The guys in PTW kept walking back and forth. We saw Chris and almost died! He looked SOOO hot. I mean he was cute in his pictures, but they did not do him justice. In person, he�s just breathtakingly beautiful. Anyway, eventually it got kinda crowded by the merch so we went on to the floor. More and more kids started showing up. Poison the Well went on first. Like I said, most of the kids were there to see them. Their set was so awesome! Everyone was right up against the stage in front of Jeff. Melina and I were right up front off to the right side. I took lots of pictures. I was trying desperately to get pictures of Chris, but him being behind the drums made it a little difficult. I was able to get some good pictures of Jeff though. Everyone there seemed to know all of their songs, so every song they played sounded awesome because everyone else was singing along. They played 12-23-93, A Wish for Wings That Work, Artists Rendering of Me, Slice Paper Wrists, and Nerdy. Everything sounded great! For some dumb reason, though, Poison the Well is only allowed to play for 30 minutes under contract , so their set was WAY too short. But I thoroughly it. After their set, we went up back by the merch were Melina got a red babydoll Poison the Well shirt. Unfortunately, I had my huge green Paris Blue cargo pants on, so she rolled up her shirt and stuffed it into one of my huge pockets. Dork! We sat down in some chairs next to the backstage doorway that the PTW boys had been sitting in before their set. Then Chris came to sit down on the other side of the doorway. I don�t remember what I said to him at first. Maybe �hey, good set� or something. It was kinda hard to hear him because that god awful band Origin was now playing. | |||||||
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