Foo Fighters concert SLC 2011

This week I need to talk about attending the Foo Fighters concert last Tuesday night at the Maverick Center in Salt Lake City, UT last Tuesday (Ok, technically it was West Valley City, but that's a suburb of SLC so ... close enough).

My experience with this concert was a little different than most as I won an awesome prize package from a 101.9 The End (in my opinion the best station on the SLC airwaves).


Winning Tickets:
I was listening to The End last Saturday and heard the DJ announce that tickets were up for grabs, so I thought I'd call in and try for them. Well, I won the pair of tickets which I think were for regular seats and immediately contacted my brother (nicknamed "Schwaboy") to see if he wanted to come. Imagine my surprise the following Monday when the morning DJs (Chunga and Tysen) announce my name as the winner of the big prize package. When I let my brother know that we also had a limo, dinner, and access to the suite at the concert he was just as floored as I was.


The Extras:
Arrangements were made for the limo to arrive at my home at 5:30 and take my brother & I downtown to P. F. Chang's and to the concert afterwards. Schwaboy arrives at my place just before the limo is scheduled to take us, and we climb into the car. Now I've never traveled "in style" like this before, but my brother travels a lot and to him it's old hat. I kick back in the rear seat and what does he do? Lays down for a 15 minute snooze. We eventually arrive at the downtown restaurant. What's funny here is that my brother lives downtown and the restaurant is within walking distance of his house.

We do the dinner thing which I pay for with a gift card that was part of the package, and then hop back in the limo for our ride to the concert. The limousine comes into the driveway and the driver says he's dropping off VIPs. How cool is that... I'm a VIP! It’ll probably never happen again.

Anyway, we pull up in front of the stadium right across from the radio station's tent and climb out. I wave over to the tent, and one of the guys (sorry, I forget his name) brings over two Foo Fighters t-shirts which were also part of the prize package. This is extremely cool as concert shirts are usually about $25 - $50 a pop. I’d have bought one anyway, but I’m glad I didn’t have to.

Next we climb up the steps to the mezzanine level and find our concert suite. The radio station hosted a party there, so we were hanging with the afternoon DJ at The End (Cuzzin Brad) as well as other winners of suite tickets. There is food in the suite also which is great for those who won the suite tickets, but of course Schwaboy & I are rather full after P. F. Chang’s

The Actual Concert:
The concert was advertised as a Foo Fighters concert with Cage the Elephant as the opening act. What I didn't expect when I arrived was a third band by the name of Mariachi Del Bronx. Mariachi Del Bronx? Come on!

At first I just sort of laughed at the name, but then I actually started to listen to the music. It was ... mariachi music. Not my favorite style of tune, but I have to admit that they were good. And let's face it; they'd have to be good to open for Cage the Elephant and for Foo Fighters.
After Mariachi finished there was a short break before Cage the Elephant was prepared to come on stage. As soon as they did, the lead singer (forgive me if I don't know his name) announced that their drummer had an appendicitis the previous night. They had a roadie come and play a couple of songs and then a guest drummer. Most of the audience was cheering when they saw who it was, but I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't recognize the name or the face of the guest drummer. I could tell he was famous by the reaction of the crowd. Yeah... it was Dave Grohl - lead singer of the Foo Fighters (and former drummer for Nirvana).
Here's the thing with me ... I know the songs and bands I like, but I don't always know the names of the band members.

Anyway, Dave played drums for a few Cage the Elephant songs. Cage was good, but I've decided that they sound better on the radio than live. Don't get me wrong - the band has lots of energy and some very awesome songs. I just think they need a little more touring experience.

Another break before Foo Fighters comes on. (I'm guessing Dave needed a break as well as the band stage handlers needing to get the equipment on stage.) Can I just say that the Foos were AWESOME! They played several of their popular songs before going off stage. Then Dave Grohl came out to do a set of acoustic songs for the encore before being joined by the rest of the band.

By the end of the night I was tired and my ears were ringing (as they must do after attending a rock concert), but I had a blast. Then the limo ride home and finally it was time to pass out before having to work the next morning.

Maybe I should have tried to take the next day off of work…