Sony Playstation 2005 E3 Party – Rock On!
By Aceinet

Amazing array of talent takes the stage to entertain invite-only crowd

The E3 Sony party has been the party of legend the past couple of years. This was the first time I had the opportunity to attend the party. At first I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to attend the party because of the stress of attending E3. I’ll save that for another article but let’s just say that, for me, this was probably the most amazing party I have ever attended.

The evening started out on a rather long bus ride to the party. The party was being held at a hilltop overlooking Dodger Stadium. Once we arrived at the stadium we then had to hop on cart shuttle to ride up to the top. The first item that grabbed my attention was the amount of lights filling up the sky at the party. Once on top of the hill I could see a large tent setup that was filled with people.  

Inside the tent was a table setup with Chinese food and a bar. Outside the tent was a large stage setup for special music guest Jimmy Eat World. Not being a big fan of their music (sorry, I only know one of their songs) my fellow GameZoner, Michael Lafferty, and I walked around some more. To my surprise was another full tent setup with another area for food and a bar. As we kept walking around I counted at least 4 bars and 3 areas offering food. This is probably a low count on the real number, but it was all amazing to me. I just couldn’t imagine Sony going all out on this event, but it seems this is the standard every year. 

After Jimmy Eat World was done performing the stage crew was working on setting up the stage for the next musical act. No one really knew who the act would be but the rumor near the stage was it was going to be Camp Freddy. I had heard of Camp Freddy and knew that it was a superstar cover band. But since we didn’t know for sure if it was Camp Freddy we didn’t make a move for a closer spot near the stage. We were probably 10 to 15 away from the stage so we still had a great spot (and back far enough to run away if it was the other rumored performer, Ashlee Simpson).  

I noticed two drum sets on the stage and told Michael that not many bands have two drummers. But then I spotted Matt Sorum from Velvet Revolver behind one of the drum kits. I thought that maybe Velvet Revolver was going to be playing but knew that probably wouldn’t be possible. But then again it is the Sony party so anything was possible. Soon I noticed guitarist John 5 on stage, who has played for David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson and recently Rob Zombie. Then the rest of the band was on stage and honestly I didn’t recognize the rest of them (sorry guys). But the band was on fire ripping through some classic tracks that had almost everyone in the crowd excited.

During the rest of the set the following musicians came on stage to jam with the band: Billy Duffy (The Cult), Tone Loc, Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), Mark McGrath (Puddle of Mudd), Liz Phair, actress Juliette Lewis, Scott Weiland and Brandon Boyd (Incubus). I’m sure I might be missing a few names but I almost lost track off the superstars up on stage playing with the band. The set list was composed of songs from Led Zeppelin, Sex Pistols, The Cult, Black Sabbath, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Cheap Trick. As far as song titles go, I’m sorry I just can’t remember. I was having a blast just jumping around, watching the musicians play and having a great time.

Since this party was so amazing I don’t know how it could get any better for me. How many people can say they’ve seen that many musicians all on the same stage in one night? For me seeing everyone having a blast playing on stage reminded me that playing music is supposed to be fun, just like gaming. If these guys can have fun then why shouldn’t we have fun playing games?

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