Jess and I have seen Smile Empty Soul once at a festival, they were one of the first bands to play and we had to get there early to catch them, which we did but we only caught their last couple of songs. I really only knew 1 song but I knew Jess liked them so when I heard they were coming I asked her if she wanted to go. She went back and forth then decided not to go. Then 2 weeks before the show the radio station was giving away tickets. So we figured we would try and win a pair. It was with the 3rd DJ of the day that Jess got through and won!
The day of the show we of course wanted to get our usual spot so we got to the venue about 3:30ish and we were first in line. While we were waiting you could hear the band doing their sound check. When they came out of doing sound check and back to their tour bus which was in the parking lot where we were, the singer looked mad or crabby. I wanted to ask him for a picture but Jess told me he looked too crabby and she wouldn’t do it. The band was messing with a generator so I left them alone. They ended up going in their bus then coming back out and that’s when I said let’s do it. I walked up to them and said I didn’t mean to bother you but we are excited for the show tonight any chance we could get a picture. The singer was actually really friendly and said sure. We talked for a couple minutes then he asked his roadie if he would take our picture. He included the drummer, to be honest at the time I didn’t know that’s who he was. After chatting for a few minutes he told us they would be available after the show at their merch booth. We thought maybe we will try and catch them again there. We went back to our spot in line. I was surprised that no one lined up until about 10 minutes before the doors. And it was only about 10 people who were there when they first opened the doors. So when we got in clearly we got our spot where we wanted but what was more shocking is that no one and I mean no one else joined us up at the front of the stage. Just before the opening band came on I think maybe 3-4 people joined us. It was during the 2nd band a few more people came up but still not very many people at all. The two opening bands were both local bands, whichvwe had seen before and both did a great job of warming up the crowd. The first band was called A Ranins Test and the other was called Dirty Kings. During the first band I got what I thought was the set list but it was more like a poem, I also got a broken drum stick. From the 2nd band I got their set list which was cool.
When Smile Empty Soul came out the place was a little more packed in but it certainly wasn’t a sold out show, which I was surprised to be honest. The band put on a great show and leading up to the concert I had been listening to their set list so I knew a lot more songs then I did the first time I saw them. We enjoyed the show a lot and I would say that I would certainly go see them again. At the end of their set we did wait in the merch line to get a couple of shirts. The line wasn’t super long but the band took time with everyone who bought something so it took a little while. We didn’t mind waiting. When we got to the front we bought 2 shirts one for each of us then we bought another one for them to sign. They not only signed our shirt but our ticket stubs and the set list I got from after their set. They also gave us a couple free stickers and a poster which they also signed. The guys were both really cool and nice and never once rushed us or anyone else. To add to my collection of stuff I also managed to get a few picks from them during and after their set.
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