Fuel
October 23, 2007
House of Blues - Chicago, IL

When was the last time you went to a rock show? I mean a real rock show? A show where the band sounds amazing live, puts on an incredible performance, rattles your soul with hard rockin' tunes but has the perfect mix of melodic sing-a-longs? Fuel had that kind of rock show Tuesday night at the Windy City's House of Blues. 

The Chicago audience was injected with pure energy right away as the band took the stage and rocked "Last Time", "Gone" - the newest single to hit the radio - and "Scar". Guitarist Carl Bell made everyone erupt into laughter by displaying the back of his guitar - which read "Spay Britney" - and said "How could you not keep your life together for $700,000 a month!?" The sing-a-longs then began as frontman Toryn Green enticed the crowd into singing "Shimmer, "Falls On Me" and "Wasted Time". Toryn was eventually drowned out on stage as the fans at the House of Blues started to sing louder and louder. During the hit "Bad Day", Toryn jumped off stage into the crowd and beckoned everyone with his microphone to take away the first verse. The high octane performance for the remainder of the night was set as Tommy Stewart shredded the drums on the opening notes for "Won't Back Down".

The energy level continued rise towards its pinnacle during the next 20 minutes. After "Won't Back Down", the guys continued to perform up tempo songs from Sunburn, Something Like Human, Natural Selection, and Angels & Devils. Every show has your typical chair clutchers that will sit regardless of how amazing the performance is. By Carl and Tommy’s artistic persuasion, those same people came to their feet when the band broke into the opening notes of Stone Temple Pilots' "Sex Type Thing". The crescendo of the night came when Toryn held his fist up and sang the lines "Hold your hands up to the sky and try so hard to rise above..." during "Bittersweet". Like a cult would follow their leader, all three levels of the House of Blues– from the standing room on the floor to the balconies up top - followed Toryn and pumped their fist or raised the palms into the air and began to leap off the ground.

The night came to an end when the guys performed their hit "Hemorrhage (In My Hand)". As Tommy threw his sticks into the crowd and Carl's guitar resonated feedback as he walked off stage, Toryn hopped in front of the security barrier and high-fived every hand that reached out. As the curtain closed, Chicagoans were in awe wondering what they had just experienced. Could it be that they just heard a band that sounded amazing live? Or could it have been that they just saw an incredible performance that was accompanied by a great light show? Nah…it was because they just saw Fuel give them a real rock show!

The one hour, 15-song House of Blues' set list was:

- Last Time

- Gone

- Scar

- Shimmer

- Falls On Me

- Quarter

- Won't Back Down

- Wasted Time

- Bad Day

- Down

- Empty Spaces

- Something Like Human

- Sex Type Thing (Stone Temple Pilots cover)

- Bittersweet

- Hemorrhage (In My Hand

WRITTEN & PHOTOS BY: The Asif