MuddFest @ HOB SD

Gallery Feat:

Easter Sunday at House of Blues in Downtown San Diego was the setting for late 90s early 2000s ALT/ROCKERS Puddle of Mud's "Mudfest" tour. The "Mudders" didn't come alone though, they brought their friends Saliva, Trapt, Saving Abel, and Tantric along for the ride! This coast to coast "and then some" tour is nuts, playing all over the US and even several dates abroad flying back and forth between. They definitely have a long road ahead of them but if it's anything like this show they are going to have a great time! The floor of the main stage was packed with both fans young and old in both age and length of fandom. None of that mattered though as everyone in attendance knew every lyric to at least one song or another, some knew so many they needed cold beers to soothe their parched throats from all the singing. That was just for openers Tantric and Saving Abel!! There were still 3 more bands to go! Up next was TRAPT out of Los Gatos, CA. Best known for hits like "Headstrong" and "Stand Up" came out swinging with their 2002 hit off the self titled album TRAPT called "Still Frame". The crowd filled the air with screams as they announced a new record coming later this year and played one of their newest tunes called "Fire". As lead singer Chris Taylor Brown said "This is a song about not letting people piss on your parade!" It had so much heat that drummer Adam Prentice took off his hoodie and bomber jacket he wore through the first few songs. Maybe he "stood too close to the fire" as their new lyric goes.. Memphis rockers SALIVA started their set off on a high and wonderfully loud note with their smash hit "Ladies and Gentlemen" from "Blood Stained Love Story" released back in 2007. Lead Vocalist Bobby Amaru kept the crowd at HOB San Diego jumping as he commanded everyone in the pit to "throw their middle fingers in the air" as they went on a "Doperide". He gave props to everyone in the band during their "roll call", but a standout was most notably new drummer Tosha Jones who joined back in 2018 and is definitely making her presence known with her amazing rythm and control. Saliva showed amazing versatility with their mashup style renditions of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" and Pink Floyd's "The Wall". Both sets of artists would of been impressed with the arrangements. When they went into "Click Click BOOM" everyone in the crowd completely lost it and big circles of moshing formed! Saliva definitely brought the energy...but there's still one band left! At last....the reason everyone showed up to this oh so fantastic Easter celebration...PUDDLE OF MUD was on the stage! As the band's banner came into view hoots and hollers rolled through the crowd. Even though Puddle of Mud hasn't had a new record in almost 9 years they still draw a crowd due their nostalgic hits like "She Hates Me" off their 2001 drop "Come Clean" and "Control" from the same, along with a slew of others. As a cryptic recording of "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" from the Wizard of Oz played, a familiar backwards "trucker" hat belonging to Wes Scantlin could be seen side stage. When he came out to grab his guitar and start their set with "Control/Warpigs" everyone slipped right back into a time when it was ok to have fun at a rock show and not take themselves too seriously. Still managing to sound almost exactly like their studio recordings (which is even a hard thing to do for artists right after they drop an album let alone 8 years after), Puddle of Mud kept the energy at an all time high for the evening showing the crowd why they were headlining and giving everyone their money's worth. All in all, a very successful night of headbanging tunes and alt/rock nostalgia. Keep a look out cause if they are coming to your town YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS IT!

PUDDLE OF MUDD

SALIVA

TRAPT

Saving Abel