The rock band Hoobastank paid Fort Meade a visit today. They are scheduled to play at the Meriweather Post Pavilian in Columbia, MD and decided to salute the troops.

They played five acoustic versions of songs from each of their three studio albums. Their stage was set up in the shoe department of the PX and the men’s clothing section was cleared for soldiers and their families to watch the band. After playing for about 45 minutes, the band signed autographs for another 45 minutes or so. My daugher had them sign her journal (she likes their song “The Reason”.)

They didn’t have to come and see us. They had a busy schedule, making the radio guest circuit to promote the concert and conducting other interviews. Yet, they took the time to set up all their equipment in our little shoe department and play a few songs for us and sign autographs. For that reason, Hoobastank has won a more loyal fan in me. I’ve always owned their music, I just haven’t listened to it as much (I own over 3,000 CDs, so it’s hard to have a favorite). However, I have now uploaded all three albums into my iPod and play them almost as much as I play my Blue October albums.

Here’s a short video of the band thanking their military:

Doug Robb from Hoobastank singing “If I Were You” from their new album “Every Man For Himself“

Hoobastank on stage at the Fort Meade Post Exchange (shoe department)

Dan Estrin from Hoobastank smiles as he tries to play through the power outage at Fort Meade.

Hoobastank signs autographs for service members after their acoustic set at Fort Meade military intallation.

Something funny happened during the concert. I decided that I was going to record “The Reason” on video since I probably didn’t have enough space in my digital camera to record much more than one song. About halfway through the song, the band lost audio. The funny thing is that the song didn’t stop. They played through it and the audience was carrying the tune on their own. I posted the video of the song, but because the music was so loud and I was so close everything is overmodulated and distorted.

The thing is that on military bases all over the country we’re dealing with frequent power outages. Because of ongoing costs associated with the war and the willingness to fund it the Pentagon is having trouble paying its bills. I can’t say for sure why their power cut out (it came back on a minute or so later), but it punctuates the troubles we’re having back here in the homeland.

To see the video, click HERE (be warned the audio sucks). The power outage happens at about 2:39 into the song.