Triple Rainbow Awesome Experience

Many of you probably know I'm a fan of Mike Lombardo's music. I first heard of him when he competed in "Masters Of Song Fu", and I later joined an online community called "Too Much Awesome" that he co-founded with Jeff MacDougal. Well Mike is currently on tour, and one of the stops was in my neck of the woods. The tour is called "Triple Rainbow Awesome", and Mike is performing with a number of other musicians. The performance I was able to go to was in Lebanon, Ohio. On this leg of the tour ALL CAPS, Jason Munday & Alex Carpenter were also performing. So I figured I'd give my thoughts on the experience.

Before I start there is a couple things you should know about me. I DON'T like concerts...for the most part. I don't like going to a movie theater because of people talking & moving about...I don't like concerts for the same reason. I'm also not good in new environments...I'm a person of routine who likes the familiar. I'm not really scared, but just uncomfortable most of the time.

This performance was a house party, which was much better than a larger venue with more people making more noise. I was still fairly uncomfortable since I didn't know ANYONE there, and I was probably the only one to NEVER read a Harry Potter book. Matter of fact I've only seen 2 of the movies...and I didn't like them. Despite the difference between myself & the audience, (I think I was the oldest one there not escorting a kid) from what I could tell everyone there was pretty dang cool. They were mostly young high school kids, but they were very nice & respectful. They seemed to be very bright kids as well, who were THRILLED to be there.

The show was scheduled to start at 6PM, but because of traffic problems it got started much later. I don't think I heard 1 complaint, so props again to the fans. When the musicians finally pulled in, I stayed out of the way while they said hello to the home owner & set up their equipment. I had wanted to make a name tag with "Spintown" on it, so I could see how long it would take Mike to notice me (we had not met in person up to this point). I forgot to make one, but noticed my goof when I saw @philosoraptor_ wearing some. Thankfully I then remembered I had a couple Spintown business cards in my wallet (WIN). So after the performances I planned to hand one to Mike as I said hello.

The first performer was Jason Munday. I'm not all that familiar with his work, but I did know who he was & I've seen a couple of his videos. Since I know little of the Potterverse, some of his songs didn't make much sense to me lyrically. Besides that I did think his songs were catchy & he performed VERY well live. He impressed me for sure. "California Dorks" was my favorite Munday performance.

Next up was Mike Lombardo (he also performed with Jason a little). Mike was what I expected...great. I enjoyed all the originals he played. I think my favorite song was "I Found You"...which he wrote for Song Fu. "Abby Never" & "Hey Molly" were also stellar. He did a good job with an NSync cover...but I'm not really an NSync guy. Judging from the discussions I had with people...and my ease dropping...I think most of the people came for the wizard rock. Hopefully they left wanting more piano rock.

Third up was Alex Carpenter. I honestly didn't know who he was until a week or so before the concert. He seems like a nice guy (they all seemed nice), and he had more energy than everyone else. He rmade the most effort to get the crowd involved. He had 99% of people singing along to "Reaping Day" (I don't sing :p ), and it was a lot of fun even if I hadn't read "The Hunger Games"...which is what the song is about.

The last to take the stage...err...living room...was ALL CAPS. I knew who Kristina & Luke were beforehand, and have watched & featured some of their videos in the past. They started off doing some acoustic numbers & they seemed a bit uncomfortable. When they started the electronic music they seemed to gain a lot of confidence. They finished strong with "Don't Unplug Me".

Right after ALL CAPS, it was time for the merch table rush. As I waited for the first group of fans to get their must have items I passed Mike who was talking with a couple people. When there was a break I said hello & handed him the card. He knew who I was after that. We talked very briefly & he was nice enough to have someone take a picture of us with his i-Phone. I then hit the merch table, and got a "Songs For A New Day" CD & a poster (they all signed it - thanks everyone). I figured they would stay & chat for awhile, and they probably did, but I left after I hit the merch table. Did I mention I don't like new environments? I'd have liked to have stayed & chatted, but I figured the kids would probably get a bigger thrill from that anyways.

Overall it was a good experience, and the musicians all gave the audience a fun night to remember. I'll include a few pictures below.

Special thanks to Monica for letting them use her house. She was a very gracious host who probably could have used a babysitter since it was such a busy night for her. But she managed to handle things very well.







Sorry about the picture quality. I hoped to get a video camera...but that didn't happen. Then I hoped to borrow a regular camera, but there was no memory card for the one I managed to get. So I planned on using the terrible camera on my phone...but my charger broke. Last resort was my Nintendo DSiXL. I almost turned on Mario Kart so I could wave it in the air during one of Jason's songs that had a lot of gamer references.