POD - Little Rock Recap
By Philip Blunk
It's a family atmosphere with POD and crew, down in the belly of Alltel Arena on Friday, February 27th, 2004. Jason's wife scurries about escorting family and friends to the POD hideout and his mother-in-law has cooked up some of the best Thai food this side of the mainland. The meet and greet is well under way. These are good times!! I observe my 8 year old getting to see and meet Sonny, Wuv, Traa and Jason-what a blessing for you big man!!
The roar of nearly 18,000 people fills our space. The packed house doesn't lie. This show is going to be "off the hook!!" I'm not into fluff, so if your expecting my take on SOTY, Hoobestank and Linkin Park, you won't find it here. This night was all about POD and so is this review. Sorry if you're disappointed..
Lights out, roar of the crowd, smoke, lasers and moody intro. Nice guys, very nice! The first person I see through the smoke in the dark is Jason, grinning ear to ear. By this time I'm right between Sonny and Traa and the sounds of "Will You" consume the arena. The sound is deafening as the crowd sings along with Sonny. I look all around me and there are no spectators. Everyone is up, fists pump and the boys are going off!! Mr. Truby had instructed me to save about 10 pictures for when we have to go back to the sound board. In my excitement, I realize that I have shredded the whole roll of film in appx. 2 songs. Sorry Mr. Truby!!
If opening with "Will You" wasn't enough, "Boom" was up next. You know the drill, Sonny comes off the stage and is crowd bound. The place absolutely erupts with "BOOM, HERE COMES THA' BOOM!!!" How Sonny goes in there and doesn't come out stripped to his boxers is beyond me. I marvel at the connection going on here as Sonny, band and crowd become one. I can only imagine what this would have done for me in my unsaved teen years, to have been reached out to by a band like this in a positive way, sharing the love of God. Tears come to my eyes.
Old hits and soon to be hits are torn through with precision and tightness. The Warriors are in the house, everyone is still up and the moment we've all been waiting for when Sonny says, "Little Rock, give it up for the hometown boy!!!!!!" Welcome home Jason!!!!! With that Sonny, Traa and Wuv exit the stage. Sonny leaves Jason with one more instruction. "Jason, take these people where they need to be." For those of you with "ears to hear," I don't need to explain this statement. A sweetness fills the house as Jason, alone under a single light, plays "Eternal." 18,000 people fall silent, presence of God, love imparted, tears again.
In a crash of emotion and energy POD explodes back on stage as "Eternal" transitions into "Southtown." The place erupts!! As if to squeeze every last bit of energy out of the crowd, the show stopper is "Alive." The place is going so crazy that the crowd misses it's first chance to sing along to the song when the band pauses. The second time, the whole arena as one sings acapella, "I FEEL SO ALIVE, FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME, I CAN'T DENY YOU!!!!!" Alive ends up rockin' out "old school," (thanks Jason), with Sonny picking Jason up over his shoulders as the last notes rock the crowd.
Tonight was POD's night. They delivered the goods as only they can. Kids, that coke truck you see out on the street, that's not the real thing. POD is the real thing. And oh yeah, one word about Linkin Park... Sonny came out to sing along with Chester on "In the End," wearing a Living Sacrifice Reborn t-shirt. Nice Sonny, very nice!!
© Copyright 2004 HM Magazine. All rights reserved.
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Comments
WOW, I just read that article and all I can think of is how awesome their show was with LP and how amazing the one with Blindside will be.
Man, I wish I could see POD live - Must be one heck of a show!!!
That's awesome! I can't wait to see them on their headlining tour! :)
Awesome article Philip! I'm sure i saw you backstage and just don't remember. The show was that and much much more it was so special for me to see P.O.D. for the first time ever with True-BE(fam. will get that) on the axe! And yes it was awesome at the end seeing Jason take it "old school"!!! Can't wait for them to come back HOME!!
I saw P.O.D. and Blindside this past Monday here in Houston, and it was killer. Blindside was amazing!! So amazing that I was a little nervous for P.O.D. having to follow such a killer performance. But in true "warrior" style, they blew the doors off the place. Ears still ringing...
ditto on that!
I was at the same show.
Blindside killed!
Wow!
Okay - question: What song did Sonny throw the mic in the audience and step back on stage as the crowd members sung into it?
Was it:
"Alive"
"Youth of the Nation"
"Lie Down"
what?
I can't remember.
You know I have never seen them in concert. But it sounds pretty bad. Jason Truby really made a difference with there new stuff. He is my fave.
Peace.
I was on the floor at this show. Although I didn't like _Payable on Death_ that much, I loved POD's set. I have a suspicion that they made the crowd move more than anybody else (yes, even Linkin Park). I think Jason made eye-contact with me! :) Maybe he saw my The Blamed shirt! :) If this tour comes to your town, you must go; nearly every moment was awesome.
BTW, in response to an above post, Blindside wasn't even AT this show!
In response to Nathan, the show that the article is about is the tour with Linkin Park, but now POD is headlining their own tour with Blindside and it just started
Ahh dude I love the way that guy writes. You can feel it like you are there basically... wow.
Oh yeah, LS rulz, hopefully a ressurection in 2005!
I have been a pod fan since i was in jr high. I have seen them 5 times before the "Payable on Death" album. I was bit hurt I guess is the word this last tour I saw them. They played 9 songs off the new album. Dont get me wrong I like the new album, but I remember songs like "full color" thats changed my life after my friend died. its almost as if they forgot where they came from and just want to sell albums now. Believe me it hurts me like nothing else to say that about my favortie band
Nice arcticle..i felt like i was there..When is POD coming to the middle east?
Ok I know I'm treading dangerous water here, but I'm just being honest. Everyone talks about how amazing P.O.D. are live, but I saw them opening for Linkin Park and I have to admit that it wasn't as special as everyone seems to say. They seemed really lethargic on stage....maybe they were just tired or having an off night or something. Now don't get me wrong...I still LOVE the band but I think maybe that by hyping up bands too much magazines might be creating expectations that just aren't true or even possible for the band to meet. Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Peace.
Bingo. I love POD just as much as the next guy but every review of their performance is just hyped to the max.
I remember POD did MTV Asia sometime back and they were crap but Infoman, the bands official spin doctor (?)claimed they ripped the place apart, what a load of bull, they were tepid as hell, even pink did a lot better than them. I think there should be responsible reporting and calling a spade a spade. I have in the past called DVP (the editor of HM) a poser, not because i think he's a fake or anything on the contrary i think this mag is brilliant but he has dissed bands and performances in the past because they weren't rawk enough and praise certain bands because they were heavy, never mind the fact that the mellower band played excellent music and the heavier band sucked.
i went to the philly show with blindside...it was so awsome....i loved it...cant wait till purple door to see blindside again!!!!
je les ai jamais vus en concert mais je pense que ca doit bien donner!!
I must agree with Tom & Fish...I'm a huge POD fan and have all their cd's, I even record every TV appearance they have on my VCR...but their live show was not as tight or energetic as Linkin Park's...it was great, don't get me wrong..but I must be truthful about the performance..one thing that would really help the band live is to get some tighter background vocals..use stacks, bring in background singers..whatever it takes, I don't care, but Traa just doesn't have the voice for the backgrounds live & he's having to do them all by himself, it makes the songs sound less full and less harmonius than on their cd's. Just my opinion.
ok everyone, here's the deal. i went to both the LP show in Long Beach (to see P.O.D. by the way) and to the P.O.D. headline tour in Los Angeles and they ROCKED the house in both cases. the friend i took with me to both shows didn't even like P.O.D. but now she is totally into them. when they hit the stage, they hit it hard and bring this raw, untamed energy to the stage that no other band has live. the raw emotion you hear on the albums is the raw emotion you get on the stage. and in response to the post wondering if P.O.D. has sold out: how dare you even suggest that they are still your fave band when you just dissed them more than anyone could. just because they have grown musically and have found new ways of saying what they used to does not mean they have sold out!! i respect them 100% and am very glad to have had them bless my life with their music.
I WAS THERE : )
US CARA TOCA MUITO VALEUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
this is very cool!
pod rocks. i seen them live twice and they rocked. the firt time was when they came to philly with lp.i didnt like them at all. i went to the concert for lp. then i saw them live. they were of the hook.
after that i got tickets again when they came back. this time they were with lucuna coil, hazel street, and some other band.
this time they were the headliners, i have to give it to them. they rock and i cant wait till they come back again
i would LOVE to see POD live in Australia... anything... do anything... would do anything... I WOULD DO ANYTHING I TELL YOU!! when are they coming to Oz??
