So, I know I’ve been slacking in the posting department. That’s cause I knew what I wanted my next post to be but haven’t had time this week. So, finally… I, for some reason, really enjoy people’s top 10 lists. I’m still getting magazines with their top 10 of 2007 lists. I’ve never had anything that I thought I’d enjoy making a top 10 list for until now. So here I go, my top 10 concerts stories of 2007 (okay, it includes 2 months of 2006 so it’s my top 12).

12. Kill Hannah at Sokol: For some reason I thought their entrance was awesome. They filled Sokol with smoke and took the stage in darkness. The only light was from the bright white light at the bottom of their guitars and the green lasers firing from the neck of their guitars which crossed over the crowd.
11. Kittie at Sokol Underground: For 24 hours after the show I felt like was wearing ear plugs; I was standing about 4 foot from one of the floor speakers. The only show that came close in ear damage was Godsmack and it lasted about 30 minutes. In addition to Kittie, I was introduced to the sounds of In This Moment, Walls of Jericho, 36 Crazy Fists and Dead to Fall.
10. Godsmack at Pershing: Nothing really stood out about this show but it was Godsmack at Pershing so it was pretty awesome.  Update: Frank is right… dueling drum solos is almost as cool as Joey Jordison playing on a rotating inverted platform.
9. My Chemical Romance at Pershing: You’d think Godsmack or Disturbed would bring out a much more active crowd than My Chemical Romance but the floor at Pershing has never shook from the crowd involvement as much as it did when all the emo kids came out to play. Followed by $1 draws downtown, how can that not be a good night.
8. Korn (Family Values) in KC: There’s nothing quite like an outside venue after dark. The light show was amazing and there’s nothing quite like Another Brick in the Wall set to awesome lighting with the stars above you.
7. Disturbed (Music as a Weapon) at Pershing: This whole evening should have been doomed as I was completely sick with tonsillitis. Luckily 800 mg of Ibuprofen makes it so you can swollen without being in horrifying pain and I’d been taking it for days. I was completely exhausted after the show but it was well worth it.
6. Buckcherry (River Riot) at Westfair: As many “situations” I tend to be involved in when up front in a pack crowd of crazy people, never has anyone drawn blood until River Riot. Leave it to an angry 100 lb girl swinging widely at a crowd surfer to crack me in the skull with her studded leather bracelet. Eh, just a flesh wound.
5. Hinder (River Riot) at Westfair: “But she threw a beer at me first…” The story still comes up to this day. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a beer-tender throw a beer at a customer but if that’s the story you want to go with, feel free. For those that don’t know the story, just ask Frank, I’m sure he’ll be happy to tell it.
4. Nickelback at Qwest: Luckily I didn’t have but a few beers because apparently that bright green “21″ bracelet means you smell like alcohol. Roadside Olympics followed by a breathalyser. Yup officer, I wasn’t lying when I said I had 3 beers all night and hand not drank anything for probably 2 hours, but thanks for wasting an hour of my time.
3. Manson at Pershing: Apparently word travels fast because I wasn’t at work for 5 minutes before 3 people said “so I heard you choke slammed someone last night”. In my defense, I let the guy push our group 3 times and warned him after the 2nd time to knock it off. His neck was right since he lowered his shoulder to hit someone in the group. It happened to be and his neck was right there, so I just kind of grabbed it and took him to the floor. He never came close to us again, go figure.
2. Tool at the MAC: Who still waits inline all night for tickets? People that REALLY want good tickets. Jesse and I spent the night in the parking lot and we were the first inline, which was good cause no one else we know got floor tickets that were buying online. The floor sold out in under 10 minutes. We even got our picture taken to send to the promoter…hmmm, shouldn’t we haven’t gotten free tickets for that? Then the show was amazing…3rd row, it was awesome. My Merrells probably hate me for it but it was worth it.
1. Evanescense: 4 tour in 14 months and I was there for all 4 of them. Denver, Council Bluffs, Kansas City and Lincoln. What more needs to be said!

On a sad note, the one thing that sticks out in my mind the most when remembering the great concerts of 2007 is one incident that wasn’t good at all. Most everyone knows about the fatal accident we came up on while driving home in the rain from Kansas City after Family Values. Sadly, two people, on there way home from the show to Omaha, lost their lives that night. We happened to be one of the first vehicles at the scene of the accident. A few minutes earlier and we could have easily been the truck hit head on from an out of control semi. It was sort of a life altering experience. It reminded me life is short and sometimes you have no control of what may happen with your life. Enjoy what you have while you can and remember to keep your friends and family close because you never know when something like that could happen to anyone, including yourself.