One show had the Indy 500. Another had a power outage, two little speakers and thousands of people singing in the dark. Brad Arnold remembers both.
In this 2005 interview from Toledo, the 3 Doors Down frontman looks back on playing during the opening of the Indianapolis 500 the previous year, then recalls a Cincinnati performance that lost far more than the stage lights.
Brad says a car hit a light pole and knocked out what he estimates was probably a quarter of the city’s power. He also remembers returning for a makeup show.
During the interrupted performance, Brad and Greg had one tiny amp, two little speakers and a crowd Brad puts at around 10,000. Greg had a snare drum. Security supplied the flashlights.
They played roughly six more songs and got the crowd singing with them. For Brad, that improvised ending became just as memorable as playing the 500.
The interview comes from the Seventeen Days era. At the band’s October 26, 2005 stop at Toledo Sports Arena, the songs included “Kryptonite,” “Let Me Go,” “Here Without You” and “When I’m Gone.” Shinedown were also on the bill.
BandMonkey packed three half-eaten bananas and a plastic kazoo for emergencies. Fortunately, nobody put him in charge of the flashlights.
From BandMonkey Rocks Vault: interviews, stories and a little monkey business from the archives.
