Torch - \m/ DC101 Chili Cook-off \m/

I'm just now recovering, 48 hours later*. It was that awesome.
For those that don't know, DC101 throws a big rock show to kick off every DC summer. The tickets and chili cook-off entry fees raise money for the National Kidney Foundation.
Take a good charity, throw in some rock'n'roll, dozens of different recipes of chili, all on a beautiful day - it was adding up to be a great experience.
Things did start off a little slowly, because the Yellow Line (metro) was running ridiculously slow, delaying our arrival to the DC City Center Lot. Eventually the train picked up things and we arrived at Metro Center station to meet up with our concert crew for the day, the Lucky 7. We barely made it to the venue (literally an empty parking lot in the middle of downtown Washington, DC) before the gates opened up, so we had to stand in line 180 degrees around the block to wait to get in. Finally we got through the gates and made an obligatory dash for the beer tent, preparing the proverbial fire extinguishers for the copious amounts of meat, beans, spices - and who knows what else - we were about to consume.
The gates opened an hour before any band was scheduled to perform, so we made our way about the lines of tents hawking samples of their wares. There were more experimental chilis than I could have imagined: hot, spicy, beefy, turkey, vegetarian, 5 alarm, 5 bean, no bean, Texas, Kansas City, Cincinnati, white bean, corn, peanut butter, crocodile... the list just went on and on. I make a fairly mean chili myself, so a few of us decided that rather than just attending next year, we were going to have our own tent hawking my chili.

Just as we had passed by the final entry into this chili bonanza, it was about time to mosey on over to the stage, where the shows were about to begin. The crowd was still a little thin, so we made our way to about 5 "rows" back near the right side of the stage for Minus-One, a local band that beat out 19 other bands to perform as the opening act. These guys were intensity in ten cities. They had swinging hooks and driving beats, keeping you on your toes in full out pogo stick mode the entire time. It was unfortunate that not many folks were there yet, because they could have easily rocked a stadium sized audience. I would definitely go see them again around town. They even had a lighter side, winding down with a melodic ballad - that for no rational reason made me think of Candlebox. Just when you thought they lulled us to sleep, the cranked the wattage back up and blew us away for their finale, leaving hearts pounding for more during the intermission.
Next up was my impetus for buying these tickets, Silversun Pickups. Plenty of MOGgers had been gushing over them lately, but is was Dale's Post and Zeroskilz's that actually got me to search for a show of theirs in my area. Darned if they weren't billed with 5 other bands in my own back yard, so it was on like Donkey Kong! It is hard to live up to the expectations set by so many here on MOG, but SSPU came through in great fashion. During both Lazy Eye and another song I don't remember, Brian straddled that fine line between in the moment energy and Marty McFly duck walking. Nikki was a trip - trying to cover up her stiff boppiness with oversized, bug eyed sunglasses. In the end she was able to pull off the "I'm a dork, but I'm a rock star too, so there!" attitude with quite a bit of flare. For those of you who think that SSPU is just Lazy Eye on the radio, you are missing so much more...

The next band to grace the stage was a last minute addition to the lineup, The Bravery. I didn't get to hear as much of them as I would have liked to, mainly because we were recharging on beer, chili, and sausage (see above) while giving our eardrums a rest during their set. My cohort Chris, who was stationed in England a couple of years ago, noted that he had heard of The Bravery while in the UK. A quick fact check verifies that their album The Bravery did much better across the pond than here in the States. They were on the precipice of release their latest album The Sun and the Moon, so we were treated to both the hits that made them popular as well as some new tracks yet to be released. I guess the most glowing reaction I can give is that shortly after the concert, I bought their album. It is in regular rotation.
The rawk that pulled us back into the fray of the crowd was none other than Buckcherry. This guy is literally the personification of every hard rock stereotype you can imagine:
Skinny? Check. Long, thin, scraggly hair? Check. No chest hair? Check. Covered in tattoos? Check. Leather pants? Check. Gyrating hips? Check. Fear your 13 year old daughter might "discover" him? Check.
The uncanniness was uncanny. Despite all these mental distractions he exuded, he put on an awesome performance. The crowd was large and in charge by this point and they whipped us into a huge frenzy. Things got so wild that I even convinced my wife (at that time, my fiancée) to go crowd surfing in the madness, as seen below:

Next up on the aural awesomeness train was Australia's very own JET. The second the XX shrills filled the air, I could only think of Anna and how much she would have loved to be right there, right then. If Buckcherry whipped us into a frenzy, then JET pushed us into tantric, rhythmic doldrums of delight. The crowd reached a peak, with some unable to prevent themselves from being swayed back and forth, a few mosh pits, and height of the "safe" crowd surfing. All in all they were a calf-straining, \m/ signing spectacle.
The next act Breaking Benjamin was a bit of a curiosity to me. I definitely recognized the name, but could neither name one of their songs by title nor identify them when played on the radio. I approached it with open ears and mind. [break, break]Random observation at that moment - Breaking Benjamin was the only group to perform that day that you could dress in business suits who wouldn't appear out of place in a corporate office.[/break, break] I finally did place Breath as well as a couple of their other singles. However, I couldn't enjoy BB as much as I would have liked to, because the crowd was getting a little out of hand. Only a few songs into BB's set, the girls of the Lucky 7 had already left our proximity to the stage area seeking more stable ground. Crowd surfers were getting pushed/tossed into thin or open areas. I actually took a shoe to the back of the head and had someone else land right between my shoulder blades. In addition, the nearest mosh pit had expanded and the participants started not caring about those trying to stay out of it. Basically I spent the last few songs concentrating so hard on staying vertical that I didn't even notice the music at times. Quite the buzz kill, IMO.
Once Breaking Benjamin finished their set, we all regrouped and decided to find a different place to park it for the headlining group of the festival, Three Days Grace. But first, a flashback...
Tak and I once worked with a friend of ours, we'll call him Bob (that's his name spelled backwards). Bob absorbed music like a lot of people growing up, listening to the radio, picking out a few bands, and staying marginally abreast of other top performers. Needless to say, his passion for music was not quite that of your typical MOGger. The three of us were having lunch one day and a U2 song was playing. When Tak mentioned how much he enjoys U2, Bob responded with "I didn't know this was U2." He then later hypothesized that U2 was that kind of band - you've heard of them, you've heard a ton of their songs, but if you're not a big fan of theirs you didn't always know that those songs were performed by U2. Bob thought that U2 had more of "those" kind of songs than any band of that time. While Tak doesn't necessarily see that (probably because he's too big of a U2 fan), I can understand where Bob was coming from and can agree to a point.
I told you that so I can tell you this - I think that Three Days Grace is that latest "that" kind of band. I had enjoyed some of their singles on the radio and was excited to see them, but not until that evening did I truly behold the breadth of their musical wares. Despite now being well out of mosh pit and crowd surfing range, they still rocked my socks off! The intensity you think they put into their studio albums pales in comparison to what they bleed on stage. I'm quite sure they rawked hard enough to get Dubya tapping his foot in the Oval Office just a few blocks down the road. The day seemed like it was starting to drag, with some of us tired from baking in the sun all day, but Three Days Grace knocked down the cobwebs and got energy coursing through everyone's veins.
By the time it was all over, I was rode hard, dehydrated, yet still comfortably numb. This was easily the best one day, multi-band festival I've ever been to, setting a high bar for the 2008 Chili Cookoff. If you happen to be in DC that fateful weekend next May, search for Torch's Titillating Chili stand so we can rock the day away.
--Torch