I'm a fan of Iced Earth, Burnt Offerings is my favorite album of theirs. The thing is, it's easy to overdose on them if you listen too often. I will say that seeing them live was the best concert experience of my life. Check out this reaction I had to seeing them live on another website a couple years ago:
"I have seen so many live concerts that listing them would take much longer, and I want to get to the point. Let's just say that I have had plenty of experience at metal shows and I know how to critique what I hear at a concert whether it's in a stadium, arena, or small club type venue which is what this was.
A little over a week ago, I drug my wife to go see Iced Earth. This is the only band that I have liked for years that I still haven't been able to see live, mainly because they don't tour around here often. Anyway, the setting was perfect. The concert was in an old theater which is now a bar/dance club in Lawrence Kansas and the turnout was not very good. Tim Owens (the lead singer who formerly sang for Judas Priest - you know, the whole Rock Star movie plot thing) even said "wow, feels like we're playing a private party tonight.
Anyway, I have never heard a band sound so good in my life. Keep in mind that I have seen my favorite band Metallica 4 times - those shows were not as good as this one. Tim's voice sounded so good. He was always right on tune, and he hit ALL the super high notes (and there were many of them) with such ease, it really looked very easy for him. That's the thing about metal vocalists, live they usually pale in comparison to how they sound on cd.
That's just part of why it was so good. John Schaffer on guitar was impeccable. Iced Earth uses a lot of triplet style, thrashy riffs (imagine Iron Maiden combined with old Metallica and your pretty close) that sound like they would be impossible to play live. I have Iced Earth's live cd and had always assumed that a lot of doctoring went into it because it sounds so good. Well, let me tell you, that really is how they sound live (actually better) and I found myself shaking my head in awe during the concert because it sounded so good.
I often have that disappointed feeling right after a band I like starts playing its first song of the night. It's like "so this is what they are going to sound like...). It's never a huge letdown, but I have to admit that for most bands that's how it is. I'm not saying it's not worth seeing them, it's just not as good as you hoped it would be. Then there are a few bands that didn't give me that let down feeling. The ones I can think of right now are, Metallica, Tool, Dream Theater, and surely some others that I can't think of right now.
With the Iced Earth concert, it was the first time that a band far exceeded my expectations. Not only that, but they sounded so good that I didn't even mind that much that they didn't play one single song off of my favorite album of their's, Burnt Offerings.
Even my wife, who was dragged against her will, was impressed. She said after that she recognized a lot of the songs because she had heard me playing them at home and she said they sounded pretty good (huge praise from her). She also couldn't believe Tim's voice (she also seemed to like the fact that Rock Star was based on his life - she didn't know that before).
Anyway, if anyone is still reading, has anyone else seen this band or has anyone been to a concert that blew them away like this?"
