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This tour has its shit together, which is a good sign since this is the kickoff show. Doors opened at 11, witht he first band (Full Blown Chaos) starting at 12. This gave people time to get patted down and get into the venue before the first band played; something that a lot of other fests don't o. It really sucks knowing that a band you want to see is playing while you're still standing in line.
My nose was constantly vibrating from the double bass of Full Blown Chaos' set. They were a lot better than I remember them being, and the pit loved the constant breakdowns. They also had the Sounds of the Underground kickoff wall od death. The people up front either ran to a side to take part or get the fuck out of the way. Once the singer said go, it was fucking nuts. The people running towards each other and moshing at each other looked like a battle scene from "Troy," minus the swords, horses and men in skirts.
Devil Driver played to a crowd that watched them with barely any movement. There wasn't as much energy coming out of the speakers as when Full Blown Chaos played. It was a huge contrast watching both bands. They sounded okay, but the lack of energy onstage was a real downer.
A Life Once Lost came onstage and had it ripped to shreds midway through the first song with their pulverizing brand of music. This is a band that will never disappoint live, and they proved it by tearing through their set. The singer looked like he was going to rip in half when he sang while quickly bending backwards. Being the victim of a bad back, I shivered every time he did it. The crowd stayed pretty still through most of their set, which seemed to disappoint the band. They were fucking great, though.
People caem rushing to the floor as All That Remains started their set. They opened with "The Deepest Gray," a song that I love. The guitars were a little too loud at first, and the vocals were a bit soft (one of the guitars was crackling as well). Once they fixed the problem, which caused them to cut a song or two from their set, they sounded huge, like an army of a band. They only played four songs due to the technical difficulties, but they ended with my favorite "This Darkened Heart," that had Phil and the crowd all singing together at the end.
I was walking around when The Red Chord started playing, but I quickly found a close spot to watch them (I wanted to be on the floor, but I picked the wrong aisle to go down and the seat I found was pretty close). They seemed to play faster than normal, but they were still great. Vocalist Guy Kozowyk's ability to go from scream to deep voice in the same breath is uncanny. The pit was insane and they played my three favorite Red Chord songs: "Nihilist," "Catalespy," and "Dreaming in Dog Years." During their set, I saw a security guard put on black rubber gloves before going into the crowd. That really freaked me out.
I'm not really a fan of Throwdown, though I do find their new album surprisingly decent. They sounded okay and got the pit moving, but I spent my time looking through CDs and eating this weird ice creamt hat made my tongue feel like I had just french kissed a freezer.
Every Time I Die had "The Boys are Back in Town" playing as they took the stage, which was pretty funny. They sounded really good, which I wasn't expecting at all since they usually bore me. This set (for me) was a perfect example of why these festivals are great: you see a band that you're not expecting to like (or haven't heard) and they blow you away, making you excited for their upcoming album.
All the scene kids rushing in to watch Norma Jean. They had some light action going on that would have been much cooler if the lights of the arena were off. The bass sounded like shit, but the rest of the band sounded good.
It took awhile before Strapping Young Lad took the stage, but they were really incredible. Devin Townsend is a true rock star, complete with the awesome stage presence and derogatory remarks to the fans. The music was absolutely killer, especially the keyboards and singing. Best quote: "You're lucky we're playing cause you're all fucking ugly."
Gwar came out hailing the new Nazi Pope, who walked around stage dressed in a red robe. I'm not sure how they killed the pope, but I'm betting that they did to make way for "the filthiest man in the world," George W. Bush. Bush ended up getting his entrails ripped out, which was pretty cool. They squirted blood and then battled a troll with a sword, which looked like a gay S+M video. The troll lost his battle, but not before squirting a lot of blood first. For the "final chaotic act of supreme voilence," The Reaganator took the stage to battle Gwar. The Reaganator was a huge fucking robot looking monster who's chest lit up. The needed a giant sword (which made him squirt blood, believe it or not) to take him down. Before playing their last song (yes, they did play music-pretty good metal with melodies in there), they said: "We've only been out ehre 26 minutes, but we're already sick of you." The singer squirted sperm on the crowd during the last song, in addition to more blood. They played a fucked up, yet entertaining set.
Opeth is a band that I never checked out, although I've heard really good things about them. I was pretty impressed with how they could play crushing metal one second, and then tone it down and play something really melodic the next. The singer sounded like he just injected a bottle full of downers before he talked. His voice was deep and very slow. They are a thinking man's metal band. The singer told the crowd that they were about to play their last song. The crowd didn't like that, but he told them theat they would be back 15 million times this year. I'll be counting.
Chimaira was boring, so I didn't pay much attention to them. I should note (to make this more than a one sentence paragraph) that the show was running 15 minutes behind at this point, which wasn't bad considering there were some technical difficulties (the show ended up finishing an hour later, but I think they had the venue until 11 and left some extra time in case things did get backed up, which is incredible foresight and planning).
I think those difficulties forced Poison the Well to cut a song or two from their set. They banged through eight songs before exiting the stage. There was a point when the singer said that they had to hurry things up, bu then nobody did anything for at least a minute.
They didn't seem all that happy, but they sounded incredible. They played songs from You Come Before You, three from Opposite of December, and what I swear was a new song that was fast and awesome. I really like the fact that they have been writing some fast songs lately. Keep it up.
I was hoping that From Autumn to Ashes would play some new songs. Their last album was disappointing and I was interested to see if they would rebound from that. They played two new songs, and they both sounded good, especially the second song, which had an amazing ending. They also played "Cherry Kiss," and three songs from The Fiction We Live. The guy behind me commented to his friend what a terrible band they were, but I thought they were pretty good.
Clutch reminded me of a faster Soundgarden. Their songs rock and the riffs are killer. They have a good rock sound with traces of grunge. Their music could serve both as backing music and as something to rock out to. I enjoyed these guys, which was exciting because I didn't think I would.
Unearth tore the place apart. This is an incredible band made up of four ludicrously talented musicians and an amazing vocalist. Its not wonder they are as popular as they are. A combination of talent and hard work will pay off, and it did for these guys.
They had a few cool rock star moves in their on stage repertoire. During one song, the two guitarists and bassist stood in a triangle and did a lick on each others' instrument. They also fillped guitars around their heads, did push ups on stage (I didn't understand that one either), and drummer Mike Justain (who is a freaking drumming monster) did a jump before hitting his toms to start a breakdown. Unearth is the total package, and they are only going to move up the popularity ladder.
Lamb of God had some evil sounding chamber music to enter to. The stage was all smokey and there were red and blue lights. They they kicked in with the music and the crowd went nuts. All five guys were full of energy, but the music seemed softer than all the other bands.
Singer Randy Blythe walked around the stage with his arms slightly spread apart and his elbows bent, reminding me of a monster. I really enjoyed it when he walked like that. I could definitely see him scaring some kids on Halloween.
Lamb of God was really tight. The double bass thumped through my heart like a bumpy road. The guitars were sometimes tough to hear, but those dudes were rocking out pretty hard. This show couldn't have ended any better than the wall of death that took place.
This was probably the best festival show I've been to. The set up was awesome and the bands were great. The best part was that I didn't have to worry about missing any bands due to them being scheduled at the same time. Its crazy how this tour got it right the first time around. I can't wait for next year.
Written by: RF