saturday quick recap for those who missed out.
- Thread starter Diabolik
- Start date
Vegetaman
Jagdpanzer
That's a shame, but judging from our ticket numbers, I am inclined to believe you. But hopefully the show is amazing anyway.
Friday
We got to the club in time to see A Life Once Lost call the crowd pussies for not liking them. Always a good move. I had never seen Iced Earth before. As I realized earlier this year during my revisiting discs project, I do still like several of their discs. That said, the songs lacked something for me in the live environment. They seemed rather basic, yet not catchy enough to get my head moving. Weird, I know, as their music is exactly the kind that should get you moving live. I am sure part of the problem was I am not used to going to shows that are so packed. In order to actually see the band, you either have to be over 6 feet tall or stake out your spot 6 hours in advance during all the opening bands. Since I was not about to do that, and I am not exactly competing with Ken Luther or Neil G in height, I was reduced to occasionally seeing the head and maybe the torso of Barlow or Schaffer. I left after about an hour of Iced Earth.
Saturday
Did the Metal Haven run with Orges, Bob, Rob K and his friend, Jordan. I could not find a single disc to buy at the store, unfortunately. We then went to an awesome bar/restaurant called Kuna's that serves burgers named after metal bands. Looking at the menu, I was torn because all the burgers named after bands I like (Iron Maiden, Slayer, etc.) did not sound that appealing, whereas the Clutch burger sounded wonderful, but, you know, it's named after Clutch. In the end, I was untr00 to my taste in music but true to my tastebuds and ordered the Clutch, which was one of the best burgers I have ever had.
Hung out with the Krazy Kanadians and Orges in the hotel and wandered over in time for Darkane. Again, I could barely see the band, but they had good stage presence. Unfortunately, although I like Rusted Angel and Layers of Lies, I do not know them well, which hurt my enjoyment of their set. Their sound is quite noisy and not very catchy, and since I did not usually know what song I was hearing at the time, I could not get into it very much. The crowd situation did not help matters, as before. I watched maybe half of their set.
I knew I wanted to see all of Testament's set, and I did the best I could being in the third row back from the balcony (sigh). I had seen them on the Souls of Black tour, but I don't recall much about that performance. I doubt they've lost much of their mojo, and maybe they've improved, because they looked great on stage. Billy is an impressive vocalist, and his front man skills are top notch. They all looked to be enjoying themselves up there, but Billy seemed especially enthusiastic. Skolnick was spot on, but he seemed like a bit of a rock star at times during his solos and some other times. I wanted to tell him that there is no pogo jumping in thrash. Again, I could not get into the songs like I think I normally would at a show due to the poor sightlines and the dense crowd, but I enjoyed their set.
I agree with a lot of Neil G's comments in his reviews on this board. This year was obviously much more popular, but it did not seem like much of a festival atmosphere. It seemed like two headliners and a bunch of other bands people had to endure in order to see the true draw. I assume that, despite the large price tags for Iced Earth and Testament, the huge crowd made this fest finally turn some degree of profit for Chris and Rob, which is great. Assuming that the fest follows a similar model in subsequent years, I won't enjoy the music as much at the show, but I will still attend as long as I get to hang out with my metalhead friends. A weekend of metal is hard to come by for me.
We got to the club in time to see A Life Once Lost call the crowd pussies for not liking them. Always a good move. I had never seen Iced Earth before. As I realized earlier this year during my revisiting discs project, I do still like several of their discs. That said, the songs lacked something for me in the live environment. They seemed rather basic, yet not catchy enough to get my head moving. Weird, I know, as their music is exactly the kind that should get you moving live. I am sure part of the problem was I am not used to going to shows that are so packed. In order to actually see the band, you either have to be over 6 feet tall or stake out your spot 6 hours in advance during all the opening bands. Since I was not about to do that, and I am not exactly competing with Ken Luther or Neil G in height, I was reduced to occasionally seeing the head and maybe the torso of Barlow or Schaffer. I left after about an hour of Iced Earth.
Saturday
Did the Metal Haven run with Orges, Bob, Rob K and his friend, Jordan. I could not find a single disc to buy at the store, unfortunately. We then went to an awesome bar/restaurant called Kuna's that serves burgers named after metal bands. Looking at the menu, I was torn because all the burgers named after bands I like (Iron Maiden, Slayer, etc.) did not sound that appealing, whereas the Clutch burger sounded wonderful, but, you know, it's named after Clutch. In the end, I was untr00 to my taste in music but true to my tastebuds and ordered the Clutch, which was one of the best burgers I have ever had.
Hung out with the Krazy Kanadians and Orges in the hotel and wandered over in time for Darkane. Again, I could barely see the band, but they had good stage presence. Unfortunately, although I like Rusted Angel and Layers of Lies, I do not know them well, which hurt my enjoyment of their set. Their sound is quite noisy and not very catchy, and since I did not usually know what song I was hearing at the time, I could not get into it very much. The crowd situation did not help matters, as before. I watched maybe half of their set.
I knew I wanted to see all of Testament's set, and I did the best I could being in the third row back from the balcony (sigh). I had seen them on the Souls of Black tour, but I don't recall much about that performance. I doubt they've lost much of their mojo, and maybe they've improved, because they looked great on stage. Billy is an impressive vocalist, and his front man skills are top notch. They all looked to be enjoying themselves up there, but Billy seemed especially enthusiastic. Skolnick was spot on, but he seemed like a bit of a rock star at times during his solos and some other times. I wanted to tell him that there is no pogo jumping in thrash. Again, I could not get into the songs like I think I normally would at a show due to the poor sightlines and the dense crowd, but I enjoyed their set.
I agree with a lot of Neil G's comments in his reviews on this board. This year was obviously much more popular, but it did not seem like much of a festival atmosphere. It seemed like two headliners and a bunch of other bands people had to endure in order to see the true draw. I assume that, despite the large price tags for Iced Earth and Testament, the huge crowd made this fest finally turn some degree of profit for Chris and Rob, which is great. Assuming that the fest follows a similar model in subsequent years, I won't enjoy the music as much at the show, but I will still attend as long as I get to hang out with my metalhead friends. A weekend of metal is hard to come by for me.
Jasonic
Doom On!
Agreed, though I see it as they had the opportunity to take a chance on different bands / genres than normally seen at a US metal fest.
I guess it's a matter of personal opinion whether or not this worked out or not.
I can only speak for the ALOL appearance, and I have to say no, regardless of what I think of their music.
Anyhow, that being said, kudos to CRJ again for a very successful weekend. I certainly had a blast, even though my Powerfest experience was only about 4 hours long....
Machine of Hate
Member
War Ensemble
Enos, You Dipstick!
Machine of Hate
Member
Dr. Pete
Asian Frank
That's funny because a couple of my friends and I did the exact same thing, except in reverse. I ended up ordering the Hate Beak, Joe got the Slayer, and Jodi(Cephalopod) ordered the Yob. From Kuma's, we went to Metal Haven and came to the conclusion that we didn't have enough time to look at all they had to offer. We did get some stuff though. I got some CDs, Jodi got a few CDs, and Joe picked up some vinyl.
Srontgorrth
Member
Kuma's is awesome, last time I was there I got the Led Zeppelin, most definitely the best burger I've had.
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