paranoidmexican009
Dirty Mexicano
Please guys post some stuff, pics, anything...i wanna see how was THAT amazing gig. Thanks anyway for the info till this moment
ditto
POWERFEST Night 1 Review
- Thread starter EyeballKid
- Start date
ditto
I dont post here often, but Ive been to every Chicago Powerfest since they were at JJ Kelleys. I also attended the ProgPower ones at Kelley's before they moved to Atlanta, and as you might imagine, this show had the largest crowd of them all. Iced Earth was amazing to see, and while maybe they were a little more subdued than they would have if Matt had never left, it was still an awesome show. I was a little shocked to see Matt's shaved head, but his vocals were very good. I thought he did an excellent job at Declaration Day, but as someone else said 10,000 Strong wasn't as good. I was overall pleased with the setlist, but I was really hoping to have heard Angel's Holocaust (that should have been the first song), and Desert Rain. There were some surprises though, I was thrilled to hear Pure Evil and A Question of Heaven. Overall, Iced Earth ranks up there as one of the best metal bands to see live, and I loved their show.
With that in mind, Im sorry, but I couldnt get into ANY of the other bands. I know this tour is called Powerfest, and its not about Power metal, but it seems like there is less and less consistency between styles. Of the other pre-IE bands, the only one I thought was okay was Epicurean. I don't mind the aggressive vocals, but the other bands just didn't do it for me. And as already said in this thread, Im obviously not alone. There were many boos and heckles from the crowd for some of the earlier bands.
I am sure the guys from CRJ who organize Powerfest put in a lot of energy, time and heart into this, and I very much appreciate it. I am also lucky enough to live only 25 minutes away. Just seeing Iced Earth would have been worth it to me, but Testament the next night, OMG!!!!! But in reality, I could have missed all the other bands and not cared at all. I guess what Im saying is that it seems like (for me at least), Powerfest isn't as much a "weekend full of metal", but more two metal headliners on two nights in a row, with a couple opening bands.
Either way, even if future Powerfests turn out that way, and they can still attract great headliners, I will go again!
With that in mind, Im sorry, but I couldnt get into ANY of the other bands. I know this tour is called Powerfest, and its not about Power metal, but it seems like there is less and less consistency between styles. Of the other pre-IE bands, the only one I thought was okay was Epicurean. I don't mind the aggressive vocals, but the other bands just didn't do it for me. And as already said in this thread, Im obviously not alone. There were many boos and heckles from the crowd for some of the earlier bands.
I am sure the guys from CRJ who organize Powerfest put in a lot of energy, time and heart into this, and I very much appreciate it. I am also lucky enough to live only 25 minutes away. Just seeing Iced Earth would have been worth it to me, but Testament the next night, OMG!!!!! But in reality, I could have missed all the other bands and not cared at all. I guess what Im saying is that it seems like (for me at least), Powerfest isn't as much a "weekend full of metal", but more two metal headliners on two nights in a row, with a couple opening bands.
Either way, even if future Powerfests turn out that way, and they can still attract great headliners, I will go again!
skyrefuge
Member
Like the night before, I managed to time my arrival right near the 6:30 start. This time, there were even more people streaming towards the doors, with half of them wearing Iced Earth shirts, so it was pretty clear even before entering the building what this night would be all about. In addition to the balcony, the area to the right of the stage was opened up, which I had never seen before. They definitely outdrew the night before, and I wouldnt be surprised if there were more than 1000 in attendance.
Arise and Ruin:
Completely unimaginative and by-the-numbers non-melodic metalcore, but it was actually executed quite well. The guys seem ok at playing their instruments, and the vocalist gave an energetic and convincing performance. As I listened, I thought that some of their mega-downtuned breakdowns actually would be pretty cool if they were expanded into full songs, where theyd turn into some kind of dirge-like hypnotic post-metal. And their last song even had some washes of melody, so it wasnt half bad. But the best part was their attitude: they clearly recognized that no one was there to see them, so instead of exhorting the crowd to cheer for them (which would have failed miserably), they kept the banter to a minimum, and used the cleverly-dropped names of Iced Earth and Testament to keep the crowd involved. Oh, and one guitarist wore an Iron Maiden shirt too.
Ion Vein:
Umm wow. Where to begin? Well, the beginning, I guess. It seemed to take them forever to set up, mostly because the entire drumkit was being assembled from scratch, and when you have 400 cymbals to forge, shape, and then screw onto the stands, thats going to take a long time. I cant understand why they werent more prepared, did they only remember at the last minute that they would need drums for this performance? Finally the music starts, and those drums are deafeningly loud, and horribly triggered. Up front, we have the other two guys on guitar and bass shouting angrrry-isms into their microphones gang-vocal style while they play some nondescript groove-metal. Hmm, do we only have a trio? Nope, out sashays the singer, with blond spiky hair, oversized mirrored sunglasses, and enough flamboyant prancing to make Boy George blush. Mixed with that persona, we also have him channeling Martin Short at his comedic worst, thinking that the more exaggerated facial contortions he does, the funnier he is. Ok, so, we have this free-spirited character, maybe that could actually be kind of cool and entertaining, something fresh in the metal world. But, no. Problem number one is that he has to sing too, and to do that, he apparently attempted to channel a third personality, that of Mike Patton and his many voices. Needless to say, he came up woefully short on every style he attempted. Problem two is much more egregious: between songs, his goofy gay guy routine vanished, to be replaced by Mr. Badass, who proves his toughness by showing how many times he can angrily use the word fuck in a sentence. But wait, it gets worse. At some point, this clearly white man devolved into a hackneyed black-preacher caricature, even going so far as to call us his niggaz. Oh, and then he took the opportunity to decry fucking non-metal fags. Just embarrassing. I can only conclude the hes a bigot who thinks that mocking those unlike him is the highest form of comedy. Somehow, the crowd was actually mildly supportive, which shocked me, although a chant for Iced Earth did go up immediately after they finished their set.
Epicurean:
Easily the most interesting band of the night, Iced Earth excluded. Theyre one of those melting pot bands who takes influence from thrash, melodic black metal, etc. They were at their best with the more melodic and atmospheric parts, although their keyboard player contributed surprisingly little to their sound, especially given how many notes he appeared to be playing. Unfortunately, the most notable part of the band was their singer, who would do ok during the growling stuff, but was absolutely dreadful on the clean vocals, which he attempted quite a lot of. Honestly, I cant remember ever hearing a worse performance from a singer, he never even came within a mile of the note he was trying to hit. He would have had no difficulty at all making it into the lowlight reel on American Idol.
A Life Once Lost:
By now, the crowd had packed in pretty tightly preparing for Iced Earth, so these guys had a huge audience watching them. Thus, it was all the more amazing how that entire crowd remained completely dead for their whole set. I was way in the back, so I didnt notice any outright disrespect, and their was mild applause between songs, but for some reason the frontman decided to take the opposite approach of Arise and Ruin: instead of accepting that they simply arent going to win over the audience and then trying to stay positive and make the best of it, this guy gets his poor feelings hurt and derides us for being a bunch of pussies. Uh, yeah, thats not going to help, genius. Musically, they were decent, but I guess if I want to hear a mix of thrash, -core, tech, and southern rock like that, Id much rather have Mastodon.
Iced Earth:
Finally, the band that everyone was waiting for. From beginning to end, it was a complete no-bullshit, streamlined performance carefully engineered to kick our collective ass for 90 minutes. Zero stage decorations, no intro, they bashed through their first five or six songs without a break, and Jon uncharacteristically didnt even say a word the whole night. If the goal was to make it seem like Matt had never even left the band, they completely succeeded. The only reference they made to Barlows return was when Matt and Jon warmly hugged after a huge Welcome Back! chant came up from the crowd, and Matts quiet acknowledgment of the frequent Barlow cheers.
It was clearly a greatest hits set, covering as many crowd favorites as possible while playing to Matts strengths. They hit at least one song from every album except Burnt Offerings, with Something Wicked and The Dark Saga getting the primary focus. Its the first time that I can recall them doing the closing songs from both of those albums without playing at least one of the lead-in songs of their respective trilogies, but the catalog is now getting large enough where thats necessary, and even welcomed.
Early on the sound seemed a bit clicky and poppy on the bass end, and I dont know if that improved or if I just got used to it. Then, the PA cut out twice, but apparently with their in-ear monitors, the band didnt notice at all and just kept right on playing. That was good, because if they had noticed, I dont think Jon would have been much pleased, and that would have brought down the vibe quite a bit. Since it cut out during a couple of classics and the band was still somewhat audible, the crowd just picked up the vocals themselves, and didnt seem to mind much at all. The other guys in the band seemed good enough, but honestly most of my attention was on Jon and Matt. And for them, it was exactly like old times. Matts voice might have improved a bit as the night went on, but he was solid the whole way through, even on the Ripper stuff.
For me, it was my 20th Iced Earth concert, and it ranks right up there with the best of them. When their set started, I was at the absolute rear of the crowd, but worked my way up through the Burning Times mosh pits. Eventually I made it to within three rows of the rail, where I spent most of my time. It was a complete crush, and sweaty enough that my fingertips got pruned. There was even a girl up there who was completely passed out and had to be dragged away; hopefully she was ok once she got some air! During The Coming Curse, Jon noticed me in the crowd, smiled, and pointed to me with his guitar, which is always cool. He was probably a bit surprised that Im still up there going nuts for Iced Earth in my old age. It was only because the previous bands allowed me to conserve all my energy that I was able to survive up there, though I did nearly collapse when I dropped back into an active pit for some final insanity during Iced Earth.
So the crowd came to see Iced Earth, and I think they went home well satisfied. It was so great to see the universal positive reaction to Barlows return, and I can almost imagine that Jon is already taking the footage (there was someone filming) to the European festivals and looking to renegotiate upwards, because its going to be huge. Then again, the European festivals probably already knew how great the return of Barlow would be; its only Jon who was a bit slow in figuring it out!
Arise and Ruin:
Completely unimaginative and by-the-numbers non-melodic metalcore, but it was actually executed quite well. The guys seem ok at playing their instruments, and the vocalist gave an energetic and convincing performance. As I listened, I thought that some of their mega-downtuned breakdowns actually would be pretty cool if they were expanded into full songs, where theyd turn into some kind of dirge-like hypnotic post-metal. And their last song even had some washes of melody, so it wasnt half bad. But the best part was their attitude: they clearly recognized that no one was there to see them, so instead of exhorting the crowd to cheer for them (which would have failed miserably), they kept the banter to a minimum, and used the cleverly-dropped names of Iced Earth and Testament to keep the crowd involved. Oh, and one guitarist wore an Iron Maiden shirt too.
Ion Vein:
Umm wow. Where to begin? Well, the beginning, I guess. It seemed to take them forever to set up, mostly because the entire drumkit was being assembled from scratch, and when you have 400 cymbals to forge, shape, and then screw onto the stands, thats going to take a long time. I cant understand why they werent more prepared, did they only remember at the last minute that they would need drums for this performance? Finally the music starts, and those drums are deafeningly loud, and horribly triggered. Up front, we have the other two guys on guitar and bass shouting angrrry-isms into their microphones gang-vocal style while they play some nondescript groove-metal. Hmm, do we only have a trio? Nope, out sashays the singer, with blond spiky hair, oversized mirrored sunglasses, and enough flamboyant prancing to make Boy George blush. Mixed with that persona, we also have him channeling Martin Short at his comedic worst, thinking that the more exaggerated facial contortions he does, the funnier he is. Ok, so, we have this free-spirited character, maybe that could actually be kind of cool and entertaining, something fresh in the metal world. But, no. Problem number one is that he has to sing too, and to do that, he apparently attempted to channel a third personality, that of Mike Patton and his many voices. Needless to say, he came up woefully short on every style he attempted. Problem two is much more egregious: between songs, his goofy gay guy routine vanished, to be replaced by Mr. Badass, who proves his toughness by showing how many times he can angrily use the word fuck in a sentence. But wait, it gets worse. At some point, this clearly white man devolved into a hackneyed black-preacher caricature, even going so far as to call us his niggaz. Oh, and then he took the opportunity to decry fucking non-metal fags. Just embarrassing. I can only conclude the hes a bigot who thinks that mocking those unlike him is the highest form of comedy. Somehow, the crowd was actually mildly supportive, which shocked me, although a chant for Iced Earth did go up immediately after they finished their set.
Epicurean:
Easily the most interesting band of the night, Iced Earth excluded. Theyre one of those melting pot bands who takes influence from thrash, melodic black metal, etc. They were at their best with the more melodic and atmospheric parts, although their keyboard player contributed surprisingly little to their sound, especially given how many notes he appeared to be playing. Unfortunately, the most notable part of the band was their singer, who would do ok during the growling stuff, but was absolutely dreadful on the clean vocals, which he attempted quite a lot of. Honestly, I cant remember ever hearing a worse performance from a singer, he never even came within a mile of the note he was trying to hit. He would have had no difficulty at all making it into the lowlight reel on American Idol.
A Life Once Lost:
By now, the crowd had packed in pretty tightly preparing for Iced Earth, so these guys had a huge audience watching them. Thus, it was all the more amazing how that entire crowd remained completely dead for their whole set. I was way in the back, so I didnt notice any outright disrespect, and their was mild applause between songs, but for some reason the frontman decided to take the opposite approach of Arise and Ruin: instead of accepting that they simply arent going to win over the audience and then trying to stay positive and make the best of it, this guy gets his poor feelings hurt and derides us for being a bunch of pussies. Uh, yeah, thats not going to help, genius. Musically, they were decent, but I guess if I want to hear a mix of thrash, -core, tech, and southern rock like that, Id much rather have Mastodon.
Iced Earth:
Finally, the band that everyone was waiting for. From beginning to end, it was a complete no-bullshit, streamlined performance carefully engineered to kick our collective ass for 90 minutes. Zero stage decorations, no intro, they bashed through their first five or six songs without a break, and Jon uncharacteristically didnt even say a word the whole night. If the goal was to make it seem like Matt had never even left the band, they completely succeeded. The only reference they made to Barlows return was when Matt and Jon warmly hugged after a huge Welcome Back! chant came up from the crowd, and Matts quiet acknowledgment of the frequent Barlow cheers.
It was clearly a greatest hits set, covering as many crowd favorites as possible while playing to Matts strengths. They hit at least one song from every album except Burnt Offerings, with Something Wicked and The Dark Saga getting the primary focus. Its the first time that I can recall them doing the closing songs from both of those albums without playing at least one of the lead-in songs of their respective trilogies, but the catalog is now getting large enough where thats necessary, and even welcomed.
Early on the sound seemed a bit clicky and poppy on the bass end, and I dont know if that improved or if I just got used to it. Then, the PA cut out twice, but apparently with their in-ear monitors, the band didnt notice at all and just kept right on playing. That was good, because if they had noticed, I dont think Jon would have been much pleased, and that would have brought down the vibe quite a bit. Since it cut out during a couple of classics and the band was still somewhat audible, the crowd just picked up the vocals themselves, and didnt seem to mind much at all. The other guys in the band seemed good enough, but honestly most of my attention was on Jon and Matt. And for them, it was exactly like old times. Matts voice might have improved a bit as the night went on, but he was solid the whole way through, even on the Ripper stuff.
For me, it was my 20th Iced Earth concert, and it ranks right up there with the best of them. When their set started, I was at the absolute rear of the crowd, but worked my way up through the Burning Times mosh pits. Eventually I made it to within three rows of the rail, where I spent most of my time. It was a complete crush, and sweaty enough that my fingertips got pruned. There was even a girl up there who was completely passed out and had to be dragged away; hopefully she was ok once she got some air! During The Coming Curse, Jon noticed me in the crowd, smiled, and pointed to me with his guitar, which is always cool. He was probably a bit surprised that Im still up there going nuts for Iced Earth in my old age. It was only because the previous bands allowed me to conserve all my energy that I was able to survive up there, though I did nearly collapse when I dropped back into an active pit for some final insanity during Iced Earth.
So the crowd came to see Iced Earth, and I think they went home well satisfied. It was so great to see the universal positive reaction to Barlows return, and I can almost imagine that Jon is already taking the footage (there was someone filming) to the European festivals and looking to renegotiate upwards, because its going to be huge. Then again, the European festivals probably already knew how great the return of Barlow would be; its only Jon who was a bit slow in figuring it out!
wildfyr
unus spiritus est
Nice review, Neil. The old age doesn't really set in until the 40s though. Prepare yourself for the joys to come. Ah well, at least we're still on our feet and wouldn't ever be seen sitting down on the floor at a festival show. Go us. (haha)
Ok, here are some pics for the masses. These are in a temporary directory on the server until their permanent home is ready.
Ion Vein
Epicurean
Iced Earth
That's the same set list there on the stage floor that was captured in another shot that wasn't so good. Using the new lens is a trip. It's heavier than the old one. Shooting over and around people and between railing cable still sucks. I think I'm too short for this hobby.
Prepare yourself for the joys to come. Ah well, at least we're still on our feet and wouldn't ever be seen sitting down on the floor at a festival show. Go us. (haha) Ok, here are some pics for the masses. These are in a temporary directory on the server until their permanent home is ready.
Ion Vein
Epicurean
Iced Earth
That's the same set list there on the stage floor that was captured in another shot that wasn't so good. Using the new lens is a trip. It's heavier than the old one. Shooting over and around people and between railing cable still sucks. I think I'm too short for this hobby.
Formerly known as Chris F5
Member
- Mar 12, 2003
- 1,430
- 10
- 38
The Grayfox
#MusicTheoryBro
skyrefuge said:
20th time?! Holy shit.
I've seen them twice in like 6 years. But at least one of those times was with Matt.
shapechanger
Member
The show was fucking killer. I've been to a fucking boatload of shows and this was a top ten of all time for me. Anyone who thought differently is nuts (editors note: shapechanger had never seen IE before so he was just a tad jacked up). I managed to get up to about the 5th or 6th row right after the pit broke loose. Barlow was fucking great. I mean seriously fucking great. He came out and kicked our nuts in. Yes, he did struggle with some parts in Ten Thousand Strong as well as Declaration Day but I bet Ripper would struggle with some of those parts live as well. Opening with Dark Saga was awesome. It was the perfect song to bring the crowd into the show instantly. The crowd was great, at least where I was standing. Everyone was totally into the show and the vibe was awesome. Everyone was singing most of the songs and everyone picked it up a notch when the PA went out (twice). They (we) chanted BARLOW, BARLOW, BARLOW many times as well as WELCOME BACK, WELCOME BACK, WELCOME BACK. The crowd really gave the band some balls-out energy. I'm guessing that the band (especially Barlow) had to have goosebumps up there cuz it was a fantastic time. The Pearl Room sounded very good too. Sooooo much better than the Rave in Milwaukee. Killer fucking show. Very happy I made the trip. Glad I am still alive to talk about it.
Upcoming shows for shapechanger:
May 16 - Blind Melon in Madison
June 11 - Iron Maiden in Chicago
July 4 - STP at Summerfest in Milwaukee
POST SOME PICTURES PLEASE!!!!!!
Upcoming shows for shapechanger:
May 16 - Blind Melon in Madison
June 11 - Iron Maiden in Chicago
July 4 - STP at Summerfest in Milwaukee
POST SOME PICTURES PLEASE!!!!!!
KupoBarlow
Member
- Jun 24, 2007
- 61
- 0
- 6
metalprof
Ken Luther
For what it's worth,
Arise and Ruin - Ugh, next. I'm old, and I don't get it.
Ion Vein - Well, I think I liked it a lot better than Neil, but I do share some of his concerns. First, Allen is a huge shot in the arm in terms of the energy they need for their new tunes. He's completely nuts, and I actually had a lot of fun watching him - about 80% of the time. The rest of the time, he got so over the top that I'm worried Ion Vein will become a novelty act - "It was fun to see the band with the goofy vocalist, but now the serious bands can come out!" I think he needs to find a better balance between being an entertaining front man and being one of five people in the *band*. I wonder how Brian is handling not being the craziest one out there??
Epicurean - Jose was nice enough to show me where the VIP lounge was, so I didn't see much of Epicurean. Heh. The songs I did see were OK but I didn't get into them that much.
A Life Once Lost - The one band of all three nights I didn't hear a single note of.
Iced Earth - I didn't notice the lack of energy other people noted. Seemed to me that they were quite in to it. Matt sounded like he hasn't missed a day. Jon seemed happy to stay aside, and just let Matt get all the attention. No complaints about the set list either, I liked all the songs they picked. Good show!
Arise and Ruin - Ugh, next. I'm old, and I don't get it.
Ion Vein - Well, I think I liked it a lot better than Neil, but I do share some of his concerns. First, Allen is a huge shot in the arm in terms of the energy they need for their new tunes. He's completely nuts, and I actually had a lot of fun watching him - about 80% of the time. The rest of the time, he got so over the top that I'm worried Ion Vein will become a novelty act - "It was fun to see the band with the goofy vocalist, but now the serious bands can come out!" I think he needs to find a better balance between being an entertaining front man and being one of five people in the *band*. I wonder how Brian is handling not being the craziest one out there??
Epicurean - Jose was nice enough to show me where the VIP lounge was, so I didn't see much of Epicurean. Heh. The songs I did see were OK but I didn't get into them that much.
A Life Once Lost - The one band of all three nights I didn't hear a single note of.
Iced Earth - I didn't notice the lack of energy other people noted. Seemed to me that they were quite in to it. Matt sounded like he hasn't missed a day. Jon seemed happy to stay aside, and just let Matt get all the attention. No complaints about the set list either, I liked all the songs they picked. Good show!
The Invisible Guest
Member
Boy am I mad I missed the Ion Vein set .. sound like there was definately some comedy gold to be found. People kept telling me about the singer, and it reminded me of the dude down in Atlanta that stepped in and sang a few songs with Firewind .. pure comedy gold.
All of the bands prior to IE .. I don't have any comments .. missed some because I showed up late, and didn't pay attention to the others. I don't think i missed much. Hopefully next year we'll have a more balanced lineup, with better support acts.
Iced Earth was good enough, but the stripped down, steamlined thing takes away from their overall stage aura. Iced Earth is fairly epic .. nothing epic was taking place on that stage from a performance, and appearance stand point. As for the songs .. they seemed to be exectuted well enough, and Barlow sounded like he was in solid form already. I sure would have liked to have heard a song or two from Burnt Offerings ... Schaffer hates that disc, but I wish he's throw us Burnt Offerings fans a bone once in a while.
I have to admit that I had a very hard time seeing the action at times .. there were so many people in such tight quarters that it was hard for me to get a good view. That really affected my overall enjoyment of the show. The Pearl room is great for 500 attendees or so, but it's somewhat unbearable when the place is packed .. especially for the vertically challenged .. such as myself. I tried to battle my way up near the front, but I had to bail out of that after a handful of songs .. couldn't see .. couldn't stand the stench of the hygenically challenged. .. got sick of getting shoved around. The crowd has it's share of ass clowns .. that's for sure.
The sound issues at the Pearl Room seem to be a regular occurance ... it sucks that there were issues so early into IE's return set. That's ridiculous, but it seems to be common place there. If the mics aren't fucking up .. the PA system is malfunctionaing. They really need to get their shit together in that area.
All in all .. not too bad of a show, but I'm excited that I'll get to see another IE performance in a few months in Atlanta. Hopefully they can all get along well enough and long enough to make it that far.
Britt
All of the bands prior to IE .. I don't have any comments .. missed some because I showed up late, and didn't pay attention to the others. I don't think i missed much. Hopefully next year we'll have a more balanced lineup, with better support acts.
Iced Earth was good enough, but the stripped down, steamlined thing takes away from their overall stage aura. Iced Earth is fairly epic .. nothing epic was taking place on that stage from a performance, and appearance stand point. As for the songs .. they seemed to be exectuted well enough, and Barlow sounded like he was in solid form already. I sure would have liked to have heard a song or two from Burnt Offerings ... Schaffer hates that disc, but I wish he's throw us Burnt Offerings fans a bone once in a while.
I have to admit that I had a very hard time seeing the action at times .. there were so many people in such tight quarters that it was hard for me to get a good view. That really affected my overall enjoyment of the show. The Pearl room is great for 500 attendees or so, but it's somewhat unbearable when the place is packed .. especially for the vertically challenged .. such as myself. I tried to battle my way up near the front, but I had to bail out of that after a handful of songs .. couldn't see .. couldn't stand the stench of the hygenically challenged. .. got sick of getting shoved around. The crowd has it's share of ass clowns .. that's for sure.
The sound issues at the Pearl Room seem to be a regular occurance ... it sucks that there were issues so early into IE's return set. That's ridiculous, but it seems to be common place there. If the mics aren't fucking up .. the PA system is malfunctionaing. They really need to get their shit together in that area.
All in all .. not too bad of a show, but I'm excited that I'll get to see another IE performance in a few months in Atlanta. Hopefully they can all get along well enough and long enough to make it that far.
Britt
Diabolik
Member
never had sound issues at the House of Blues or Metro. I agree. Pearl Room is a great place for shows for about 500 - 700. Anything else is way to crowded where you cant enjoy yourself. Being short too, it sucks all around.
I am mad at myself for missing Ion Vein too....from what I have heard from so many people in the crowd....it was very very funny stuff.
rms
Active Member
skyrefuge
Member
I think you have some odd setlist expectations. They played a ton of "real classics": those from the classic-Barlow era that inevitably win over the whole crowd. The ones you mention (besides the trilogy) are ones that they've hardly ever played, and while 30% of the crowd would go insane to hear them, the other 70% would be left bored.
I would have loved an encore of the Something Wicked Trilogy, but, ya know...Shaeffer MUST close with "Iced Earth" all the time.
Yes, he must! I'll kill him if he ever stops doing that! My god, so awesome.
Heck, *I've* only seen them twice in the last 6 years! Quite a contrast to seeing them 12 times in less than a year between 1998-1999, when they seemed to hit Chicago every other month!
Even being tall, it can be difficult to see from way in the back. I think the stage is just too low for a room that long; the sightline to it becomes too low of an angle. It did seem like they had some kind of riser set up at the front of the stage, which helped quite a bit when band members would stand on it. Though, I don't see evidence of it in the photos, so maybe that was just my imagination?
Neil
Rycher
Oskee Wow Wow!
I noticed that too - whenever band members went to the front of the stage, it was easier for me to see them.
DRFS Rich
Member
- Aug 1, 2003
- 184
- 1
- 18
Just wanted to chime in on the Ion Vein set. Being a fan of the Russ-era stuff, I was curious to see what direction they'd take. When I heard the rough samples with Allen, I was pleasantly surprised. When I saw them the first time with him live I was pretty shocked. I would have sworn on my life that it wasn't possible to find someone that could make Brian Gordon look staid and conservative, but I'll be damned if they didn't do it.
His stage antics are bizarre, I'll give you that, and very unexpected for the sort of sound IV has, but I have to find fault in criticizing his vocal abilities, the guy has an absolutely sensational set of pipes, and he demonstrated it well live at Powerfest.
Personally, I'm a fan of the "on-stage antics," and of the First Reverend of Metal Televangelism. These genres of music can take themselves far too seriously and to be quite honest, anyone who's able to stick a pin in the upright-standing, motionless, arms-crossed-across-chest critics that inevitably end up at these shows (I know, I am/have been one too) brings a breath of fresh air.
But seriously, I can't watch "Malibu's Most Wanted" with Jamie Kennedy anymore without busting out laughing after the "gangsta" routine from Friday night!
- R
His stage antics are bizarre, I'll give you that, and very unexpected for the sort of sound IV has, but I have to find fault in criticizing his vocal abilities, the guy has an absolutely sensational set of pipes, and he demonstrated it well live at Powerfest.
Personally, I'm a fan of the "on-stage antics," and of the First Reverend of Metal Televangelism. These genres of music can take themselves far too seriously and to be quite honest, anyone who's able to stick a pin in the upright-standing, motionless, arms-crossed-across-chest critics that inevitably end up at these shows (I know, I am/have been one too) brings a breath of fresh air.
But seriously, I can't watch "Malibu's Most Wanted" with Jamie Kennedy anymore without busting out laughing after the "gangsta" routine from Friday night!
- R
Vegetaman
Jagdpanzer
Okay, let me see here...
Arise and Ruin - Not my cup of tea.
A Life Once Lost - Not my cup of tea.
Epicurean - I was impressed by these guys; unexpectedly. Good stage presence with a nice thrash influence, and the band had a good attitude and didn't act "hardcore". Definite thumbs up.
Ion Vein - Good stuff. The frontman was crazy (and hilarious), and I was laughing my ass off at all the little sayings on that little rig behind Brian that said stuff like "cum4me" and various other expletives. Nice guitar work from Lotesto and Brian is a beast on bass. It was nice doing another 30 second jam with Brian in the hotel on Friday night, too.
Iced Earth - Holy crap they were amazing. Barlow was spot on and watching Shaffer's right hand is disgusting. Gives me carpal tunnel just thinking about it.
I know I'm in this picture, but I can't find myself.
Arise and Ruin - Not my cup of tea.
A Life Once Lost - Not my cup of tea.
Epicurean - I was impressed by these guys; unexpectedly. Good stage presence with a nice thrash influence, and the band had a good attitude and didn't act "hardcore". Definite thumbs up.
Ion Vein - Good stuff. The frontman was crazy (and hilarious), and I was laughing my ass off at all the little sayings on that little rig behind Brian that said stuff like "cum4me" and various other expletives. Nice guitar work from Lotesto and Brian is a beast on bass. It was nice doing another 30 second jam with Brian in the hotel on Friday night, too.
Iced Earth - Holy crap they were amazing. Barlow was spot on and watching Shaffer's right hand is disgusting. Gives me carpal tunnel just thinking about it.
Meh,these guys were ok
I know I'm in this picture, but I can't find myself.
wildfyr
unus spiritus est
The crowd in front of the stage was intense both nights. Incredible! 
I hope both Ion Vein and Twelfth Gate do at least one more local show soon, and hopefully somewhere other than Nite Cap or Penny Road Pub. No offense to those clubs but I've seen them there quite a few times already.
I hope both Ion Vein and Twelfth Gate do at least one more local show soon, and hopefully somewhere other than Nite Cap or Penny Road Pub. No offense to those clubs but I've seen them there quite a few times already.
KaptainKrude
Your Psychotic Companion
To UsefulIdiot127: um, yeah i am pretty sure u were the tall guy blocking my view at one point lol... i am pretty sure i only saw one opeth shirt at the whole show...were u more towards the back of the venue?
Dolamite S. Biffle
Biffliest Person Ever
Meh,these guys were ok
There's me directly in front of Barlow putting up "too much metal for one hand" with the really shaggy hair.
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