Bury me in smoke.

This my ticket from the Down show on February 15, 2008 at Toad's Place here in Richmond. There's also a postcard flyer for the show that I picked up when I bought my ticket.
The first time I heard Down I didn't like them. I don't know what it was. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it, it was so long ago I couldn't tell you what my problem was. I remember being in a used record store and finding Nola among the used cds. I knew it was Phil Anselmo's side project so I figured it'd be a no brainer for me. But after listening to a few songs I just could not get into it. Truthfully I felt bad. I felt like it made me less of a Pantera fan because I didn't like Down. I don't know if that makes any sense to anyone but that's how I felt. I didn't revisit that record for a long time. I didn't have my interest resparked until right around this time last year. I was in California and I was riding with Chucky Edge when Temptation's Wings came on his iPod. As soon as I heard that song I couldn't understand why I hadn't liked it before. There's nothing about Down that I wouldn't like. I guess I realized the error of my ways that night.
Two weeks ago Down played here in Richmond. I had known that they were coming here but I thought the show was in March, and completely by chance I heard a guy on the radio say he had a few tickets for the show leftover and he was giving them away. I tried to call in but couldn't get through, so on the way home I stopped by Toad's Place and luckily the show wasn't sold out.
Down was probably one of the loudest bands I have ever heard. When they came out on stage and started feeding back every bone in my body was vibrating. They had a virtual wall of thunder on stage, I don't know that I've seen a band in a smaller club setting with so much ampage. I felt like I was seeing Kiss or The Who, it looked like one of those old style concerts to me. There were a few times I thought Phil was going to lose it on stage. I don't know what the deal was but the power on the left side of the stage kept cutting out. During the show Phil came offstage and hugged a girl that was only a few feet from me, I have to say for someone who has done so much to themselves, he doesn't look too bad. I mean don't get me wrong the guy's not going to win any beauty contests but I know people who haven't treated their body nearly as bad as he has and they look ten times worse.
They played for right around two hours, and they played all the hits. There are some bands who sound ten times heavier live than they do on record, and Down is one of those bands. It was an awesome show, I'd probably put it in my top 15 of live acts I've seen, maybe even the top ten I don't know.