The Make America Rock Again tour made a stop in Maplewood at the Myth Nightclub on Friday night. When I first saw the line-up I honestly thought it was a joke because I hadn’t heard about the bands playing in well over ten years. It was not a joke and actually ended up being an awesome night full of nostalgia for the older crowd.
The night started before the music did with a very special meet and great BBQ for VIP ticket holders. If you wanted to, you could pay a little bit extra and literally have a BBQ with the musicians that were taking the stage later on in the night.
The sets were short as there seven bands to pump through in just a couple of hours but each band was able to at least play their hit song along with a couple old songs and a few new. Being that there were seven bands that played, it would be a bit much for me to write about every single one so here are the highlights according to me:
Saving Abel was a band that played that I personally didn’t know much about walking into the show last night but they were also the band that made me stop dead in my tracks and pay attention to their whole set. There was something about the super skinny singer, Scotty Austin, that was impossible to turn away from. He commanded the crowd as the band played through a handful of their radio rock songs. Members of the crowd seemed to move a little bit more during Saving Abel’s set than they previously had which definitely gave the whole room a different feeling.
Alien Ant Farm was my personal favorite of the night. Although they really only had one hit single, their cover of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal”, I never stopped loving these guys even when the fame had worn off and they faded into the over saturated scene of radio rock. Singer Dryden Mitchell has an extremely unique voice and I think that’s why I fell in love with this band nearly fifteen years ago. It was refreshing to hear them live and realize that his voice hasn’t changed. Even though they released a new album last year, Alien Ant Farm played a bunch of old songs that were perfect for a night full of nostalgia.
Closing out the night was Saliva from Tennessee. Out of all of the bands that played last night, these guys seem to be the most active as far as releasing music goes. They actually just released Love, Lies & Therapy earlier this year. Their music, like much of the other music that was played last night, was some of the best radio rock music that’s out there.
The older crowd was eating up every minute of every song that was played last night. Even though these bands have continued to put music out there and have continued on in the music world, it was amazing to be able to hear those songs from over ten years ago. At the same time, it was refreshing to see that these bands really haven’t changed as much as you may have thought when they would play newer songs.
All in all, last night was the perfect night of nostalgia and it was truly awesome to be able to see these bands that sang the soundtrack through my middle school years.
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