Some of you that have read my show reviews before, know that I can't write a short review to save my life. So here goes nothing ;)

Pre-AOA History: I have been a fan of STP since the beginning and I've been a radio single fan of Filter. Iive seen STP three times ('96, '00, '02) but never Filter.

AOA history: I believe it was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving my friend Wit emailed me telling me he had seen Army of Anyone on Conan and asked if I knew who they were. I did not. He was quite surprised and said, “Some muzik freak you are.” I told him I was only as good as my sources. haha After he told me who was involved I remembered reading a long while ago that the DeLeo brothers were starting a band but then I never heard anything else about it.

Well he commented that he thought I'd really like this band and he is usually spot-on with those kinds of statements. Not long after said email, I was on the Black Crowes message board in one of the non-Crowes related sections and what did I see? A thread on Army of Anyone. I jumped in and started reading. What jumped out at me? A concert date: December 5th at The Metro. WHAT?! WHEW! I hadn't missed the show.

I then typed in www.armyofanyone.com and was lucky to find that actually WAS their website! I did some searching on the site, listened to the three songs (and really liked what I was hearing) and then I found the message board. I signed up and found a Chicago thread. I was surprised to see a familiar screen name: ZOODISHBU.

Another back story: My friend Kim and I went to see The Panic Channel in May 2006 (yes, track 13 was recorded in Chicago!! Pretty cool, huh?). After the show, while waiting to see if the bass player would emerge, my friend and I started talking to this girl, lady, chic (what would you like to be called D? hehe). She told us she had driven three hours for the show, etc. She and I have kept in touch ever since then.

Based on thread communication, D thought about going to the Chicago show. But since she had already bought tics for Nashville and Indy it just wasn't in the cards. No worries D, next time!!

So, I knew hubby probably wouldn't want to go and I asked a couple other friends but no one was interested. That is when I decided, screw it, I'll go alone. A few days before the show I found out someone I had met at the Milwaukee Alice in Chains show would also be there. The day of the show I found out some folks from the Crowes board would be there. Great, lots of potential meetings.

I left work early and headed for The Metro. It was 26 degrees out. ooo, boy, gotta love Winter in Chicago. It could have been worse, way worse. By the time I got to the venue, it took me almost 30 minutes to find a place to park that didn't have a 9pm meter with a two hour limit. (doors were at 6pm) By the time I got in line, I think there were maybe 10 of us total. Only 20 minutes to wait and I was dressed somewhat warmly. 6pm came and they opened the doors. Thankfully there were NO delays. Once inside, I had no trouble claiming a left to center rail spot. (I wasn't in the mood to deal with potential crazies on Dean's side.)

One hour to wait for the first opening band. I spoke with a couple next to me who were there for the first opening band. They had been in line since 3:30pm and were trying to thaw out. That's some dedication right there.

Time passed and I noticed a lady behind me that looked kind of familiar. Eventually she asked if I was Teresa and I asked if she was Sandy . We were both right! The person on the Crowes board told her where I would be. We had met once before in 2004 at a Rich Robinson show. We passed the rest of the time talking.

Escape from Earth started at 7pm and played for about 30 minutes. Their music was alright but I was just not all that into them. I'm guessing it was because I really wanted to see Steepwater and of course AOA.

I believe Steepwater took the stage around 7:45pm or so and played until 8:15-8:20pm. They were awesome, as usual. When their set was over I couldn't believe it. It seemed SO SHORT compared to the first opening band.

So now the wait for AOA. Sandy ran out to feed the meter and I waited. I thought I heard someone yell my name but I thought, “That can't be right.” Sandy came back and out of the blue, I happened to turn to my left and I saw Ben, the guy I had met at the Milwaukee AIC show! How funny. We said hello and he told me he was in the balcony. I asked if he had yelled my name and he said YES! haha Too funny.

At approx 8:40 the lights went down and Army of Anyone took the stage. They played until the curfew cutoff at 10pm.