School of Rock Camp Performance

 Leo attended "classic rock" camp this past week at School of Rock.  School of Rock is a chain of music schools that specialize in rock music and performance.  Are they named after the 2003 instant class film "School of Rock" starring Jack Black? Unclear. 

Anyway, Leo hasn't done a camp in a very long time, but he was a good sport about attending this one.  He knew it was a chance to meet some other musicians on his level.  Turned out a lot of the kids were just starting out with their instruments, but he did meet a couple of highly-skilled kids, including a drummer named Diego.  On the first day, the instructors broke the kids up into three groups that would form bands.  Leo's group settled on the name Petrichor, which means the smell of earth after the rain.  Leo didn't love the name, but he went with it.  

They learned and practiced five songs, which they performed live this afternoon at a pub in the same shopping center as the music school.  

We were excited to see him play and I made us get there early for good seats.  We picked up his friend Vivian on the way. 

Here's the outside of the venue.  The food was overpriced and not good, but the entertainment was top notch! 

Here's Leo (burgundy shirt) waiting with the other kids for his turn to play.  There were two other School of Rock camp bands that performed before his band.  

Here he is tuning up before his set. 

I went to stand where the kids had been waiting in hopes of getting a good angle for a video.  I snapped this picture of Tom, Serafina and Vivian waiting for the show to start.  

Here's a video of them performing Jaded by Aerosmith.  This song was released in 2001, so Leo didn't feel it really fit the "classic rock" category. 

I was unhappy with my spot for watching and documenting the show since Leo was mostly blocked, so I moved back to the table for the rest of his set.  The next song was Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones.  Leo got to play lead guitar, but his pedal wasn't turned up loud enough and the vocalists didn't really give him a chance to showcase his solo.  If you listen close, you can still hear him completely crush his part.  My new location did not improve my view of Leo since he was crammed in the back on a small stage. 

The instructor for his group, Ace, joined them for the next song, You Don't Know How It Feels by Tom Petty. 

Leo practiced the next tune a lot and did some singing while he played at home, but during the performance he didn't do any vocals.  The audio doesn't do justice to how well he did on this song too. Here's Come Together by The Beatles.    

The final song was Dreams by Fleetwood Mac.  I'm impressed they even attempted this one since Stevie Nicks vocals are so iconic. 

It was so fun to see him play live and we were so proud of how well he did, especially since these kids only met each other and started learning all the songs just five days before.