Concerts coming to your area: Good and Bad

[Haws Bah Gawd]

I saw Kamelot with Delain and Eklipse at the Masquerade in Atlanta last night. Easily the most fun I've ever had at a concert. I paid extra for the "VIP Experience" and got early admission and a meet-and-greet with Kamelot. The band was VERY cordial and took time to sign whatever you brought and pose for photos.

Eklipse is a German female quartet of Violinists. They played several Violin covers including "Cry Me a River", "Sweet Dreams" and "Where the Wild Roses Grow". Surprisingly this was a lot of fun, and the ladies were full of energy and really seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Delain was just as good as they were the last time I saw them in Atlanta in 2010. They played for about an hour and even had Marco Hietala piped-in on "The Gathering". Their vocalist is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen.

Kamelot started a little after 10. Their drummer was having some issues with his drum kit, but HOLY FUCKING SHIT did they tear the house down! They played for a solid hour and a half. I was seriously worried the floor was about to collapse under us due to the entire place jumping non stop while they played, but what a way to go!

This was my third time seeing Kamelot, and my second time seeing Delain. I will be seeing both again as soon as they come back to the US.

 

[Fall of Epic]

GWAR is coming here in December and I spontaneously bought a ticket with a friend. I've never seen them but I guess the rule is to wear clothes you don't care about getting fucked up, huh?

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

No. You have to wear white. You also have to prepare yourself for the most fun you likely will ever have at a concert.

Also, SLAYER is back on tour (with Gojira and the fuck-awful 4ARM in support).

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

Just got back from Dying Fetus. Devourment wasn't on the bill despite being touted as being on tour. Maybe there was a caveat with them only appearing on certain dates, but I don't care much because I don't care much for Devourment.

Came in during the end of some local band's set. Generic core nonsense. Fuck 'em.

Dysentery played next. If you like slam death then you'll like them. Nothing else to say. I enjoy it and they put on a good live show (though not as good as the last time I saw them, which was last year in a shed in the bassist from Abnormality's backyard).

Totality is meh to me, but holy hell do they have a great live show. They were the last of the local acts and while I'm not a fan of their music their live show convinced me to see them if they're opening for another band I dig.

Rivers of Nihil were solid but unspectacular. The vocalist tried to crack a few jokes and they bombed so I think he tried out some anti-humor...but it bombed, too, so I'm guessing he's just not too funny. Or maybe he was fucked up.

Exhumed were fucking magnificent. If there's one complaint from me it's that they didn't play "Necromaniac," but their set was a good blend of their career, with a couple of songs from the early days and heavy on All Guts and Necrocracy. They also had a spot where everybody but Bud Burke went into the small dressing room as he went on an insane solo spree, then had members of the road crew run out with a fake defibrillator because Bud "died," it didn't work, so they brought out a skull funnel (the cheapies you find at Spencer's and whatnot) and a beer, and voila: back to life as the rest of the band returns wearing spandex and generally dressed like a hair band. Then they played a little bit of "Shout at the Devil" before seguing into (IIRC) "As Hammer to Anvil." Solid, solid set.

Dying Fetus, apparently, had the entire place going insane, as they're wont to do, but I missed most of their set because I was sitting on the stairs in the main parlor because I felt like I was going to die. I was a little drunk, got clocked in the head a couple of times during Exhumed, had the wind knocked out of me during both Totality and Exhumed, dehydrated, and overheated, so I bought a water bottle and sat where the cool air could revive me. From what I heard, though, it was a solid set, though very heavy on Reign Supreme material. I came back in after "Praise the Lord (Opium of the Masses)" as they brought the women in costume up on stage to have a little contest (a cute little thing wearing a Ninja Turtle outfit won, thankfully), her prize was a Dying Fetus thong (yep), and then they banged out "One Shot, One Kill," "Kill Your Mother, Rape Your Dog," and "In the Trenches" to call it a night.

Damn good show, but I have to admit one thing:
I'm too fucking old for moshing and need to stay the fuck out of it.

 

[Youth N Asia]

Damn good show, but I have to admit one thing:
I'm too fucking old for moshing and need to stay the fuck out of it.

Likewise. I got a little into it seeing Lagwagon last year. At 32 it just didn't feel right. There were a couple times where a pit started at a Jimmy Eat World show I went to. That was just downright silly

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

...I think we may have different definitions of "moshing," my friend.

 

[Youth N Asia]

No... This was thrashing at a Jimmy Eat World show. Damndest thing I've ever seen.

 

[Fall of Epic]

I was never into moshing, even when I was younger. I always just stayed away from the violence and payed attention to the music. I understand dancing around or feeling the acts but I never was compelled to outright tackle anyone and I've been to many a death metal show.

I saw Anthrax and Testament last year and someone thought it was funny to push me into the huge pit that encompassed the center of the venue and the guy I befriended at the show punched the culprit in the face and pulled me out of harm's way. I bought him a beer as a thank you.

 

[StopNChat]

Very disappointed I'll be missing Titus Andronicus tomorrow night in St. Pete (along with Lucero, who I'm not too familiar with). Titus came to Tampa last year the day after Fest, so the bar was pretty empty but it was still super energetic with a cute lil' 5-person pit.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

I was never into moshing, even when I was younger. I always just stayed away from the violence and payed attention to the music. I understand dancing around or feeling the acts but I never was compelled to outright tackle anyone and I've been to many a death metal show.

This is why I'll stick to walling it in if I'm not sitting down and watching. I just can't keep up with the meatheads and the young kids who think "mosh" means "spaz out and throw elbows everywhere" while slamming into people whose backs are to them.

Being around a pit just enhances the show for me, though. Seeing people just go apeshit to the music they're hearing, plus seeing the scenester ninja kids get tackled? It just entertains the hell out of me.

I saw Anthrax and Testament last year and someone thought it was funny to push me into the huge pit that encompassed the center of the venue and the guy I befriended at the show punched the culprit in the face and pulled me out of harm's way. I bought him a beer as a thank you.

For such a lighthearted band, Anthrax has always had insane pits. It always seemed odd to me to go full-on slam for them, though, because circle pits and classic moshing (basically pogo'ing into people) fits their style more, but then you figure that a lot of their original fanbase was part of the NYHC scene, and yeah.

 

[Red Baron]

So I was at a Mac Miller show. Ya, I got drunk as Fuck to pass the time.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

GWAR. THIRTEENTH TIME. BE THERE IN JUST OVER AN HOUR. YEEEAAAAAHHHHH-UHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

Trans-siberian Orchestra is coming to Columbia next Friday with Russell Allen of Symphony X on vocals. I need to find some way to go !

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

GWAR is coming here in December and I spontaneously bought a ticket with a friend. I've never seen them but I guess the rule is to wear clothes you don't care about getting fucked up, huh?

Epic, you are in for a damn good show. The supporting bands are great live (except for Whitechapel, but that's because I loathe this deathcore bullshit) and they've peppered in a few forgotten cuts with the go-to's ("Pre-Skool Prostitute," "Jack the World," "Happy Death Day," and "Hate Love Songs" have joined"Bring Back the Bomb," "The Salamanizer," and "Sick of You," for instance). If their "encore" is the same as it was at this one, then it'll be a good way to get a laugh, but it's infinitely weaker than how closed their last tour (by playing "The Road Behind" and covering EVERYBODY in the crowd before leaving Cory "Flattus Maximus" Smoot's guitar on a chair and letting Sinatra's "My Way" come over the PA). The set was quite a bit heavy on stuff from the past few albums, but that should be fine if you're at all familiar with them since it's stuff that's been their most popular beyond the really early days.

Great time. Iron Reagan found Tony Foresta back in top form after the last couple of Municipal Waste tours have been lackluster (though still no more boogie boarding in the crowd) and the banter between him and Ryan Parrish (drummer, in Darkest Hour from 1999 up until 2011) was hilarious. A Band of Orcs are what happens when Lordi doesn't suck and plays some actual metal, or maybe a better comparison would be a blend of Gwar's stage attire and Amon Amarth's music but with a folk metal tinge. They open, they're fun, that's all you need to know.

Fuck Whitechapel. Skipped their set and got pissed when I found out the Palladium wasn't allowing re-entry for this one. They've taken to setting up those bank-style ribbon barriers around a section of the front steps for people to stand in while smoking, and they had it there for Dying Fetus on Halloween, but tonight it was back to the lame "No Re-Entry" rule they had a few years back.

 

[The Metal Maniac]

Black Sabbath. I am so pumped for this is insane.

Sadly, it's not until April.

 

[A.BUTCHERS HOUSE OF RIBS]

I'm really looking forward to seeing Zombi and Goblin in early December. Anyone catch them, in October?

 

[The Metal Maniac]

Got my ticket for Sabbath; bit perturbed that I waited in line for 12 hours, was #8, and there were no goddamned floor seats available.

Course, I'd be a lot more bothered if I had been, about, #20 in line, who didn't even get tickets.

 

[Fall of Epic]

People still wait in line for tickets?

Sabbath is coming here in March. Considering it but first I need to concentrate on GWAR!

 

[The Metal Maniac]

Apparently not, actually; or at least not much. Had planned to get some on the pre-sale they had a few days prior, but my roomie dropped the ball hard on that one.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

Alter Bridge tickets go on sale Friday. I will be trying to purchase them for April. I can't wait!

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

The closest they're playing to me is Atlanta. I'm considering it.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

Alter Bridge tickets go on sale Friday. I will be trying to purchase them for April. I can't wait!

And my ticket has been bought. $37 including fees. Great price. They are playing with some Canadian band named Monster Truck. I downloaded their album and am interested in what they sound like.

 

[Youth N Asia]

Alter Bridge tickets go on sale Friday. I will be trying to purchase them for April. I can't wait!

And my ticket has been bought. $37 including fees. Great price. They are playing with some Canadian band named Monster Truck. I downloaded their album and am interested in what they sound like.

I can't tell if the great price line is sarcasm or not. Seems like a lot for a band that never got that big.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

It's $26 before fees. In this day and age where $50+ is the norm, even for no name bands, that's a great price.

 

[Youth N Asia]

It does feel like I'm paying way more now than I did just a few years ago to see shows

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

It's $26 before fees. In this day and age where $50+ is the norm, even for no name bands, that's a great price.

I pay $30-35 on the regular for bands who have had more mainstream exposure and longer bouts of success than Alter Bridge...

...but that's because metal and punk bands know their audience doesn't have much money =/

Spoiler

But I paid $60ish for Slayer last month after fees, but c'mon...SLAYER.

The next big show I'm gearing up for is Amon Amarth at the House of Blues in Boston on February 1. They're heading out with Enslaved and Skeletonwitch, the latter of which I've heard comes across much better live than they do on recording.

 

[NoCalMike]

Phil Anselmo & The Illegals are coming here in January!

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

We were talking about '90s nostalgia concerts a page or two back. Well, the club some of my friends work for announced a show co-headlined by Tonic and Vertical Horizon, featuring special guests DISHWALLA in March. They're really starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel with these package tours, although I do like Tonic's three hits.

I saw Vertical Horizon back when they were actually popular, headline a Jingle Ball type concert in '00/'01ish and they were probably the most boring band I've ever seen live. Actually, I can't imagine Tonic (or Dishwalla) being very dynamic live either...

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

Tonic's frontman played a solo show here in 2006 during Master's Week.

ReVamp, Sabaton and Iced Earth are coming to Atlanta in April. I think I have to go.

 

[Fall of Epic]

What's happening in 24 hours? GWAR, that's what's happening.

Will try to post pictures of me covered in fake blood this weekend.