A preface. I'm doing this on my phone while at Six Flags outside Chicago. Pardon any typos, punctuation crap, whatever. I'm doing the best that I can. I took a few photos but won't be able to get them off my camera until I get home on Sunday. Sorry. Just couldn't justify dragging my laptop around with me on this entire trip.

First off, let me just say... Rockstar do a great job with their festivals. I have been to a combined total of 11 Mayhem/Uproar/Taste Of Chaos shows over the years and have never had a bad word to say about any of them. Kudos Rockstar; you do it right.

Got to First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre (hereafter known as FMBA) at 5:30pm after a long day of travelling. I'd never been to a show there before. It's an enormous amphitheatre an hour outside of Chicago in desolate, middle-of-nowhere farm country. I saw cows. Not at the show, but nearby.

FMBA is the same premise as Molson Amphitheatre (Toronto), Gexa Pavillion (Dallas), Lakewood Amphitheatre (Atlanta), etc... except it feels bigger. A lot bigger. Not sure what the capacity is, but it's one BIG mother. And it's loud. I thought it was fantastic. Better than all the similar places I've been to.

Adelita's Way and Staind were ok. Neither are really my thing. They both sounded amazing. Really amazing. Again, great venue. The crowd was really into both bands.

I was in the pit. Now I assumed the pit would be like it is at similar venues. A small enclosed section of 100 - 200 people. Wrong. At FMBA it's the entire front of stage and about 100 feet deep. Best guess, it holds roughly 600+, maybe more. The pit was rockin' for A.W. and Staind.

So... Drank a crap load of beer and several free Rockstar energy drinks and some Red Bull too. I was bouncing. So pumped for the main event.

After Staind they set up the white scrim curtain covering the entire front of the stage. I love that.

Lights go out...

AC/DC - "For Those About To Rock" starts up

Spotlights circle the pit. 4 smokin' hot chicks that couldn't have been older than 19 climb onto shoulders and flash their BOOBS! The place goes fucking mental.

Sully's GIANT guitar-strapped silhouette looms behind the scrim. Curtain drops...

The Enemy
Keep Away
Cryin' Like A Bitch
Straight Out Of Line
Awake
Re-Align
Speak
Voodoo
Batalla De Los Tambores
Medley: Back In Black (AC/DC), Walk This Way (Aerosmith), War Pigs (Black Sabbath)
Whatever (with Sully's speech)
I Stand Alone

The pit was so crazy I was thrown from one side to the other, back and forth, up and down. Seriously intense pit action. There were probably 20 people crowd surfing during Voodoo. VOODOO! That's how hype it was.

Sully's voice was strong, confident and without a trace of past ailments. No fear, he's fully back to his strength as a vocalist. He amazes me every time just how powerful he is. Solid.

I finally got to hear Re-Align live. Tony's solo blew me away. His restrained brilliance is infectious. How the hell does he get that unbelievable guitar tone?

Robbie leaned over the barricade and hi-fived me during Whatever. Shannon threw his sticks out at the end of I Stand Alone and one cracked me in the face. It fell over the barricade and the security dude threw it into the crowd. Not exactly fair if you ask me. I touched it first!

I wish they had played at least one more song off The Oracle. I think Forever Shamed live is Godsmack at the top of their game. I love the drum battle, but with a short set I'd sacrifice it for 2 extra songs. Sick Of Life, Vampires, Moon Baby. C'mon, switch it up a bit. My opinion. No one freak out.

Shinedown came on with Sound Of Madness and a million fireballs exploded. After that they were horrendously boring, so I left.

The End.

Ask questions and I will try to answer them during breaks in travelling.