Edgefest 21 - 2011

Good ol' Edgefest! Since they moved the festival to Pizza Hut Park a few years ago, to the last weekend in April, it's been a crapshoot as to whether the weather is going to cooperate. With the unpredictable temperatures North Texas had been experiencing the two weeks before the show, it was anyone's guess what to expect when judgment day arrived. Well, as everyone knows by now, it was a great day for music.

I'll be honest with you. The lineup didn't really excite me when it was first announced. I was interested in Social Distortion and Flogging Molly, but was so-so on the rest, including Jane's Addiction. By the end of the festival, my attitude would change. Fortunately, there would be several pleasant surprises in store for me as the day unfurled. The first was Panic at the Disco! They have finally rediscovered who they are after putting the exclamation point back on to their name. Their set was a nice mix of their new and old material, and singer Brendon Urie seemed quite pleased that several hundred people actually knew the words to a lot of their songs.

A Day to Remember was by far the most entertaining group of the afternoon. Their clever use of props consisting of beach balls and rolled toilet paper bombs definitely brought attention their way. Several morons formed mosh pits to slug it out with each other while others ignored them to rock out on their own. When vocalist Jeremy McKinnon decided to encase himself in a giant plastic bubble and roll over the crowd, well, it certainly did become a day to remember.

Unfortunately for Social Distortion, their legacy as a great punk band was pretty much lost on this mostly under 30 crowd at Pizza Hut. For the informed few, it was a true honor to behold the greatness of Mike Ness on stage. The band played music covering their fabulous three decade career, but again, Social D is an acquired taste. If you didn't get them back then, you weren't going to get them now. Who cares! They were great whether most the crowd knew it or not. I passionately sang my brains out to "Ring of Fire," "Sick Boy," "Prison Bound," "Machine Gun Blues," "Story of My Life" and "Ball and Chain." So there!

Like many people waiting for Weezer to come out on stage, I thought the set would be top heavy on so-so albums from the past ten years like Raditude and Hurley. Boy, was I in for a surprise. Hell, shock if you really want to get down to it. When Rivers Cuomo broke into "Undone - The Sweater Song," you knew something interesting was about to happen. And it did. The band started belting away at the Blue, Green and Pinkerton albums unleashing hit after hit on the adoring crowd. The excitement from the audience was such that it literally became a boob fest as one 'girl gone wild' after another flashed the crowd when the cameras were trained on them. Even Cuomo was taken in by the flesh for fantasy unfolding before his eyes. He showed his support by 'flashing' the flashers himself. It was one of the funnier moments of the evening. It also broke up the endless and tired "pizza" references the singer couldn't help himself from making. Weezer really surprised the crowd when played the very lengthy "Only in Dreams." Then again, with all the tits flashing before them, maybe the song was apropos. Listen, if you are a music fan, Weezer didn't disappoint. If you were interested in witnessing a variety of breast shapes, the Weezer show didn't disappoint. And if you were waiting for Jane's Addiction, well, this was an extremely pleasant prelude to the main event.

Jane's Addiction is an acquired taste. Thousands in attendance danced, sang and cheered a very fit looking Perry Farrell throughout the night. Thousands in attendance also made for the exits. Farrell wondered aloud if they were going out for potato chips or to see mom. Turns out they just wanted to beat the traffic jam going home. The show started off with suspended aerial dancers and smoke bombs. No bare boobs were present, nor the idiots that form mosh pit rings to throw them selves in to each other with reckless abandon. Guitarist Dave Navarro shared much of the spotlight with Farrell. They ran through their hits and put on quite a show, though it was odd the band left out their obvious smash, "Jane Says." Oh well, after Weezers tit-for-tat performance, it was hard to complain about anything.

By the way, Seether was decent and Flogging Molly was awesome. Both artists are well worth your time to see on their own if their tours come through your area in the future.