Get Thee To A Supernova Concert

Ever have one of those days where every thing goes perfectly, like it's meant to be? I had one of those days on January 31st. I worked half a day before heading up to New York City for the Supernova concert. On a whim, I signed onto to Ticketmaster because I was curious to see what tickets were left and how close the concert was to a sell out. What to my wondering eyes should appear? A single front row pit ticket. I snapped it up and sold the 2nd row pit ticket I had previously bought on E-Bay to a height-challenged friend, stuck a few rows back who feared getting stuck behind an amazon. My piece of luck with the ticket set the tone for the day. I got the last covered space on top of the Hamilton train station and one subway train after another arrived moments after I stepped onto the platform. No matter how crowded the subway train, I always managed to get a seat. Little did I know where my good fortune would carry me later in the evening.

I checked into my hotel, freshened up and headed off to meet friends at my favorite Thai restaurant, Bangkok House. All three are huge Lukas Rossi fans and I had a good time listening to them squee over the singer while dining on Basil Chicken Noodle. While I've mostly enjoyed the new Supernova CD, I was really looking forward to seeing the openers: Magni and Dilana, Juke Kartel and the Panic Channel. I'd read mixed reviews of the Supernova concerts and had carefully been schooling myself to keep my expectations in check. However, my dinner companions enthusiasm was contagious.

After a 15 minute wait out in the freezing cold, the doors finally opened and we navigated the security juggernaut to get inside. We milled around Radio City for a bit and finally wandered into our seats. The concert kicked off shortly after 8 pm with Dilana, Magni and her guitarist Christian with an acoustic set.

Dilana

Magni

Juke Kartel's guitarist Dale Winter's joined the group for one last song, a cover of "She Talks To Angels". (I'll eventually have some video of this.")

Juke Kartel was next on the stage with songs from their new EP including "Save Me", "Throw It All Away", and "December".

Toby Rand

Tommy Kende and Todd Burman

Dale Winters

Eddie Murphy

Juke's drummer is only 20 years old and is destined to be one of the greats, I think--up there with Tommy Lee and Jon Farriss. Every once in a while, you go see a band and you realize that one of the band members is better than the band they're actually with. Don't get me wrong, Juke Kartel is a great band. But, Eddie is just amazing. Keep your eye on this one.

After a short intermission, Panic Channel came out. I'd been meaning to download their album before the concert so I would at least be somewhat familiar with their stuff, but it never quite happened. I'd say I liked about half of their stuff. Their lead singers banter was rather political which didn't bother me at all since I agreed with him. But, there was some grumbling from those that didn't. But, it was great to see Dave Navarro. He's a lot of fun to watch and is great about posing for the cameras. He jumped down off the stage towards the end of the set right in front of my friend Fransi who took my old 2nd row ticket and pretty much played directly too her for a few minutes.

Dave Navarro

Replacement bass player Siggy Sjursen is a cutie, but lead singer Steve Issacs is a little too emo for my tastes.

Siggy Sjursen and Steve Isaacs

Dilana came out to join the Panic Channel for their final song, a cover of "Highway to Hell".

After the final intermission, Supernova finally took the stage one by one.

Gilby Clark

Johnny Colt

Tommy Lee

Lukas for some reason has always reminded me of a wolf. Maybe it's the spike hair. I've had this mental image of him since he sang "Creep" on the show this summer and threw his head back for the high pitched money note, like he was howling at the moon. His fur-trimmed black leather jacket on Wednesday night did nothing to change the image in my head.

Lukas Rossi

It was a high energy show that included a string quartet for a cover of "Bitter Sweet Symphony" and "Can't Bring Myself To Light This Fuse" (one of my favorite songs off the CD). Thankfully, the dancing girls and titty cams from Vegas were no where to be found.

Towards the end of the main set, Toby Rand from Juke Kartel came out to do a duet with Lukas for "This Is My Home".

Like most shows, the concert ended with an encore. Towards of the end of the encore, a beer bottle that Lukas had been using to spray the crowd with slipped out of his hand and skittered diagonally across the stage in front of my section of the front row, shattering. Thankfully, not a single one of us were hurt. The glass seemed to just miss us all some how, even though it was all over the floor around our feet. I gingerly moved a few pieces of glass out of my way with my foot and looked up to see Johnny Colt, the bass player staring at me with a really concerned look on his face. But, it was all good. Aside from few drops of beer, I had come through unscathed.

Right after the show ended, one of Lukas' bodyguards came out with backstage passes for those of us in the front row that had had a narrow miss with the flying glass. I snagged one for Fransi as well since I knew she was a big Lukas fan. We were herded off to the side of the theatre to wait in line where we were taken upstairs in groups. An interesting side note, while we were standing waiting in line, an usher asked the couple behind us, who they were there to see. They said Jason Newstead, the Supernova bass player who had been injured back in November, who Johnny Colt is filling in for. My ears perked up a little at that and I wondered if he was lurking back stage somewhere. If so it's a good sign that he's on the mend.

Eventually, we were taken upstairs to in groups of ten and then herded into an empty dressing room that was being used as a holding pen. Lukas' body guard came back in and said that the band was in a meeting and now they weren't sure if any of them would be able to meet us because they had some sort of appearance to make at 12:30 am. A few seemed disappointed and left. The rest of us chose to stay and wait. As we waited, we watched Magni and Dilana wander out of a dressing room. Then Toby and Tommy from Juke Kartel came out. Toby, ever the sweetie, came in to do a quick meet and greet. At about 12:15 am in came Lukas. Toby who was still chatting with us, drummed up a round of applause for Lukas, much to his embarrassment. It's nice to know that rock stars can still blush, even the newly minted ones.

Lukas was very apologetic for the bottle incident. He came across as very personable, accessible and charismatic. He worked his way around the room until he got to Fransi and I. Fransi, who has met him on several occasions was rewarded with a huge bear hug and a kiss. I introduced myself to him and Fransi piped in that I was a Moderator at Rockband.com. I told him my screen name and he got this big smile on his face and said something to the effect of "I know who you are." (I was too dazzled by the smile to remember his exact words.). We chatted for a couple of more minutes before he got called away for a picture. Before too long, he and his girlfriend had to scoot off to the appearance and we were all headed out the door into the night.

It really was the perfect ending a perfect day. Sometimes, things start with a single fortuitous event and they just happen they way they're meant to.