The excitement began before the show even started. Fans waiting in line to see Flickerstick at the Main Event on Sunday were greeted with a thunderstorm and a power outage hours before the band even took the stage.
Part of what got Flickerstick to this point in its career was reality TV. The band was the ultimate winner of VH1’s “Bands on the Run.” With reality TV comes that sense of curiosity and questioning of if they have any talent. With its performance the band proved, on this night, it does have more than enough talent, and staying power.
Before Flickerstick took the stage, Doosu took the stage. Doosu relied more on an extended jam style with minimal lyrics. The numbers were lengthy and loud. The band had a slightly harder sound than the headlining band, a fact that was not lost on the band itself.
“It’s kind of a different crowd for us,” bassist Chad DeAtley said, “We’ve had a great reception so far.”
It took the audience a few songs to warm up to the band, but overall Doosu delivered a solid set and did a more than adequate job of warming up the crowd. Toledo was Doosu’s second to last date on the tour. According to DeAtley the band is getting ready to work on a new record. That will be followed by some smaller regional tours before the band goes out on another national trek.
Later on in the evening, Flickerstick (which consists of bassist Fletcher Lea, guitarist/keyboardist Cory Kreig, drummer Dominic Weir, guitarist Rex James Ewing and vocallist Brandin Lea) showed why it was the winners of TV’s battle of the bands. First off, any band that walks on to the stage with music from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory playing in the background scores points already. The opening song, “Smile,” had a bit of Oasis style to it.
The band went from song to song with so much energy; it could have lit the club again if the power went out. When the really rocking songs came to their high points the members of Flickerstick exploded in a fury of jumping, treating the performance as if they had filled a huge arena.
If you did not see Flickerstick on Sunday night, you missed out on one heck of a rock show. If you did you will be able to tell your friends someday, “I saw them before they sold millions of records.”
With reality TV, there is skepticism as to why someone won. Flickerstick showed it had the goods. Needless to say you will still be hearing from Flickerstick long after “Survivor” and “Big Brother” winners have faded back into obscurity.
