The Emerald Theater in Mt. Clemens, MI was only half-full when we arrived 10 minutes before RED took the stage. Lead singer Michael Barnes, bassist Randy Armstrong, guitarists Anthony Armstrong and Jasen Rauch, as well as drummer Hayden Lamb played a short set. Though it was no more than about 30 minutes, they managed to squeeze in their chart toppers like Breathe Into Me, Let Go, and Already Over. The lighting was horrible, ironically mostly red, but they still rocked the socks off their fans. It was nice to see that even though there wasn’t that big of a turn out, RED played as if they had sold out an arena.
To kill time before Filter took the stage, 101 WRIF held the finals of their Riff Rock Girl Competition. It was embarrassing to watch the spectacle as the girls answered questions such as, “Is Eddie Vedder alive?” and they responded “No.” How can you be a rock girl if you don’t even know the singer of Alive is in fact thus? Finally, they crowned the girl who caught a couple M&M’s in her mouth.
The crowd had grown substantially bigger when lead singer, Richard Patrick, guitarist Mitchell Marlow, bassist John Spiker as well as drummer Mika Fineo took the stage. They were very intense, especially Patrick, who thrashed his body about and whipped the mic stand across the stage, as the crowd screamed their approval. I was very happy to hear them play their oldies but goodies such as Hey Man Nice Shot and Trip Like I Do. They played a lot from their new album, Anthems for the Damned, which totally rocks. I really appreciate the anti war yet pro troop feel to songs like Soldiers of Misfortune. All in all it was a good night and I highly recommend going to see RED and Filter in
tion.