*warning: very lengthy show report*
Wow ..what a night. It had the potential to be a complete clusterfuck nightmare but it actually turned out really bloody well.
The trouble started when we got there at 5:30. The doors were supposed to open at 8 and the venue was completely empty; no backline, no nothing. All the equipment was still in the trailers. From all the yelling between various managers, roadies, and soundmen in roughly 3 different languages we were able to discern that this was because the PA was broken and there was no electricity onstage. This whole situation became even more troubling when we learned that the club had not only booked Fireball Ministry to play in the fucking lobby, but they had also booked 3 ska bands to play after the Moonspell / Katatonia show. This meant that the doors were set to open at 7, an hour earlier than advertised, and our set had been cut from 30 minutes to 20. Fast forward to 6:55, the tour backline is on the stage but theyre still trying to get the PA to work so our gears not onstage. Doors open in 5 minutes and our set starts in 20. So we quickly get everything on the stage, with 3 minutes till start time, and theres still no fucking power. Half of the circuits were fried so we had to hook up an extension chord, a power strip, and get everyone hooked up in about 2 minutes. So they open the doors, let in about 3 people, and tell us to start playing. By the time they got everyone in there we were in the middle of our last song. This was alright though cause it was really packed by that point, we I think we played really well, earning some new fans in the process.
Daylight Dies was next and they were absolutely brilliant. Pretty short set with 4 of the best songs from Dismantling Devotion; no complaints at all. The material came across really well live. Really nice guys, especially the drummer; we got them reeeaaaally stoned with some good Mexican Dank after the show. They were very relieved since theyve apparently been having a really hard time scoring weed on this tour!
Katatonia was next, and I have to say that they put on one of the most intensely moving performances Ive ever seen. Wow. The crowd response was goddamned incredible; there was a whole group of people, myself included, singing along to every song, sometimes even louder than Jonas through the PA! It was so exciting to know that everyone around me was as passionately moved by the whole performance as I was. It threw me into a state of pure bliss. According to Jonas after the show, this was one of the best crowd responses on the whole tour. The sound was rough at first but they eventually got it figured out. Although the order may be wrong, heres what I remember:
-Leaders
-Soils Song
-Deadhouse
-Teargas
-Ghost of the Sun
-Criminals
-My Twin
-Evidence
-Murder (with Daniel wearing a huge-ass sombrero!)
All of it sounded brilliant; they were tight, confident, and passionate. They have grown considerably as a live band since the performance on the Krakow DVD. Jonas sounded so fucking great; his live voice has a very intimate and expressive quality that is much different from their recorded material.
Moonspell was next. Unlike other shows, a good portion of the people stuck around to watch them not quite the same amount as Katatonia, but a good portion nonetheless. I think this was mainly due to San Antonios proximity to Mexico. They were of course as tight and professional as I expected, but Ive never really been a fan so I went back to the bar and found Daniel from Katatonia; really fucking cool guy! I sat and drank with him for a while discussing the difference between American beer and European beer, the difficulty of human aging, and the joy of Irish car bombs, among other things. I also chatted a bit with all of the other guys, who were all very kind and gracious. Jonas said the complete lack of organization at this show has unfortunately been very common throughout the tour. The rest of the night is a bit of a blurry drunken mess, but I do remember going home with a very pretty girl, so I would have to say that this was one of the best nights Ive had in a loooong time. Thank you Katatonia, for all the great music and for overcoming all the American bullshit to deliver amazing performances night after night.
Wow ..what a night. It had the potential to be a complete clusterfuck nightmare but it actually turned out really bloody well.
The trouble started when we got there at 5:30. The doors were supposed to open at 8 and the venue was completely empty; no backline, no nothing. All the equipment was still in the trailers. From all the yelling between various managers, roadies, and soundmen in roughly 3 different languages we were able to discern that this was because the PA was broken and there was no electricity onstage. This whole situation became even more troubling when we learned that the club had not only booked Fireball Ministry to play in the fucking lobby, but they had also booked 3 ska bands to play after the Moonspell / Katatonia show. This meant that the doors were set to open at 7, an hour earlier than advertised, and our set had been cut from 30 minutes to 20. Fast forward to 6:55, the tour backline is on the stage but theyre still trying to get the PA to work so our gears not onstage. Doors open in 5 minutes and our set starts in 20. So we quickly get everything on the stage, with 3 minutes till start time, and theres still no fucking power. Half of the circuits were fried so we had to hook up an extension chord, a power strip, and get everyone hooked up in about 2 minutes. So they open the doors, let in about 3 people, and tell us to start playing. By the time they got everyone in there we were in the middle of our last song. This was alright though cause it was really packed by that point, we I think we played really well, earning some new fans in the process.
Daylight Dies was next and they were absolutely brilliant. Pretty short set with 4 of the best songs from Dismantling Devotion; no complaints at all. The material came across really well live. Really nice guys, especially the drummer; we got them reeeaaaally stoned with some good Mexican Dank after the show. They were very relieved since theyve apparently been having a really hard time scoring weed on this tour!
Katatonia was next, and I have to say that they put on one of the most intensely moving performances Ive ever seen. Wow. The crowd response was goddamned incredible; there was a whole group of people, myself included, singing along to every song, sometimes even louder than Jonas through the PA! It was so exciting to know that everyone around me was as passionately moved by the whole performance as I was. It threw me into a state of pure bliss. According to Jonas after the show, this was one of the best crowd responses on the whole tour. The sound was rough at first but they eventually got it figured out. Although the order may be wrong, heres what I remember:
-Leaders
-Soils Song
-Deadhouse
-Teargas
-Ghost of the Sun
-Criminals
-My Twin
-Evidence
-Murder (with Daniel wearing a huge-ass sombrero!)
All of it sounded brilliant; they were tight, confident, and passionate. They have grown considerably as a live band since the performance on the Krakow DVD. Jonas sounded so fucking great; his live voice has a very intimate and expressive quality that is much different from their recorded material.
Moonspell was next. Unlike other shows, a good portion of the people stuck around to watch them not quite the same amount as Katatonia, but a good portion nonetheless. I think this was mainly due to San Antonios proximity to Mexico. They were of course as tight and professional as I expected, but Ive never really been a fan so I went back to the bar and found Daniel from Katatonia; really fucking cool guy! I sat and drank with him for a while discussing the difference between American beer and European beer, the difficulty of human aging, and the joy of Irish car bombs, among other things. I also chatted a bit with all of the other guys, who were all very kind and gracious. Jonas said the complete lack of organization at this show has unfortunately been very common throughout the tour. The rest of the night is a bit of a blurry drunken mess, but I do remember going home with a very pretty girl, so I would have to say that this was one of the best nights Ive had in a loooong time. Thank you Katatonia, for all the great music and for overcoming all the American bullshit to deliver amazing performances night after night.
