Seeing Cold last week has set me adrift on a path of nostalgia. Granted, that path is laden with cigarette butts, scraps of stepped-on and worn-off denim from the bottoms of too-long jeans, and Mike’s Hard Lemonade bottle caps. So, tread carefully, etc.

This particular show marked the first time in 15 years that I had seen them. They were here a few times since then but it was a combination of having moved away from this scene and also not wanting to willingly put myself in an emotionally vulnerable spot, because there is something about this band that breaks me slowly. Scooter Ward is just….ugh. His voice and lyrics were the soundtrack to some of the most volatile years of my life (hey, early 20s, I see you).

But when I saw that they would be performing 13 Ways To Bleed on Stage in its entirety (as well as A Different Kind of Pain), I was like, “OK, let’s go. I can do this.” And then the day of,  that changed to “I can’t do this, I can’t do this.” LOL. Obviously, I did it. Albeit with a face slick with tears.

Instead of saying the same stuff I always say (“Ow, my heart” “Ooof” “This song, ugh”), I thought I would instead share some pictures I found in an old album from the time I saw them at Nick’s Fat City, 9/5/11. Less than a week before 9/11, so hard to even imagine that now.

My friend Wonka – he was my best concert buddy and co-Cold groupie back then – arrived at Nick’s Fat City super early. This was back when we were young and had the stamina required for arriving hours before doors in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the band. That’s Wonka in the middle, the rest were guys we befriended. I remember clearly going across the street at one point to get beverages at a store and freaking out over a…energy drink? called BALLZ. I’m pretty sure we all bought one.

The guy on the far right was on the street team for one of the opening bands, I believe. And the kid on the left, I’m pretty sure his name is Josh, ended up staying in touch with Wonka and me for a hot minute and I even gave him my ticket for Jane’s Addiction shortly after this because I ended up not being to go, so Wonka took him in place, lol. It’s so weird how this is a memory that my brain decided to keep.

Here I am flanked by Kelly and Scooter from Cold! This picture is so bad and I am thankful that whoever took it, took it with the sun behind us because I was such a hot mess back then. Thankful that you can barely see my face here.

Jeremy!

I TOTALLY forgot that my brother Ryan was also there with his friends! That’s Ryan standing down there in the green sweatshirt next to our new friend Josh. Ryan actually commented on this Instagram reel I posted after last week’s show saying that he contemplated on going!

 

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Ugh, Scooter. I believe this was the second time I saw them after first stumbling upon their stage at X-Fest earlier that summer. Wonka was with me there too and we were both ENRAPTURED. Like, WHO IS THIS? Stopped us dead in our tracks. Actually, now as I’m writing this I’m not sure if that is accurate – it could have been we already knew the song “Just Got Wicked” and intentionally checked them out based on that? I’m sure I have the hard facts written down in a journal somewhere for some Future Person to discover years after I expire.

Anyway, there are actually so many more pictures from other Cold shows that I found too, like I was their traveling historian or something, Jesus.

I know I said I wasn’t to recap this most show BUT there are some things I want to remember:

• Scooter is the only OG member which makes me sad
• BUT they have an amazing bassist – Lindsay Manfredi. I guess she joined four years after the last time I saw them, so she’s been with them now for about 10 years. Just “new-to-me”! I loved that she came out in this adorable back dress with a white peter pan collar for the first set, and then when they came back out to dive into the 13 Ways…set, she was wearing a black mechanic’s pantsuit with the Cold spider patches on the arms. She was so cool!
• AND their drummer used to be in this band called Lifer who COINCIDENTALLY was touring with them when we went to that 9/2001 show (Wonka and I also went to the Hershey, PA stop on that tour).l I had become obsessed with Lifer but then they broke up after one/some of them left to start BREAKING BENJAMIN. LOL remember that band??
• There was some middle aged broad and her husband standing in front of me and they were HAMMERED before the show even started. I am so sorry that I missed this, but when I was in the bathroom, Henry said she had gone up to the bar to get another drink (she was knocking back mixed drinks) and on her way back, she somehow FELL INTO THE VIP BOOTH?! Henry said she knocked everything off the table (luckily  nothing got on the people sitting there), landed UNDER THE TABLE, stood up and said OH SHIT and then shambled back to the bar to get a new drink. Then a few minutes after that, she was back in front of me telling some other middle aged lady who reminded me of my squirrel hating neighbor that she had just gotten out of the hospital that Friday afternoon. Drink up, baby. Cheers.
• Cold had the misfortune of touring with Weezer one year. It was just…bad. The Weezer fans were really shitty to  them and I want to say that they ended up dropping off the tour. But in  the meantime, they had befriended Rivers Cuomo and did a song with them called Stupid Girl and it remains my least favorite Cold song to this day. Anyway, it’s off the third album which was not being performed that night, yet some dodo in the front row kept screaming it like it was fucking Freebird. Scooter, who paused in between certain songs to tell stories about the song’s origins, kept having to pause to say, “No, we’re not going to play Stupid Girl, stop asking.” Then at one point, after maybe the 7th time, he stopped and was like, “Look, we’re not playing that fucking song OK?” and we were all cracking up. Scooter goes, “I gotta shut this shit down, this is starting to feel like a fucking folk show.” It felt so good to have that comic relief during a night of so many heavy songs though!
• The crying gave me a headache, but it was a perfect night.

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