KROQ's 12th annual Almost Acoustic Christmas was held in the Universal Amphitheater for two nights. The line up this year was absolutely amazing and that was evident in the ticket sales. Tickets sold out in two minutes and my friend was lucky enough to get two (she obviously hooked me up). I decided that night # 2 was the way to go. Remy Zero, Pete Yorn, Nickleback, Coldplay, 311, Foo Fighters, Bush, Staind and Linkin Park were scheduled to appear. Travis unfortunately had to cancel at the last minute leaving ample room for a surprise guest. No Doubt was kind enough to grace us with their presence, which made for one awesome surprise.

Unfortunately, KROQ had all the slow bands open first, which was kind of a drag because that meant that we had to stay until the very end of the show. Remy Zero opened up and did a decent job. I found myself falling asleep when Pete Yorn took the stage, and when Nickleback came on with their so-called "rock music", I felt like pulling out my eyes and stepping on them because that was a hideous display. Coldplay saved the day when they took the stage opening their set with the awesome single "Shiver". They followed it up with a few new songs and their most popular hits "Yellow" and "Trouble". When No Doubt was introduced as the surprise guest, the crowd went wild. They really knew how to get the audience pumped. Gwen was her usual cute self and gave a wonderful performance along with Tony, Tom and Adrian who performed wearing a kilt. Following No Doubt was my personal favorite 311. I live for the lead singer Nick Hexum, whose beautiful voice threw the audience into a complete frenzy. They opened with an acoustic version of their latest single "I'll Be Here Awhile" which had me melting in my seat. 311 knows that their fans constantly crave their older stuff so they threw in "All Mixed Up" and "Down" along with everyone's favorite, "Feel So Good". They were most definitely a crowd pleaser and made my waiting in line for 6 hours totally worth it.

Foo Fighters were up next and opened with "Breakout" which kicked some major butt. Dave Grohl gave an awesome performance and the set was definitely worth hearing. They played a variety of songs, some old and some new. Bush took the stage afterwards playing "Chemicals Between Us". The audience really got into the performance when Gavin ran through the isles getting grabbed every which way. Some guy got so crazy he threw a cup of beer on Gavin. Later Kevin and Bean announced that that same dixie cup would be on sale at E-Bay the very next day. Stained was up next to perform calming the crowd down with their music. Aaron Lewis has a very commanding presence on stage and everyone settled down and listened. It was a good opportunity to take a break after all those other great bands. KROQ literally saved the best for last when Linkin Park came on. Chester and Mike really rocked the house playing most of the songs off their latest album Hybrid Theory. They played a never before heard acoustic version of "In the End" and "Crawling" which sounded out of this world. They also performed a song called "My December" which everyone was talking about the next day. The guys gave an amazing performance and it was a great way to end the night. 

The night was an overall success. All the bands gave amazing performances and the show was definitely worth the $60 because all the proceeds benefited charities. Kudos to KROQ for putting together such a great line-up.

Back

Current Issue

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June