10 Years/Smile Empty Soul/Breaking Benjamin 11/8/05 OKC Bricktown

November 9, 2005, 05:42 PM

10 Years, Bricktown Events Center OKC, OK 11/8/2005
w/ Smile Empty Soul and Breaking Benjamin
Written by AJ, VP of Altsounds


“I’ve been waiting so long for this time…”

After nearly 2 years of singing the songs daily and talking about them endlessly, I finally was getting the chance to see 10 Years play live. You can imagine my excitement. I was literally about to explode leaving fan girl guts all over the Bricktown Events Center. I stood outside analyzing the crowd waiting to enter. It always fascinates me to see what kinds of people certain bands attract. There were lots of greasy little teenagers, a handful of ‘dude bros’ and their whorish sorority girlfriends, some misplaced goth kids and a ton of ‘scenesters.’ It was a nice mix…an appropriate mix. I always imagined this would be 10 Years target audience. Looking around I noticed something else. A lot of the greasy little teenagers and a few of the scenesters were wearing 10 Years shirts! This made me smile so big it was seriously painful.

Let me explain something real fast. Before 10 Years got their deal and their single hit radio across the country, they were very much a local band. Granted they were ****ing HUGE in their local market, but they still rarely ventured outside of Tennessee. Some of us (their manager and whoever else) would sit around and talk about how gigantic the band will be once given a big break and would joke and fantasize creating these ridiculous rockstar scenarios in our heads and apply it to 10 Years. For the last 2 years of MY life, 10 Years being a very popular band across the country was a dream, albeit a very reasonable and likely one. So now they have their deal. I knew the single was doing really well at radio and the records seem to be flying off the shelves, but I suppose it never really registered with me that there are now a lot of very hardcore 10 Years fans out there. It isn’t surprising in the least, as I think they will surely go down in the history books as one of the greatest rock bands of all time, but I guess it hadn’t fully sunk in with me yet…it’s really happening.

I walked into the venue less than 5 minutes before 10 Years took the stage. Just enough time to get a beer. While I was waiting for my drink I took a peek at the stage, where a HUGE 10 Years banner hung. I felt myself blush for a second wondering if that was maybe inappropriate. Just seems kind of pompous for an opening band. It all made sense once the music started. Being 5’3” and very ninja-like, I was able to weave through the crowd easily and make my way toward the middle. I had a great view of the band without being so close I could see up their nostrils. They opened the show with Half Life. What totally blew my mind is how loudly the crowd was cheering at the opening riff. They knew the song! Looking around I saw kids singing at the top of their lungs and throwing their fists in the air as the band rocked the **** out like they had been doing this for 20 years and they were playing a gigantic arena full of people who paid $300 per ticket. The crowd looked like they knew them, and they looked like they knew the crowd. Had I not known better, I never would have thought this was a brand new band. They looked seasoned and professional and put on a ****ing amazing show beginning to end. Most of the 600 people in the crowd clearly owned the album, as they sang along and rocked to the beat of every song. I had no choice but to join in.

Another thing I suspected about 10 Years target audience was also realized during the show. Potheads like 10 Years. The venue reeked of weed after about 2 songs as blunts were passed through the audience. 10 Years have an awesome vibe that is somehow mellow and incredibly intense at the same time, which tends to attract smokers. Same reason potheads love Tool. That’s just how it be. The smoking was certainly secondary to the music, as I looked around at the crowd I realized I was the only person not fixated on the stage, save a few people swaying back and forth with their eyes closed and hands in the air singing along reminding me more of a revival than a concert. I turned back to the stage to see Jesse climbing the speakers. I giggled to myself and watched intently as he lept from the top, thrashing through the air while belting out The Autumn Effect to the overwhelming cheers of the audience.

After a few songs I started to wonder if they were going to play Wasteland. That’s the big single, but I wouldn’t put it past a band like 10 Years to not play it in a set. The crowd was won over and they knew every word to every song, so not playing it wouldn’t be horrible…but then it started. That very recognizable guitar part rang through the venue and the audience ERUPTED. Screams and cheers, fists and horns in the air, jumping up and down. They were rabid for the song. The small part of the crowd not familiar with the whole record was now given their chance to feel cool by knowing all the words to at least one song. The audience was singing so loud it was drowning out the band. The person I had taken with me to the show (who was unfamiliar with 10 Years) tapped me on the shoulder and yelled ‘Hey! I know this song!!! I hear this all the time on the radio! I love it!’ and then proceeded to sing along with everyone else. I thought my heart was going to blow up in my chest as I started crying, just to release a little of what had been building up inside me.

Yes, I know I am totally gay…**** you…I love 10 Years.

They continued their set with the same level of energy, captivating everyone in the room as Jesse continued to jump from speakers and thrash across the stage with the rest of the band strutting and thrashing, happy to be giving the crowd what they were obviously craving. The set was short (opening…grr) but consisted of a solid lineup from The Autumn Effect including the title track and the single, as well as Through the Iris, Half Life, Paralyzing Kings, Empires and Prey. They were not able to pull off all of the harmonies in each of the songs, but it seriously didn’t matter as the crowd gladly picked up the slack harmonizing beautifully with Jesse. They didn’t sound exactly like the record, they sounded even better. Apparently Jesse can’t sing and climb at the same time and I could give a goddamn. They were perfectly imperfect and put on one of the best shows I have ever seen…not just for a new band…but ever.

As someone who has been to A LOT of shows and seen a lot of bands touring off one single, I can honestly say I have never seen anything like this before in my life. I have never seen a crowd so 100% behind a band based on one ****in song. It doesn’t happen. People don’t go scoop up the record, learn every song and then go to the show before there is at least one more single out there. That is, unless it’s a home crowd… but we’re about 850 miles from their hometown. I suppose it does make sense though…I have been pushing the **** out of this band for a long time without ever seeing them live or meeting them in person, so people falling in love with them based on one song isn’t far-fetched.

Once their set was over I hung around the merch booth, waiting for them to come out. After a while, Jesse eventually emerged. This is where it was solidified for me that Jesse is a full blown rockstar. I was SHOCKED at how small he is. On stage, he’s 100 feet tall…larger than life. Face to face with him, he’s not much taller than I am, and he has a small frame. He’s also quite striking…very attractive man with real depth in his eyes. What you would expect from someone who writes lyrics the way he does. I waited for him to finish signing autographs before finally introduced myself. I had hoped to speak with the whole band, and he said he would go and get them (or at least figure out how I can get together with everyone), and then he was gone. He didn’t come back. I didn’t get to speak with the whole band. I was only slightly upset about that. I was cranked to 11 on fan girl status and would surely say something unbelievably ****tarded, so it was probably best that I didn’t talk to them that night. I went back into the venue to check out Smile Empty Soul, a band I had seen before years ago, curious as to whether they finally figured out how to be good at what they do.

No…they haven’t. They are still a ridiculously generic band that puts on a mediocre show. Thankfully the crowd wasn’t into more than the single (which they opened with…silly boys). There was more happening in the audience than on the stage as kids were dragged out by security for underage drinking and fighting, and some guy was dragged out by his friends, apparently vomiting all over the place. Smile Empty Soul does that to me too, so I tried not to look directly at them. I went back out to the merch booth to talk to some fans. A kid walked up wearing a Breaking Benjamin hat and looked at all of the shirts and things on the wall behind the counter.
I pointed to the 10 Years cd and said ‘You should buy that.’
He replied ‘I have already bought it twice..the first one was stolen so I bought it again!’ So I said ‘How about a shirt then?’
He said ‘I already have them all…except the long sleeve, but I can’t get it today. I will buy it at Hot Topic as soon as they get it in!’
We then proceeded to talk about how great 10 Years is for a few minutes and he told me how much he enjoyed the show. Similar conversations repeated about 15 times before I finally decided to stop being the obnoxious drunk fan girl pimping merch to strangers. I think I was pissing off Smile Empty Soul’s fan.

I decided not to stick around for Breaking Benjamin. I have seen them numerous times..they put on a pretty good show. I had seen what I came to see and that was 10 Years…and the pathetic band they opened for. One thing was made very clear and I think it was clear to everyone else in the crowd, 10 Years should not have played first. They needed more time. I don’t think anyone was satisfied with their set. They could have easily played every song they have ever written and no one would have complained (and they would have most likely known all the words). One thing most people told me was that they are frustrated that they cannot get a copy of Killing All That Holds You, 10 Years previous independent release. Hopefully Universal will re-release it…who knows. It’s great though.

Overall, I have to say this show was a great experience for me personally. For as much as the band has been dreaming about this, I have been to. For as much as they have wanted to be a huge band, I have wanted them to be a huge band. I can only imagine how the band feels about their success, when it has totally blown me away. Its weird to see a dream come true..especially one as lofty as stardom. 10 Years is everywhere right now. People are paying attention to them. The stations who told me 2 years ago that they wouldn’t play the single (off the independent release) are now playing it in heavy rotation. The industry people who told me they would never make it are now asking me if I can get them tickets to the show. It’s more than a little odd and it’s more than a little amazing, and its more than exactly what I have wanted for them. I am proud of them.

They will be heading out on the Masters of Horror tour with Mudvayne and Sevendust pretty soon…that will certainly be a more fitting line up for 10 Years. They should only be sharing a stage with the biggest bands in rock as they make bands like Smile Empty Soul look like shitty bar bands. 10 Years are a band to catch, whether or not you have already seen them. They are a band I could see people following around all over the country and wouldn’t be surprised if people already are. Expect great things from 10 Years, you will not be let down.

www.altsounds.com/10years