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It figures that they scehdule Metal Fest for the one Friday that I have to work until 4. I got there at about 4:45, already missing The Esoteric, Kylesa and The Minor Times (more on that later).
I showed up as Since the Flood was starting their set. They sounded really good, just as they did at last year's Metal Fest. I watched ten minutes of their set and then went upstairs in hopes of watching The Minor Times (the program said that they were playing at 5:10). I was stoked that barely anyone was there adn I walked up to the front. Four pretty old dudes were on stage. The lights went down and they announced themselves as Catastrophic. Disappointed, I went back downstairs to finish watching Since the Flood.
Haste the Day was up next, and they had a really good live sound to them; a sound that the kids in hardcore uniforms loved. I only watched ten minutes of their set, but they were good adn I got to hear two songs off of their upcoming album.
I rushed upstairs to watch With Honor rip the total shit out of the Second Stage. I was an instant fan of them after watching their performance at last year's Metal Fest, and they were very impressive this year as well. Their set was full of stage dives and sing alongs, and there were maybe only a few people in the packed Palladium Upstairs whose heads weren't nodding up and down to the music. I skipped out on the last three songs of their set to interview Kylesa, which was pretty fun.
The long haired guitarist of All That Remains put on a fucking clinic with his insane guitar chops. The guy was freaking insane and was a lot of fun to watch. They played a good amount of songs off of This Darkened Heart, which made me happy because I love that record. All That Remains had the best set from the bands I saw on Friday at Metal Fest.
I had to sit through Throwdown before getting to see As I Lay Dying. I bought some CDs and sat in the balcony playing Bejeweled on my cell phone while they played songs for kids to mosh to. The only song I recognized (and liked) was "Unite."
As I Lay Dying opened with duel guitars playing a very slow intro, which was really cool. The rest of the band joined them and they rocked through their set, which included two new songs. Both songs sounded good, but one of them had singing in it, whcih I don't think they need for their songs to be good. Everything they played (the songs with singing included) sounded great live. It was also fun to watch their singer, who looked like the bastard love child of Davey Havock and Lex from Daughters.
I was going to take off after As I Lay Dying to go watch the Bouncing Souls (one of my favorite bands), but I decided to stay and watch a couple Obituary songs, which would ensure my missing Let It Burn (who suck). This turned out to be a great decision on my part because of this: I went into the bathroom, which was smokier than dry ice, and saw some kid leaning on the wall in obvious pain. I thought he had hurt his shoulder, but the guy pissing next to me was talking about what a fucking idiot that kid was for getting his dick caught in his zipper ("Franks and beans"). As I left the bathroom, the poor kid was hunched over on his knees in serious fucking pain. He won't be using that for awhile.
This was my first real taste of Obituary. I heard a few songs here and there, but I wasn't all that impressed. I was pretty impressed with the two songs I watched. I heard a Cro Mags meets death metal influence, which was pretty cool. I would have like to have stayed longer, but I didn't want to miss The Explosion or the Bouncing Souls (the Bouncing Souls also played Providence the first day of Metal Fest last year-dammit).
Here's my prediction for what the rest of the night entailed: Obituary played a pretty cool set that the majority of people there to see Unearth didn't care about. Once Obituary finished, a lot of the older people left, while the younger people took the dance floor, ready to practice their newly choreographed karate moves on the unsuspecting asshole standing near them. Unearth played a set that blew most of the crowd away. The guitarists shredded and the drummer owned over all drummers there, forcing anyone with a drumset to go home and practice. Hatebreed played, making the tough guys happy while the kid who caught his dick in his zipper wondered if it would hurt the next time he got an erection.
I showed up a few songs into The Explosion, right before they played "Here I Am." It seemed like they played a lot of the newer songs than I'm used to hearing. Those songs are pretty good, but they don't have the energy that tracks from Flash Flash Flash had. They also covered "Seeing Red" by Minor Threat.
The Bouncing Souls played for about an hour, which was great by my standards. They are one of the few bands that I will go up front and sing along for, and I had a great time even though big dudes kepted bumping into me and it seemed like everyone in the club took turns stepping on my feet. There was also a time when I was stucked between two poles and a shirtless sweaty guy. Yuck.
The Bouncing Souls played "Kid," "Neurotic" (which they screwed up), "Gone," "Manthem," "Argyle," "Johnny X," "K8 is Great," "Say Anything," "Hopeless Romantic," "Kids and Heroes," "That Song," "Private Radio," "True Believer," "Night on Earth," and a few other songs that kept the crowd singing along to every word. It was really cool being able to see them play a smaller and more intimate venue again. It brought me back to my mid-teens when they'd play The Met Cafe all the time. Its really amazing that I've been a fan of this band for about ten years and I still get so excited about watching them play. Its great for a band to have that much staying power.
Written by: RF