I have alot of injury stories. I been going in the pits forever, so that doesnt help. THe last few years I slowed down, but since I lost some lbs, I been back in there alot. The worst injury was prolly last october. and i wasnt even in the pit, I was just standing there, The ghost inside was playing and I was in NY and there were alot of ninjaz, so I dont usually go in the pit with ningaz cause i dont like getting punched and kicked in the face, i used to, but learned my lesson too many times. but nayway, i was just standing there watching the band, and BOOM punch right to the eyeball, it missed both the bones and just directly hit my eyeball. all i could see was white for a few mins. so i went to the hospital lateron and i ended up having a trauma induced infection to the back of my eyeball and had to take medications to stop the infection from spreading to my brain and causing menengitis. what i had was called orbital cellulitis or some shit, since then. whenever theres ninjas, i usually stay in the back unless I hardcore love the band playing.
the most painful injury i recieved was getting kicked in the face by a stagediver(i think) right in the fucking face. shit hurt like hell.
I almost always get in a pit if there is one at a show. Worst thing that happened to me was getting a nice cut on the back of my head that bled everywhere. Looked a lot worse than it really was though.
4-23-11 - The Crofoot Ballroom - Pontiac, MI - Between The Buried And Me
When I came to this area a couple months ago to see Times of Grace in the venue adjacent to the Crofoot, I had to spend over an hour in freezing weather because they decided to not open the doors on time. Well, I got there at 7, right as doors were supposed to open, but surprise, they had not opened them. Thankfully, the temperature was about twice as high as it was on that night two months ago, so the wait was much more comfortable. Eventually, they let all the people who had hard copy tickets skip the line and enter the venue, and so I entered. The first thing I noticed was how incredibly small the venue was. This was just as small, if not smaller than the venue Times of Grace had played at, and definitely smaller than the venue BTBAM played at last year, when they brought Cynic, Devin Townsend, and Scale The Summit with them. The balcony probably allowed them to cram more people in than I estimated, though. Anyway, I took a spot at the center of the rail, one person back. Not long after they started letting people in, the opening act took the stage.
Wilson - The local act on this one since Cephalic Carnage wasn't joining the lineup until later in the tour, these guys were one of the better local acts I've seen. Their energy was awesome, they were confident and not afraid to try to get the crowd to move, and the music wasn't half bad either. There's nothing incredibly original in what they were playing, but I thought the guitar work and vocals were pretty damn good for a group that had only been together a couple years. There were some pretty cool riffs and solos, and plenty of parts where you couldn't help but bang your head or pump your fist. There were a couple of breakdowns, but they were used in good taste and not frequently enough to be stuck with the core label. Their live show reminded me a lot of Hail The Villain, a group that wowed me with their live intensity and presence on stage, though their music isn't quite the same. The best part of the set was the very end, where the lead singer pulled out a marching band bass drum and started pounding away on it. It was pretty funny. I wish more local bands were as good and fun as these guys. 6/10 http://www.myspace.com/wilsonmi
The Ocean - The main reason I wanted to attend this tour. It took them an ungodly amount of time to set up and everything, but once they got it together and got on stage, they were nothing short of awe-inspiring. They played their first three songs right in a row, and they all melded together really well, making it feel like one long epic. This was probably a bit disconcerting for the core kids standing around me who came to see Job For A Cowboy, but for me, it was awesome. Loic Rossetti was all over the place for the entire set, hopping on the rail and stage diving right over me at one point, a volatile ball of energy during the heavy parts of the songs, and calm and tranquil during the melodic parts where he had to bring out the clean vocals. The balance of the band was quite impressive, and with this type of music, you have to be really tight and in time or people will notice very quickly. Over the course of Anthropocentric, the band showed that they were indeed very much together, and the result was something that all fans of post-rock and progressive metal can appreciate. The heaviness of the songs were definitely enhanced live, as were the abruptness and effectiveness of the dynamic and tempo changes. To add to the atmosphere, they had a video screen behind them that displayed various interesting clips. By the time the band wrapped up Orosirian for a quick break in the action, they had won a good majority of the crowd over. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, they had to cut a song, but the songs they closed with were two of their best in The Origin of Species and The Origin of God, the amazing closers to their Heliocentric album. These two songs alone were worth the price of admission for me, and though the saxophone outro was only played over the PA, it gave me chills to hear it and it was an epic closer nonetheless. In short, The Ocean was amazing and I wish they had been billed over the band that followed them so they could have played a bit longer. Hopefully they will be around again soon. 8.5/10
Setlist:
Anthropocentric The Grand Inquisitor I: Karamazov Baseness Orosirian: For The Great Blue Cold Now Reigns The Origin Of Species The Origin Of God
Job For A Cowboy - I blissfully missed seeing this band at Mayhem 2009, but with nowhere to go before BTBAM, I had no choice but to give them their fair shot live now. Unfortunately, they did nothing to change my mind about them. All I could hear for the entire set was Jonny Davy screaming incomprehensible shit into the mic and the drummer showing off his ability to play blast beats. Only on occasion did I hear some guitar lines cut through the murky vocals give the song some semblance of musicality. Thanks to this lack of balance, as hard as I tried to distinguish what was going on, every song seemed very similar to me, from the older stuff to the new stuff to the new song they played off their upcoming EP. Not surprisingly, the crowd picked up a bit for this band, and the push finally started to come from behind me, so strong that I was able to squeeze myself into a not-so-comfortable position on the rail. At that point, it was just a matter of waiting for their set to mercifully end. They may have progressed a bit from deathcore to death metal, but it sure as hell didn't translate to much better than Suicide Silence or Whitechapel on stage. Sorry. 2/10
Setlist (for those who care):
Unfurling a Darkened Gospel Constitutional Masturbation Regurgitated Disinformation Bearing the Serpents Lamb Knee Deep Signature Of Starving Power Ruination Entombment of a Machine Embedded
Between The Buried And Me - Not much had changed between the time I saw this band the first time and this time. I was still not very familiar with their stuff going into this, and after seeing RUSH earlier in the week and The Ocean earlier that very night, it would have been easy to be a bit underwhelmed by their show. In spite of that, they still managed to put on a damn good set. The first half of their set was performing their new EP in full, and it was impressive. While Tommy Rogers wasn't getting anywhere near the pit like The Ocean's Rosetti, he still had a good deal of energy, and that was more than enough to work their fans into a frenzy. The push throughout the show was constant and at times suffocating, as I was already in tight quarters on the rail. Crowd surfers were abundant as well, and a couple of them got some good shots on my head, but I was able to make it through the whole set without any real damage. The EP was by far the best part of the show for me, and I found it to be more musically interesting than anything they played at their show last year. It was only a half hour long, but the way it was played and presented, it felt much more massive, and that's a good thing. There were plenty of twists and turns within the intricacies of it to keep me hooked, and while it wasn't perfect, I felt like they had stepped up their songwriting a bit. That being said, the rest of the show was enjoyable as well, with the set being a bit different than what they played on their previous run. Only one song from The Great Misdirect was played, if you don't count the Swim To The Moon instrumental bit they threw in at the end. Not much was lost, in my opinion, with Sun of Nothing and Ants of the Sky providing plenty of live punch to make up for it. Just like The Ocean, the balance in the instrumentation was great, with the video screen of The Ocean's being replaced with a healthy dose of lights. Nothing special, but appropriate. Paul's guitar solo was a treat to watch as he played it right in front of me, and he was awesome all set, just as he was the first time. The other highlight of the set was the encore song, Selkies. The intro to the song with the keyboards and guitar was just awesome, and the intro as a whole was one of the best musical bits I have heard from BTBAM. The solo section near the end was also pretty damn cool. Although they were not the reason I attended this tour and not my favorite performance at either show, BTBAM did a great job and I was definitely more impressed with them this time around. 8.5/10
Setlist:
Specular Reflection Augment of Rebirth Lunar Wilderness Sun of Nothing Ants of the Sky (Guitar Solo) Swim to the Moon (Instrumental Excerpt) (Drum Solo) Fossil Genera - A Feed From Cloud Mountain ------------------------------------------ Selkies: The Endless Obsession
Job For A Cowboy - I blissfully missed seeing this band at Mayhem 2009, but with nowhere to go before BTBAM, I had no choice but to give them their fair shot live now. Unfortunately, they did nothing to change my mind about them. All I could hear for the entire set was Jonny Davy screaming incomprehensible shit into the mic and the drummer showing off his ability to play blast beats. Only on occasion did I hear some guitar lines cut through the murky vocals give the song some semblance of musicality. Thanks to this lack of balance, as hard as I tried to distinguish what was going on, every song seemed very similar to me, from the older stuff to the new stuff to the new song they played off their upcoming EP. Not surprisingly, the crowd picked up a bit for this band, and the push finally started to come from behind me, so strong that I was able to squeeze myself into a not-so-comfortable position on the rail. At that point, it was just a matter of waiting for their set to mercifully end. They may have progressed a bit from deathcore to death metal, but it sure as hell didn't translate to much better than Suicide Silence or Whitechapel on stage. Sorry. 2/10
Comments
the most painful injury i recieved was getting kicked in the face by a stagediver(i think) right in the fucking face. shit hurt like hell.
When I came to this area a couple months ago to see Times of Grace in the venue adjacent to the Crofoot, I had to spend over an hour in freezing weather because they decided to not open the doors on time. Well, I got there at 7, right as doors were supposed to open, but surprise, they had not opened them. Thankfully, the temperature was about twice as high as it was on that night two months ago, so the wait was much more comfortable. Eventually, they let all the people who had hard copy tickets skip the line and enter the venue, and so I entered. The first thing I noticed was how incredibly small the venue was. This was just as small, if not smaller than the venue Times of Grace had played at, and definitely smaller than the venue BTBAM played at last year, when they brought Cynic, Devin Townsend, and Scale The Summit with them. The balcony probably allowed them to cram more people in than I estimated, though. Anyway, I took a spot at the center of the rail, one person back. Not long after they started letting people in, the opening act took the stage.
Wilson - The local act on this one since Cephalic Carnage wasn't joining the lineup until later in the tour, these guys were one of the better local acts I've seen. Their energy was awesome, they were confident and not afraid to try to get the crowd to move, and the music wasn't half bad either. There's nothing incredibly original in what they were playing, but I thought the guitar work and vocals were pretty damn good for a group that had only been together a couple years. There were some pretty cool riffs and solos, and plenty of parts where you couldn't help but bang your head or pump your fist. There were a couple of breakdowns, but they were used in good taste and not frequently enough to be stuck with the core label. Their live show reminded me a lot of Hail The Villain, a group that wowed me with their live intensity and presence on stage, though their music isn't quite the same. The best part of the set was the very end, where the lead singer pulled out a marching band bass drum and started pounding away on it. It was pretty funny. I wish more local bands were as good and fun as these guys. 6/10
http://www.myspace.com/wilsonmi
The Ocean - The main reason I wanted to attend this tour. It took them an ungodly amount of time to set up and everything, but once they got it together and got on stage, they were nothing short of awe-inspiring. They played their first three songs right in a row, and they all melded together really well, making it feel like one long epic. This was probably a bit disconcerting for the core kids standing around me who came to see Job For A Cowboy, but for me, it was awesome. Loic Rossetti was all over the place for the entire set, hopping on the rail and stage diving right over me at one point, a volatile ball of energy during the heavy parts of the songs, and calm and tranquil during the melodic parts where he had to bring out the clean vocals. The balance of the band was quite impressive, and with this type of music, you have to be really tight and in time or people will notice very quickly. Over the course of Anthropocentric, the band showed that they were indeed very much together, and the result was something that all fans of post-rock and progressive metal can appreciate. The heaviness of the songs were definitely enhanced live, as were the abruptness and effectiveness of the dynamic and tempo changes. To add to the atmosphere, they had a video screen behind them that displayed various interesting clips. By the time the band wrapped up Orosirian for a quick break in the action, they had won a good majority of the crowd over. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, they had to cut a song, but the songs they closed with were two of their best in The Origin of Species and The Origin of God, the amazing closers to their Heliocentric album. These two songs alone were worth the price of admission for me, and though the saxophone outro was only played over the PA, it gave me chills to hear it and it was an epic closer nonetheless. In short, The Ocean was amazing and I wish they had been billed over the band that followed them so they could have played a bit longer. Hopefully they will be around again soon. 8.5/10
Setlist:
Anthropocentric
The Grand Inquisitor I: Karamazov Baseness
Orosirian: For The Great Blue Cold Now Reigns
The Origin Of Species
The Origin Of God
Job For A Cowboy - I blissfully missed seeing this band at Mayhem 2009, but with nowhere to go before BTBAM, I had no choice but to give them their fair shot live now. Unfortunately, they did nothing to change my mind about them. All I could hear for the entire set was Jonny Davy screaming incomprehensible shit into the mic and the drummer showing off his ability to play blast beats. Only on occasion did I hear some guitar lines cut through the murky vocals give the song some semblance of musicality. Thanks to this lack of balance, as hard as I tried to distinguish what was going on, every song seemed very similar to me, from the older stuff to the new stuff to the new song they played off their upcoming EP. Not surprisingly, the crowd picked up a bit for this band, and the push finally started to come from behind me, so strong that I was able to squeeze myself into a not-so-comfortable position on the rail. At that point, it was just a matter of waiting for their set to mercifully end. They may have progressed a bit from deathcore to death metal, but it sure as hell didn't translate to much better than Suicide Silence or Whitechapel on stage. Sorry. 2/10
Setlist (for those who care):
Unfurling a Darkened Gospel
Constitutional Masturbation
Regurgitated Disinformation
Bearing the Serpents Lamb
Knee Deep
Signature Of Starving Power
Ruination
Entombment of a Machine
Embedded
Between The Buried And Me - Not much had changed between the time I saw this band the first time and this time. I was still not very familiar with their stuff going into this, and after seeing RUSH earlier in the week and The Ocean earlier that very night, it would have been easy to be a bit underwhelmed by their show. In spite of that, they still managed to put on a damn good set. The first half of their set was performing their new EP in full, and it was impressive. While Tommy Rogers wasn't getting anywhere near the pit like The Ocean's Rosetti, he still had a good deal of energy, and that was more than enough to work their fans into a frenzy. The push throughout the show was constant and at times suffocating, as I was already in tight quarters on the rail. Crowd surfers were abundant as well, and a couple of them got some good shots on my head, but I was able to make it through the whole set without any real damage. The EP was by far the best part of the show for me, and I found it to be more musically interesting than anything they played at their show last year. It was only a half hour long, but the way it was played and presented, it felt much more massive, and that's a good thing. There were plenty of twists and turns within the intricacies of it to keep me hooked, and while it wasn't perfect, I felt like they had stepped up their songwriting a bit. That being said, the rest of the show was enjoyable as well, with the set being a bit different than what they played on their previous run. Only one song from The Great Misdirect was played, if you don't count the Swim To The Moon instrumental bit they threw in at the end. Not much was lost, in my opinion, with Sun of Nothing and Ants of the Sky providing plenty of live punch to make up for it. Just like The Ocean, the balance in the instrumentation was great, with the video screen of The Ocean's being replaced with a healthy dose of lights. Nothing special, but appropriate. Paul's guitar solo was a treat to watch as he played it right in front of me, and he was awesome all set, just as he was the first time. The other highlight of the set was the encore song, Selkies. The intro to the song with the keyboards and guitar was just awesome, and the intro as a whole was one of the best musical bits I have heard from BTBAM. The solo section near the end was also pretty damn cool. Although they were not the reason I attended this tour and not my favorite performance at either show, BTBAM did a great job and I was definitely more impressed with them this time around. 8.5/10
Setlist:
Specular Reflection
Augment of Rebirth
Lunar Wilderness
Sun of Nothing
Ants of the Sky
(Guitar Solo)
Swim to the Moon (Instrumental Excerpt)
(Drum Solo)
Fossil Genera - A Feed From Cloud Mountain
------------------------------------------
Selkies: The Endless Obsession
<______________________________>
review coming before i got to bed, sit tight folks. i type quite slow so judy is gonna type while i talk and shes busy atm