Sonata Arctica Review 9/21

[Diabolik]

I love shows at the Metro....they never run late and I am home by 10:15. I actually got there about 5:15 because the doors were supposed to be open. In line I was in front of these high school dorks who had thier mom with them. They were the type of kids who needed thier asses beat. They would not shut up the whole time just saying dumb ass things. Doors opened after waiting for like 15 minutes. I looked when I got in at the set times. Sonata were going to be on at 8 and over at 9:15. Perfect for me. Around 6 when Celladoor was coming on...I think I was the oldest one there. The room was filled with 15 to 18 year olds....all ANNOYING...dear god. I wanted to get a bat and start swinging away. I kept on hearing the dumbest things from....
"This place is small"
"This place is a dump"
"We are so close to the band"

I really wanted to scream. Cellador came out and people were going crazy yelling for them. It seems the new breed of power metal fans only know...Cellador, Dragonforce, sonata arctica, Rhapsody and Hammerfall. Cellador had terrible sound to start off with. Then they finally got going and then literally they were getting off stage. The last song got everyone going and the singer put the mic in the crowd and no one really was singing along. They got a huge response. I saw Rob and Chris there. Note to those guys....booking a band like Cellador may draw these dorks to Powerfest. may be worth looking into. I am not a fan of Cellador. They seem to be a band that is riding the Power Metal trend. They are decent. I would rather see them as openers than a million other bands. The bad sound hurt them.
People started to come in during thier set. Still never got that packed.

The Agonist....SUCKED! I will have to use jason's quote that he always brings up. THIS is a band that IS on a label because they have a girl singer. Talk about generic Arch Enemy wanna be vocals and the most generic bad death/mallcore backing it up. It was funny this guy in front of me was goofing on them to his girlfreind and some guy got al defensive and said that at least it wasnt rap. I replied...it is just as bad. Later some dickhead had the nerve to ask me to stop moving towards the right because he said I got in his way. I told him to deal with it. Since he was some highschool nerd he bascially didnt expect that and backed away. I love being a tough guy! The audience kinda got into them. I think they were more excited to be in the city and at a concert in a smaller venue. The band was even selling thier CD for 5 bucks. Smart actually but still over prices for that shit.

Then good ole 8 PM hit and Sonata were coming out. The crowd was pretty good in size but no where near the Dragonforce or Iced Earth crowd size. The were really into it. Sonata came out an the place went nuts. it was funny, they mentioned the HOB show and half the crowd was shocked they have played here before.
the set list was pretty much this!
Black and White
Paid In Full
Victoria's Secret (crowd went nuts)
8th Commandment
Tallulah
Full Moon
Caleb
Black Sheep
Broken
Craven Image
san Sabaston
****break***** then they had the crowd sing Old McDonald Had a Farm.
My Land
Dont Say A Word
The Cage
***Vodka song***
over at 9:25!

The crowd was eating everything up. Singing like nuts and really getting into it. The band was more laid back this time around. Last year they were really into it. Not a whole lot of on stage antics and joking around. they all kinda just stood their. I ended up getting pushed pretty much all the way up front which was great because everyone up thier was going nuts and it made it a lot more fun.

It seems that a new breed of fan is around. Getting a type of band like this for Powerfest would really help the fest I think. It was a really good show. I really hate the crowd though. They made my stomach turn. Just so many dumb people out there. it was like nerdfest 2007 today there.

next up....Edguy.

 

[Jasonic]

That is a VERY short set list for Sonata.
I am surprised it wasn't a sell out.

Glad to hear the Sonata performance was good.
They were amazing last time at HOB.

 

[Diabolik]

Some last minute updates....

Kudos to the guitarist of Cellador for wearing a Power Quest shirt.
The singer for The Agonist was pretty damn cute.

I loved when some kid behind me was telling his freind who came in late about Cellador, he claimed they sounded like old european powermetal like Sonata Arctica and Rhapsody. I wanted to slap this guy.

I also now hate cellphone cameras. It seemed that everyone just sits and text messages during the whole show. this is really annoying and distracting.
I would love to see a band bust someone out. There is an old story I read about that Al Pachino (Scarface) was doing some one man show in NY years and years ago. Some lady was up front and her cell phone rang. She answered it and was talking. Al pachino waslked over in the middle of the performance and grabbed the phone and said. "this is Al Pachino, I am working right now, please dont call back, she will call you when she gets home" and hung up her phone and went back on stage and continued right where he left off.

It is funny, with all these new fans into Power Metal...I wonder how many know about the Epica, Edguy or Firewind shows. I doubt any of them. Pearl Room needs to have someone handing out flyers there at these types of shows.

 

[Diabolik]

That is a VERY short set list for Sonata.
I am surprised it wasn't a sell out.

Glad to hear the Sonata performance was good.
They were amazing last time at HOB.

they actually played like and hour and twenty minutes.

 

[Jasonic]

they actually played like and hour and twenty minutes.

I guess I am speaking of number of songs played.
Seems like there was more last time, but I could be wrong.

For some reason, Sonata really grabbed the mainstream crowd without any mainstream exposure. I really have no clue how that happened. I agree with you 100%.

I think we all talked about that on this forum last year, how there are probably tons of kids into Sonata and DragonForce who would love Nocturnal Rites, if they heard them.

 

[Diabolik]

almost all the kids at this show would like any power metal act they saw tonight. it is so new to all of them.

 

[Knulla]

I thought the show ruled, and the crowd definitely sucked. If anyone saw a kid in a Pain of Salvation shirt, it was me. The Agonist sucked balls, me and my friends heckled them the whole time and I punched one of their fans in the face in the pit... just because you shouldn't be a fan of the Agonist. I was on the right side of the stage, a few rows back most of the time, except when I went in the pit for a pretty short time during the Agonist's set. God damn what an awful band.

 

[Knulla]

And about Cellador, PLEASE don't get them for Powerfest... they are so generic and boring plus it looked like their bass player takes like 5 hours to do his hair in the morning so they might arrive late. I don't even think they'd draw a crowd, honestly. Maybe like 20 extra people.

Where were you standing, Diabolik?

 

[Diabolik]

Thanks for reminding me about Cellador's great fashion sense. I really wonder about thier background. I have a feeling that the two pretty boy's in the band must have come from the hard rock/glam scene in thier area. Who the hell has hair like that. I agree...it looks like it takes them 2 hours to get ready. The singer looks like he come from a hardcore band and listened to Keeper of the Seven Keys Parts 1 and 2 and said, maybe I can sing like that. He tired and realized that he could hit those notes...just not as good.
I think they would draw maybe like 30 more people to the show but 30 people is 30 people. Thank God they will be on tour with King Diamond that month already. I dont think they are a bad band, just a band that will forever stay in that opening slot forever. I would rather see them opening than Into Eternity or some mallcore crap. Something about them seems phoney. I think they definetly are trying to jump onto the Dragonforce bandwagon.

I was standing on the left side of the stage...kind of close up front. I wasnt going to get to close but later was like...fuck it. Then got pushed all the way up front. My body ached the rest of the night when I got home. I havent been upfront like that in a long time.

 

[Knulla]

Yeah I'm still sore today. My voice is gone too... I can't help but to sing to Sonata Arctica. Such a fun live band.

Also, if anyone is wondering... Elias is a suitable replacement for Jani. His hair isn't as cool (or red), but he can definitely play the parts and he fits the image of the band and everything. I was worried, but now I'm alright. I'm glad I got to see Jani play with them once though.

 

[Diabolik]

Also, if anyone is wondering... Elias is a suitable replacement for Jani. His hair isn't as cool (or red), but he can definitely play the parts and he fits the image of the band and everything. .

homo

 

[Chris Lotesto]

The Agonist sucked balls, me and my friends heckled them the whole time and I punched one of their fans in the face in the pit... just because you shouldn't be a fan of the Agonist. I was on the right side of the stage, a few rows back most of the time, except when I went in the pit for a pretty short time during the Agonist's set. God damn what an awful band.

Sorry to hear that, I thought they were fucking great! For such a young band, they've got some really mature riffing and songs plus the singer has a great voice...both the cleans and heavy. I suppose if she sang clean the whole time, you guys would have liked them....eh?

 

[Diabolik]

The Agonist are a dime a dozen band. This is the type of band that next year when the next trend comes, they will be on it. I love all sorts of metal from power to folk to black metal to thrash. I listened to hardcore to punk. This band was complete shit. Whenever I see bands like this and Light This Shitty, I think of the old hardcore bands Nausea. Now that is a band all these female fronted metal acts need to listen to to understand how to make aggressive music.

 

[Chris Lotesto]

I certainly wouldn't call The Agonist "a dime a dozen," they can
actually write good songs and their singer can actually sing very
well!

 

[Diabolik]

I certainly wouldn't call The Agonist "a dime a dozen," they can
actually write good songs and their singer can actually sing very
well!

were we watching the same band?

 

[Chris Lotesto]

were we watching the same band?

apparently not....I was watching the band that played right before
Sonata....on the same stage as them....you?

 

[KingsGene]

I certainly wouldn't call The Agonist "a dime a dozen," they can
actually write good songs and their singer can actually sing very
well!

Hmmmm....is this a hint for next year?

 

[Knulla]

Sorry to hear that, I thought they were fucking great! For such a young band, they've got some really mature riffing and songs plus the singer has a great voice...both the cleans and heavy. I suppose if she sang clean the whole time, you guys would have liked them....eh?

No, I enjoy harsh vocals as well as clean. They just sucked... really, really bad.

 

[Diabolik]

No, I enjoy harsh vocals as well as clean. They just sucked... really, really bad.

I totally agree. I can listen to stuff like Impaled Nazarene, Carpatian Forest, Tyrfing, and Menhir. But that singers voice was bad, it was just screaming.

 

[Jasonic]

Hmmmm....is this a hint for next year?

That is so funny you brought up the concept of "hints" that have been dropped. I have spoken with a few folks offline about such "hints" and have a few thoughts too about who might be on par for next year (Or at least who might be asked to play).