Year in Review

They say that music is the soundtrack to your life. That fact is none the more apparent than as I am looking back over all the concerts I've attended this year. With rock concerts declining in the Memphis area, its definitely been much more about quality rather than quantity. And oh what quality I've seen in 2011.

Here's a few of my "Best Of..." picks from the year. What are yours?

Best Live Concert Photo (or my favorite of the year anyway): Ivan Moody of Five Finger Death Punch during their show in Little Rock, AR

Best Album: American Capitalist by Five Finger Death Punch

Best New Artist: Art of Dying

Best Concert: Guns N' Roses (at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN)

Best Concert Moment: Celebrating with MIGGS drummer Walker Adams when he realized that Candlebox frontman Kevin Martin was sporting a MIGGS tshirt during the band's Memphis concert.

Best Guest Appearance: Zach Myers joining in on guitar with Nonpoint for their hit "Bullet with a Name" during their Memphis stop.

Growing Old and Rocking Out to Candlebox

September 30, 2011
New Daisy Theater
Memphis, Tennessee
Candlebox with Cowboy Mouth

Kevin Martin fronts Candlebox at the New Daisy Theater in Memphis, TN.

Kevin Martin smiles onstage. A lot. Maybe he took his happy pills. Maybe he believes everything’s alright. But one thing’s for sure. You couldn’t douse that Colgate spokesperson smile with 10,000 horses.

Alright, alright. That’s enough corniness for one blog (maybe.) But I can’t help it. This is what Candlebox does to me. Listening to their music evokes a carefree feeling, taking me back to when the worst of my worries was turning in my US Government paper on time and finding a ride home from high school in a car deemed “socially acceptable” (a rarity indeed.) One of the first times I ever saw the Candlebox live was during high school (sometime around 1997) as the headliner on the final night of the MidSouth Fair.