Nintendo is desperate to gain an older audience as they’re numbers kept getting smaller in that demografic and was seen as a console for little kids. They changed their strategy with the Gamecube to better appeal to the edgier crowd of tweens and teenagers. What better way than with their own Live Rock Tour. That’s how the Nintendo Fusion Tour came to be, a way to show off Nintendo games as cool to a new audience with upcoming bands at the time. The Tour began in 2003 and it headlined Evanescence which luckily for Nintendo had just become huge months before after their hit Bring me to Life. This is a full review of that tour and specifically to the stop in Springfield Missouri which I got to attend.
Nu-metal was still the hottest thing, the tour got announced and I was curious but didn’t care about the headliner band. I did love Cold however and saw they were coming to my town and got really excited. I then saw that date was cancelled and got bummed out. Not much later I find out that it was because the full Nintendo Fusion tour was coming. I had mixed feelings, a bit ticked my ticket was now going to be $15 more for mostly other bands I didn’t care for. The show sold out without me buying a ticket luckily I got a ticket from someone who was selling it that very same day.
This is the theme of the article:
Nintendo Fusion Tour Evanescence Springfield, MO Remington’s Niteclub 08/24/2003
Overall the tour had a lot of advertising at least in my city as you’d hear it in radio stations all the time leading up to the visit. It was also heavily promoted by Nintendo and you’d see plenty of articles about it, other Nintendo Fusion Tours after this didn’t get the same treatment even if perhaps they improved some of the other aspects. The game selection wasn’t amazing to be honest and most everyone there was just there to see the bands and have fun, they didn’t care much about this nerdy video games they had for the most part. There would be a bigger line for the games when bands no one was interested were playing. I only played a couple of games for a bit as I didn’t see much novelty in playing them for a bit.
I do have to mention that two of the bands from the tour were actually represented in the headline game 1080° Avalanche, and that’s Finger Eleven and Cauterize. This would also not be the only time Cold’s journey through video games would end as they played live during the E3 2004 to promote a song they wrote exclusively for Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy “With my Mind”. Also this is the tour where the singer of Cold Scooter Ward tried to Kiss Amy Lee according to Shaun Morgan of Seether when I saw him live a year after that.
Cauterize, the opening band literally who. I had no idea who they were nor did I care. I guess had I played 1080 a ton before the show I would’ve recognized some of their songs but hence to me and most people they were a skippable band. I guess they were big enough to be considered for the game I guess.
Finger Eleven was likely the second time I had seen them by this point. I can’t remember how they did during the actual tour but the time I saw them in Sevendust I remember they rocked the place harder than I thought they would’ve. They were heavier in their earlier days but I’m guessing if you saw them more recently that might not have been the case.
Revis: I only knew their single because of the radio promoting songs of the artists in the tour and it’s a catchy song. I mostly ignored the band during their whole set and instead enjoy the Nintendoness. But once I heard they were going to play their last song I knew it was my chance to mosh my way to the front of the venue and it worked.
Cold – I foudn it to be a solid performance, got to meet Scooter afterwards but he wasn’t impressed and my temporal spider tattoo had already faded. Sadly most of their setlist was from their latest album Year of the Spider with some 13 ways to die on stage mixed in. My favorite album is self titled and we basically got one from that one. Stupid Girl is one of their worst songs but the song they had to go out on since it was played everywhere at the time.
Evanescene had the whole crowed going crazy, I had a good spot but didn’t care to see them. I still found Amay Lee cute in her black haltertop outfit she had and I have to admit they rocked out more than I thought they would deserved. I was still pissed that this mainstream band had ruined my full Cold setlist so when I found a shoe on the floor without an owner I decided to throw it at her but she headbanged at the right time to miss it. That was likely for the best. It was the original line up before they changed it up and they were no strangers to the Ozarks since they were a Christian band from Arkansas who had come before. Terry Balsamo from Cold eventually left the band to Join Evanescence after Ben Moody left.
Bands:
Evanescence
Cold
Revis
Finger Eleven
Cauterize
GameCube games:
1080° Avalanche
Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
Viewtiful Joe
P.N.03
Wallace & Gromit: Project Zoo
Madden NFL 2004
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg
F-Zero GX
Soulcalibur II
Game Boy Advance games:
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!
A Link To The Past / Four Swords
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
Donkey Kong Country
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Sonic Advance 2
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4
007: Nightfire
Here is a full Tour list:
08/04/2003 Universal Amphitheatre – Universal City, California
08/06/2003 Mesa Amphitheatre – Mesa, Arizona
08/07/2003 House of Blues – Las Vegas, Nevada
08/09/2003 MetraPark Arena – Billings, Montana
08/11/2003 Target Center – Minneapolis, Minnesota
08/12/2003 Congress Theatre – Chicago, Illinois
08/13/2003 Harpo’s – Detroit, Michigan
08/15/2003 Tower City Amphitheatre – Cleveland, Ohio
08/16/2003 Vernon Downs – Vernon, New York
08/17/2003 Murat Egyptian Room – Indianapolis, Indiana
08/19/2003 Chevrolet Amphitheatre – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
08/20/2003 Electric Factory – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
08/21/2003 PromoWest Pavilion – Columbus, Ohio
08/23/2003 The Pageant – Saint Louis, Missouri
08/24/2003 Remington’s Niteclub – Springfield, Missouri
08/26/2003 Bob Devaney Sports Center – Lincoln, Nebraska
08/27/2003 State Fair Events Center – Pueblo, Colorado
08/29/2003 City Market – Kansas City, Missouri
08/30/2003 Coors Light Mountain Jam – Morrison, Colorado
08/31/2003 Bumbershoot Festival – Seattle, Washington
09/02/2003 Cuthbert Amphitheater – Eugene, Oregon
09/03/2003 Roseland Theater – Portland, Oregon
09/04/2003 SaltAir Pavilion – Salt Lake City, Utah
09/06/2003 Kansas State Fair – Hutchinson, Kansas
09/09/2003 Next Stage At Grand Prairie – Grand Prairie, Texas
09/10/2003 Sunken Garden Amphitheatre – San Antonio, Texas
09/12/2003 Tabernacle – Atlanta, Georgia
09/13/2003 Nation – Washington, DC
09/16/2003 Webster Hall – New York, New York
Setlist:
Overall very solid tour, great upcoming bands, and it rocked. As far as a Nintendo event it was a bit lackluster, the games weren’t the best either and it was a bit awkward to play when you are excited about the badns that are going to play. I was a bit sad that I couldn’t get a Nintendo Fusion Shirt, I used to always buy a shirt from concerts and that’s the one I wanted from this tour but instead I did leave with a Cold shirt two sizes too large for me. I mean at the end of the day it was nu-metal and nintendo my two favorite things, what more could I ask for.