10-18-2007 Serj Tankian & Tom Morello at the Fillmore at the TLA

So my buddies and I used to ride deep to all the metal concerts in Philly. Electric Factory, TLA, Tower Theatre, Camden, Trocadero, Arenas, stadiums, you name it we'd be there. And we'd prolly be in the pit too as per the u-sh. There was a crew of about 15 that would represent in some form at every show. Slipknot, NIN, Lamb of God, Fear Factory, System of a Down, Ozzy, Gwar, Trivium, Killswitch, In Flames, Slayer, Pantera, Rammstein, Machine Head, Deftones, Type O Negative Halloweens at the Troc, you name it, we'd be tearing it up in some way, shape or form. Complete with pre-game (and usually post-game) festivities :)

What's that you say? Serj Tankian, the singer of SOAD releases his first solo album, Elect the Dead, and announces a Philly date? Tom Morello's opening? Dope. We're repping like 10-20 of us there. Even fringe metal buddies are in. A bunch of us show up to the TLA the day before to get free tickets to the Wayne Theater for a special screening of 12 music videos for the album directed by 12 different people. This basically ensured we listen to the whole album complete with visual experience the night before. We are absolutely amped and can't wait till the show the next day.

It's show day and it's a freaking weekday of course, so we are all coming from work, the burbs, all over the city etc, and are kinda staggered in our arrivals. A few of us meet at Copabanana of all places for some margaritas and some random food. All part of the fun of a great night on South St. Always so many different places to go. Show starts, and Tom Morello is on as The NightWatchman. It's cool and fun, but you can tell the audience is hoping for Rage songs or high energy stuff, but it's mostly acoustic, so the tension is rising.

Serj begins and the place goes copabananas (see what I did there?). Some of the crew is in the light pit (there wasn't enough familiarity of the music to really get it going), some are downstairs in the back by the bar, and some of the crew is upstairs watching from the balcony. So we are running around in between songs, being mischievous, saying hi to everyone. Middle of the set I'm up in the balcony and I notice that one of my homeboys, DS (he knows who he is) is missing. I find out he juuuuuust got the boot for not only smoking a cigarette in the bathroom (a warning) but then when he was rocking out, he knocked someone's drink off the balcony onto people downstairs. I run outside and see him a little wasted and a whole lot kicked out. The security outside is pissed and aren't having it. I apologize on his behalf, beg the guys, and tell them I will personally watch over the homie. A president Jackson didn't hurt the cause either. Whole process takes like 3 minutes haha!! We go back inside, everyone's wondering how we pulled off a little magic, I tell DS not to smoke (and not to drink anymore either haha), and the show goes on happily ever after. Off to Lorenzo's for a giant pizza slice nightcap and it was just a fun night filled with just enough randomness for the record books. I love you South Street (and TLA security). Thanks for so many memories.