It would have been worth the trip to columbus for you I promise. Its interesting though you loved the show and didn't see that tour and I enjoyed it but thought it could be better seeing as I saw aojb tour
You tryin to be a hero fool? You wanna see badass mother fucker?! I'll show ya a badass!!!
Yeah I probably would have enjoyed the AOJB tour more if I would have seen it, but I have been waiting to see them period for a couple years now and with Jesse made it even better. Totally blew the Mayhem Fest show out of the water. Though I can't really compare the two since they were two totally different shows.
I've seen them a bunch over the last ten years. They have brought some of the best shows and bills I have seen. But the aojb tour was by far the best even with bad support
You tryin to be a hero fool? You wanna see badass mother fucker?! I'll show ya a badass!!!
Nah man not anymore. I wanted to but a couple of people that were going to go with me bailed and no one else want's to go. Plus I'm working that night now and their would be no way I could make it out to GR in time.
Deafheaven -- San Francisco, CA -- July 15th, 2013
This was my first time at Bottom of the Hill and was delighted to find out it was a super small place with no guard rail or nothing. So me and my concert buddies Ben and Lincoln got up close and hung around the stage 'til the show started some time around 9:15
The first band of the night were San Francisco post-metal band, Monuments Collapse. Their singer also plays bass for Deafheaven, which explains their position on the bill. Their strain of post-metal was very similar to Light Bearer and Cult of Luna. They only played two songs, and they could've been the two tunes off their self-titled debut record, but I'm not too familiar with the album quite yet so they could've played something that's not on it. Either way, their tone was fucking excellent the whole night. The sound was just crystal clear even from right in front. The only thing that was a little quiet was the vocals but since the vocalist was just shouting it didn't really matter all too much. All around, these guys were super solid openers and they got some fine post-metal under their belt. If you like that kind of music, check 'em out.
Next up was Marriages. These guys are a three piece experimental rock band which features two members from Red Sparowes, guitarist/singer Emma and bassist/keyboardist Greg. Their music is kind of hard to describe. Basically these guys kind of write unconventional sounding riffs and jam pretty hard on 'em. There are some elements of post-rock, shoegaze and noise rock, but most of the musical ideas seem fairly unique to the band and all sounded really great. While it wasn't super technical, it was obvious the band had some chops and had knew how to get badass tones. Overall a really solid band that seemed to get some love from the crowd.
So the whole time during the show, not to many people were doing much. Not much headbanging or anything, there was an overabundance of crossed arms and blank stares from the crowd for the first two bands. But the second Deafheaven got on stage after their drone and started playing Dream House, that completely changed. There was an instant eruption of energy and people were moshing, crowd surfing, and trying to get as close to Deafheaven's frontman, George Clarke, as possible. All the while George was provoking it, waving people to come over and just becoming a complete animal during the set, being hypnotized by the band's music. Now the first time I saw them when they opened for Boris, there weren't too many people going nuts, in fact I was probably the most rowdy dude during their set, George was really only doing the serious faces and only got close the crowd like once and didn't too much. But at this show with people going ballistic, it only fueled his fire and his stage presence was much more extreme. He was stage diving often, grabbing people's hand, giving them the mic, and a few times grabbing a couple of people's throats. He also did some sensual and borderline homo-erotic stuff like like rubbing his body all over and sticking his fingers in his mouth and down his throat and stuff. Also when he'd get close to the crowd people would often reach and feel his body and stuff. It was whatever, but just something I thought was interesting. My friend made the point that everybody was just infatuated with the music and turned to George to show it. Aside from the constant chaos and the spectacle that is George, the band was fairly into it and sounded phenomenal. Their current drummer is really great and everybody else in the band just gets awesome tones. Highlights were the sing alongs at the end of Dream House and The Pecan Tree. When they came out for their encore, the performance kind of took a little bit of a turn. Since it was the last song naturally everybody was giving up their last bit of energy to go nuts and there were a decent amount of guys coming up from behind the stage to run and stage dive. A lot of dudes would launch themselves off of the monitors and a couple of times that would end up fucking with the sound and one time a monitor fell over on to the bass player's pedal board and that cut his sound. And some time before that the guitarist that isn't Kerry just kind of gave up and held the guitar over his head for the last few minutes of the song and his amp was on it's side. I didn't see what happend. And then Kerry lost his glasses. The last song was just kind of a shitstorm, but at least it sounded great. Overall, this was one of the wildest shows I've gone to and was a blast. These dudes deserve every bit of praise they get.
Deafheaven Dream House Sunbather Unrequited The Pecan Tree ------------------------ Violet
Mayhem Festival 2013 Comcast Center Mansfield MA 7/16/13
The day started around 10am when I got picked up by my friend Berry. Unfortunately there was some last minute scrambling because one of the guys driving in my pretty large group cancelled at the last minute, and most of us had to pile into one car. We went straight up to Five Guys at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro to meet our friend who was getting a ride with his sister, but had to spend about 20 minutes searching for the place because it was hidden in a strip mall. After our feast we went to the Comcast Center, and I was surprised by how empty the lots were. They had been open for nearly 2 hours at this point and we had a parking spot nearly right next to the venue. Wound up going to the box office right away to see if I could upgrade my ticket, which they said no. It was weird but I’m glad they didn’t and you’ll see why later. Wound up talking to John for a bit while waiting in line to get in and then finally went in about 30 minutes later.
Right when I got into the venue I went up for Thrown Into Exile. They’re incredibly mediocre on record but they’re decently entertaining live. Everything sounded tight and got a smallish pit going for a little bit, but there weren’t really enough people there yet. After a couple songs I went to look at merch with the other guys and then went up to the Jagermeister stage.
Huntress was… interesting. I thought their guitar work was phenomenal but I just find Jill Janus completely ridiculous. I know I shouldn’t be taking it too seriously but really I was just flat out laughing my ass off through most of the set. It’s like she’s trying to do a second-rate female parody of King Diamond, but doesn’t have the vocal range to pull it off. Also, not that it affected my opinion of the band’s performance, but Jill is scarily skinny. Like unattractively so. The mixing was really good on the Jager stage though and continued to be excellent throughout the day.
After Huntress I got some water and bought a Machine Head tour shirt, which I actually didn’t plan on getting but I absolutely loved the design and couldn’t resist. I didn’t get one in 2011 because I hate the Unto The Locust – related art.
I then went back the the Jager stage for Battlecross. First time I’ve ever been in a mosh pit for an entire band’s set but it was fun as fuck. Biggest pits of the entire damn day, they honestly even made MH’s pits look pitiful. Battlecross’ music is pretty generic but good for a live environment and definitely good for moshing. As I said before, mixing was stellar for the Jager stage so everything sounded great. I partook in my first wall of death which descended into a scene of absolute chaos. Second to last song I got absolutely DECKED from the front by some 5’11 goblin of pure mass. I’m a pretty big guy at 6’6, 260lbs, but I went flying back about 2 feet and my ass landed flat on the concrete. I stuck my hand/elbow out to stop my head from hitting the concrete which cut em up. Set ended with Push Pull Destroy which is a good ol’ thrasher. I’d definitely watch these guys again.
After Battlecross I got straight in line for the Amon Amarth signing to cool down. Poured a full bottle of water over my head and I was completely dry by the time I met AA 45 minutes later. They seemed like really cool dudes, not really talkative but I didn’t expect them to be. They signed a poster of the band (which I no longer have) but it was cool just to get to shake their hands. After the signing I rehydrated and headed back to the Jager stage to secure my rail spot for Machine Head.
Job For A Cowboy were a pretty decent show. A lot of their shit just blended together but the amount of energy their frontman puts into it sort of makes up for it. The dude is an absolute tank. He’s got a decent range of growls/screams/squeals as well. At one point he called for crowd surfers and a ton started getting sent up but the crowd wasn’t really packed enough to keep them up well, so a few got dropped. That’s what fat motherfuckers get for trying to crowd surf. After their set their vocalist came out and shook everyone’s hand share a few words with people. I always like when bands do that.
While waiting on the rail for Machine Head, Emmure was playing. Solar Flare Homicide sounded alright from where I was but I couldn’t help but laugh through most of their set. Frankie sounds EXACTLY like the dude from the “Every Metalcore Vocalist” YouTube video. As in completely the same. It was hilarious.
Machine Head finally came on, and despite the fun-sized setlist, it was a stellar show. Opening with Davidian was killer, and I was pretty much just freaking out on the rail the whole time. They played Struck a Nerve as the second song for the first time this tour and it sounded sick live. Wound up jumping in the pit through some of Halo and got a Robb Flynn guitar pick.
After MH, Bodom started right away. I planned on staying for Angels Don’t Kill but 2 songs in I was bored as fuck and went to the main stage.
At the main stage it was apparent how shitty the turnout was this year. Our tickets were in the back of out open air section but we sat at the front through Amon Amarth because of how empty it was. Amon Amarth kicked ASS too. Although a more intimate show would be nice their music was beautiful with the amphitheater acoustics. The Pursuit of Vikings was actually the highlight of their set for me.
Between AA and Mastodon I spent $12 on a cheeseburger and bottle of water to keep me alive until after the show. Pissed me off but it was needed.
Mastodon seems to be one of those bands that you need to appreciate their album music to appreciate them live, because I absolutely loved their show. Even with their setlist being mostly Hunter material it was great. Troy and Brann’s vocal work was spot on most of the time and the guitar work was as well. Brett’s live vocals were pretty meh as expected but he wasn’t doing much anyways. Getting to hear dat lick in Megalodon live was awesome. Only part that pissed me off was Brett’s solo in The Sparrow couldn’t even be heard where I was due to bad mixing. It showed him shredding on the big screen and all I could hear was Bill’s riff. Overall it was a good first show from one of my all-time favorite bands.
At the end of Mastodon it was still insanely empty and security had gone to take a break in our area or some shit, so we all just walked into the covered pavilion. We played it safe at first towards the back but once 5FDP started we just got as close as we possibly could without being asked for our tickets. So I spent $20 on my ticket, and wound up in a seat that normally costs $70. At that point I was really glad they didn’t do ticket upgrades at the box office cuz I would have wasted money.
Five Finger Death Punch, despite all the hate they get (from myself included), do put on a really solid show. There aren’t any noticeable flaws in their performance and Ivan Moody is a pretty talented vocalist. Sure, their music goes for the same formulaic heaviness/catchiness factor made famous by bands like Godsmack and Disturbed, but it ain’t all bad. Their onstage persona dampens the experience quite a bit though.
At this point I was really excited because I had never seen Zombie’s live show up close before, and it sure didn’t disappoint. Hate all you want, Rob Zombie has probably the most entertaining live show in rock and metal short of Rammstein. Zombie also sounds great for a dude pushing 50 years old. John 5 and Ginger Fish just completed the show with their respective awesomeness.
Overall, it was a pretty damn good time.
Band scores Thrown Into Exile: 5/10 Huntress: 6/10 Battlecross: 7/10 Job For A Cowboy: 6/10 Emmure: 4/10 Machine Head: 9/10 Children of Bodom: 7/10 Amon Amarth: 9/10 Mastodon: 8/10 5FDP: 6/10 Rob Zombie: 9/10
Comments
Worcester MA
The Palladium
6/18/13
it was cool
This was my first time at Bottom of the Hill and was delighted to find out it was a super small place with no guard rail or nothing. So me and my concert buddies Ben and Lincoln got up close and hung around the stage 'til the show started some time around 9:15
The first band of the night were San Francisco post-metal band, Monuments Collapse. Their singer also plays bass for Deafheaven, which explains their position on the bill. Their strain of post-metal was very similar to Light Bearer and Cult of Luna. They only played two songs, and they could've been the two tunes off their self-titled debut record, but I'm not too familiar with the album quite yet so they could've played something that's not on it. Either way, their tone was fucking excellent the whole night. The sound was just crystal clear even from right in front. The only thing that was a little quiet was the vocals but since the vocalist was just shouting it didn't really matter all too much. All around, these guys were super solid openers and they got some fine post-metal under their belt. If you like that kind of music, check 'em out.
Next up was Marriages. These guys are a three piece experimental rock band which features two members from Red Sparowes, guitarist/singer Emma and bassist/keyboardist Greg. Their music is kind of hard to describe. Basically these guys kind of write unconventional sounding riffs and jam pretty hard on 'em. There are some elements of post-rock, shoegaze and noise rock, but most of the musical ideas seem fairly unique to the band and all sounded really great. While it wasn't super technical, it was obvious the band had some chops and had knew how to get badass tones. Overall a really solid band that seemed to get some love from the crowd.
So the whole time during the show, not to many people were doing much. Not much headbanging or anything, there was an overabundance of crossed arms and blank stares from the crowd for the first two bands. But the second Deafheaven got on stage after their drone and started playing Dream House, that completely changed. There was an instant eruption of energy and people were moshing, crowd surfing, and trying to get as close to Deafheaven's frontman, George Clarke, as possible. All the while George was provoking it, waving people to come over and just becoming a complete animal during the set, being hypnotized by the band's music. Now the first time I saw them when they opened for Boris, there weren't too many people going nuts, in fact I was probably the most rowdy dude during their set, George was really only doing the serious faces and only got close the crowd like once and didn't too much. But at this show with people going ballistic, it only fueled his fire and his stage presence was much more extreme. He was stage diving often, grabbing people's hand, giving them the mic, and a few times grabbing a couple of people's throats. He also did some sensual and borderline homo-erotic stuff like like rubbing his body all over and sticking his fingers in his mouth and down his throat and stuff. Also when he'd get close to the crowd people would often reach and feel his body and stuff. It was whatever, but just something I thought was interesting. My friend made the point that everybody was just infatuated with the music and turned to George to show it. Aside from the constant chaos and the spectacle that is George, the band was fairly into it and sounded phenomenal. Their current drummer is really great and everybody else in the band just gets awesome tones. Highlights were the sing alongs at the end of Dream House and The Pecan Tree. When they came out for their encore, the performance kind of took a little bit of a turn. Since it was the last song naturally everybody was giving up their last bit of energy to go nuts and there were a decent amount of guys coming up from behind the stage to run and stage dive. A lot of dudes would launch themselves off of the monitors and a couple of times that would end up fucking with the sound and one time a monitor fell over on to the bass player's pedal board and that cut his sound. And some time before that the guitarist that isn't Kerry just kind of gave up and held the guitar over his head for the last few minutes of the song and his amp was on it's side. I didn't see what happend. And then Kerry lost his glasses. The last song was just kind of a shitstorm, but at least it sounded great. Overall, this was one of the wildest shows I've gone to and was a blast. These dudes deserve every bit of praise they get.
Deafheaven
Dream House
Sunbather
Unrequited
The Pecan Tree
------------------------
Violet
Monuments Collapse: 8/10
Marriages: 8/10
Deafheaven: 9.5/10
Comcast Center Mansfield MA
7/16/13
The day started around 10am when I got picked up by my friend Berry. Unfortunately there was some last minute scrambling because one of the guys driving in my pretty large group cancelled at the last minute, and most of us had to pile into one car. We went straight up to Five Guys at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro to meet our friend who was getting a ride with his sister, but had to spend about 20 minutes searching for the place because it was hidden in a strip mall. After our feast we went to the Comcast Center, and I was surprised by how empty the lots were. They had been open for nearly 2 hours at this point and we had a parking spot nearly right next to the venue. Wound up going to the box office right away to see if I could upgrade my ticket, which they said no. It was weird but I’m glad they didn’t and you’ll see why later. Wound up talking to John for a bit while waiting in line to get in and then finally went in about 30 minutes later.
Right when I got into the venue I went up for Thrown Into Exile. They’re incredibly mediocre on record but they’re decently entertaining live. Everything sounded tight and got a smallish pit going for a little bit, but there weren’t really enough people there yet. After a couple songs I went to look at merch with the other guys and then went up to the Jagermeister stage.
Huntress was… interesting. I thought their guitar work was phenomenal but I just find Jill Janus completely ridiculous. I know I shouldn’t be taking it too seriously but really I was just flat out laughing my ass off through most of the set. It’s like she’s trying to do a second-rate female parody of King Diamond, but doesn’t have the vocal range to pull it off. Also, not that it affected my opinion of the band’s performance, but Jill is scarily skinny. Like unattractively so. The mixing was really good on the Jager stage though and continued to be excellent throughout the day.
After Huntress I got some water and bought a Machine Head tour shirt, which I actually didn’t plan on getting but I absolutely loved the design and couldn’t resist. I didn’t get one in 2011 because I hate the Unto The Locust – related art.
I then went back the the Jager stage for Battlecross. First time I’ve ever been in a mosh pit for an entire band’s set but it was fun as fuck. Biggest pits of the entire damn day, they honestly even made MH’s pits look pitiful. Battlecross’ music is pretty generic but good for a live environment and definitely good for moshing. As I said before, mixing was stellar for the Jager stage so everything sounded great. I partook in my first wall of death which descended into a scene of absolute chaos. Second to last song I got absolutely DECKED from the front by some 5’11 goblin of pure mass. I’m a pretty big guy at 6’6, 260lbs, but I went flying back about 2 feet and my ass landed flat on the concrete. I stuck my hand/elbow out to stop my head from hitting the concrete which cut em up. Set ended with Push Pull Destroy which is a good ol’ thrasher. I’d definitely watch these guys again.
After Battlecross I got straight in line for the Amon Amarth signing to cool down. Poured a full bottle of water over my head and I was completely dry by the time I met AA 45 minutes later. They seemed like really cool dudes, not really talkative but I didn’t expect them to be. They signed a poster of the band (which I no longer have) but it was cool just to get to shake their hands. After the signing I rehydrated and headed back to the Jager stage to secure my rail spot for Machine Head.
Job For A Cowboy were a pretty decent show. A lot of their shit just blended together but the amount of energy their frontman puts into it sort of makes up for it. The dude is an absolute tank. He’s got a decent range of growls/screams/squeals as well. At one point he called for crowd surfers and a ton started getting sent up but the crowd wasn’t really packed enough to keep them up well, so a few got dropped. That’s what fat motherfuckers get for trying to crowd surf. After their set their vocalist came out and shook everyone’s hand share a few words with people. I always like when bands do that.
While waiting on the rail for Machine Head, Emmure was playing. Solar Flare Homicide sounded alright from where I was but I couldn’t help but laugh through most of their set. Frankie sounds EXACTLY like the dude from the “Every Metalcore Vocalist” YouTube video. As in completely the same. It was hilarious.
Machine Head finally came on, and despite the fun-sized setlist, it was a stellar show. Opening with Davidian was killer, and I was pretty much just freaking out on the rail the whole time. They played Struck a Nerve as the second song for the first time this tour and it sounded sick live. Wound up jumping in the pit through some of Halo and got a Robb Flynn guitar pick.
After MH, Bodom started right away. I planned on staying for Angels Don’t Kill but 2 songs in I was bored as fuck and went to the main stage.
At the main stage it was apparent how shitty the turnout was this year. Our tickets were in the back of out open air section but we sat at the front through Amon Amarth because of how empty it was. Amon Amarth kicked ASS too. Although a more intimate show would be nice their music was beautiful with the amphitheater acoustics. The Pursuit of Vikings was actually the highlight of their set for me.
Between AA and Mastodon I spent $12 on a cheeseburger and bottle of water to keep me alive until after the show. Pissed me off but it was needed.
Mastodon seems to be one of those bands that you need to appreciate their album music to appreciate them live, because I absolutely loved their show. Even with their setlist being mostly Hunter material it was great. Troy and Brann’s vocal work was spot on most of the time and the guitar work was as well. Brett’s live vocals were pretty meh as expected but he wasn’t doing much anyways. Getting to hear dat lick in Megalodon live was awesome. Only part that pissed me off was Brett’s solo in The Sparrow couldn’t even be heard where I was due to bad mixing. It showed him shredding on the big screen and all I could hear was Bill’s riff. Overall it was a good first show from one of my all-time favorite bands.
At the end of Mastodon it was still insanely empty and security had gone to take a break in our area or some shit, so we all just walked into the covered pavilion. We played it safe at first towards the back but once 5FDP started we just got as close as we possibly could without being asked for our tickets. So I spent $20 on my ticket, and wound up in a seat that normally costs $70. At that point I was really glad they didn’t do ticket upgrades at the box office cuz I would have wasted money.
Five Finger Death Punch, despite all the hate they get (from myself included), do put on a really solid show. There aren’t any noticeable flaws in their performance and Ivan Moody is a pretty talented vocalist. Sure, their music goes for the same formulaic heaviness/catchiness factor made famous by bands like Godsmack and Disturbed, but it ain’t all bad. Their onstage persona dampens the experience quite a bit though.
At this point I was really excited because I had never seen Zombie’s live show up close before, and it sure didn’t disappoint. Hate all you want, Rob Zombie has probably the most entertaining live show in rock and metal short of Rammstein. Zombie also sounds great for a dude pushing 50 years old. John 5 and Ginger Fish just completed the show with their respective awesomeness.
Overall, it was a pretty damn good time.
Band scores
Thrown Into Exile: 5/10
Huntress: 6/10
Battlecross: 7/10
Job For A Cowboy: 6/10
Emmure: 4/10
Machine Head: 9/10
Children of Bodom: 7/10
Amon Amarth: 9/10
Mastodon: 8/10
5FDP: 6/10
Rob Zombie: 9/10