I’m so accustomed to attending Acoustic Christmas at the Gibson (formerly “Universal”) Amphitheatre that it’s a little strange to go to a show there where balcony tickets were never sold. There were empty seats. It confuses me.

3 Doors Down, supported by Alter Bridge and Shinedown, put on a great show. Interestingly enough, all three bands are ones whose names I’d first seen on my Satellite Radio receiver. I’d hear a song I liked, look down, and often enough it was one of these three. Enough that I started to remember who they were and what their songs were, anyway. The evening was arranged to move smoothly from louder, harder rock on down to a calmer, more laid back, Southern sort of rock. I’ve definitely seen worse shows.

The Wanderer and I arrived just as Alter Bridge’s set was starting. Shinedown struck me as being particularly nouveau Southern Rock-ish, even before they played their version of “Simple Man” with a stars-and-bars decorated guitar. They also did an astonishingly faithful cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll.” The lead singer, Brent Smith, emphasised one aspect of concerts I’ve personally believed in but never really expected a band to acknowledge or talk about: that the best concert experiences are when you forget about what’s going on elsewhere and just focus on the music and the energy. It was a little cheesy to have it explained on stage, however.

3 Doors Down are professionals, and I expected a good show from them. I did not, however, expect the mind-blowingly good tech setup. There were pyros, something I’d thought had been abandoned after a series of rock-related tragedies involving pyros gone wrong and lots of trampled people. The concert began with controlled flares flying off of three large rotating gears on stage: two on either side of the main area, one that the drummer sat “on.” (The gear rotated, the drummer did not.) Possibly a little pro-wrestling-ish, but I sort of like fire. Maybe it’s the redneck in me.

There were visually interesting videos on the screens behind and to either side of the band. Sometimes the screens would just show the band playing live, like most large venues are set up to do, but sometimes there were separate video feeds for them that had to do with the song being played.

The lighting was spectacular. The areas at the back of the stage were interestingly lit, coordinated with the colo(u)r scheme for a particular song. There were four massive arrays of lights above the stage (in addition to the usual and expected grids) that not only provided just the right colo(u)rs at just the right time but were also very creatively used — for “Away from the Sun” the arrays were turned off but yellow moving lights were shone onto the arrays to create a glittering effect much like — you guessed it — the sun.

I was suitably impressed. I think I would have gone to the concert just to see the creative tech. Luckily, the band did a great job. The set was laid back and enjoyable. They did break out the flag-waving on the last song of the encore (”When I’m gone”) by using their 1337 tech to give the song into a “Let’s support the troops” message, which grated a little, but otherwise it was a great set.

Fun Fact of the day: 3 Doors Down started in 1997, with their first album coming out in 2000. I always thought they were older than that. Maybe it is I who am old…

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