Just saw Dimmu Borgir/Children of Bodom/Nevermore/ Hypocrisy in Chicago

[alexofbodom]

What a show!!! The place was sold out. Packed! Around 2,000 people I would think.
The funny thing was when I went to stand in line there were like 10 girls laying in front of entrance with pillows and sheets. The were waiting for a Hanson concert that was going to take place on Tuesday (note, this was on Sunday afternoon) They were planning on spending three entire days and two nights in front of the venue. But their dreams were shattered when the security staff forced them to move because they were in our way. Crazy world! That's what I call being loyal and fanatic.
Anyway, the venue (House of Blues) is awesome. Also have option of standing or sitting like in ProgPower, and sound quality is also very good.
To the bands:

Hypocrisy:
Although I have a couple of their albums I do not really care about them. They were ok and received a very good response from the packed venue. They play melodic death metal, mostly mid-tempo with some faster double bass driven songs. Good opener but nothing special.

Children of Bodom:
The band I came to see. They fucking kicked ass!!!! They brought a lot of energy with them and really got the crowd involved. Alexi Laiho (lead guitar/vocals) and Jarno Wirman (keys) are two of the most talented in the metal world at their respective instruments. I was truly amazed at how well they play and the fun they have while doing so. Their music is so catchy and melodic you just can't help but move to it. They are one of my favorite bands and I am sure they would be a great fit as the non-power/prog band at PPV (although I consider them power with death/black vocals). The only negative was the short amount of time they got to play. Their setlist was:
Needled 24/7
Hate Me
Chokehold
Bed of Razors
Bodom Beach Terror
Downfall
COB rules!!!!!!!!!!!

Nevermore:
I had already seen this band before so I was not as excited as with Bodom, but as always they provided a very good show. They only played fast songs, I guess because of the bands they are touring with, but that is totally fine with me! The sound could have been a bit better and although it was a good show it wasn't as good as the last time I saw them (at BWBK Fest in Cleveland). Their setlist was:
Narcosyntesis
Seven Tongues of God
Never Purify
Engines of Hate
Ambivalent
I Voyager
Enemies of Reality

Dimmu Borgir:
although I have never been a big fan of black metal, Dimmu Borgir's lat album really impressed me and I was looking forward to see them live. Man they kicked ass!!! Man, I had never seen people get so crazy for a metal band before. They started pushing around right after Nevermore got done, so we were having a slow motion mosh while they were setting up their stuff. lol. They never stopped pushing until the end of the concert. Dimmu Borgir brought their own light show, which was really cool and professional. The sound was perfect. I think this might have been the best live sound I have ever heard at a metal concert. Even though manny parts are very fast and heavy, you could always hear the vocals and the keyboards!!! Great mix!!! And it was heavy! I wish every metal band would have the same sound quality as they did tonight. I am not going to write a setlist because I don't know all the names of the songs and they are still new to me (I have known them for long but only started paying more attention recently), but I have to say that I am now officially a fan of them. They are truly great musicians. The drummer is incredible!!!!!!! Guitars, bass, and keys were played perfectly as well, and the vocals were great too (for cookie monster standards hehehe). I was also impressed by bassists voice. He sings some clean passages (like bassist from Nightwish) and does it extremely well (I hope he'll one day form a band where he is main singer). And the crowd just went nuts non-stop!

Great show! Great crowd! Great venue! Well worth the $30 I spent on it. If you are open to more extreme forms of metal then I would highly recommend catching this show. They will play in a lot of cities on this tour so check them out.

 

[Abba]

Nice review. I was also at the show and I'm always impressed at how good the sound mix is at House of Blues. The only part that sucked was waiting all the way down the block in the cold - I've never seen a line that long at this venue. Cool to see people supporting live music, even on a cold Sunday night!

I only caught about the last three songs of Hypocrisy - I could take 'em or leave 'em. Children of Bodom was the main reason I was at this show, and they did not disappoint. Apart from Dimmu, they got the best response of the night. The only correction in your setlist was they played "Silent Night, Bodom Night" rather than "Bed of Razors".

The only letdown of the concert was Nevermore. I've seen them a number of times before, and Warrel Dane especially seemed bored and going through the motions. The crowd reaction wasn't bad, but not exceptional and maybe he was reacting to that. At least he didn't throw a temper tantrum like that spoiled baby Phil Anselmo of Pantera does when the crowd response isn't good...

All in all a fun show - Dimmu did have a cool light show and played very well.

Pat

 

[alexofbodom]

The only correction in your setlist was they played "Silent Night, Bodom Night" rather than "Bed of Razors".

You are right! I wrote the review at 4am after getting home so I guess I was not thinking straight. lol!

I truly hope to see Bodom live as a headliner one day. They have soooo many great songs I wanted to hear, I was surprised they did not play Everytime I Die. They usually always closed their shows with that songs so I was surprised when Alexi announced Downfall. Anyway, they can't do wrong because almost all their songs are kick-ass.

 

[skyrefuge]

Hey, I was there too. I posted a review of my own earlier at http://tpom.com/pmboard/wwwbb_msg.php?m=124924 Although it looks like I said a lot of the same stuff you did!

The House of Blues is one of my favorite places to see shows. Oh, and the capacity is 1300. The last time Dimmu played there, I think it was like 10 degrees F with 25mph winds; luckily there wasn't a line that day like there was for this show!

That's pretty hilarious about those Hanson girls. I saw that show listed at the House of Blues a while ago, and thought it was interesting that they'd fallen to playing such a small venue; I think it took a while for it to even sell out, so I have no idea what those girls were thinking!

Simen Hestnaes, the Dimmu Borgir bass player, did sing lead vocals (both clean and growls) on two Borknagar albums, and apparently sings for a doom band called Lamented Souls. However, most feel that he's still never lived up to his full potential that he first showed when singing bits of Arcturus's "La Masquerade Infernale" album (particularly with his disappointingly limited vocal role in Dimmu Borgir)

Neil

 

[Demonspell]

How did the EOR songs come across live? And Narcosynthesis and Seven Tongues back to back must have been crushing...

 

[alexofbodom]

EOR songs definitely sounded heavier than on album (I was highly disappointed with EOR production after the great job they did on DHIADW) but overall I was a bit disappointed by the sound (the mix was not very good) and the lack of energy they had. I saw them a few months ago in CLeveland and they kicked ass. So I know that they are a great live band, but last night was not one of their better performances.

 

[Se7enChurches]

I just caught the show here in Atlanta.

I thought that Hypocrisy's set was awesome, and I was really pleased to see a huge group of people there that were there specifically to see them. They are one of the founding members of the Swedish death metal scene, and Peter Tagtgren is one of the key figures in european metal in general. I really thought they deserved better for a rare US appearance than to play a 30 minute set as the first opener on a big package tour. That being said, they were really into it and so was the crowd, and it was a great 30 minutes.

Children of Bodom were also great, though they didn't seem to pay the crowd much attention while they were playing, so i felt kind of detached from the action.

Nevermore were awesome; they must have put on a much better set here than in chicago, or you people are crazy. Once again, though, the crowd didn't seem to care about them too much, for reasons I cannot fathom. It didn't seem to bother Warrell this time, though. another explanation for him seeming lackluster in his performance in CHicago is that apparently he's been pretty sick on this tour. my other complaint (beyond the indifference of the crowd) is that they played exclusively songs from Enemies and Dead Heart other than Seven Tongues of God. Talking to Jim and Jeff outside though, they said they're plannign a headlining tour in march or april. so yay!

Dimmu... eh. same way i feel about Nile every time they come on to headline some big package tour that has a bunch of bands that are better than them on it. just "eh". Don't get me wrong; what I've heard of Death Cult Armageddon is great, but Dimmu always bore me live. they don't move around, they rely too heavily on fog and light shows, and twice now they've hidden their drummer off to the side of the stage behind some equipment and shrouded in fog (to the point where there was actually some question last time [the cryptopsy tour] as to whether he was even really there). I'm beginning to think it's because his kit is triggered six ways from sunday (as was plainly audible from the sound check) and they don't want people to see just how little effort it takes on his part to make that huge drum sound come out of it. another note on the drums was that his snare sounded absolutely awful and was part of the reason i left only a short way into their set after verifying that no, they weren't going to be much more interesting this time, either.

but all in all a good show, and i still got to hear dimmu's music as i was outside and downstairs talking to Children of Bodom and Nevermore.

also, cool to meet you, metalmilitia2000!

Ryan

 

[rottingflesh]

I was at the show last night. It was very unfortunate that I missed the first two bands...I really wanted to check out Children...so thanks for the review.

I really enjoyed Nevermore though bummed they did not play longer. I am not a big Dimmu fan but do like to see them live....so all and all, good show. Glad to see it so packed and more girls than usual.

 

[Creeps]

that tour is tonight in Tampa, but I can't make it.. so thanks for the reviews.. the 2 bands I wanted to see were nevermore and COB, and if their sets are THAT short, it would've been a waste of time & money for me. I'll wait for the Nevermore headliner... maybe they'll take COB with them and they can both play longer sets

 

[neovenom]

i went to the atlanta show last night too. i wasn't all that impressed with hypocrisy. the drummer needs to show a lil bit more emotion. but yeah, my main reason for going was to see CoB, and i was very pleased with their performance. alexi was the shit on guitar! i think their setlist had: needled 24/7, hate me, chokehold, bodom beach terror, everytime i die, and downfall. if i missed a song or maybe got it confused with another one (since i know songs more by the # on the cd instead of by actual title), please let me know.

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

nice to meet you to seven churches, man, you said that warrell probably wouldn't show up, he came out like 5 minutes after you left and we talked for a while, then like 10 minutes later, someone finally came up to him and wanted an autograph, so i left. he is an extremely cool guy.