Antix: decent, but repetitive. One tempo, 4/4 time, no change... ever. Kudos to them for seeming like decent guys who give a shit about their (apparently not inconsiderable number of) fans, and giving away a crapload of free stuff,
and giving KatV the call. Sorry, doesn't make up for the monotony of the catalogue. Much potential, though... what was there was good. Not great, but good.
With that out of the way, seeing the Tarkus onstage with KatV - finally - was a treat. Hell, seeing KatV onstage again at all was a treat.
With just four rehearsals in two sessions (so I was told), we saw once again how tight the band really is - I've seen fully pro acts in mid-tour turn out considerably sloppier performances. And although the sound mix on the guitars was initially muddy, Curtis and Marc traded off each other very nicely (good choice in Marc, guys), Dustin had his usual mid-gig traumas try (and fail) to upset his playing - today it was a dodgy straplock trying to force his bass stageward at high velocity, sadly slightly less entertaining than the leather-pants-fly issue at ProgPower 18 months ago! - and Lynn did what he could with apparently no vocals in the monitors, going a bit sharp a couple of times (and obviously unhappy with the way his performance was going), but turning in a solid show nonetheless, and with no spandex in sight for once!
Matt, meanwhile, as well as having perhaps the best sound going of any of the lads, proved once again that he deserves the pedestal I put him on as a drummer. My friend, my metal brotha', and one of the finest drummers I've ever seen play (now stop blushing, yer fuckin' Konehead!
).
And me? I fucked up on 'Evil Princess'
again.
One of these days I'll get it right, I swear!
It's not the best show I've seen KatV play... ProgPower still takes those honours (yes, Brit spelling on "honours"
). But it was a fine show, with a good mixture of songs. Two from 'Present Day' (crowd-pleasers 'I Live On' and 'Evil Princess'), three from the forthcoming 'The Rising Anger' ('Fading In...', 'Risk & Sacrifice', and 'Liberated Minds'), with the remaining five coming from 'A New Breed Of Rebellion'. Of the new tracks, 'Risk & Sacrifice' was an immediate hit with me, and with its anything-but-subtle homage to Black Sabbath's 'Heaven & Hell' - intentional or not! - it led into one of the most instantly memorable tracks in the KatV catalogue, and got me nicely stoked for 'The Rising Anger'.
I would also like to give it up to these guys as friends. I fuckin' love the fact that I can class one of my very favourite bands in the world as personal friends. Seeing Trevor there too was a nice surprise, and he had a nice surprise for me himself...
And Matt, I love ya, man. One of these days, going out and getting shitfaced for no reason needs to happen.
The theme of the night's conversations, though, seemed to be time, and the lack of it. Trying to make everything in our lives fit into those twenty-four hours in a day... and everything that goes into that. 'Chrono-Logic', indeed.
From my heart, to all of yours: thanks for a great night, guys, and play a blinder in Chicago for me. I'll be thinking of ya.
(edited for bastard bleedin' typos.)
