Just FYI

[azal]

yeah I saw them that year twice again with In Flames and Shadows Fall at CBGB's and at Skater's World in Wayne, NJ, but Curran was already in the band at that point I believe.

That shit was hilarious. metal bands playing in a roller rink, the dudes from In Flames playing racing video games and jim smuggling alcohol in a soda cup

I have pictures of me with the nevermore guys from that, I'll post up my unbearded, chubby face later if I find them.

That was a pretty sweet show, it's funny how small and relatively unknown IF and SF were at the time.

Another unknown local band played the Skater's World show, The Dillinger Escape Plan.

 

[Dreadful]

Those are the days. I know what you mean though about bootleggers standing to one side of the stage filming the rhythm guitarist. I got this awesome Shadows Fall VHS bootleg of them in 2000 playing at this skatepark and the camera guy was stationed right next to Matt Bachand on his side of the stage. You could see the rest of the band too but Matt was the closest by far. I didn't mind it though cause' he had the best stage presence of the whole band...headbanging like it was his last day on earth...I was impressed and inspired.

What sucked is that prior to 2003...all metal shows were 21 and up here. 4th and B, brick by brick, canes (for the most part) all 21 and up. You can imagine how stoked I was to see Opeth in 03' which was like my first real metal show aside from pantera in 2001.

 

[azal]

yeah, I couldn't get in to see Dream Theater at the Birchill in 98 because I wasn't 18. My friend's dad took us and they still wouldn't let us in with him, so then he took us to Pizzeria Uno to drown our sorrows in pizza

It sucked that back then kids only listened to Korn and stuff, and almost nobody my age listened to real metal, and the stuff I liked, Morbid Angel, Savatage, Dio, whatever came around, it was 18 to get in, 21 to drink.

I turned 18 in 1999 and started going to every show I could then, before that, all I saw was Ozzy in 96, which was a big outdoor venue so it was all ages, and my dad took me and my brother to see megadeth in phili in 98.

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

What kind of merch are they selling at the shows on this tour? Anyone know who's seen them already?

 

[Super Mahrio]

They had some picture disks of the first record for about 35 bucks.
Hoodies (cant remember what was on them) for about 35 bucks.
That pentagram girly shirt for about 20.
Tour shirts with TOC album cover on it. The regular one i think had dates on it. The girly one doesnt but has a logo on the bottom back side of it. (I got that one)
I thought i saw some self titled album shirts and a POE one.
They had hats and beanies.

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

They had some picture disks of the first record for about 35 bucks.
Hoodies (cant remember what was on them) for about 35 bucks.
That pentagram girly shirt for about 20.
Tour shirts with TOC album cover on it. The regular one i think had dates on it. The girly one doesnt but has a logo on the bottom back side of it. (I got that one)
I thought i saw some self titled album shirts and a POE one.
They had hats and beanies.

Awesome, thanks. Will probably pick up a picture disc, hoodie, and depending on the other stuff, some other stuff, hahaha

 

[neal]

yeh that in flames/nevermore/shadows fall show was the shit. it was at some weird little place on the border of oakland and berkeley. right before IF and SF got real big and started putting out shit albums.

 

[Dreadful]

Politics of Ecstasy shirt, Shit yeah! I totally agree with Neal...as much as I've grown to like the newer albums from In Flames and Shadows Fall (each have some quality songs of course, but nothing compared to the early records) those early records were totally the shit. When I first heard "The Art of Balance" I was kinda disappointed...I liked it but it was less Swedish and death metal related I guess you could say. It seemed more "accessible" I guess, I can't think of the right word - mainstream? polished? lacking in metal? More American? I'm not even being a purist about it, they were really onto something with Of One Blood and Somber Eyes - it was like 90% metal with like 10% core. But it was all tight and sophisticated...yet catchy as hell and their own. I still like the next couple albums after that though, not as much but you gotta admit they can write good hooks.

 

[neal]

When I first heard "The Art of Balance" I was kinda disappointed

bought it when it first came out cause i liked Of One Blood...i dont think ive ever made it through the whole thing. what a pile of shit and total change in direction. that one riff with the trills was pretty sick. the rest was unlistenable. havent heard anything since. dont want to. short. sentences. rule.

 

[azal]

^same.

also, I remember lining up in the front row for Nevermore both times. (haven't done that in like 6 years) and the singer from shadows fall kept beating the shit out of my face with his dreds, those things fucking hurt.

though that same show Dimitri from dillinger kicked me in the head jumping into the crowd on the first note they played. As I said, no one knew about them yet and didn't know what to expect from their live show.

 

[azal]

while we're on this "we're old as fuck" trip. Saw Killswitch with the white dude singing the day before Alive or Just Breathing came out with Soilwork and Hypocrisy in upstate new york, there might have been 100 people there. Killswitch blew both of them off the stage. Soilwork sucked pretty hard, which hurt because NBC just dropped and they were one of my fav bands.

 

[Dreadful]

Really? I know Killswitch is good live, let alone with Jesse...but damn that's interesting cause' the video of Millionflame from that tour was pretty great. I used to watch it religiously. I WANTED TO SEE THAT TOUR TOO but...fuckin...21 and up shit here...and I was 16 at the time so saying that I wanted to go to LA to see an 'all ages' club show (cause San Diego sucks) for the first time would've got an "are you out of your mind?" response from my Dad. It sucked cause' I was getting into Hypocrisy right then too.

 

[azal]

I think I had the biggest problem with the NBC material, mostly because of the lack of harmony vocals, everything sounded so empty.

 

[Dreadful]

Yeah I remember hearing "The Bringer" when I saw them 05' ...the clean vocals were terrible...like the only good performance clean vocalwise of the older material was room 99...which doesn't have a clean track on the record but live he sang the chorus and it actually wasn't bad. It didn't butcher the song too much for me.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

the singer from shadows fall kept beating the shit out of my face with his dreds, those things fucking hurt.

The drummer of Nile whipped me in the face with his pony tail one time and it fucking killed.