Josh Hedges' blog

Dead battery in the truck. This should be expensive…

So, this will be a little more detailed than my status updates have been.  Hopefully in time, I’ll revive this blog and make it something people actually like to read.

We drove up to St. George, Utah today to see Shinedown perform at the Dixie Sun Bowl.  They’re playing next week in Vegas, but tickets are way more expensive, I can’t take off work, and I’ve never been to Utah so we decided to make the trek.  The drive up was quick and easy, and at times actually quite beautiful.  Going through the Virgin River Gorge was something else.  The river cuts right through the mountains and the highway follows pretty much over top of it.  And it’s actually a real river with flowing water, not at all like the rivers I’m used to seeing in West Texas that are nothing more than puddles.

We pulled into St. George about 5:45, or so I thought.  I completely forgot about the time change, so it was actually 6:45.  We were supposed to pick up the tickets at 7:00, so it worked out great.  The Dixie Sun Bowl is a rodeo bowl on the campus of Dixie College, right in the middle of a nice residential area of St. George.  We battled absolutely zero traffic and had no problem finding parking right on the street.  Score major points right there!  Got the tickets and went in to sit down.  This was the typical rodeo bowl I’ve been accustomed to all my life.  Big patch of dirt surrounded by 5-6 rows of concrete steps to sit on.  We sat through the first two bands – Unread and Adelitas Way – which both turned out to be pretty good.  Adelitas Way especially impressed me since they’re from Vegas.  There isn’t much of a local music scene here, so it was refreshing to hear a local band and a bonus that they were actually good.

By the time Shinedown came up, our butts were pretty sore from the concrete.  We sat the first few songs and then went down to stand on the dirt in front of the stage.  Wish we had been there from the start.  The sound and the view were much better.  Shinedown played for a good 80 minutes, if not more.  Hitting all their notable songs except Simple Man.  Now, I’ve seen hundreds of bands perform.  I’ve been to shows where there were 50 people in attendance and I’ve been in crowds that topped 50,000.  These guys are without a doubt one of the best bands I’ve seen.  The emotion they put into the performance is something that can’t be described.  Even though there were maybe only 800 people there, they treated it just as if there were 800,000.  At one point, Brent left the stage and walked up into both sides of the bleachers to recruit people to come down and “join the show”.  Sadly, you don’t see a lot of “rock stars” really giving a shit like that anymore.  I’ve seen so many shows where the guys were just up there on stage going through the motions and not really caring if anyone has a good time (Scott Weiland for example).  But Shinedown really makes the audience a part of the show and really adds to the whole experience.  It felt more like hanging out with buddies than it did in awe of some mega rock stars doing their thing.

So, all in all, it was well worth the $60 for two tickets and 100 mile drive each way.  I would gladly do it again, and I would gladly go to even greater lengths to see Shinedown again.  If you ever have a chance to see them play, don’t pass it up.  They don’t call them the hardest working band in rock for nothing.  They will give you your money’s worth and then some.

http://ping.fm/p/WoBVy – Shinedown finally on.

http://ping.fm/p/qsMMW – I’ve been to some ghetto concerts before but putting a stage up in the rodeo bowl is a new one.

http://ping.fm/p/j4cKC – On the road to Utah.

Spending the morning at the Nissan dealership. I’d rather be back in bed.

In Vegas, it’s a requirement for all taxi drivers to driver like psychos.

Finally checking out the theater at Town Square with the 4k projectors.

Lunch at Cici’s. Feel like a kid again.

Have been re-watching E-Ring. Damn that was a good show.