Last night, March 14th, the Chicago based hard rock trio Chevelle performed to a sold out show at the Sokol Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska. I was there with my son Corey, who missed the last show in 2009, and my good friend Larry, and most of his family. The Sokol was rocked. There were two opening acts. Another Chicago based band known as Janus, and a duo from California called Middle Class Rut. Both bands were good and entertained the crowd. But you could tell who the crowd was really there to see. Every time any of the bands would mention Chevelle, the place would erupt in applause. Now bring on Chevelle.

From the blistering riff of “Antisaint” to the melodic chaos of “Face To The Floor” the house was a’rawkin’. The place was filled with electric energy. The source of the energy mostly came from the stage, and in particular from brothers Pete Loeffler (vocals and guitars), Sam Loeffler (drums), and brother-in-law Dean Bernardini (bass). The trio super-charged the packed house from the beginning and kicked in the NOS on their underdog rooting “Hats Off To The Bull”, the title track from their new album which was released in December. Some of the other songs Chevelle performed were “Closure”, “Forfeit”, “Letter from a Thief”, “I Get It”, and “Vitamin R (Leading us Along)”, some of which are hard-line singles.

What was kind of fun and unique was to watch Chevelle talk to each other in between songs. Pete Loeffler also likes to interact with the crowd as well as his band-mates. We have been blessed with some above average temps in Nebraska for the past several days, and before the sun went down last night it was 80 degrees outside. This made for some very warm temps on the inside of Sokol. Pete Loefller began the set with a flannel shirt on and after “Hats Off” he shed it down to a t-shirt, and stated to the sold out house “I heard you like your rock hot and sweaty”, which ignited the crowd once again.

The original set came to a close with a couple of my favorite Chevelle songs. The slow and crowd participating “Send The Pain Below”, and the hard-edged “Wonder What’s Next”, both from the 2002 album “Wonder What’s Next”. As the band walked off the stage to prompt the crowd to plead for encore, I turned to Larry and shouted “The Red”!! Sure enough it was the opening song for their two song encore. The packed house knew every word to the song. It was a definite crowd pleaser. The final song was “Face To The Floor” which is the single release from the new album “Hats Off”.

We were rocked by one of the best last night. Much fun was had by all. We bid our friends a good night and headed toward home with a slight ringing in the ears. 🙂

2012 Omaha Chevelle Set List

Rawk On!!