05/29/2022
311
Epic Event Center
Green Bay, WI

The positivity warriors of 311 have finally made their way to Green Bay, WI. An event nearly 32 years in the making. The Epic Events Center held this rally of good vibes. The venue sits just blocks from the legendary Lambeau Field. Home of the Green Bay Packers football team. A team that Nick Hexum proclaimed during their set to be his “favorite football team”. The anticipation for this performance was feverous. The fans arrived early hoping to meet the band by the buses. Others stood in line for hours just to be the first through the door and right in the middle. The venue is a remodeled box store. Walking through the front doors and security, you realize it is anything but that. The room is large and spacious with a fully staffed bar running along the entire back wall. The stage is large and takes up nearly the size of the length of the room. 

Anticipation filled the room. If there is anything that is well known about 311 it is their setlist always changes. A rather brilliant feat in this era of musical performances. It also adds to the excitement. Their propensity to perform uplifting lyrical content never wavers.  Opening the performance with “Homebrew” was the first glimpse of perfect transitions and tempo changes to come between MC SA Martinez and Frontman Nick Hexum. Hexum was front and center nearly the entire show. He had very little downtime to rest. He often stood at the front lip of the stage engaging with the fans at the rail. His stage presence commanded your attention. Vocally, he was precise and filled the air with positive feelings. His vocal counterpart Martinez, delivered the hip-hop flows mixed with robot-like dancing. Truly a jack of all trades instrumentally, he performed with a multitude of instruments. These frontmen bounced back and forth with each other rather freely. Seasoned road warriors generally do.

Tim Mahoney lays out a quick intro riff while head bobbing and surrounded by his effects pedals on the stage floor he set the standard for the power radiating from the stage. The riff master established a heavier sound than any of the previous shows I have ever attended. Maybe it was the attitude needed to finish off their Spring tour. Regardless, he had flames off of his fingertips. On the low-end bassist, P-Nut stood on the opposite end of the stage. He has a very distinctive performance style. While he plays, he sways and takes awkward steps within an arm’s length radius. Rocking back and forth he drops bass lines and plucking that gives 311 their unique vibes and P-Nut wide acclaim for his creativity. When paired with out of this World drummer, Chad Sexton, they blend genres easily and open up the listener to a vast array of musical styles. Sexton is known to be an upper-tier performer. This is flaunted quite freely during the show with a 5-minute solo. The best part of this solo is it is always different and never the same. In fact, the rest of the band come out on stage and perform along with him towards the end on their own single-floor tom kits. A cohesive unit that displays vast levels of ingenuity and brilliance for their crafts.

This performance setup was extremely simple, but the lighting was not in any way, shape, or form. Across the back of the stage were 8 light panels that were paired. They stood roughly 10ft by 2ft wide each. Above them were lights that rotated around and stretched along with the panels. Uniquely, these panels were synched to each song and fit the mood of the set to perfection. No song fits that level of precision better than “Beyond The Grey Skies”. The overall atmospheric sounds and feeling associated with the song, to begin with, were only enhanced by the mood lighting and visual aesthetics on the panels. Much like their final song, “Down” the blue lighting that opened up into bright colors paid homage to their landmark self-titled album with a simple blue cover. Everything was of superior quality. 

Having witnessed such an amazing achievement on the night, it was hard to come back down to Earth from the feeling of being on Cloud 9. These guys are every bit as great as they ever have been and continue to produce fantastic albums. The date custom posters, shirts, and setlists, being designed specifically for your pleasure will never stop being a huge draw. The only constant from them is their level of professionalism and quality. 

Setlist:
1. Homebrew
2. Beautiful Disaster
3. All Mixed Up 
4. Stainless
5. Prisoner
6. Come Original
7. What The?!
8. Loco
*Bass Solo*
9. Don’t Stay Home
10. 8:16 
11. Too Late
12. Love Song (Cure Cover)
13. Applied Science
14. Beyond The Grey Sky
15. Silver
16. Amber
17. You Wouldn’t Believe
18. Creatures (For A While)
ENCORE
19. Omaha Stylee
20. Down