The Time I Met Three Days Grace

So living the life that I live, I’ve only been getting started when it comes to experiencing unique moments and manifesting unforgettable memories. You could easily replace the word “unique” with “expensive” because so far it’s been one in the same. But to each their own, right? Last night was definitely one of those moments, funded by my best friend, Jordan. He gets all the thanks from me as I had the rare opportunity to see for the first time my favorite band not only perform live but also much much more, Three Days Grace!

The reason I say rare opportunity despite them performing every week on their Explosions tour is because Jordan wanted me to fully experience my favorite band with our own VIP PASSES! We actually had such anticipation for this night that we showed up and waited at the venue for over an hour to be first in the VIP line. We were quickly joined by a couple girls who got the same tickets. They were very nice and helped the time go by a little better. 

In hindsight, the fanbase is very very friendly. Which I guess should make sense since we all love a band that supports people that struggle emotionally. But we really only ran into nice people throughout the night. With almost a five hour gap between entry and performance we certainly had time to run into some kind people. And if you really want to know, entry was 4:45 and Three Days Grace didn’t come on until 9:30. And the reason why that would ever make sense is because of all the goodies that were in between!

Being allowed early access we were greeted by a small stand that gave us our lanyards signifying we were allowed to be in there at the time. We were told to wait by the bar where we met a cool bartender named Will. 

Being at the Horizon Event Center I ask Will, “So have you ever met anyone cool, working here?” and he comedically answered “Nah man, this place is more like where cool people go to retire.” …we liked Will. But as a non-drinker I had no business waiting at the bar for long so I walked over to the merch table to check out what I could possibly purchase as I in that same moment realize I’ve never actually bought band merch other than the Walmart t-shirt section. 

Jordan and I soon are in awe at the sight of SIGNED vinyls at the booth. Someone asked the tall man sitting with the merch how much they were and his answer was simply $75. Now that’s not the cheapest thing in the world but I honestly expected a higher number. Still doesn’t stop me from asking “Can I get a discount for this?” as I’m pointing to my Three Days Grace tattoo on my forearm. He instantly says “No, but if it were up to me I’d say ‘Hell yeah!’” Which honestly did not surprise me but hey, you gotta take a chance like that sometimes. 

We walked back to the bar to form a line as we were then told the band was coming out soon. Jordan and I could barely contain ourselves as it finally had set in that we were going to meet and take a picture with Three Days Grace. I had felt like I needed to explain my whole life story to them. I wanted to tell them how I started liking them on Xbox of all places. I wanted to tell them how they helped me get through breakups and deaths and just everything they had done for me. But I of course knew I didn’t have time for that. When I was next in line walking towards them I kept a cool head and pretended I was normal.

I briefly showed them my tattoo which they all loved. That certainly fulfills a man’s spirits. I then stand on the tape, pose for the picture and try my best not to ruin the picture I will cherish forever. I walked away from that thinking I was probably still making a weirdly excited face but who cares, I MET MY FAVORITE BAND! 

(Band members left to right: Brad Walst, Matt Walst, Neil Sanderson, and Barry Stock.

After the photos we were directed to stand together in front of the band for the Q&A. I have to say, there’s something really interesting about watching rockstars sit and talk and be normal people. Like we know all celebrities are real people, but I was really capturing this moment I’ve never felt before. These were the guys I’ve been listening to since I was seven years old and here they were talking about fishing and their kickboxing classes. 

So it turns out the guy from the merch booth was indeed the band’s personal head of security. He was also the guy to orchestrate how the Q&A would go. He opened up the segment by saying “Okay so the questions can start now. YOU have a question.” and he pointed right at me. Putting me on the spot immediately. Thinking back I think because of the tattoo joke back at the booth he was pitting my smart-assery against my quick thinking. But of course for me, I had planned to ask plenty of questions. And luckily I got to because most of the group was genuinely shy to ask anything. I mean, I understand talking to someone of this significance can be nerve racking but they literally paid hundreds for this moment, say something! 

I ultimately got to ask the band three questions and also Jordan asked a couple. Drummer Neil Sanderson turned out to be the most talkative out of the group. He seemed the most awake at least, whereas lead singer Matt Walst appeared to have come back from the best nap ever. Bass player Brad Walst was pretty funny sharing a story about his dad. But my favorite member was Barry Stock, the lead guitarist. I was surprised to see how he was nearly silent the whole time. He could be an introvert or just as tired as Matt. I decided not to ask him what it's like playing with a guitar that has two necks. Man, is he wicked with it! Now I wish I remembered all they said answering my questions, they had such long answers. But to be fair, my questions weren’t exactly simple. I will do my best to remember and summarize what they said but for this I gotta change up the writing format.

Q: Your new album has a few songs that mention how small we are compared to the rest of the universe. So like what started that thought process to have a theme like that? 

A: (Neil) Well in a world where everyone is worried about self image or getting canceled we call this album explosions because we think you should be able to sit back and just be yourself, or you can explode and not give a shit and do whatever you wanna do with your life. Because in all actuality why should we care when we are all so small.

Q: What’s it like to be literally saving lives out here?

Neil: It’s a pretty surreal feeling. We love hearing stuff like that. We love when people reach out to us and tell us what we did for them in their darkest moments. We’re making songs and we’re putting into words exactly what a lot of people are going through. Because there’s always people with anxiety and depression. At the end of the day we’re really just talking about our own problems. 

Brad: Yeah there was actually a guy at the last show, he was one of the concession guys. He came up to me and told me a short story about how he was listening to a song a short while back and it really helped him out and he found out it was us when we performed it. It was really cool hearing that from him.

Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? 

Now I will say this question actually surprised everyone around me for some reason. The band actually really liked that question but they were taken aback by how hard that question could be. I don’t know if that’s a brag but that’s how it went. Anyway…

Neil: Oh wow…in life? I don’t know, drink less?

Brad: Well, our dad always said to try all the girls and pick the best one.

Neil: Well I get advice from being a father. Just being there for my daughter a lot and seeing how she deals with problems. I have to answer to all the problems she has and that kind of taught me how big of a deal we make most of our problems and in the midst of it all we struggle to see it’s going to be a lot better than we think. 

So they all said…something like that. I wish I recorded voice memos but I was really just caught up in the moment. 

After all that the band probably goes to their trailer or something. Meanwhile this is the time for Jordan and I to enjoy the space before it gets flooded with metal fans within the next hour. We were fast enough to grab the merch we wanted, take our stuff to the car, while also finally grabbing the most perfect spots to watch the concert from. And since we were there early, it’s front and center all day, baby! It was around six o’clock so it wasn’t for another hour until the opener but I was NOT giving up the best spot I’ve ever had at a concert. Luckily we were standing next to a pretty cool guy.

Just like earlier, this guy was also very nice. Him and Jordan actually ended up knowing a lot of the same people since they had both worked at Hy-vee. He made the time go by easily and the next thing we knew the opening band was heading to the stage. 

The band was called Zero 9:36. The lead vocalist was this guy who actually goes by the name Zero. Has a pretty awesome taste in vintage t-shirts, too. He Rapped over the band’s rock music. Which is actually a pretty successful style these days. There’s a lot of rock songs with rap lyrics that are just awesome, but it may have been the environment or my ear plugs or just something that made me struggle individualizing his songs. But they do have talent, they sounded awesome and I wish them luck for the rest of the tour. Last thing on Zero, he’s actually a pretty cool guy from what it seems. He’s very humble for a young guy who’s focusing on being a rockstar. Making jokes like “happy to see all nine of my fans coming out tonight!” And “I’ll be at the merch booth after this, but if you don’t come by I understand.”

After them was Wage War. A screamo band that has a pretty strong fan base themselves. I had never heard of them or knew any of their songs but I’ve never been a fan of screamo anyhow. But they were big enough to have their own VIP experience tickets. Their performance was a complete light show. I actually had to put on my sunglasses for that one.

During their performance was when a mosh pit broke out behind me. I could tell because of the bodies that got slammed up against me. This poor girl behind me was holding my back bracing for impacts, but against the railing I just held on, looked forward, and enjoyed the show. This girl behind me was also very nice. I had made a joke about if I had some ibuprofen I may have joined the mosh pit. She heard it and immediately offered me some Advil. That was a lifesaver because that was the perfect time for me to feel great by the scheduled performance time for Three Days Grace.

Once Wage War finished, a lot of their die hard fans just left after that. Which is understandable, Three Days Grace not performing until 9:30 obviously means it’s a late night. But that didn’t stop the army of TDG fans coming in after that. It was incredible how many people I could see turning around from the front row. 

After that was the longest thirty minutes of my life. I was finally going to be there. I was finally going to do this. My favorite band is performing live, just ten feet away. 

The largest drum set I had ever seen came forward on the stage, along with two giant screens that later played awesome visuals from song to song. Watching them walk out onto stage made me forget that I had met them just three hours ago. Seeing them in their performance gear. The crowd erupting the second they got on stage. Giant hearts of fire illuminating our faces. I was completely soaked in the moment that this was happening and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in that second. Fifteen years of fandom brought me here. 

See now this the hard part, how do I describe a concert. We’ve all seen concerts. They show up, play their songs, then leave. So I’ll hit on what stuck out to me. So this was, as I previously mentioned, their “Explosions” tour. Of course promoting their new album called “Explosions” but I was surprised to hear only three songs out of the new album. They opened with “So Called LIfe” then mid show they had “Neurotic” and the song “Lifetime” which has quickly become their most popular of the album. It Reached No. 1 on the mainstream rock billboard as the SEVENTEENTH SONG to do that by the band.

As for the rest of the show, they played all of the great songs they’ve had over the years. Even songs stemming back to 2003. I don’t think anyone was complaining about that, though. Songs like Pain, Never Too Late, Home, and so many more. It really helped it all go full circle for me, having listened so much of my life to those classics. But this part in particular was really cool. They brought up a random fan from the crowd to sing “Just Like You” on stage with them. 

My friends around me kept pointing at me because Jordan knows I can sing that song well, and I know all the words to that song. But my voice was gone by the time that song came around. I shewed Jordan’s hands away from me because, though it would have been super cool, I have no clue how I would handle going up there. I speak as if I had a chance to be picked but truly I didn’t, they ended up picking a girl named Miranda. She kept her composure pretty well up there, probably better than I would have.

By the end, it was everything I had ever hoped for. My whole life I had mostly been dragged to concerts, never really being the concert type. But Three Days Grace was one of the few I have on my list of seeing live and I finally got that. Endless thanks to Jordan again being the best friend a guy could ask for. He actually planned on buying the tickets before I even found out they were on tour. 

For anyone who is actually going to read this, out of their new album, my favorite song to recommend is Souvenirs, it has a great crescendo that just floors me the right way. Speaking of souvenirs, I ended up with plenty of momentos to help me capture this night forever. Barry Stock was throwing guitar picks into the crowd like he was Oprah. But they also threw a bunch of things into the crowd at the very end.

Drumsticks, t-shirts, set lists even. I caught what I thought was a t-shirt but what I brought down was a black towel rag? Literally just a black rag, nothing special on it. Like I have no solid evidence it's even from the concert. I have the same black rag as anyone shopping at a Target. But either way, I have current possession in the sweaty DNA of one of the band members FOREVER!! I honestly have no clue where it’s at while I type all this. 

Regardless of all that, let’s be real. I’ll never forget this night, it was all so perfect. So passionate about the whole experience I accidentally wrote nine whole pages about it. If you’ve read this far I truly truly appreciate you. Thank you for reading, I hope this story was intriguing enough for you.