Rollcall for Amorphis @ The Pearl Room

[ShadowLioness]

Can't add too much to what Rebecca posted.

I was there for the entire show. Yeah, seeing that it got moved to Capone's next door was a real bummer. The laziness of Chicago metalheads once again reared its ugly head. There's always gonna be people that have work/family/transportation/money issues, but sometimes it just goes above and beyond that.

A Texas Funeral and Urn really did nothing for me. I had heard so much about Urn, but wasn't impressed. I had never seen Virgin Black before. I thought they did well for what they do. A little slow at times, but they were passionate about their music and seemed to hold the room.

I had never seen Samael either. Heard about 'em for years. I ran into a very rabid Samael fan and he couldn't stop gushing over them. I'm like, OK, black metal, could be cool. I immediately noticed that they had no live drummer. After speaking with a friend, I found out that apparently they've morphed from a black metal band to essentially an industrial metal band. Ya know, industrial is all fine and good, but it didn't strike me as anything special or anything that I haven't heard before.

Finally Amorphis hit the stage. I hadn't seen Amorphis for a few years due to me not accepting the newer singer. I got past that, so I was pretty curious how he would handle the older tunes. I thought Tomi did well.

I did skip out about halfway through their set. It was getting late and I didn't want to be all screwed up for work today. Picked up some merch and made my way home. Sorry I didn't say goodbye to folks (Rebecca!).

 

[GateXII]

@ Everyone else reading this: What a surprise it was to find out that the show was taking place in Capone's. I've never experienced that before and hopefully never will again. Floor-level stages = uke:

Holy shit! Thats fucked up. Most likely a first & hopefully the last. Normally, if the presales are poor, they would've moved it to the Colliseum, but because of Monday Night Football, there's no way that would've happened yesterday.

That really sucks for both the bands & the fans. Worst thing about this too is that you can pretty much forget EVER seeing Amorphis on a headlining tour here in the states again.

 

[shreddy]

That sucks to hear about that. I thought Amorphis had a decent turnout at Joes a few years back. I just saw Amorphis at Progpower so I wasnt going to go to Mokena for that show as well as the JOP CIIC show. Amorphis and JOP both killed at the fest, too bad they didnt have a good turn out, and that the venue got changed. If Amorphis was playing in the city my wife would have attended the show, while I baby sat the little one.

This year has been a tough one for shows, we've played a number of shows this year and only the few hardcore people here have attended the shows. Our show in Janesville Wi was seriously 5 people not counting the other bands. The economy is really hurting things, then again for some people driving to Mokena 80 miles @ $4 a gallon of gas and paying almost $8 in tolls doesnt help either, that dips into the $5 bad beer fund.

 

[The Invisible Guest]

Virgin Black were amaizing.
I don't think I ever want to see a show at Capone's ever again. Unless you are right upfront, you might be lucky if you see the top half of the performers head.

I had intended to go to this show, but I backed out after I realized the show was on Monday (had another conflict going on). I originally thought it was going to be on Friday .. read the date wrong .. thought it was on the 10th day of the month instead of the actual 6th day of the money. Euro bands list their dates backwards to what we're used to in the US, and I guess I looked at the second number .. saw 10, and thought the show was on a Friday.

I guess I feel a bit bad for not going, but I did just catch them last week in Atlanta at Prog Power. That show was pretty amazing. I didn't feel the urgent need to make the Mokena show, although I would have liked to help bolster that turnout and show support for the band.

The way you described the layout Joe I probably wouldn't have been very happy with move to Capone's. In a way that is faulty advertising. It was listed as being at The Pearl Room, so to move it to Capones is a bit deceptive. I'm sure the Pearl Room has had low turnouts before.

Britt

 

[Saladbar]

The way you described the layout Joe I probably wouldn't have been very happy with move to Capone's. In a way that is faulty advertising. It was listed as being at The Pearl Room, so to move it to Capones is a bit deceptive. I'm sure the Pearl Room has had low turnouts before.

Britt

They have done this before, although most of the time they moved it to the Colosseum. Not that the Colosseum is any better when you have the kind of crowd that you had that night.
I'm not sure if too many venues are capable of doing this, aside from the Pearl Room the only other place where I remember this happening was when Megadeth was supposed to play the Aragon on the Risk tour and they moved it to the Riv at the last minute.

 

[The Invisible Guest]

By the way ... I called you Joe on purpose to see if you would admonish me

Britt

 

[Saladbar]

By the way ... I called you Joe on purpose to see if you would admonish me

Britt

That is unacceptable. From now on please call me Mr.Badass McAwesome.
That is all.

 

[BalanceofPower]

the only other place where I remember this happening was when Megadeth was supposed to play the Aragon on the Risk tour and they moved it to the Riv at the last minute.

I was at that show haha we showed up and some smart ass told us the show was cancelled. Luckily we saw a bunch of metalheads lining up outside the Riv.

 

[MetalSpice]

That is unacceptable. From now on please call me Mr.Badass McAwesome.
That is all.

How about Pedro Landscaping?

 

[Mountain King]

This year has been a tough one for shows, we've played a number of shows this year and only the few hardcore people here have attended the shows. Our show in Janesville Wi was seriously 5 people not counting the other bands. The economy is really hurting things, then again for some people driving to Mokena 80 miles @ $4 a gallon of gas and paying almost $8 in tolls doesnt help either, that dips into the $5 bad beer fund.

I think it's more of a case of this than laziness. I would not be surprised to see more of this next year with bands that actually have a following. People just don't have the extra money floating around right now and the price of concerts have gone through the roof in recent times. Beyond all that, I'm pretty much done with weekday shows (hell I'm pretty much non existent at weekend shows anymore as well). I've done it now for close to 15 year, as everybody discovered last Tuesday it takes something very special to drag my ass out on a work night. If I'm going out and blowing money it's not going to be for a quick in and out show so I can rush home and sleep.

 

[skyrefuge]

When I first arrived and saw the closed doors at the Pearl Room I thought "oh fuck, they better not have canceled this". Luckily they didn't, but the move to the bar wasn't much better. I'm still not entirely sure on the reason. Do they actually save on anything by not opening the Pearl Room? I guess maybe a couple bartenders' wages? Seemed like plenty of security guys were still around. I can't imagine it's just to make the bands feel better by playing to a less-empty room, because surely they feel like losers playing on a 6-inch stage in the corner of a bar. So in the end, I counted about 160 people before Amorphis went on. At $20 a pop, that's $3200; with 3 bands from Australia, Switzerland, and Finland, once again, someone was taking a serious bath on this one. When combined with unsavory reports from the Helloween debacle, I have to wonder, is this Mokena experiment coming to an end? Or is it simply an unlucky stretch? Either way I can't imagine there will be a bunch of bands standing around the Wacken water cooler next year telling each other how great the Pearl Room is.

Anyhow, if the bands felt like they were losers, they did a good job of not showing it. First I saw was Urn, who, play gothic renaissance metal. On record, it sounds like their writing can actually support their stylistic ambitions, but their live sound wasn't so hot. Good on them for having a girl drummer, but she was pretty wooden, and only occasionally would the sound mesh together into something impressive. My favorite part was when the black-clad, corseted keyboard/flute player would bend down between songs and pick up the true drink of a medieval witch princess: a 48oz bright-yellow Wendy's cup.

Virgin Black were the ones that revealed Urn's bad sound, because at first I was going to blame it on the crappy venue PA; but VB sounded so great that at first I couldn't believe that the keening operatic vocals were actually being sung live rather than flown in. They sounded that perfect. Not a single word spoken during their set, just pure operatic doom closed out by one hell of a tortured scream. Credit to them for having a girl (guitar-player!) in the band who they keep almost completely hidden, not whoring her out for cheap attention.

Samael did their best to create their normal strobe-light-fueled atmosphere, but it was pretty hard to pull it off given their uninspiring surroundings. So the songs were good, the performance was professional, the guys were engaging, and the electronic sound stayed crisp and powerful, but it couldn't beat the times I saw them in '99 (even though those venues weren't THAT much better), but then again in a post-Great White era maybe I didn't want to see that fire-juggler that they had back then. Oh yeah, and the powers that be came with a surprise to cut their set off two songs before it was supposed to end.

Amorphis was much better than the two previous times that I had seen them. Much is due to the new singer, but a lot of that is an indirect benefit that comes from the fact that they put together a more powerful setlist than they ever did with Pasi at the mic. Every time Joutsen (who the stage revealed to be quite short) made the transition from growling to singing, it took him some time to really grab the melody by the throat, but once he got there, he was quite good. And actually it highlighted that a lot of the clean Amorphis vocals (especially on the older stuff) are probably fairly hard to sing. So yeah, great setlist, with plenty of heavy, plenty of grooves, plenty of space, though I'm not sure they close with Black Winter Day since it's probably the worst song of the whole set.

So despite the big downside going in, it actually turned out to be a rather good show.

Neil

 

[ShadowLioness]

When combined with unsavory reports from the Helloween debacle, I have to wonder, is this Mokena experiment coming to an end? Or is it simply an unlucky stretch?

Interesting read. I didn't hear anything beyond Ion Vein not being allowed to play that night and the ridiculous time gap between sets. Sounds like there is a bit of hearsay, but if any of those accusations are true (which wouldn't surprise me in the least), then shame on those folks.


With regard to money matters: As I said, I do realize that most folks are in a bit of financial pinch, but is $15 for three overseas bands out of line? I really don't think so. Was it in fact $20 at the door for Amorphis? I already had my ticket so I have no idea. I'll tell you what I think was out of line: Having the waitresses walk around Capone's selling shitty beer for $3 (which I was actually initially happy about and felt was fair, for once) and then prompty jacking up the price to $5 for shit and $6 for imports after the bands started to play. :Smug:

 

[Saladbar]

When combined with unsavory reports from the Helloween debacle, I have to wonder, is this Mokena experiment coming to an end?

Ok I have a couple of issues with that Helloween debacle post.

First.....they fucked up the whole VIP package. Fans who bought the VIP package were suppossed to get a signed poster, get in early, and get to meet the band. This didn't happen, in fact the promoter/owner never even showed up and TOLD his staff about the VIP package.. This was bullshit since these people payed extra money for this package and both bands were pretty pissed about the whole deal since a member of their staff said since they didn't hear anything otherwise, they arent letting anyone in early.

That is a lie. I went to this show with a friend of mine who had a VIP ticket, yes there was a bit of confusion before the doors opened and the VIP ticket holders were told that there was no early entry. However once the staff had their shit together they came out and did in fact inform the crowd that the VIP holders can get in early. They even had a person walk next to the people in line asking if anyone had a VIP ticket to go to the front of the line because they were letting them in early.

So, we get the posters all signed but the staff members not only wouldn't let anyone in early, but they wouldn't give out the posters.

Read this again and tell me if it makes any fucking sense, “We get the posters” followed by “they wouldn’t give out the posters”??!?!?!!?
I didn’t ask my friend at what time posters were handed out but by the end of the night she did have hers signed and all.

Second, there were issues with the PA at soundcheck earlier which did loom over the course of the show. A couple poweramps died and some rewiring had to be done. This was only a minor part of the equation.....

This happens a lot in all venues, I’m not sure how this is a specific Pearl Room problem.

Third, the venue pretty much came close to selling out,

BULL-FUCKING-SHIT. I was there, the venue was half empty, where did this person end up with the idea that the show came close to a sell out is beyond me.

and there was an advertised ticket price, I think it was like 35 bucks. Well once they opened up the balcony above the floor, they started gauging people at the door for 80 bucks a ticket, which again, pissed off both bands since it was an agreement that the ticket prices would BE 35 bucks or whetever price that they were, no more or no less unless you bought the VIP package.

Even for the Pearl Room I have a VERY hard time believing that they would charge anyone $80 to get into this show. If the VIP tickets at the door were $80 then I agree since at presale there went for $75. There is that little presale vs door price increase, but there’s no fucking way they charged $80 just to get into the show.

In the last year my role in the local scene has been of an avid concert going fan than anything else, like everyone else I have felt the same frustration with the Pearl Room and a hell of a lot more local venues as well. However sometimes I just think that we are way out of our league to bitch and complain about certain things that we dislike about shows. Yes some of them are legitimate complaints but some of these are way out of hand.
Granted not everyone had the ability to attend even freaking show that comes through (Not even me) but I have friends in small towns, a couple of cousins in Mexico and friends who live in Buttfuck Egypt who are as dedicated metalheads as I, however we’ve had more shows come through our area this year than some of these people have come through theirs in their whole life and yet……we still complain.

 

[skyrefuge]

Ok I have a couple of issues with that Helloween debacle post.

Oh, I totally agree; I responded in the original thread pointing out that the "almost sold out" claim made no sense, and thus cast all of his claims into doubt. I didn't have any experience with the VIP stuff, but your report on those issues then adds even more doubt. Oh, and the writer is the Helloween webmaster, who is generally a pretty straight guy, but obviously he is going to be a bit biased in a situation like this.

The main feeling I got from it (and this is purely from reading between the lines, so it has no basis in reality) was that there were money issues, and all the rest was just a smokescreen to hide the fact that it was really about money. Maybe Helloween wouldn't go on until they had cash-in-hand? Of course, I'm sure that's hardly an abnormal situation around the country, and would have more to do with the promoter than the venue anyhow (I don't know if those roles are filled by the same entity in this case). But if money was an issue, then that gets me thinking about attendance, which leads me to wonder if the Pearl Room has the ability to consistently draw enough people out from the population centers; sure, we can chide people for being too lazy to come out, but at a certain point you just need to accept that the numbers are what they are. There's a reason that DeKalb never caught on as a national tour stop; I just have to wonder if the argument for Mokena is much better?

Anyway, I'm going to go shoot myself now because I'm sounding way too much like diabolik.

I have friends in small towns, a couple of cousins in Mexico and friends who live in Buttfuck Egypt who are as dedicated metalheads as I, however we’ve had more shows come through our area this year than some of these people have come through theirs in their whole life and yet……we still complain.

Yeah, that's what I try to tell myself every time I'm feeling lazy about going out to a show: I think about the people who live in out-of-the-way places and how pissed they would be at me for sitting at home on my ass and not taking advantage of the opportunity. Sometimes it works, but sometimes I think I need those crazy Egyptians to actually call me on the phone and yell at me.

Neil

 

[wildfyr]

Thanks for posting your review here, Neil. I enjoy reading your perspective on things like this.

Amorphis is a really good band. I felt so bad for them when they filed by to go wherever it is that they went after their set at Capone's. They really deserved a much better reception here.

In other news, my camera was ready to pick up yesterday. Gaaaaah