Last night was a most interesting experience.  I mean it wasn’t Peelander interesting, but still interesting nonetheless.  Some friends were playing at 12^th and Porter and had invited me out.  Now, I had never been to 12^th and Porter before so I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go.  I’m always somewhat wary of going to new places alone and I had no idea where this place was.  My friends were nice enough to let me know it was located on the corner of 12^th and Porter.  Thanks guys.  I would have never figured that one out.  Once I got into the vicinity and discovered just how close the place was to the Exxon club I got a little worried.  Luckily, just as I parked someone I knew was parking right behind and I had an escort to the door.

I walked in the door alone because my escort had forgotten something in their car.  Wasn’t sure where to go once inside but there were people off to the right so I went in there.  Color me confused.  I mean I came to a metal show right?  There’s some chick on stage with a guitar singing about love and who knows what else.  After scratching my head for a few minutes another friend walked in.  She is equally confused and we decide to go outside as we are now starting to get a headache.  Eventually more people arrive and once we went back inside we are directed to go to the left instead of the right, which made way more sense.  This was a much bigger room and stage and had the usual bunch of weirdos I’m used to seeing.

Finally, the show starts.  Let me go ahead and say it’s about 100 degrees inside this place and at the time the show started there were a lot of people crowded inside which made it even worse.  DJ Wick-It went on first.  I didn’t know what to expect by someone named Wick-It, but I don’t think it was this.  Everyone really seemed to dig it, and I was quite entertained by the fact that white guys really can’t dance.  Really.  Oh, they tried.  At one point I actually saw someone moonwalk.  It was at this point that it started to hit me how strange it was that I was watching a DJ who was playing Michael Jackson and Guns N’ Roses open up a show that would be ended with a metal band.  Jamie from DBD and Beau from AT remarked that they would likely never play a show like this again as this opportunity doesn’t usually come up.

Once Wick-It finished, Chance from MuzikMafia took the stage.  So much energy from this guy.  Every song was completely different from the last, but they were all so good.  I’ve got to admit that I really liked “Riding on Chrome” which was one of the last songs.  There were about 10 people on stage during this one and the crowd was dancing around and singing along.  Definitely something I would love to go see again.

Now, before the whole show kicked off, Chance got on stage and told everyone that there couldn’t be any heavy moshing and that perhaps he should have thought about this before the show since he added metal bands.  A bit late at this point.  Apparently, this was a request from the venue so we all waited to see how this turned out.  Again, he just said no heavy moshing.  Adrenaline Theory takes the stage as we hear a in the background track explaining the definition and diversity of a certain “F” word.  Pretty funny stuff, but it went on a bit too long.  Once this ended, they opened up with “Reborn” which is always a favorite.  I was also please to hear them play “Schizo” for what seemed like the first time in months.  A mosh pit did break out, but it was very mild.  Actually, it was mostly girls and one of them was wearing a dress.  It took all of about two minutes for her to lose a flip-flop.  Seriously girls, I thought we discussed the repercussions on poor footwear choices.  Poor footwear choice = molested on the sidewalk.  Her flip-flops weren’t as bad as the multiple girls in their 4-inch heels.

Finally, we get to see Destroy by Design.  Chance once again told everyone we needed to respect the venue and there could be no moshing.  This time people seemed to listen.  I hadn’t seen these guys in a while and was so impressed.  During “No Good” Chance joined them on the stage.  Some girl was dancing on the bar during all of this.  The guy on the bar stool below her seemed to really be enjoying the view.  Pretty sure enough dollars were thrown to her to at least pay her bar tab.  Just before the last song DBD announced they wanted everyone to go nuts during the last song stating that “We may get kicked out, but who cares because it’s the last song,” or something similar to that.  Patrick from AT joined them on stage for this one.  He took a stage dive and was luckily caught by both Beau and Mike from AT.  Good thing.  For a minute I swore he was going head first into that concrete floor.  Nice save.  So, basically I love, love, loved the entire thing.  The music was great and the people were outstanding.  All the performers stayed to the end and supported everyone.  It was great to see the guys who were on stage with Chance in the middle of the mosh pit later on that night.  One even told me he wished he had hair as long as mine so that he could head bang.  Definitely a strange combination of acts, but they were all GREAT.  I recommend you go see all of them at least once.  I know I’ll be there again!