(no subject)
Show review time!
I began the day on 3 hours of sleep, and no food aside from a couple miniature packs of candied almonds. At around 7:30, I become the first person there. Even the staff wasn't there yet. God, I rule. Some worthless Fitz' kids showed up next around 8:30, and we talked and fucked around until doors opened at 11:30. On with the concert itself.
I found out when I looked at the set times that two of the bands I was looking forward to most were not going to be on this stop of the tour. Terror, who I was looking forward to the most of anyone on the bill, and Full Blown Chaos, who fucking rule.
SHOW:
The first two bands were some stupid scenester bullshit; I forgot their names. The entire metal portion of the crowd (75%, I'd say) were laughing balls during this, as a few of the scene kids were trying to 'dance'. Rule of thumb: If a person has a bandana quarterfolded and hanging out of their pocket, they can not dance for shit. Some fat guy kept dancing like an asshole, slow motion karate bullshit that has nothing to do with the rhythm of the music being played. I don't think I've seen more scene kids in my entire life, than the two main tall skinny cocks 'dancing' it up during the first two bands. Limp wristed air swatting mother fuckers.
All that shit ended for a while when The Black Dahlia Murder came up. The scene kids had been confused, and thought that with a name like The Black Dahlia Murder, that they would be another shitty scenester band. So they tried to dance... and were effectively raptured to hell when all of us decided to bring some real mosh into the show. I mean, when somebody goes flying across the pit horizontally, and you can FEEL their head hit the ground, and they stand right back up and keep moshing, you know the pit is not half-assed. Though TBDM's pit sort of faded in and out, partially because of a shitty sound mix, and because it took a while for the metal people to really realize that hey, there's a metal band playing. Let's go mosh.
After TBDM, I think Devildriver played. Maybe another scene band first, but Devildriver played soon after. Devildriver opened Ozzfest last year on our stop, and fucking ruled this tour as well.
A couple more scene bands, then Throwdown. Again, another band that ruled at Ozzfest, and ruled again here. Another instance of scenesters thinking that the term "hardcore" applies to them, and getting plowed the fuck over. Opened with Never Back Down, and played a few songs from Haymaker. Somewhere in there, they organized the bulldozer again, which was hilarious with seats being right behind the pit. Bulldozer = everyone in the pit turns around, vocalist counts to three, and pit charges whatever is behind the pit for not moshing. But it was just seats, and people who thought it wouldn't really go down. It went down, and I was in the front. We flooded back to about the third row, tearing shit apart and having an awesome time. Best part of Throwdown's set was the Sepultura cover, Roots Bloody Roots. One of the best covers I've ever heard, and being a festival like this, everyone knew it. Almost puked at the end of their set from pitting so hard. I need to get in better shape. Bad.
Again, another shitty band played, then GWAR took the stage. Everyone was freaking out before hand, saying, "GWAR is awesome! Holy shit! This is going to fucking rule! I LOVE GWAR! I WANT TO HAVE GWAR'S BABIES! GWAR IS LORD! HAIL GWAR!! AHHHHH!H!!11`1`1`1`1`1`". But... they were kind of retarded. Their music was alright, nothing too spectacular, but their stage show was the dumbest fucking thing I've ever seen. They're a pretty big band, so me saying this probably doesn't matter, but whatever. They were going for a sort of Evil Dead type horror/comedy edge, which would've been great, but they tried to weave political bullshit into it. The first thing they did was some elaborate shit about the current pope being a Nazi, which has been so over exploited and defeated so many times, it's sick. I DON'T CARE THAT HE WAS INVOLVED WITH THE HITLER YOUTH AS A TEENAGER, SHUT UP ALREADY. All the dirty little communists in the crowd thought it was awesome, of course. As they did for the Bush effigy being disemboweled, and the Reagan Robot being destroyed. Ugh. Fucking communists. I could tell the US Marine in front of me agreed, just by his posture: frozen still the whole time with arms folded in the I'm about to impale some of these fucking pinks... style.
Bah, enough about GWAR. I don't know who played next, probably more scene bands, so I'll just skip to the ones I remember. And that would be...
Chimaira. Fucking awesome. Chimaira rules. Anyone who complains that they were on TV, and are a more popular band, blah blah blah, they're not underground! rahhh! is more than welcome to jump in their pit during something like Pure Hatred, Power Trip, or really any song that has the floor moving. During their set, I got an elbow to the right eye socket pretty good, something to the top of the head (fist? foot? ice cream truck? I don't know), and numerous other good hits. Saw quite a few red chins during this. This one guy decided to dance during them, which was actually fucking funny, just because he knew it wouldn't fit, or go over well with the metal crowd. He was talking to me, and said something about, "yeah, I'd get beaten up if I tried to mosh. It's way too tight in there to dance". I agreed, and he said half kiddingly, "UNLESS WE OPEN IT RIGHT HERE", and started moving people out of the way to dance. Everybody got pissed at him, but he just kept laughing at all of them. It was great.
Opeth. Opeth is a great band, but honestly, the music just doesn't come off as well live. I saw someone walk by with a Blackwater Park vinyl, which was fucking sweet, and if I had a record player, I would want one. They only played one song that I actually knew, but then again, since they only had a half hour to play, and all their songs are long as hell, they only played three songs.
Between Opeth and Clutch, I met some guys from Toledo who are in a band called Distopiat. I'm looking forward to hearing them some time, just from what I learned by talking to them. The drunk guitarist tried to explain differences in musical structure between jazz and thrash metal, while getting drunk off his ass. 'Twas quite funny. As Clutch was coming on, I went back to the hill with them and smoked a little bit. Not a whole lot, but enough to where I didn't really feel like moshing when Lamb of God came on. Damn shame, I say. I guess I should definitely not smoke at shows.
But about Clutch: they were not a metal band or scene band or anything like that. They were like... some kind of blues rock stuff. It was pretty interesting, really, and I'm thinking about downloading some more of their music. It didn't fit at this tour, though. Whatever.
Poison the Well. They were alright; good as a 'hardcore' band. The lead singer kept saying things like, "Heh, I know you guys want us to get the fuck off of here so you can see Lamb of God, so we'll make this as quick as possible", which was pretty true. If they'd have played earlier, more people would've gone apeshit during their set.
Lamb of God. Seriously, if one band at this tour has all your base in their belonging, this was that band. I stayed on the floor, but didn't mosh at all. They played 11th Hour this time, as opposed to Ozzfest (I'm beginning to see a pattern in who rules and who played at Ozzfest here...), where they didn't. But yeah, Lamb of God fucking dominated all. Just wish I would've actually gotten in their pit for a while. At least during Black Label.
It all ended around 11:00, when I tried to get a hold of my mom for a ride, but had some miscommunication, and ended up calling her from a payphone a mile away. Got home around 12:15, and went to bed about a half hour later. Overall, it was a great fucking concert, and I hope they have it again next summer.
SUMMARY FOR THE LAZY READERS:
Great concert. A few bands really kicked ass, most were pussy scenester bands who got mowed down during the real metal acts. Food was overpriced, as always. The pits were good, but honestly could not even begin to think about fucking with Hatebreed's pit from their last stop at Harpo's. Bands always say things like "OK, NOW EVERBODY MOVE! THE WHOLE FLOOR!", but I've only seen one band to ever get literally the ENTIRE floor moshing, and that was Hatebreed. By "entire floor", I mean front bar to back wall, left building exit, to rightmost guardrail. Bands wish they were as cool as Hatebreed, but they're not. Anyway, great concert, they better have it again next year. But... bring Hatebreed. Seriously.
I began the day on 3 hours of sleep, and no food aside from a couple miniature packs of candied almonds. At around 7:30, I become the first person there. Even the staff wasn't there yet. God, I rule. Some worthless Fitz' kids showed up next around 8:30, and we talked and fucked around until doors opened at 11:30. On with the concert itself.
I found out when I looked at the set times that two of the bands I was looking forward to most were not going to be on this stop of the tour. Terror, who I was looking forward to the most of anyone on the bill, and Full Blown Chaos, who fucking rule.
SHOW:
The first two bands were some stupid scenester bullshit; I forgot their names. The entire metal portion of the crowd (75%, I'd say) were laughing balls during this, as a few of the scene kids were trying to 'dance'. Rule of thumb: If a person has a bandana quarterfolded and hanging out of their pocket, they can not dance for shit. Some fat guy kept dancing like an asshole, slow motion karate bullshit that has nothing to do with the rhythm of the music being played. I don't think I've seen more scene kids in my entire life, than the two main tall skinny cocks 'dancing' it up during the first two bands. Limp wristed air swatting mother fuckers.
All that shit ended for a while when The Black Dahlia Murder came up. The scene kids had been confused, and thought that with a name like The Black Dahlia Murder, that they would be another shitty scenester band. So they tried to dance... and were effectively raptured to hell when all of us decided to bring some real mosh into the show. I mean, when somebody goes flying across the pit horizontally, and you can FEEL their head hit the ground, and they stand right back up and keep moshing, you know the pit is not half-assed. Though TBDM's pit sort of faded in and out, partially because of a shitty sound mix, and because it took a while for the metal people to really realize that hey, there's a metal band playing. Let's go mosh.
After TBDM, I think Devildriver played. Maybe another scene band first, but Devildriver played soon after. Devildriver opened Ozzfest last year on our stop, and fucking ruled this tour as well.
A couple more scene bands, then Throwdown. Again, another band that ruled at Ozzfest, and ruled again here. Another instance of scenesters thinking that the term "hardcore" applies to them, and getting plowed the fuck over. Opened with Never Back Down, and played a few songs from Haymaker. Somewhere in there, they organized the bulldozer again, which was hilarious with seats being right behind the pit. Bulldozer = everyone in the pit turns around, vocalist counts to three, and pit charges whatever is behind the pit for not moshing. But it was just seats, and people who thought it wouldn't really go down. It went down, and I was in the front. We flooded back to about the third row, tearing shit apart and having an awesome time. Best part of Throwdown's set was the Sepultura cover, Roots Bloody Roots. One of the best covers I've ever heard, and being a festival like this, everyone knew it. Almost puked at the end of their set from pitting so hard. I need to get in better shape. Bad.
Again, another shitty band played, then GWAR took the stage. Everyone was freaking out before hand, saying, "GWAR is awesome! Holy shit! This is going to fucking rule! I LOVE GWAR! I WANT TO HAVE GWAR'S BABIES! GWAR IS LORD! HAIL GWAR!! AHHHHH!H!!11`1`1`1`1`1`". But... they were kind of retarded. Their music was alright, nothing too spectacular, but their stage show was the dumbest fucking thing I've ever seen. They're a pretty big band, so me saying this probably doesn't matter, but whatever. They were going for a sort of Evil Dead type horror/comedy edge, which would've been great, but they tried to weave political bullshit into it. The first thing they did was some elaborate shit about the current pope being a Nazi, which has been so over exploited and defeated so many times, it's sick. I DON'T CARE THAT HE WAS INVOLVED WITH THE HITLER YOUTH AS A TEENAGER, SHUT UP ALREADY. All the dirty little communists in the crowd thought it was awesome, of course. As they did for the Bush effigy being disemboweled, and the Reagan Robot being destroyed. Ugh. Fucking communists. I could tell the US Marine in front of me agreed, just by his posture: frozen still the whole time with arms folded in the I'm about to impale some of these fucking pinks... style.
Bah, enough about GWAR. I don't know who played next, probably more scene bands, so I'll just skip to the ones I remember. And that would be...
Chimaira. Fucking awesome. Chimaira rules. Anyone who complains that they were on TV, and are a more popular band, blah blah blah, they're not underground! rahhh! is more than welcome to jump in their pit during something like Pure Hatred, Power Trip, or really any song that has the floor moving. During their set, I got an elbow to the right eye socket pretty good, something to the top of the head (fist? foot? ice cream truck? I don't know), and numerous other good hits. Saw quite a few red chins during this. This one guy decided to dance during them, which was actually fucking funny, just because he knew it wouldn't fit, or go over well with the metal crowd. He was talking to me, and said something about, "yeah, I'd get beaten up if I tried to mosh. It's way too tight in there to dance". I agreed, and he said half kiddingly, "UNLESS WE OPEN IT RIGHT HERE", and started moving people out of the way to dance. Everybody got pissed at him, but he just kept laughing at all of them. It was great.
Opeth. Opeth is a great band, but honestly, the music just doesn't come off as well live. I saw someone walk by with a Blackwater Park vinyl, which was fucking sweet, and if I had a record player, I would want one. They only played one song that I actually knew, but then again, since they only had a half hour to play, and all their songs are long as hell, they only played three songs.
Between Opeth and Clutch, I met some guys from Toledo who are in a band called Distopiat. I'm looking forward to hearing them some time, just from what I learned by talking to them. The drunk guitarist tried to explain differences in musical structure between jazz and thrash metal, while getting drunk off his ass. 'Twas quite funny. As Clutch was coming on, I went back to the hill with them and smoked a little bit. Not a whole lot, but enough to where I didn't really feel like moshing when Lamb of God came on. Damn shame, I say. I guess I should definitely not smoke at shows.
But about Clutch: they were not a metal band or scene band or anything like that. They were like... some kind of blues rock stuff. It was pretty interesting, really, and I'm thinking about downloading some more of their music. It didn't fit at this tour, though. Whatever.
Poison the Well. They were alright; good as a 'hardcore' band. The lead singer kept saying things like, "Heh, I know you guys want us to get the fuck off of here so you can see Lamb of God, so we'll make this as quick as possible", which was pretty true. If they'd have played earlier, more people would've gone apeshit during their set.
Lamb of God. Seriously, if one band at this tour has all your base in their belonging, this was that band. I stayed on the floor, but didn't mosh at all. They played 11th Hour this time, as opposed to Ozzfest (I'm beginning to see a pattern in who rules and who played at Ozzfest here...), where they didn't. But yeah, Lamb of God fucking dominated all. Just wish I would've actually gotten in their pit for a while. At least during Black Label.
It all ended around 11:00, when I tried to get a hold of my mom for a ride, but had some miscommunication, and ended up calling her from a payphone a mile away. Got home around 12:15, and went to bed about a half hour later. Overall, it was a great fucking concert, and I hope they have it again next summer.
SUMMARY FOR THE LAZY READERS:
Great concert. A few bands really kicked ass, most were pussy scenester bands who got mowed down during the real metal acts. Food was overpriced, as always. The pits were good, but honestly could not even begin to think about fucking with Hatebreed's pit from their last stop at Harpo's. Bands always say things like "OK, NOW EVERBODY MOVE! THE WHOLE FLOOR!", but I've only seen one band to ever get literally the ENTIRE floor moshing, and that was Hatebreed. By "entire floor", I mean front bar to back wall, left building exit, to rightmost guardrail. Bands wish they were as cool as Hatebreed, but they're not. Anyway, great concert, they better have it again next year. But... bring Hatebreed. Seriously.