Big rock in the little city; concert news

Just walked in from a noisy night at Kellogg Arena.

There was more flesh in there than I've ever seen in that place. No room to move without touching somebody somewhere. Arena spokeswoman Lindsay Taylor told me the capacity was about 8,000; there were probably far more than that inside. The temperature inside the vacant, chilly arena hall rose at least 10 degrees as it began to fill up. By the time the second band was halfway through its set, the place thoroughly wreaked of sweat and stale beer. Not smoke; people had to walk outside to smoke.

Four bands on tonight, in this order: Saving Abel, Papa Roach, Avenged Sevenfold, Buckcherry. With each band, the stage setup got a little bigger, the music a little louder, the lights a little brighter. And consequently, the crowd packed together together against the barricades in front of the stage. By the time Buckcherry frontman Josh Todd took the microphone, the floor of the arena was one living organism, swooning and swaying and breathing and fists pumping.

With the smell of sweat and herb, the scene reminded me one of those single-cell, asexual things you see on the Discovery Channel in the midst of procreation. It was spawning happiness and glee and energy.

The crowd -- mostly blue-collar, hot blooded rock enthusiasts, along with the depressed, long-banged teenie types -- was this way because of withdrawal from a good rock concert in their hometown. The last big rock show was in 2006, when Disturbed performed. And now they were getting their fix, and they were getting high.

Some other observations from tonight.

• According to Al Lassen, the freelance photographer working with me tonight, there were at least three people taken away by ambulance. I saw a stretcher move through the back halls, but didn't see anyone taken out. If there were indeed three, that's more than I've ever seen taken in my long history of attending concerts. There was a lot of crowd-surfing happening tonight, and that's always likely to cause injury.

• There was also more puke than I'd ever seen at a concert. At least four times, and once before the first band even began, arena crews were dispatched to clean up the bio-hazard. I also saw several (assumed) boyfriends carrying their (assumed) girlfriends out of the crowd. The girls looked pale, thin and on the verge of throwing up, passing out or dying. I have no explanation for this other than how tightly packed the audience was.It's possible the girls were suffering from heat stroke or dehydration.

There will be more on this in Monday's Enquirer, but one more bit of information before I sign off: Taylor told me that Disturbed is coming to the arena again with its "Music as a Weapon" tour on April 30. Also on the bill are: Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil and Chimaira.

Comments

[Christina]

I've been to many, many concerts, I've seen broken bones, fainting,concussions, blood and vomit, but at every show I have ever been to the crowd knew the rules of a concert and the rules of the pit--with the exception of last night. The few crowd surfers (there really were not a lot) didn't know what they were doing and when one of them got dropped the people around just stared, you help the person up and then go back to the show. If some one falls in the pit (and the mash pit was pitiful) you pick them up and stop until you're certain that they are ok, standard rules of heavy rock concerts.

I must say that the show last night in Battle Creek had the worst crowd. Also, the number of children at the show who were either high or drunk was flooring. I'm not talking about 17 and 18 year olds but children who were under the age of 13 tripping on acid and E and drunk, I was absolutely appaled. I don't know if this is because Battle Creek doesn't get a lot of "rock" concerts people just don't know how to act, but even though Battle Creek may be a great place to live, I most certainly will not be back there for another concert.

I do hope that everyone had a great time, but learn the rules before somebody ends up dead.

Christina
Windsor, Ontario, Canada

[jhinkley]

Christina --

Sorry to hear you won't be back. I've been to several concerts at Kellogg Arena (every rock concert they've had in the last 8 years or so) and it's usually not like that. I normally spend a lot of time in the pit and most people know the rules. I've never seen that many kids high.

I'd hate for us to lose your visit over one bad experience.

Justin

[JC]

This was my first concert at the Kellogg Arena and I wasn't totally satisfied but will come back. My wife on the otherhand will probably not. It is a shame that some kids were out of control but there were some who were having a good time legally. I guess not much to do about that because I do not control how their parents raise them.

That was a loud concert! Papa Roach was great...Buckcherry was very loud, I believe too loud. I was sitting up in the stands and just heard garble so we decided to leave in the middle of it.

I will be at the Disturbed Concert and bringing my teen age daughter with me. It will be her first major concert and hopefully we will not experience the scene from that concert. If so, she will to see for herself on why I get concerned.