Aaron Lewis Solo Acoustic HOB Review
| Tuesday, March 6, 2007 By Aaron Keker |
 HOUSE OF BLUES, Chicago – Last night Aaron Lewis, the lead singer from Staind, played an intimate acoustic performance at the House of Blues in Chicago, Illinois.The evening started as the curtain ascended, the lights dimmed and Aaron Lewis entered center stage to a roaring House of Blues. As Aaron Lewis picked up his acoustic guitar, someone in the audience yelled, “it’s Monday!” Aaron fired back with, “thanks for making this Monday so special.” And the night had begun. The first song that Aaron Lewis played acoustically was “Please” from Chapter V. When “Please” concluded, audience members started to yell out requests. After Aaron Lewis played “Something Like Me” another audience member yelled out, “put it on MySpace!” Aaron fired back with, “I hate MySpace. If you think that you are talking to me on MySpace, it is not me.” Another loud cheer proceeded after Aaron’s comment and you knew this night was going to be a rocking night to remember. Sometime later, Aaron told us a story about how he drove thirty hours to get to Fred Durst’s house. When he got there he recorded “Black Rain,” which they played for Flip Records and after that Staind received a record deal. So, I would like to personally thank Flip Records for discovering Aaron Lewis, otherwise Aaron Lewis might not be playing here this evening. Could you imagine Aaron Lewis trying out for American Idol? I could not, but who knows?Besides the music Aaron Lewis played, I really enjoyed how he would inform the audience of why or for whom he wrote these songs for. It definitely lived up to the hype of being an intimate evening with Aaron Lewis. It appeared as if everyone in the audience were old friends of Aaron Lewis and he was just kicking back playing some songs. It brought me back to my youth when I would sit around with my buddies while they would play acoustic guitar and we would sing some of our favorites songs. However, like back then, I do not have the musical talent that Aaron Lewis possesses. Aaron Lewis is one of the few musicians that strips his music down. If you ever watch videos like “Outside,” “It’s Been Awhile,” “So Far Away” and “Right Here” you will see Aaron Lewis going back to his roots and playing acoustic guitar. Another highlight for the evening was when Chris Ballini, an old friend of Aaron Lewis, played acoustic guitar with Aaron Lewis on “Brother,” “Nutshell,” “Bong Hits For Breakfast” and “Black.” After Black, a Pearl Jam cover, concluded, the cheers were extremely loud. However, those would not be the largest cheers of the evening. Throughout the evening, between the background vocals of the audience on “Black,” “Epiphany” and “So Far Away” the largest reception and background vocals occurred during the encore. During the encore, Aaron Lewis played “Outside,” “It’s Been Awhile” and “Right Here.” Once again, everyone in the audience had participated in the background vocals of “Outside,” “It’s Been Awhile” and “Right Here.” After each one of these songs concluded, the audience ovations were becoming increasingly louder. So loud you could not hear the person talking next to you. When the concert closed with “Right Here,” everyone that was sitting close to the stage stood up from their seats and clapped profusely. As Aaron Lewis bowed, thanked everyone for coming, he exited stage right. What a way to end! For those of you who are waiting to see Aaron Lewis, you are going to see an awesome performance from him. I am confident you will give him as good a reception as Chicago has given him. The only thing that I would recommend is please keep your voice to a minimum. I heard in my seat up front, several individuals in the background laughing and giggling. If you think I heard it what do you think Aaron Lewis was thinking? Therefore, try and keep the talking to a minimum. For those of you, who are not familiar with Aaron Lewis or Staind, check out their music at either iTunes or any other music store that sells their albums. If you love acoustic music, check out Staind’s acoustic sets on iTunes and Rhapsody. They are amazing. For Rhapsody, Staind plays “Nutshell” acoustically on the album Rolling Stone Original. For those of you in the press, who like to write negative or untrue rumors about Staind and Aaron Lewis, he cleared the air that evening. Aaron said, “we are not breaking up despite what you may have heard. In fact, we are working on a new album.” Just because Aaron Lewis is on a solo acoustic tour does not mean that Aaron Lewis and Staind are breaking up! Finally, I would like to thank Aaron Lewis for the pleasure of meeting him backstage before the concert. Who knows maybe next time I will have the opportunity to interview Aaron Lewis for Always Acoustic™ News? In the mean time, I will just kick back and enjoy the experience! Also, I have heard that Aaron Lewis does not like to do a set list. So, I provided one for him. Chicago Set List:
Encore:
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