O-Town

O-Town at the Wolf’s Den

Friday night O-Town made their return to the Wolf’s Den at Mohegan Sun. This was their 3rd time performing there, but my 2nd time seeing them since I had to miss one since I was in Jamaica with Hanson last year when they came through!  WFAN’s Mike Francesca was in the Den before the show and I was hoping to catch a glimpse of a Mets player, but spotted a Yankees pitcher instead.  At 7pm we were let in for the show and they had removed all the chairs from the floor and were allowing you to choose if you preferred to stand on the floor or sit around the upper edge of the venue.  I was the first to choose a seat and got one right in the corner by the stage.  The show started at 8pm and featured 2 new songs off the upcoming release that the guys funded by fans on kickstarter – reaching their goal in 7 hours and doubling it (or more?) once the campaign was over!

They started their set with their first single, Liquid Dreams and ended the set bookended with their biggest single – All or Nothing.  Mixed in were songs from all 4 of the albums (including the upcoming one) and a few covers as well.  During the cover medley, Trevor and Dan went out into the crowd – with Dan walking right past where I was sitting on top of the booths that were below me.  I hear Trevor gave someone a lap dance but I was too busy watching Dan to see what was happening on the other side of the venue!  They let us pick if we wanted to hear “Baby I Would” or “Suddenly” and the cheers led to them doing Suddenly.  Typically I do not miss Ashley Parker Angel at all at these shows, but for some reason on that song it was noticeable he was missing (It may have been my first time hearing it since he had left so it wasn’t the album version I am used to? Or I’m losing my mind. Both equally possible.)

The first of the new songs was called “Shady Business” and it is “autobiographical”  The second was called “After The Light” (or lights?) and I think they said it was going to be their first single and due out March 14th.

After the show, if you purchased a merch item you could get it signed and get selfies with the guys.  We made sure we were at the front of the line because snow was on its way and we needed to get home ASAP!  (Fan Girl Problems – we had figured they wouldn’t be staying after since they didn’t the time before and were all set to go right after.  Once we found out that they were staying after we bought merch without even giving it a second though – THEN remembered – oh hey, it’s going to snow. crap.)  I mentioned to Dan that we were hoping to get out before the snow and Jacob mentioned that he heard it was starting at 9 and they both wanted us to be careful getting home. (We made it home without incident.)  Erik didn’t talk to me much but decided that my selfie camera was dirty because the picture was coming out blurry so he wiped it off and tried again (and the results weren’t much better.)  Jacob gave me a big hug and thanked me for coming.  Trevor was last and asked my name and said it was nice to meet me. I teased and said “Oh, you’ve met me before!” and he looked up and said “Yes, you’re right. I have! Here I am just standing here with my head down…” and thanked me for coming. I thanked him for coming back and he asked if I has been at all 3 shows. I told him 2/3 because I was in Jamaica with Hanson the last time and he said that was a valid excuse to miss!

I got some video of the new songs, if you want to check out a sneak peak!

 

Throwback Thursday – O-Town

02-05-17

Headliner: O-Town
Opener(s): Joseph Graye, 3rd Faze, Bad Mood Mike
Cost: $43
Setlist:

Every 6 Seconds
Take Me Under
Liquid Dreams
American Game
Baby I Would
We Fit Together
The Ocean – Jacob Solo
Semi Charmed Life – Ashley Solo
Joker – Erik Solo
Easy Way – Dan Solo
Gettin’ Jiggy With It – Trevor Solo
Pass The Couvousier – Trevor Solo
Girl
Girl On TV
I Showed Her
Death Wish
Love Should Be A Crime
From The Damage
All Or Nothing

Recap:  This would turn out to be my last O-Town show for a while. While they did come back on 1 more tour before breaking up, I wasn’t able to go because I had a family reunion to go to. (No, I’m not still bitter!)  Rich from LFO’s new band Bad Mood Mike (named after his brother and O-Towns manager, Mike) opened.

Where Are They Now:

I have little to no memory of Joseph Graye and according to Wikipedia, he doesn’t exist.  A google search gives me my own site as the 2nd hit… I want to say he was in O-Town’s band and also opened but don’t hold me to that! Or maybe Rich’s band. Someon’s band…

3rd Faze was a girl group and disbanded shortly after the O-Town tour.

Bad Mood Mike was formed by Rich Cronin, was on the O-Town tour, they never did an album and that was that.

O-Town has recently reunited as a foursome without Ashley Parker Angel.

 

 

Throwback Thursday – O-Town Show #2

01-09-15

Headliner: O-Town
Opener(s): Kaci, Svala
Cost: $10
Setlist:

Take Me Under
Girl
Baby I Would
We Fit Together
Sensitive
Superstition – Dan Solo
Living For The City – Dan Solo
Come Together – Jacob Solo
Friends in Low Places – Trevor Solo
Ms Jackson – Trevor Solo
Name – Ashley Solo
Purple Rain – Erik Solo
Sexiest Woman Alive
The Painter / Shy Girl
Love Should Be a Crime
Liquid Dreams
Every 6 Seconds
All Or Nothing

Recap:  This show was free with admission to the Big E.  We didn’t get there in time to get a spot inside the area where the show was (and I was piiisssed but that’s a story for another day) so we basically had to watch the show from the screens on the side of the stage.

Where Are They Now:

As previously mentioned, O-Town has reunited as a foursome.

Kaci – who had no last name at the time I believe was Kaci Battaglia and according to Wikipedia has not been in the public eye since 2010.

Svala was a singer from Iceland and has since joined the band Steed Lord and I’m not sure what she’s up to now!

 

O-Town is Back!

Saturday night O-Town was set to play Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den.  The Wolf’s Den is a first come, first served venue, so I was left with a lot of questions.  O-Town hasn’t been around in 10 years – how popular would they be? How early would a line form?  My Dad had mentioned he heard of people lining up for other shows at noon – so I decided I’d try to get there by 1.  I ended up showing up closer to 12:30 and was 8th in line. My friends Liz and Christine met me later.  I had brought a small stool, which at one time was not a problem for waiting in line, but at around 3pm we were told we could not be sitting on the floor, could not have a stool (so we had to rent a wheelchair!), could not have any of our bags on the floor, etc. because it was a fire hazard. (But really, they wanted people spending their money in the casino to be easily able to cut through the middle of the line to get from one side of the casino to the other – I’ve read enough strategy articles on sites like paybyphonecasino.uk about the atmosphere and settings casinos pose to get more money out of their customers – such as comped drinks, dimmer lighting, etc to know that by now.)

I’ve always found issues with this line – and wish they would do wristbands (they can be numbered by when you get there and coordinate with numbered seats inside) so that you could eat, drink, shop and play if you wanted rather than spending that time in line – but I guess the loss in revenue isn’t enough to cover paying someone to hand out wristbands (maybe they can put in a machine to do it?)  But if standing there for 7+ hours was what I needed to do to make sure I got inside, that was what I was going to do!

Around 4:45, we spotted Jacob on stage doing soundcheck with his guitar. Shortly after all 4 of them were on stage checking All or Nothing.  It was in this moment that I realized just how much I had missed them. Before I was excited they were back but hearing them perform live for the first time in something like 12 years… I needed that.

We were let in about 6:45 and found a spot down on the floor. (Everyone is given a seat but then has the option to go up front in the pit area. I am not sure if this was just for the O-Town show or if this is how the Wolf’s Den is working from now on)  At 8pm O-Town took the stage, kicked off with Liquid Dreams and we were off and running!  The show was very high energy with a pretty good mix of songs from now and then.  Dan still has one of the greatest voices of all the boybands.   They did as 12 song regular set and came back out for a 3 song encore which included their first new single, Skydive, THE single All or Nothing and their newest single Chasing After You.  They also threw in Wobble with We Fit Together and did a cover medley including Kanye, Macklemore, Aloe Black and Sam Smith.

After the show, if you had bought anything at the merch table (Which was pre-signed) you’d get the chance to get a photo with the guys. It would have to be pretty quick – but we were the first ones through the line so we got hugs from everyone and a great photo. I’m not sure if they had to make things quicker later in the line or not (it was pretty long!).  There were also the most people I’d ever seen outside the Wolf’s Den – it is situated that you can see inside even if you are not outside and it looked to be 3-5 people deep in some areas!

 

 

Liquid Dreams
Girl
I Won’t Lose
Love Should Be a Crime
We Fit Together / Wobble
Right Kind of Wrong
I Showed Her
These Are The Days
Rewind
Otis / Ceiling Can’t Hold Us / I Need a Dollar / Money On My Mind
Lines and Circles
Playing with Fire

Skydive
All or Nothing
Chasing After You

Throwback Thursday – O-Town in NYC

It’s been a while since I’ve done concert throwbacks – we were interrupted for some special anniversaries!  Can I just say, I can’t wait until we get to the shows where I have digital photos to share? It’s a few years out still. But maybe I’ll get bored enough to find where my negatives are stashed and hook up the negative scanner to post something? (Nah.)

Without further ado, here is the continuation of my concert throwbacks… back to 2001!

01-03-16

Headliner: O-Town
Opener(s): Lugo, Mariama Goodman
Cost:  $30
Setlist:

All For Love
Take Me Under
Baby I Would
Sexiest Woman Alive
The Painter
Girl / Money / All About the Benjamins
Love Should Be A Crime
All Or Nothing
Girl
Liquid Dreams
Every 6 Seconds

Recap:  My cousin Tiffany took me to this show in New York City, where she was living and going to school. My mom dropped me off with her (along with 2 of her other cousins) and we took the train into the city.  Then we stopped to eat and got to the venue as doors were opening. They had us go up to the balcony for seats and I remember being mad because I wanted to be closer and the security wasn’t very nice.  Clive Davis was at the show and presented the O-Town guys with a platinum record for their debut album!

Where Are They Now:

I can not find a damn thing about Lugo or Mariama Goodman. If you can, let me know!

O-Town is recently back together as a foursome minus Ashley Parker Angel and I will actually be seeing them in 2 days at the casino so look forward to a recap about that probably on “Whatever Wednesday” next week… and it should have pictures too! Yay!

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