YardleyBates and I went to see Nevermore and Opeth at the HoB in Chicago yesterday. It's been a long time since I've seen HoB that packed. It had to be very close to sold out (though they were selling tickets at the box office). They couldn't have fit many more people in there. It was kind of shocking to compare to the crowds for Hammerfall/Edguy and Nightwish, which were the last two shows we saw at HoB.
The opening band was called Fireball Ministry. They seemed like pretty straightforward heavy metal. The singer sounded like Lemmy at times. We only saw a song or two, but they didn't sound too bad.
We were shocked that Nevermore only played 1/2 hour. They sounded pretty good. I think they played five or six songs though. Not enough to get a good representation of all of their work.
Opeth was outstanding. They played a typical headliner set length (2 hours or more). They sounded great, and seemed to be having fun. I'm not big on the gowly vocals, but I can put up with it in some bands. Opeth is one of them. I wasn't going to buy a t-shirt, but as I was standing there listening to them play "Bleak" from Blackwater Park and realized I had goosebumps all up and down my arms, that, in spite of the growly vocals, I really love this band. It was a great show.
I really like seeing bands at HoB. One thing I've been noticing at HoB is that the volume of the bands is perfect. It's loud, but not so loud that you have to put in earplugs. As a matter of fact, I put in earplugs for Nevermore - assuming it would be damn loud - and it sounded like crap because it just wasn't loud enough to warrant them. My shows sound like crap to me until I put in the earplugs. My ears just can't handle that volume, so it actually sounds cleaner with earplugs.
The opening band was called Fireball Ministry. They seemed like pretty straightforward heavy metal. The singer sounded like Lemmy at times. We only saw a song or two, but they didn't sound too bad.
We were shocked that Nevermore only played 1/2 hour. They sounded pretty good. I think they played five or six songs though. Not enough to get a good representation of all of their work.
Opeth was outstanding. They played a typical headliner set length (2 hours or more). They sounded great, and seemed to be having fun. I'm not big on the gowly vocals, but I can put up with it in some bands. Opeth is one of them. I wasn't going to buy a t-shirt, but as I was standing there listening to them play "Bleak" from Blackwater Park and realized I had goosebumps all up and down my arms, that, in spite of the growly vocals, I really love this band. It was a great show.
I really like seeing bands at HoB. One thing I've been noticing at HoB is that the volume of the bands is perfect. It's loud, but not so loud that you have to put in earplugs. As a matter of fact, I put in earplugs for Nevermore - assuming it would be damn loud - and it sounded like crap because it just wasn't loud enough to warrant them. My shows sound like crap to me until I put in the earplugs. My ears just can't handle that volume, so it actually sounds cleaner with earplugs.
