Social Distortion & Foo Fighters

On Thursday, November 10, 2011, I saw Social Distortion and Foo Fighters at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA. I had already seen Social D back in October 2010 at the Electric Factory, but I was pumped to see them again because I loved them the first time around. I was hoping to hear more of their music, but I was pleased with the songs they chose to perform that night. As far as the Foo Fighters, I had never seen them live before. I will admit, I had never been a diehard fan of the Foo Fighters, but I always knew most of their music. I'm pretty sure I can thank my two neighbors, Sean and Mike, for even knowing any of the Foo Fighters music because they were obsessed with the band from middle school on. I hung out with Sean and Mike a lot, so needless to say, I was ALWAYS hearing about the Foo Fighters. After learning that I'd be attending the concert, months before the show, I decided to devote some more time to listening to their music. Well, I listened to their newest CD, Wasting Light, a lot and absolutely loved it. I had also forgotten how many hit songs they actually had over the years. So, by the time the concert came around, I was ready to see them live.

Their show was unbelievable. These guys are so talented and I was in awe most of the show. I had seats in a club box that were right next to the side of the stage, so they were great seats. They played so many new and old songs. It's pretty hard to point out favorite parts of the show, because I'm pretty sure this went into my Top 5 favorite concerts I've been to (and I've seen a lot). One moment that was really unique and had me speechless was when Dave Grohl was standing in the middle of the arena and sang an acoustic version of "Best of You" by himself. All of the house lights were on and you could see every single face in the arena. I'm pretty every single one of those people were singing all the words. It was so cool to just sit back and listen to it. It's one of those moments that I will never forget and it's another reason why I believe music is a universal language between everyone on this planet. Dave went on to sing a snippet of "Blackbird" by The Beatles, and then continued the acoustic set by singing the first verse of "Times Like These" with just him and his acoustic guitar but then once the chorus kicked in, he was back with the whole band for the rest of the song. Another favorite part of the show was the mash up of "Dear Rosemary" into Tom Petty's "Breakdown." I actually got the entire mash up on video...may not be the best quality, but it was still awesome. Overall it was really refreshing to see one of the only true rock and roll bands that are still around. They write and play all of their own music, and they are popular. It's really hard to find popular musicians who actually play and write their own music.

I've included the set lists for Social Distortion and the Foo Fighters from that night. I also included some video I shot that night (with my camera and my iPhone), and some videos I found that were posted by other people on YouTube from the Philly show.

Social Distortion's Set List - Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA - Thursday, November 10, 2011
Bad Luck
I Won't Run No More
Machine Gun Blues
Story of My Life
Gimme the Sweet and Lowdown
Reach for the Sky
Prison Bound
Don't Drag Me Down

Foo Fighter's Set List - Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA - Thursday, November 10, 2011
Bridge Burning
Rope
The Pretender
My Hero
Learn To Fly
(not sure what song came next here...)
Arlandria
Breakout
Cold Day in the Sun
Stacked Actors
Walk
Monkey Wrench
Let it Die
These Days
This is a Call
In the Flesh (Pink Floyd cover)
All My Life
-Encore-
Wheels
The Best of You
Blackbird snippet (Beatles cover)
Times Like These
Dear Rosemary/Breakdown (Tom Petty cover)
Everlong

Social D performing "Story of My Life" (my video)
Social D performing "Ring of Fire" (my video)
Foo Fighters performing "Best of You/Blackbird/Times Like These" (not my video)
Dave Grohl performing "The Best of You" (my video)
Foo Fighters performing "Dear Rosemary" & "Breakdown" (my video)
Foo Fighters performing "Monkey Wrench" (my video)

NKOTBSB

When I started this blog, I warned everyone, I'm a lover of all music. Last night my childhood memories from elementary school and high school came back to life. On June 5, 2011 at Wells Fargo Center in Philly, PA, I saw the New Kids On The Block and Backstreet Boys Tour (NKOTBSB). While some people might make fun of me for attending this show, I still think these two boybands are geniuses for putting this collaboration together. It's not really the music I'm into these days or the kind of show I usually go to, but just hearing their songs always bring out the little girl or teenage girl in me. I'm pretty sure I'm always going to be a huge fan of NKOTB and BSB as long as they keep touring and making music.

The show started with both groups on stage performing a mash up of "Single" (by NKOTB) and "The One" (by BSB) to the music of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida." As expected, the crowd was filled of females screaming for their old teen idols. For the next set of songs, the groups performed their own uptempo songs, while the other group exited the stage (an NKOTB song, then a BSB song). After that small set of uptempo songs, then each group came on stage to do a few ballads each. When BSB performed "I'll Never Break Your Heart," each member brought someone from the audience up to serenade them. Then both groups continued to do a few songs at a time, this time mixing it up with ballads and uptempo numbers. NKOTB did a mash up of Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison" and their own "Favorite Girl" (which was awesome). Then during their song, "Tonight," each member of NKOTB went to the front of a lower level section to serenade the crowd (Donnie Wahlberg was right in front of my section). BSB performed "As Long As You Love Me" and "All I Have To Give" with a bit of an old school Motown feel to the music, which was cool, and then they went into a short rendition of Prince's "Raspberry Beret" (one of my favorite Prince songs). Eventually both groups came on stage together to perform their latest single (that they recorded as a full group, NKOTBSB), "Don't Turn Out The Lights." After "Lights," they had an encore and BSB came on first to perform "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" and then NKOTB came on stage to perform "Hangin' Tough" (in Boston Celtics jerseys - with Donnie wearing a Phillies hat). Then BSB came on stage in Orlando Magic jerseys and both groups did a sort of song battle singing "Everybody" and "Oh oh oh oh oh." And then the show ended with both groups singing "We Will Rock You" together.

Below I've included the full set list, a link to my pictures from the show, and links to my personal videos I took during the show.

Set List - NKOTBSB - Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA - June 5th, 2011
Single (NKOTB)/The One (BSB)
Summertime (NKOTB)
The Call (BSB)
Dirty Dancing (NKOTB)
Bye Bye Love (BSB)
You've Got It (The Right Stuff) (NKOTB)
Larger Than Life (BSB)
Didn't I Blow Your Mind/Valentine Girl (NKOTB)
If You Go Away Girl (NKOTB)
Please Don't Go Girl (NKOTB)
Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely (BSB)
10,000 Promises (BSB)
I'll Never Break Your Heart (BSB)
Drowning (BSB)
Incomplete (BSB)
Step By Step (NKOTB)
Cover Girl (NKOTB)
Poison/Favorite Girl (NKOTB)
Games (NKOTB)
Tonight (NKOTB)
Shape Of My Heart (BSB)
As Long As You Love Me (BSB)
All I Have To Give (BSB)
Raspberry Beret (BSB)
Quit Playing Games With My Heart (BSB)
I'll Be Loving You Forever (NKOTB)
I Want It That Way (BSB)
Don't Turn Out The Lights (NKOTBSB)
ENCORE
Everybody (Backstreet's Back) (BSB)
Hangin' Tough (NKOTB)
We Will Rock You (NKOTBSB)

My Photos from the concert

BSB performing "Bye Bye Love"
BSB performing "The Call"
NKOTB performing "Dirty Dancing"
Donnie Wahlberg in front of my section
NKOTB performing "Right Stuff"
NKOTB performing "Please Don't Go Girl"
NKOTBSB performing "Don't Turn Out The Lights"
NKOTB performing "Hangin' Tough"
Ending of the Show