February 11, 2018

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Post-grunge rockers 3 Doors Down played a great acoustic set at the nearly sold-out Hard Rock Rocksino Friday night.  The five-piece band from Mississippi are led by original lead singer Brad Arnold and long time guitarist Chris Anderson.  The rest of the band consists of Greg Upchurch (drums), Chet Roberts (guitar, backing vocals) and Justin Biltonen (bass).   

 

They are currently on their Acoustic Back Porch Jam Tour and that’s exactly the feel for this show.  The stage looked like it was literally taken from someone’s back porch: complete with coolers, tiki torches, a smoking grill, a fire barrel and even a bicycle.  It was like the audience were a gaggle of friends hanging out with the band on the back porch and playing some music.

 

The big difference was that many of the songs were multi-platinum hits that charted on Billboard’s Top 40 list.

 

Opening up with “I Feel You” which led into the rocking “It’s Not My Time,” the band sounded fantastic with just two acoustic guitars, a bass, a bongo drum and their prodigious voices.

 

In this age of  overwrought technology: samples, computers and electronic music, it’s refreshing to hear music played in a stripped-down fashion.  Arnold told the audience that,“We write most of our songs acoustically.  If you can’t play a song without electricity, then maybe you’re using too much of it.”

 

Throughout the night, Arnold told a few stories about the origins of some of their songs.  For instance, he said “Let Me Go” was originally written for the Spiderman 2 soundtrack but was cut at the last second.  He said that’s where the line “You love me but you don’t know who I am” comes from.  He said, “I was talking about Spiderman.”

 

Arnold also noted that the song “Loser” was written for one of his friends that he had known since childhood.  He said that his friend was “a good dude” who became a drug addict and the song was written from the perspective that the world saw him as a loser because of his addiction.  His friend eventually cleaned himself up and is now leading a productive life.

 

Half way through the set, the band allowed a fan to come on stage and propose to his girlfriend.  The fan said that 3 Doors Down was her favorite band and this was the best way that he could ask for her hand.  

 

I told you this concert was like a gathering of friends. It’s not often you see a proposal at a rock concert.

Oh yeah, she said yes.

 

The main set ended with two of the bands biggest hits “Kryptonite” and the power ballad “Here Without You.”

 

The band returned to the stage with some electric Les Paul guitars and “plugged in” to rock out on the final two songs “This Time” and “When I’m Gone.”

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Elvis Monroe, a trio based out of Las Vegas opened the show.  They are kind of a “bro-country” band that features two acoustic guitarists and a beefed up lead singer in tight jeans.  They weren’t bad, but they didn’t do anything to make themselves stand out.   The one thing the lead singer did throughout the show was stomp his boot on the floor at various points in almost every song they offered.  

 

I guess he was trying to keep time; if that’s what he was going for may I suggest they get a drummer.

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Review by Greg Drugan