After procuring floor seats for myself and my husband, I was pumped and ready. Listened to pretty much nothing but 3 Doors Down in the car and at home for like three weeks and really got in the mood. I love the band, but sometimes with new music and the excitement of new bands I move away from some of my old loves - not because I stop liking them, but just because there are other things occupying my attention. I fell back into love with so much of the music that I loved in the early 2000's and was totally ready to hear this new spin.
Boy, oh, boy, did they not disappoint. It was like jam session of all of my favorite 3 Doors Down songs, stripped down. There were no crazy lights and huge stacks of speakers...as there had been when I'd seen them with Breaking Benjamin and Staind or with Papa Roach at our local rock festival a few years later. There were 5 guys, 4 couches, a couple of random lamps (even a leg lamp!), and a single lightbulb hanging above the center of the stage. Of course there were stage lights so we could actually see them, and for sound projection, the instruments were, in fact, plugged in - however the stripped set and simple accompaniment worked really well.
Brad's voice was spot on and the vocals seemed all the more powerful set against the simple instrumentation. Despite saying that he had a cold and apologizing in case his voice broke at all during the show, I didn't notice any issues in that regard.
The set included both a Garth Brooks cover (The Dance) and a Metallica cover (Nothing Else Matters) which really showcased the range that this group can manage. It also included all the big hits from the boys themselves, including Kryptonite, Loser, When I'm Gone, Away From the Sun, among several others - both classic and newer.
The stage setup was cool - and although we were in the shrunk down event center at Turning Stone casino (they were only using floor seats and the stadium seats along the back wall of the room - the others were blocked and the stage moved closer) the venue felt intimate. The couches looked comfy and you could have even purchased seats, right up there on the stage, if you were willing to spend about $400 a piece. A few people did and it was fun to watch one of the guys taking photos with his phone from the stage. At the very end of the night - after the encore - Brad reached up as he was walking last off the stage and turned out the single hanging lightbulb designed to make this set look even more like a basement jam session. It was a nice touch indeed and made me smile. Definitely a fantastic night.
Turning Stone has also incorporated, for some of their shows, giveaways and prizes as well. On the way in, we were each given a raffle ticket and told to hang on to it. After the show was over there were signs set up in the halls saying "Drawing this way" with arrows pointing us in the direction of the main lobby where a DJ was set up. There, you dropped half of your ticket into a clear acrylic bingo ball style cage and just hung out. Once most of the crowd had gathered, they drew numbers to win one of 3 signed posters from the band, or the grand prize - a signed acoustic guitar. Neither my husband or I won anything, but it was definitely a cool - if somewhat unorganized (people milling about and we were waiting for everyone to get down there from the show) little perk. Nice touch by the casino - even if I really think it's probably just a ploy to get concert-goers to stick around longer and possibly wander into the gaming rooms and spend some money.
While this was the last stop for this leg of the tour, 3 Doors Down is heading back out to do more acoustic style shows this spring and summer. If you get the chance, I'd put this on my "check it out" list.
