...and I say "semi" because I really don't have much to say about Friday's band. Yes, band - singular - since the only one I managed to see was Eldritch. By the point I saw them, I was so angry, tired, frustrated, and despondant that I wouldn't be giving them a fair shake.
(I'll tell that story in the "other stuff that happened" thread.)
Saturday didn't start off much better, since my ticket disappeared in transit, so Scott had to go get Molesto to get me in.
Mirror Black:
In all honesty, I expected the Nevermore clonisms I'd heard in the demo tunes. They sounded much more original playing live, and had a pretty good amount of energy. A good start to the evening, even if I did have to watch them from the doorway.
Twelfth Gate:
Different. Very, very different. Took me two songs to even get my mind around it, since it was SO different. After that, I'll say that Red performed very well, had good energy and presence, and the rest of the band performed just as well. I'm not sure what to think of the change in sound yet, but the overall performance was very good - I'd actually have enjoyed them more if I wasn't so familiar with them. I'll give them a lot of credit for having the balls to go with a completely different vocal style, since they know there's going to be at least some backlash. Rob could actually play without looking like he was going to vomit this year, too, which was a plus.
Ion Vein:
Quite simply the best IV show I've seen since Powermad, all those years ago, and maybe even the best show I've ever seen them put on. I'm not so familiar with the new tunes, but they did grab me and sounded really good. Russ' vocals were spot on - Bruce from Agent Steel couldn't stop raving about him during the performance - and the version of "Painkiller" was impressive, to say the least. Andy is SUCH a good fit for this band, Flash was his usual perfect self, and C-Lo gave the best Powerfest show I've seen him have yet - apparently, he wasn't as stressed this year, 'cause he played perfectly. I look forward to the new disc, and to seeing these guys again - the future is definitely bright.
Nocturnal Rites:
Amazingly, devestatingly, lacking-words-for-it good. I like their last few discs ("Shadowland" and forward), but I was not prepared for them to be THAT good. In a night of good performaces, they were head and shoulders above everyone else. Great energy, presence, and the real sense that they were just having a blast up there. They drew heavily from the last two discs, and just nailed everything.
Morgana Lefay:
Started a little rough, settled down after Tony's guitar issues were resolved, and generally kicked ass after that. Sadly, we had to leave a few songs after that (though I did see "Red Moon"!), since Scott had some issues (mostly caused by walking around on the bare concrete floor of the venue), so I had to take him back to the hotel. Charles sounded great at the beginning, though I heard he had issues later, and they generally seemed to be smoking it up out there - even handling the techinical problems with a nicely sarcastic sense of humor.
Overall, a great night of metal. I'm really finding myself hoping that Mr. Kelley's Music Box upgrades a bit before next year, though - the stage and sound were good (though the soundman really seemed to have issues with mixing two guitars, but this isn't unusual), but the venue itself was pretty spartan, and I miss the food from JJ Kelley's. While the soudn was generally pretty good, it was mind-bendingly loud on Friday (when we got there, anyway), and seemed a little "cluttered" on Satuday, like he was just overpowering the room to get it to sound good on Friday, and then Saturday paid for it by being quieter, but getting hurt by all the hard surfaces.
Other minuses were Nocturnal Rites and Agent Steel not bringing shirts (damn you both!), and, of course, Biomechanical ran out of shirts in my size.
I'll be back next year, though, for sure. The bands were top notch, and minor quibbles aside, it was a positive experience overall. I'll post the non-band things (of which there are many) in another thread...
(I'll tell that story in the "other stuff that happened" thread.)
Saturday didn't start off much better, since my ticket disappeared in transit, so Scott had to go get Molesto to get me in.
Mirror Black:
In all honesty, I expected the Nevermore clonisms I'd heard in the demo tunes. They sounded much more original playing live, and had a pretty good amount of energy. A good start to the evening, even if I did have to watch them from the doorway.
Twelfth Gate:
Different. Very, very different. Took me two songs to even get my mind around it, since it was SO different. After that, I'll say that Red performed very well, had good energy and presence, and the rest of the band performed just as well. I'm not sure what to think of the change in sound yet, but the overall performance was very good - I'd actually have enjoyed them more if I wasn't so familiar with them. I'll give them a lot of credit for having the balls to go with a completely different vocal style, since they know there's going to be at least some backlash. Rob could actually play without looking like he was going to vomit this year, too, which was a plus.
Ion Vein:
Quite simply the best IV show I've seen since Powermad, all those years ago, and maybe even the best show I've ever seen them put on. I'm not so familiar with the new tunes, but they did grab me and sounded really good. Russ' vocals were spot on - Bruce from Agent Steel couldn't stop raving about him during the performance - and the version of "Painkiller" was impressive, to say the least. Andy is SUCH a good fit for this band, Flash was his usual perfect self, and C-Lo gave the best Powerfest show I've seen him have yet - apparently, he wasn't as stressed this year, 'cause he played perfectly. I look forward to the new disc, and to seeing these guys again - the future is definitely bright.
Nocturnal Rites:
Amazingly, devestatingly, lacking-words-for-it good. I like their last few discs ("Shadowland" and forward), but I was not prepared for them to be THAT good. In a night of good performaces, they were head and shoulders above everyone else. Great energy, presence, and the real sense that they were just having a blast up there. They drew heavily from the last two discs, and just nailed everything.
Morgana Lefay:
Started a little rough, settled down after Tony's guitar issues were resolved, and generally kicked ass after that. Sadly, we had to leave a few songs after that (though I did see "Red Moon"!), since Scott had some issues (mostly caused by walking around on the bare concrete floor of the venue), so I had to take him back to the hotel. Charles sounded great at the beginning, though I heard he had issues later, and they generally seemed to be smoking it up out there - even handling the techinical problems with a nicely sarcastic sense of humor.
Overall, a great night of metal. I'm really finding myself hoping that Mr. Kelley's Music Box upgrades a bit before next year, though - the stage and sound were good (though the soundman really seemed to have issues with mixing two guitars, but this isn't unusual), but the venue itself was pretty spartan, and I miss the food from JJ Kelley's. While the soudn was generally pretty good, it was mind-bendingly loud on Friday (when we got there, anyway), and seemed a little "cluttered" on Satuday, like he was just overpowering the room to get it to sound good on Friday, and then Saturday paid for it by being quieter, but getting hurt by all the hard surfaces.
Other minuses were Nocturnal Rites and Agent Steel not bringing shirts (damn you both!), and, of course, Biomechanical ran out of shirts in my size.
I'll be back next year, though, for sure. The bands were top notch, and minor quibbles aside, it was a positive experience overall. I'll post the non-band things (of which there are many) in another thread...
