Doors at 9. Really fucking tired so I took a nap till 10. Still made it right as the second band hit the stage.
Bert - All the bands had a stoner theme. These guys were heavy and slow while trying to be somewhat funny. They were entertaining. Bassist was a land whale though. I mean we're talking the kind of big where he shook the floor as he was walking.
Megaton Hammer - Little more up paced and more death like vocals. Not really for me.
Cosmic Throne - These guys fucking jammed. They were instrumental and they just played hard as fuck for about a half hour. I'd see them again.
Beast in the Field - Repeatedly told they were the loudest band around, so I had to see for myself. Doesn't hurt they that they play some heavy fucking music. For those who aren't from around here or having heard us talking about them, they're from Michigan. Just a guitar player and a drummer going nuts on stage. So they start wheeling out the equipment...and they just kept wheeling in more and more shit until eventually we got this set up. The venue is a bar by the way, so there was literally nowhere for the sound to escape. I'm not fucking kidding you when I say I could feel the individual hairs on my head vibrating. With ear plugs that shit was louder than any show I've been too without them. You could yell in the ear of the person next to you and they woudn't understand you. Shit was good but the combination of them not coming on until just before 1:30 and me needing to work in the morning already lacking sleep just didn't mix well so I left at about 2. I could hear them very clearly from around the block as I was walking to my car. It was almost like the music was right next to me at a nice level. Honestly while the idea of music that loud is cool, you have to be a fucking idiot to not wear ear plugs if you're going to see them regularly. Like you can try to play the "I'm cool" game...it's only hurting your ears, I don't give a fuck.
Death To All - Saint Andrews Hall, Detroit, Mi - April 18th
Show ended up getting moved to The Shelter in the basement of Saint Andrews Hall and I have no idea why because it got packed as fuck down there. Anyways the ride down sucked because of all the fucking rain which slowed me down because of water flowing over the road but nevertheless I got to the venue and patiently waited for Anciients to come on.
Anciients - Really solid band overall. I checked out their album a couple of days before the show and really liked it and it translated really well in a live setting as well. For those of you that don't know who they are they sound along the lines of Mastodon, Kylesa or even Opeth. It seemed like a odd choice in terms of an opener for Death when they had bands like Atheist and Gorguts last year but they kicked ass and actually got a decent crowd response. If you haven't checked them out yet I suggest you do. 8/10
Death - You could tell who everyone at the show was excited to see. Death shirts galore and they were pumped from the time Anciients got off stage to when the intro for Death came on. Right when they started playing Flattening Of Emotions the place went fucking crazy. With no rail people were falling all over the stage and a nice pit opened up and stayed constant the whole set. It was so fucking great to see 3/4 of the human line up playing together and Max from Cynic played Chuck's part's perfectly and sounded a lot like Chuck which was a bonus. Hearing songs like Suicide Machine, Together As One, Zombie Ritual, Lack Of Comprehension made my fucking night because I've been wanting to hear those songs live ever since I got into Death. Baptized In Blood was probably the surprise song of the night it sounded so awesome live words can't really explained it. They had a really cool tribute video featuring footage of Chuck which really touched a lot of people and was really cool to see. They ended the set with Pull The Plug which everyone was expecting and went especially crazy for. Got one of Sean's drumsticks which makes it my first drumstick in my collection. Overall it was a great fucking set and if it comes anywhere near your area you should consider going. It may not have been what it was like last year but it was still a damn good show. 9.5/10
Flattening of Emotions Leprosy Suicide Machine Left to Die Spiritual Healing / Within the Mind Together as One Baptized in Blood Cosmic Sea Zombie Ritual Living Monstrosity --- Lack of Comprehension Pull the Plug
After the show I picked up the new Anciients album and chatted with Eric(Death's manager) quick before making my way home.
Similar to the review directly above me, this show was at The Shelter.
Knife - What kind of fucking name is Knife? They were meh, nothing special. Seemed to be a pretty decent age difference among the members. I'd say one looked to be mid-upper 20's while another seemed to be pushing upper 40's.
Black Tusk - Second time seeing them and I'd say they sounded better this time. Don't really listen to them so there wasn't much amazing about the set to me.
Cancer Bats - Never listened to them. Tons of fucking energy. There was about an eight foot deep pocket across the stage where nobody wanted stand out of awkwardness. This worked out well in the end because the vocalist never even stood on the stage. Guy ran back and forth and eventually the bassist joined them. They did a Beastie Boys cover which after noticing someone in the crowd wearing a Beastie Boys shirt that happened to know the lyrics to every Cancer Bats song, I can only assume they do regularly. Wont be going out of my way to listen to them, but if I see them on a line up I wont mind it too much.
Kvelertak - So somebody has got to be the first person to occupy this relatively large space in front of the stage, so I figured it'd be me. There wasn't much of a sound check which made it pretty cool when I'm the only person standing there and all of the sudden everbody is like "OH SHIT THEY'RE STARTING LETS GO THERE NOW." I was standing front and center which proved to be the "best" spot. Vocalist was at the very least pretty damn buzzed, but it didn't mess with his singing at all...just a few note instances where he stumbled walked backwards...and some where he may have summoned a little liquid courage. He also may have punched me in the face, it was an awkward impact that was able to be felt for a minute afterward, but not hard enough to make me feel like it was really a punch. I did look at him like what the fuck and for a minute I was on the fence, but it seemed to really be an accident. Throughout the night he'd grab on to me and let me do my best at shouting Norwegian lyrics into the microphone. He also jumped at me more than once, but I'm not going to bitch about it because every time he did it, there was backup around me...The guy next to me singlehandedly caught him and held him by himself while everyone watched like "what the fuck." One of the stage dives he did, he grabbed onto my shirt...and when he started to fall down, continued to hold on all the way to the floor resulting in my neckline being stretched as fuck. It was all in fun though. As for the band, goddamn you could tell these guys were having a good time. During the closing song, which I'm assuming they aren't putting on any of the setlist just so they can surprise folks that try to look at it on stage, everybody except the drummer jumped on to the floor and started playing. It was the closing song off the first album...Finally, as they finished...the bassist sets done his guitar and starts ripping the strings off and then walks away. After a minute I grab one since they're just there for grabs, and then I ask the guitarist of a setlist because the only two I saw were by the drumset and I wasn't just going to walk up and push him out the way lol. Great show, can't wait to see them again.
Best Dog Award - Only caught a little of their set while checking out what little merch there was. They were alright. 7/10
Youth Lagoon - A cool set, but he/they only played a couple songs off of the first album, which were the best-received ones. But the set was really cool, very trippy and dreamlike. 8.5/10
Roadkill Ghost Choir - At times, I loved the sound, but others bordered a bit too much on country. They are definitely worth giving a couple listens, though. Bluegrassy shoegaze kind of. 8/10
Band of Horses - REALLY COOL SETUP [giant blank backdrop and projector that cycled through stuff we would put in the Amazing Photography Thread], underwhelming crowd response. They probably sold about 95% of tickets based on the turnout, but there was little enthusiasm throughout the set unless they told a joke or started playing The Great Salt Lake and The Funeral. But COT DAMN, Infinite Arms was so well done live (they're performing it in the photo below with the long exposure shot of the stars). I hope footage of it is posted soon. Other than being my favorite Band song, they made the end really heavy-spacey, and it came across sounding like a post-black version. Caught a pick, but it isn't custom. 9/10
Ghost was cool last night. Some girl stage dived during the last song and then a guy got up on stage and tried to tackle one of the hooded dudes at the and apparently.
Got to the venue about 15 min before the doors opened. When I got there I realized that the show was actually going to be outdoors, which surprised the hell out of me, but luckily it was an overcast day with cool-ish weather, so it worked out great. I didn't have my phone on me so I waited next to the entrance for Marc and Leah, whom arrived like 45 min after I got there. Stood in the back of the sold out crowd and talked for a while until the first band started.
Issues - Been in love with their "Black Diamonds" EP as soon as it came out, so I was excited as hell to see them again. We made our way to the middle of the crowd as soon as their first song started. The crowd was already moving pretty good, with a couple pits starting up in front of us. The band sounded great too, which made for a very entertaining opening act. Also, during like the 2nd or 3rd song of the set, this kid got KNOCKED THE FUCK OUT by another hardcore dancer after they started fighting over who fucking knows what. The fight lasted 3 punches, it was a pretty embarrassing showing lol
Of Mice & Men - Marc, Leah, and I stood a bit further to the side this time, as I didn't want to get too worn out for ADTR. But right from the beginning riff of "OG Loko" OM&M had the crowd moving like crazy. Carlisle is one of my favorite frontmen to watch, and he didn't disappoint as he seemed to feed right off the energy of the crowd. As I've mentioned before, this is a band that comes off heavier live than one would expect. Carlisle's vocals seem lower than on album, and the breakdowns are just crushing. Definitely the best show I've seen from them, and a must-see live if you're into this genre.
A Day To Remember - Made my way up to the front for this group as I hadn't just traveled 300 miles to stand in the back. ADTR came out with a bang, shooting confetti into the crowd as they bust into their latest single "Violence". It was hell to keep up with the crowd's constant pushing, but the show ADTR put on made it more than worth the struggle. They played just about everything I could have wanted, from punishing songs like "2nd Sucks" and "Mr Highway", to poppy-rock songs like "All I Want", to straight up acoustic songs like "It's Complicated" and the fan favorite "If It Means a Lot to You". I will say though, hardcore old-school ADTR fans will be pretty disappointed, but thankfully I came into the mix after "Homesick" so I'm good :-bd. The production was awesome as well, as each song seemed to have something different going on. Overall a great performance by a band I've been dying to see again, plus it was awesome hanging out with Marc and Leah. They were both really cool, glad I was able to talk with them for awhile before and after the show too, and btw Marc thanks again for the water lol. Oh and also got myself an ADTR pick, so that was pretty sweet too.
Comments
Doors at 9. Really fucking tired so I took a nap till 10. Still made it right as the second band hit the stage.
Bert - All the bands had a stoner theme. These guys were heavy and slow while trying to be somewhat funny. They were entertaining. Bassist was a land whale though. I mean we're talking the kind of big where he shook the floor as he was walking.
Megaton Hammer - Little more up paced and more death like vocals. Not really for me.
Cosmic Throne - These guys fucking jammed. They were instrumental and they just played hard as fuck for about a half hour. I'd see them again.
Beast in the Field - Repeatedly told they were the loudest band around, so I had to see for myself. Doesn't hurt they that they play some heavy fucking music. For those who aren't from around here or having heard us talking about them, they're from Michigan. Just a guitar player and a drummer going nuts on stage. So they start wheeling out the equipment...and they just kept wheeling in more and more shit until eventually we got this set up.
The venue is a bar by the way, so there was literally nowhere for the sound to escape. I'm not fucking kidding you when I say I could feel the individual hairs on my head vibrating. With ear plugs that shit was louder than any show I've been too without them. You could yell in the ear of the person next to you and they woudn't understand you. Shit was good but the combination of them not coming on until just before 1:30 and me needing to work in the morning already lacking sleep just didn't mix well so I left at about 2. I could hear them very clearly from around the block as I was walking to my car. It was almost like the music was right next to me at a nice level. Honestly while the idea of music that loud is cool, you have to be a fucking idiot to not wear ear plugs if you're going to see them regularly. Like you can try to play the "I'm cool" game...it's only hurting your ears, I don't give a fuck.
Show ended up getting moved to The Shelter in the basement of Saint Andrews Hall and I have no idea why because it got packed as fuck down there. Anyways the ride down sucked because of all the fucking rain which slowed me down because of water flowing over the road but nevertheless I got to the venue and patiently waited for Anciients to come on.
Anciients - Really solid band overall. I checked out their album a couple of days before the show and really liked it and it translated really well in a live setting as well. For those of you that don't know who they are they sound along the lines of Mastodon, Kylesa or even Opeth. It seemed like a odd choice in terms of an opener for Death when they had bands like Atheist and Gorguts last year but they kicked ass and actually got a decent crowd response. If you haven't checked them out yet I suggest you do. 8/10
Death - You could tell who everyone at the show was excited to see. Death shirts galore and they were pumped from the time Anciients got off stage to when the intro for Death came on. Right when they started playing Flattening Of Emotions the place went fucking crazy. With no rail people were falling all over the stage and a nice pit opened up and stayed constant the whole set. It was so fucking great to see 3/4 of the human line up playing together and Max from Cynic played Chuck's part's perfectly and sounded a lot like Chuck which was a bonus. Hearing songs like Suicide Machine, Together As One, Zombie Ritual, Lack Of Comprehension made my fucking night because I've been wanting to hear those songs live ever since I got into Death. Baptized In Blood was probably the surprise song of the night it sounded so awesome live words can't really explained it. They had a really cool tribute video featuring footage of Chuck which really touched a lot of people and was really cool to see. They ended the set with Pull The Plug which everyone was expecting and went especially crazy for. Got one of Sean's drumsticks which makes it my first drumstick in my collection. Overall it was a great fucking set and if it comes anywhere near your area you should consider going. It may not have been what it was like last year but it was still a damn good show. 9.5/10
Flattening of Emotions
Leprosy
Suicide Machine
Left to Die
Spiritual Healing / Within the Mind
Together as One
Baptized in Blood
Cosmic Sea
Zombie Ritual
Living Monstrosity
---
Lack of Comprehension
Pull the Plug
After the show I picked up the new Anciients album and chatted with Eric(Death's manager) quick before making my way home.
Similar to the review directly above me, this show was at The Shelter.
Knife - What kind of fucking name is Knife? They were meh, nothing special. Seemed to be a pretty decent age difference among the members. I'd say one looked to be mid-upper 20's while another seemed to be pushing upper 40's.
Black Tusk - Second time seeing them and I'd say they sounded better this time. Don't really listen to them so there wasn't much amazing about the set to me.
Cancer Bats - Never listened to them. Tons of fucking energy. There was about an eight foot deep pocket across the stage where nobody wanted stand out of awkwardness. This worked out well in the end because the vocalist never even stood on the stage. Guy ran back and forth and eventually the bassist joined them. They did a Beastie Boys cover which after noticing someone in the crowd wearing a Beastie Boys shirt that happened to know the lyrics to every Cancer Bats song, I can only assume they do regularly. Wont be going out of my way to listen to them, but if I see them on a line up I wont mind it too much.
Kvelertak - So somebody has got to be the first person to occupy this relatively large space in front of the stage, so I figured it'd be me. There wasn't much of a sound check which made it pretty cool when I'm the only person standing there and all of the sudden everbody is like "OH SHIT THEY'RE STARTING LETS GO THERE NOW." I was standing front and center which proved to be the "best" spot. Vocalist was at the very least pretty damn buzzed, but it didn't mess with his singing at all...just a few note instances where he stumbled walked backwards...and some where he may have summoned a little liquid courage. He also may have punched me in the face, it was an awkward impact that was able to be felt for a minute afterward, but not hard enough to make me feel like it was really a punch. I did look at him like what the fuck and for a minute I was on the fence, but it seemed to really be an accident. Throughout the night he'd grab on to me and let me do my best at shouting Norwegian lyrics into the microphone. He also jumped at me more than once, but I'm not going to bitch about it because every time he did it, there was backup around me...The guy next to me singlehandedly caught him and held him by himself while everyone watched like "what the fuck." One of the stage dives he did, he grabbed onto my shirt...and when he started to fall down, continued to hold on all the way to the floor resulting in my neckline being stretched as fuck. It was all in fun though. As for the band, goddamn you could tell these guys were having a good time. During the closing song, which I'm assuming they aren't putting on any of the setlist just so they can surprise folks that try to look at it on stage, everybody except the drummer jumped on to the floor and started playing. It was the closing song off the first album...Finally, as they finished...the bassist sets done his guitar and starts ripping the strings off and then walks away. After a minute I grab one since they're just there for grabs, and then I ask the guitarist of a setlist because the only two I saw were by the drumset and I wasn't just going to walk up and push him out the way lol. Great show, can't wait to see them again.
at Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix
Best Dog Award - Only caught a little of their set while checking out what little merch there was. They were alright. 7/10
Youth Lagoon - A cool set, but he/they only played a couple songs off of the first album, which were the best-received ones. But the set was really cool, very trippy and dreamlike. 8.5/10
at Rialto Theater, Tucson, AZ
Roadkill Ghost Choir - At times, I loved the sound, but others bordered a bit too much on country. They are definitely worth giving a couple listens, though. Bluegrassy shoegaze kind of. 8/10
Band of Horses - REALLY COOL SETUP [giant blank backdrop and projector that cycled through stuff we would put in the Amazing Photography Thread], underwhelming crowd response. They probably sold about 95% of tickets based on the turnout, but there was little enthusiasm throughout the set unless they told a joke or started playing The Great Salt Lake and The Funeral. But COT DAMN, Infinite Arms was so well done live (they're performing it in the photo below with the long exposure shot of the stars). I hope footage of it is posted soon. Other than being my favorite Band song, they made the end really heavy-spacey, and it came across sounding like a post-black version. Caught a pick, but it isn't custom. 9/10
Opening song:
Infinite Arms:
The Great Salt Lake:
Weed Party (dedicated to "Earth Day"):
Other shots:
Got to the venue about 15 min before the doors opened. When I got there I realized that the show was actually going to be outdoors, which surprised the hell out of me, but luckily it was an overcast day with cool-ish weather, so it worked out great. I didn't have my phone on me so I waited next to the entrance for Marc and Leah, whom arrived like 45 min after I got there. Stood in the back of the sold out crowd and talked for a while until the first band started.
Issues - Been in love with their "Black Diamonds" EP as soon as it came out, so I was excited as hell to see them again. We made our way to the middle of the crowd as soon as their first song started. The crowd was already moving pretty good, with a couple pits starting up in front of us. The band sounded great too, which made for a very entertaining opening act. Also, during like the 2nd or 3rd song of the set, this kid got KNOCKED THE FUCK OUT by another hardcore dancer after they started fighting over who fucking knows what. The fight lasted 3 punches, it was a pretty embarrassing showing lol
Of Mice & Men - Marc, Leah, and I stood a bit further to the side this time, as I didn't want to get too worn out for ADTR. But right from the beginning riff of "OG Loko" OM&M had the crowd moving like crazy. Carlisle is one of my favorite frontmen to watch, and he didn't disappoint as he seemed to feed right off the energy of the crowd. As I've mentioned before, this is a band that comes off heavier live than one would expect. Carlisle's vocals seem lower than on album, and the breakdowns are just crushing. Definitely the best show I've seen from them, and a must-see live if you're into this genre.
A Day To Remember - Made my way up to the front for this group as I hadn't just traveled 300 miles to stand in the back. ADTR came out with a bang, shooting confetti into the crowd as they bust into their latest single "Violence". It was hell to keep up with the crowd's constant pushing, but the show ADTR put on made it more than worth the struggle. They played just about everything I could have wanted, from punishing songs like "2nd Sucks" and "Mr Highway", to poppy-rock songs like "All I Want", to straight up acoustic songs like "It's Complicated" and the fan favorite "If It Means a Lot to You". I will say though, hardcore old-school ADTR fans will be pretty disappointed, but thankfully I came into the mix after "Homesick" so I'm good :-bd. The production was awesome as well, as each song seemed to have something different going on. Overall a great performance by a band I've been dying to see again, plus it was awesome hanging out with Marc and Leah. They were both really cool, glad I was able to talk with them for awhile before and after the show too, and btw Marc thanks again for the water lol. Oh and also got myself an ADTR pick, so that was pretty sweet too. Tell Marc or Leah to upload them! (I forgot who's phone we used)