Hello Neverheadz
This is the first chance i've gotten to post anything about the chicago show just yesterday at the House of Blues, here's my take.
First of all, let me just tell you what I thought about each band before going to the show so you can get an idea of my biases.
Hypocrisy - No opinion, never heard any of their stuff
Bodom - Fairly negative opinion, always thought their music was too....flamboyant/metrasexual for me.
Nevermore - guess, fool ass
Dimmu Borgir - neutral opinion, had heard about 4 songs prior to the show, i was neither impressed nor disgusted.
I arrived late because of some shit i had to do, so i missed hypocrisy, which didn't upset me too much. I missed the first 2 Bodom songs, which i was kinda pissed about because although i didn't like them b4 going to the show, i was interested in what they might be like live. Overall, i was actually impressed with Bodom, the music was good and well played and they got a great crowd response. My friends' enthusiasm was also contagious so that may have helped. However, i did notice that Alexi must have a massive fuckin' ego problem. Not only is he the lead singer, but he also had to solo an average of 6 fucking times per song. Even during what should be a keyboard solo, he plays the same thing on the guitar so it completely drowns it out. Granted, he's good, but come on, there are other people in the band.
Next came Nevermore which i was totally stoked about and had a great spot to see the band from. First of all, let me just say that I thought Nevermore were co-headliners on this tour and not openers, so when after like 5 songs Warrel said 'This is our last song, i wanna see you go fuckin' crazy" i was surprised and pissed off. Here's the setlist from the show (in the correct order):
Narcosynthesis
7 Tounges of God
Never Purify
Engines of Hate
Ambivelent
I, Voyager
Enemies of Reality
Despite the short setlist and the lack of anything off of the first album, IM EP, or DnB, it was still a good show, the band was spot on and intense, heavy, and fast. Plus, they liked to change things around on their songs, Loomis added a squeal at the end of every riff in 7 tounges which was ultra cool and completely improvised the solo on I, Voyager i believe it was. Totally kicked ass, and Warrel was funny on stage. My only other gripe besides time has to do with the crowd participation. Although some crowd responses were good, one example of the bad was ambivalent. Warrel announced the name of the song and seriously, only me and my friend, the guy behind me, and about 4 people towards the front cheered. I could count the nuumber of devil horns i saw flashed, and that's sad. Also, those same people were the only ones who knew any of the lyrics to that song and a few others. That really pissed me off, Chicago has a fuckin' great underground heavy metal scene with shows selling out all the time, but it seemed like very few were there to see Nevermore, and the ones who were, were pissed at the short set length time. After the band left the stage you could hear several scattered "ALREADY??? FUCKING BULLSHIT!!!!!" throughout the crowd, which was kinda funny. Then we waited a very long time for...
Dimmu Borgir. First of all, let me say that although hadn't been impressed with what i'd heard up to this point, i had a completely open mind for the band and was fairly excited to see them live, but then it happened. Once the band walked on stage, i realized that I cannot take this band seriously. Spiked boots up to the knees, spike bracelets, faces painted white, any band that takes themselves this seriously, i can't. I mean just play the music because you love it, not for theatrics. After my laughing subsided, i composed myself and tried to appreciate the music, which i couldn't. People always make fun of Iced Earth for riff recycling, well Dimmu uses and abuses that triplet just as bad as schaffer does, the only difference is they up the tempo drastically, add keyboards, death vocals, and try really, really hard to sound and be "evil." Ugh, don't get me wrong I love some death, Opeth, In Flames, Soilwork, and others, but this was just geigh. It didn't help that i had some fucking idiot hanging from the column i was leaning on and every time they finished a song he would try to do a death growl that instead came out like someone strangling a cat. I couldn't help it, i started laughing at him. Anyway, my amusement ran out, i became bored and I left. Sorry if i offended any Demon Booger fans, but i just could not appreciate it at all. Although i'll admit the drummer is fucking amazing
Also, on my way out of the venue i saw fruit of the loomis standing around with some guys smoking a cigarette. Shook his hand, said that he was incredible, the band performed awesome, and they were my fave band. However, he didn't seem talkative so i took off. Overall i was dissapointed with the show as a whole since ticketmaster ripped me off on the tickets and i had to drive an hour and a half there and back for a half hour of nevermore, but now i'm just looking forward to the headlining tour even more.
This is the first chance i've gotten to post anything about the chicago show just yesterday at the House of Blues, here's my take.
First of all, let me just tell you what I thought about each band before going to the show so you can get an idea of my biases.
Hypocrisy - No opinion, never heard any of their stuff
Bodom - Fairly negative opinion, always thought their music was too....flamboyant/metrasexual for me.
Nevermore - guess, fool ass
Dimmu Borgir - neutral opinion, had heard about 4 songs prior to the show, i was neither impressed nor disgusted.
I arrived late because of some shit i had to do, so i missed hypocrisy, which didn't upset me too much. I missed the first 2 Bodom songs, which i was kinda pissed about because although i didn't like them b4 going to the show, i was interested in what they might be like live. Overall, i was actually impressed with Bodom, the music was good and well played and they got a great crowd response. My friends' enthusiasm was also contagious so that may have helped. However, i did notice that Alexi must have a massive fuckin' ego problem. Not only is he the lead singer, but he also had to solo an average of 6 fucking times per song. Even during what should be a keyboard solo, he plays the same thing on the guitar so it completely drowns it out. Granted, he's good, but come on, there are other people in the band.
Next came Nevermore which i was totally stoked about and had a great spot to see the band from. First of all, let me just say that I thought Nevermore were co-headliners on this tour and not openers, so when after like 5 songs Warrel said 'This is our last song, i wanna see you go fuckin' crazy" i was surprised and pissed off. Here's the setlist from the show (in the correct order):
Narcosynthesis
7 Tounges of God
Never Purify
Engines of Hate
Ambivelent
I, Voyager
Enemies of Reality
Despite the short setlist and the lack of anything off of the first album, IM EP, or DnB, it was still a good show, the band was spot on and intense, heavy, and fast. Plus, they liked to change things around on their songs, Loomis added a squeal at the end of every riff in 7 tounges which was ultra cool and completely improvised the solo on I, Voyager i believe it was. Totally kicked ass, and Warrel was funny on stage. My only other gripe besides time has to do with the crowd participation. Although some crowd responses were good, one example of the bad was ambivalent. Warrel announced the name of the song and seriously, only me and my friend, the guy behind me, and about 4 people towards the front cheered. I could count the nuumber of devil horns i saw flashed, and that's sad. Also, those same people were the only ones who knew any of the lyrics to that song and a few others. That really pissed me off, Chicago has a fuckin' great underground heavy metal scene with shows selling out all the time, but it seemed like very few were there to see Nevermore, and the ones who were, were pissed at the short set length time. After the band left the stage you could hear several scattered "ALREADY??? FUCKING BULLSHIT!!!!!" throughout the crowd, which was kinda funny. Then we waited a very long time for...
Dimmu Borgir. First of all, let me say that although hadn't been impressed with what i'd heard up to this point, i had a completely open mind for the band and was fairly excited to see them live, but then it happened. Once the band walked on stage, i realized that I cannot take this band seriously. Spiked boots up to the knees, spike bracelets, faces painted white, any band that takes themselves this seriously, i can't. I mean just play the music because you love it, not for theatrics. After my laughing subsided, i composed myself and tried to appreciate the music, which i couldn't. People always make fun of Iced Earth for riff recycling, well Dimmu uses and abuses that triplet just as bad as schaffer does, the only difference is they up the tempo drastically, add keyboards, death vocals, and try really, really hard to sound and be "evil." Ugh, don't get me wrong I love some death, Opeth, In Flames, Soilwork, and others, but this was just geigh. It didn't help that i had some fucking idiot hanging from the column i was leaning on and every time they finished a song he would try to do a death growl that instead came out like someone strangling a cat. I couldn't help it, i started laughing at him. Anyway, my amusement ran out, i became bored and I left. Sorry if i offended any Demon Booger fans, but i just could not appreciate it at all. Although i'll admit the drummer is fucking amazing
Also, on my way out of the venue i saw fruit of the loomis standing around with some guys smoking a cigarette. Shook his hand, said that he was incredible, the band performed awesome, and they were my fave band. However, he didn't seem talkative so i took off. Overall i was dissapointed with the show as a whole since ticketmaster ripped me off on the tickets and i had to drive an hour and a half there and back for a half hour of nevermore, but now i'm just looking forward to the headlining tour even more.
