Well it seems some people have been missing my concert reviews over here, so to satiate, I'm going to drop this review on every band I saw in October 2005...this one goes out to that guy looking for a Foo Fighters review...rock on buddy.

I will be rating on a scale of 1 - 5.

Jimmie's Chicken Shack - 3 - These Baltimorean legends still bring the rock even 5 years after their break out hit "Do Right" disappeared from the radio waves. Fun and reggae infused rock, they even tossed in a Bob Marley cover for fun.

Sleater-Kinney - 1 - Admittedly I missed most of their opening act for Pearl Jam while searching every merchandise stand at the Wachovia Center for a limited edition show poster. But we did catch their ender, a cover of Danzig's "Mother" with all of PJ.

Pearl Jam - 5 - Another epic Pearl Jam set that clocked in at just under 3 hours...they rocked the audiences socks off with staples like "Even Flow", "Last Kiss", "Better Man", and "Alive", and several rarities and covers. Plus the show ending "Rockin' In The Freeworld"/"Yellow Ledbetter" 1-2 punch with all the lights on and everyone in the joint singing along still gives me chills.

Boys Night Out - 2 - I honestly don't remember much of their set. So this one goes into my head as another one of the current wave of punk band sets that sounded exactly like 30 others.

Motion City Soundtrack - 3 - These guys bring the energy, and their CD is catchy as hell. Check out "The Future Freaks Me Out" off of their last CD I Am The Movie.

The Starting Line - 3 - Nothing much new here compared to the other 11 times I've seen them. I do enjoy the new CD immensely, however when singing it live Kenny usually slows down and elongates every word in every song. "Ready" was a definite highlight.

Fallout Boy - 3 - Extra points awarded for the insane crowd energy, and the slightly innovative move of splitting the set into two acts instead of the normal set/encore thing. Still the old stuff is for the most part better than the newer stuff. The sound that night was also fucked up and drowned out a lot of the vocals.

Hot Hot Heat - 3 - Catchy keyboard fronted poprock. But I didn't really know much of their stuff. Still I remember a time when NO ONE had a keyboardist but Bon Jovi, and now EVERYONE does. Thats why we need more bands with full fledged grand pianos.

Weezer - 5 - Kicking ass by leaps and bounds over their early return Electric Factory show 6 months earlier they were much more energetic and poppy (especially the obviously excited Rivers). Seeing him do "El Scorcho" sans guitar and pumping fists and running around the stage was just a sight to behold, and I liked the everyone gets to front a song switchups. The Blur cover of "Song 2" leading out of "Photograph" was also just a kick ass shred fest from Pat no less! As many times as I see these guys they always make me so excited about the music its like hearing it live for the first time.

Foo Fighters - 5 - After several long years of waiting I finally get to see Dave Grohl and co. just OWN the crowd. Screaming like a banshee they plowed through a 17 song set. That Joe was able to say after that he knew most of the songs despite not actually owning any FF cd's must say something. Of course the big highlight for me was getting to hear one of my favorite songs of alltime, "Everlong" close out the main set as Dave did most of it solo and was then joined by the full band for the last portion. Simply amazing.

Day At The Fair - 2 - The low rating is because I only caught a song and a half of their set, but the one song I did catch is the amazingly catchy anthem "Eastern Homes, Western Hearts". Pick up the CD and sing along because its impossible not too.

Houston Calls - 3 - Another of those new fangled pop punk keyboard bands. They did allright though.

Fenix TX - 4 - Wow the crowd rocked this one, going nuts and moshing up a storm even with only about 100 people in the audience. It may be there last reunion tour but the crowd still loved classics like "Phoebe Cates". They even polled the crowd on who they wanted to hear a cover by, and Journey won out and they absolutely ROCKED "Any Way You Want It". I never did think I'd hear "All My Fault" live either, now that was a goose bump moment.

Allister - 4 - I love my Allister and they did me proud, even though I felt so bad for them playing for such a small crowd. Plus major ups to Kyle and Tim who complimented me on my I'm A Legend In Japan shirt. The new stuff was pretty great live, and it was a pleasure to hear "Moper" again. Plus extra bonus for the shortest encore break I've ever witnessed. Do these guys a favor and please buy tickets to their shows!

Emmanuel - 1 - Say Anything dropped off the STD/SF tour, so we got these guys...poor us. Couldn't understand 5 words the singer sang. Terrible.

The Early November - 3 - Lower points because TEN had to play an abbreviated set due to the show running a little long, but they have gotten SO much better live over the past 3 years. The new stuff sounded promising though I still question the logic of releasing a 3 disc CD...So we shall see the end result there. "Baby Blue" and "Sesame Smeshame" were great live.

Saves The Day - 5 - What a disgrace that they played before Senses Fail. But their set was tremendous, touching on stuff from everyone of their albums, including some classics from Through Being Cool that they haven't played in a few years. Plus they opened with friggin "Firefly"!!! Good to have Chris and his guys back.

Senses Fail - 0 - I fucking hate Senses Fail. Them headlining over STD is an abortion. Never see them live.

So I guess in summation, a big band is usually big for a reason, because they've played a lot of shows and they are amazing live. It doesn't mean a lesser known younger band doesn't rock hard, it just means the older more experienced ones know how to do it better and own the crowd. Just goes to show you never know when Allister could be headlining arena shows with 3 encores.