Gavin Rossdale Concert

So this has been a pretty Gavin-centric week on Melificent, huh? I don’t hear any of you complaining so I’m going to carry on with what I thought about his show at the House of Blues Tuesday night. First off, can I express how much I loathe all Orlando venues? Every time I have gone to see a live act in any of their theme park venues, they do not allow any kind of cameras or video. I understand the video aspect, but cameras? C’mon man. It’s just silly at this point (so please excuse my crappy iPhone shots). Plus, the House of Blues decided to take themselves one more notch douchier by having us all wait in the torrential rain for the doors to open. Thanks for that, guys.

However, the show was outstanding and more than made up for being sopping wet from head to toe. Gavin’s opening act, Nico Vega, was a pleasant surprise. This year, I have managed to experience some of the worst openers ever in the shows I have attended, so I can’t say I was expecting anything better this time around, but I was definitely proven wrong. Nico Vega’s front woman, Aja Volkman, has a voice that could power the entire venue. It’s just amazing. Plus, the small trio packs one hell of a punch when it comes to stage presence. I loved every second of her skirt-whipping and frenzied performance. Check out this neat video of Medicine Man as well as their self-titled album, Nico Vega, on Myspace Records.

Now on to Mr. Rossdale. This performance was a million times better than the show I saw at the Hard Rock Live last year. A million. You could tell Gavin was having a fantastic time up there and really worked up the audience – you could feel the energy. As the Orlando Sun Sentinel put it, “I almost feel like I need a cigarette after that one.” I had such a great time – you could tell Gavin was all about the rocking – there weren’t many ballads or some of the pop-ier tunes included in the set list, which was absolutely fine by me! Although I support Gavin’s solo record, I am a rock ‘n roll girl at heart and love hearing classic Bush songs as well as songs off of Institute’s album. Some of my favorite moments of the show were when Gavin climbed down a speaker in order to play Bullet Proof Skin to us front-rowers and his performance of This is Happiness, which I admit is not one of my favorites on the album but now is after seeing it performed live. There was just this insane energy pounding through the place and it was magical. The only thing I wish I could have experienced was his acoustic version of Letting the Cables Sleep. It is amazingly beautiful and I’m pretty sure aside from these AOL sessions, has never been played live.

However, the best part of the night was what happened after the show. After waiting 2 hours in the rain (again) and freezing my booty off, I finally got to meet Gavin for the first time in my almost 14 year fandom. And it surpassed any expectation I ever imagined in my head. First off, he is quite possibly the sweetest dude ever. He apologized about 50 times for making us wait so long and had no issues whatsoever giving people what they wanted (pictures, autographs, conversation). But my experience was absolutely insane. Gavin actually recognized me from Twitter. He came up to me and asked me if I was on Twitter & I obviously said I was, and he said “Melissa, right?” ARE YOU JOKING ME? Then, he goes on to tell me that he had been looking at all my photos that day! Out of control moment. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Seriously. So if you are on Twitter, make sure to add both him & Chris (guitarist): @grossdale & @CT3GUITAR.

So all in all, it was one amazing night. I watched two fantastical performances and got to meet someone I have admired and loved since my adolescence. And he lived up to it. So please check out these guys if they cruise through your town and make to tell them that I sent you (sweaty hugs & all) 😉