Alien Ant Farm : Show Review :
Chicago : 07.19.2003
by Dave Dalka
Alien Ant Farm Truimphantly Returns
The first time I was supposed
to see Alien Ant Farm was at a radio show in Indianapolis, Indiana with
Hoobastank and Incubus. That was Memorial Day weekend, 2002 (May 27,
2002). Well, we all know about the reason I didn't see them that day
and that has been well documented, so we won't bore you with a rehash
of that or show pictures that make you think of Princess Diana. A sadder
and not reported commentary of that event is that it happened shortly
after the single "Attitude" was released. Many Alien Ant Farm fans argue
that this is the best song off of the ANThology album, but it never
received the amount of airplay that "Smooth Criminal" or "Movies" did.
The sad truth is that without the summer tour concert ticket giveaway
grease, the radio airplay did not come anywhere close to it's potential.
So the song has kind of a cultish status as some people who have heard
the song and like it don't even make the connection to Alien Ant Farm.
At the Metro on this summer
evening, Alien Ant Farm performed a tight and magnificent set that featured
a large number of songs from the new album, TruANT, which had not been
released yet. The crowd seemed very into the new songs as well as the
radio singles mentioned above. Dryden Mitchell and Tye Zamora have excellent
stage presence as well, if you did not know about Dryden's movement
limitations, you wouldn't even notice anything was still not quite right
physically. Most of the new songs were surprisingly upbeat in tone after
what they had been through, you might have expected some anger, sadness or expressions
of frustration. There is no self pity or "why me" here, if anything
some fans at the show commented that they seemed stronger as a unit
now. Pre-ordering advance CD sales were brisk as they were sold with
a promise of an after show signing session - it appeared about twenty
percent of the crowd took them up on this. Innovative campaigns that
add value to new album promotions are a good idea as it boosts first
week album sales and gives people incentives to buy the album. In this
case, TruANT seems poised for much success if the right singles are
released and promoted (I'll update this story once the album is received
with what I think those should be after "These Days").
Hopefully, Alien Ant Farm
will be back soon and we'll be able to do an interview at that time
for our loyal Music Frisk readers. Until then, if you like Alien Ant
Farm, be sure to check out Marc and Jon Zamora's (Tye Zamora's brothers)
band, The
Color Red.
Alien Ant
Farm Setlist (thank you avid fan at the show Jenny)
01 1000 Days
02 Movies
03 Green Disease
04 Whisper
05 Sticks and Stones
06 These Days
07 Never Meant
08 Attitude
09 Courage
10 Sarah
11 Drifting Apart
12 Rubber Mallet
13 S.S. Recognize
14 Goodbye
15 Smooth Operator
16 Smooth Criminal
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Alien Ant Farm pictures from the show on
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Official site
www.alienantfarm.com
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