Figured I would start a thread to discuss DAY 1 of the fest!!
Right off the bat I have to let everyone know, esp those who weren't there, that yesterday was officially a SELL OUT!!! Congrats to everyone's hard work in making that happen.......
There must have been a lot of out of towners as there were MANY people I have never seen at a show in Chicago. Very cool.....
For me personally, the main stage was stacked to my liking, so unfortunately, I can not report on anything on the second stage. I think I saw one song of Dogbane and one song of Dark Design.
metalUSAfer kicked things off in a major way on the mainstage. Chris Black seemed like he was having a blast on stage. They did the two 7" songs, a Virtue cover, and a Metalucifer cover (Complete with drill!!)
Next up was Amulance. They sounded tighter since the last time I saw them. You can tell they are definitely an active band again which is great. Only complaint is that they played a lot of new stuff. It sounded good of course but at a fest setting with limited time you wanna hear the stuff you know.
California trio Night Demon were next. They brought a lot of energy to the main stage. These guys are on a roll and it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon. You can tell these guys do it because they just love to play. A lot of people seemed to know their songs. They did a good cover of Lighting to the Nations. Great guys to boot.
I missed Diamond Rexx. I did wanna check em out but I think I had to go back to feed the meter and went to the Joint first before going back so missed their Set. Bob said they had some interesting antics on stage.
Next up was one of my most anticipated parts of the event, The Skull listening party. As reported, the Skull were to be in attendance and play their new two song single. NOPE! This is Ragnarokkr! Go big or go home!! The Skull played three songs! Their set was The Tempter, Assassin, and At the End of my Daze. The crowd went bonkers for them. I have seen the Skull a couple times before and this was the tightest I have ever seen them. They were very cool and not even a bit bothered or annoyed that I brought most of my TROUBLE collection for them to sign!!! I had to, esp with Jeff Oly back in the band!!!! (OK - I will end the TROUBLE fanboyism for now)
Next was Axxion. I watched their first song. They had a lot of energy. At this time I opted to go outside for some much needed air. Also, I wanted to check Record Breakers upstairs as all CDs are 50% off. I will be going back up there tonight again for sure. Hard to see it all in one swoop. People who saw them said Axxion killed it.
Picture were next. I had listened to some of their stuff on YouTube and dug it. I have to say I was worried up until the event how they would go over. Up until Matt / Tribunal re-released their stuff, it was impossible to find, esp in the States. They were THE surprise performance of the day for me. Holy Smokes! People went nuts. I was surprised how many people knew their stuff. They are a great live band. Honestly, we all debate this over and over again, it's always a risk booking such an obscure band since you just never know. Picture delivered!!! many people took a picture of Picture playing, and then posted that Picture on FB, and people commented on the Pictu- ok, I will stop!!!
FINALLY It was time to RIOT!!!!!!!!
I will be the first to say, even as a RIOT fan, I was extremely skeptical when RIOT was booked. Even with Mark Reale's passing, you still had Tony Moore and Bobby J in the band. Cool!! 3/4 of the Thundersteel lineup in tow! This is going to rule. As we know Bobby J has touring commitments with Fates Warning (understandably so, how can you pass on that gig??), and Tony moore is no longer in the band. They found a GREAT replacement in Todd. I was already familiar with them since I am the one Reverence fanboy in the USA. LOL. They absolutely CRUSHED!!!! Todd's vocals were amazing. He did a great job as did the rest of the band. They covered all eras of RIOT (IE - played at least one song from every vocalist they had). A major highlight for me was ANGEL EYES from Inishmore. As expected they played a good chunk of Thundersteel, which is fine by me. The good thing was the setlist was varied, so its not like they did 6 Thundersteel tunes in a row. It made for a VERY good flow. They have had a lot of different sounds throughout their career and they did a great job balancing the setlist.
In summary last night was a 10 out of mother truckin' 10!!!!
I chose to keep this post specifically about the bands.
I could go on for another 10 pages about all the awesome people (fans and bands) who were there........
Right off the bat I have to let everyone know, esp those who weren't there, that yesterday was officially a SELL OUT!!! Congrats to everyone's hard work in making that happen.......
There must have been a lot of out of towners as there were MANY people I have never seen at a show in Chicago. Very cool.....
For me personally, the main stage was stacked to my liking, so unfortunately, I can not report on anything on the second stage. I think I saw one song of Dogbane and one song of Dark Design.
metalUSAfer kicked things off in a major way on the mainstage. Chris Black seemed like he was having a blast on stage. They did the two 7" songs, a Virtue cover, and a Metalucifer cover (Complete with drill!!)
Next up was Amulance. They sounded tighter since the last time I saw them. You can tell they are definitely an active band again which is great. Only complaint is that they played a lot of new stuff. It sounded good of course but at a fest setting with limited time you wanna hear the stuff you know.
California trio Night Demon were next. They brought a lot of energy to the main stage. These guys are on a roll and it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon. You can tell these guys do it because they just love to play. A lot of people seemed to know their songs. They did a good cover of Lighting to the Nations. Great guys to boot.
I missed Diamond Rexx. I did wanna check em out but I think I had to go back to feed the meter and went to the Joint first before going back so missed their Set. Bob said they had some interesting antics on stage.
Next up was one of my most anticipated parts of the event, The Skull listening party. As reported, the Skull were to be in attendance and play their new two song single. NOPE! This is Ragnarokkr! Go big or go home!! The Skull played three songs! Their set was The Tempter, Assassin, and At the End of my Daze. The crowd went bonkers for them. I have seen the Skull a couple times before and this was the tightest I have ever seen them. They were very cool and not even a bit bothered or annoyed that I brought most of my TROUBLE collection for them to sign!!! I had to, esp with Jeff Oly back in the band!!!! (OK - I will end the TROUBLE fanboyism for now)
Next was Axxion. I watched their first song. They had a lot of energy. At this time I opted to go outside for some much needed air. Also, I wanted to check Record Breakers upstairs as all CDs are 50% off. I will be going back up there tonight again for sure. Hard to see it all in one swoop. People who saw them said Axxion killed it.
Picture were next. I had listened to some of their stuff on YouTube and dug it. I have to say I was worried up until the event how they would go over. Up until Matt / Tribunal re-released their stuff, it was impossible to find, esp in the States. They were THE surprise performance of the day for me. Holy Smokes! People went nuts. I was surprised how many people knew their stuff. They are a great live band. Honestly, we all debate this over and over again, it's always a risk booking such an obscure band since you just never know. Picture delivered!!! many people took a picture of Picture playing, and then posted that Picture on FB, and people commented on the Pictu- ok, I will stop!!!
FINALLY It was time to RIOT!!!!!!!!
I will be the first to say, even as a RIOT fan, I was extremely skeptical when RIOT was booked. Even with Mark Reale's passing, you still had Tony Moore and Bobby J in the band. Cool!! 3/4 of the Thundersteel lineup in tow! This is going to rule. As we know Bobby J has touring commitments with Fates Warning (understandably so, how can you pass on that gig??), and Tony moore is no longer in the band. They found a GREAT replacement in Todd. I was already familiar with them since I am the one Reverence fanboy in the USA. LOL. They absolutely CRUSHED!!!! Todd's vocals were amazing. He did a great job as did the rest of the band. They covered all eras of RIOT (IE - played at least one song from every vocalist they had). A major highlight for me was ANGEL EYES from Inishmore. As expected they played a good chunk of Thundersteel, which is fine by me. The good thing was the setlist was varied, so its not like they did 6 Thundersteel tunes in a row. It made for a VERY good flow. They have had a lot of different sounds throughout their career and they did a great job balancing the setlist.
In summary last night was a 10 out of mother truckin' 10!!!!
I chose to keep this post specifically about the bands.
I could go on for another 10 pages about all the awesome people (fans and bands) who were there........
