Radio 104 Festival - Hartford, CT

05.27.2002
by Mike Mueller

Supporting Acts: Green Day, Blink 182

It was May 27th, 2002, I was at the Radio 104 fest in Hartford, CT. It featured Blink 182 and Green Day, so it was pretty much the pop disaster tour only there were another 20 or so bands there as well.

The only reason I went is because Saves The Day was playing there as well. So after standing around for 10 hours waiting for all the crappy bands to finish up I go into the main stage to watch Saves The Day...at this point Im starving cause they charge 6 dollars for a small fry and 6 dollars for a drink...and Im sunburnt from standing outside all day. So finally Saves The Day comes out on stage and there are maybe about 50 people at the most watching them along with me, everyone else was outside watching Unwritten Law and Good Charlotte finish up. However the only kids inside besides me were just there getting a good spot for Blink and Green Day.

So in the middle of a teeny bopping crowd Im listening to Saves The Day...FINALLY, and I'm singing every word to every song as Chris looks me in the eye the whole time...it was easy to see i was one of the only fans there so we pretty much just looked right at each other the whole time as if he knew he was performing for me only...it sounds corny but it's what happened.

So they sing a few from Stay What You Are, starting with As Your Ghost Takes Flight, I dont remember the set list exactly but it included only My Sweet Fracture, and All-Star Me from Through Being Cool, the rest of the songs were all from Stay What You Are...so after a few songs the obvious beginning of At Your Funeral starts and immediately I hear everyone around me going nuts and a few girls next to me actually said "is this the one?" as they jumped up and down with excitement.

After that ordeal and after about 6 songs TOTAL Chris says "thanks a lot" and they walk off the stage...now as any Saves The Day fans know, they'll be right back out to play a hit song like Rocks Tonic Juice Magic or Holly Hox...only they never came back...I waited and waited but once they started taking the drums and amps away I realized they were done...I was shocked and disgusted..not with them cause they had no control but with the radio station and any promoter of the pop disaster tour...I barely felt like sticking around to see Green Day, but I did and at the end of the show I was leaving and saw eben drinking a beer outside...everyone just walking by not knowing who the hell it was...I just said "yeah eben" and nodded and kept walking to let him have his time...all in all I was happy to see Saves The Day as always and they played good but it just wasn't what I'm used to...I've had enough of this big show stuff...I'm ready for the small club shows that I used to go to..I want equal vision...I know this isn't much of a review but you get the idea...

by Mike Mueller