Nile/Napalm Death/Dark Tranquillity/Strapping Young Lad/The Bezerker
The Key Club
West Hollywood, CA
January 22, 2003
by Rodrigo Escandon
The first concert of the new year occurred at a very familiar venue, The Key Club. This club is quickly becoming the main destination for tours here in Los Angeles. The last two shows that I saw (the Blind Guardian/Sympony X package and the Kreator/Destruction show) were also at the Key Club. It's a cool place that features and upstairs restaurant, 2 bars in the middle and a VIP section at the bottom where the merchandise section also takes residence. There are TV screens set up hanging up from the roof as well as at the floor towards the entrance where one can also watch the bands performance.
I arrived as The Bezerker was playing. I admit I had never heard of this band or what they were about and after listening to them I wasn't impressed by them at all. I was actually quite bored with their music as well as their gimmick of playing with monster-type masks. I was quite glad when they had finished.
For this show, the band that I most wanted to see was Strapping Young Lad. I had the pleasure of seeing them at the Century Media Tenth Anniversary Show and I looked forward to the day of seeing them again. They did not disappoint. Instead of having some sort of orchestral intro, having the lights dimmed or any sort of generic intro piece., the band just walked up to the stage and started playing "Oh My F*cking God". They tore up through their 30 minute set with songs from all three of their albums, including the latest one, like "Rape Song", "Dire/Consequence", "Last Minute", "All Hail the New Flesh" (if I am not mistaken Devin changed the lyrics during the first couple of verses) and "S.Y.L". By now I don't really remember much of what Devin said through out the show but this man is simply hilarious and is a great front man. At one point his guitar wasn't working and he made a joke to the poor guys trying to fix it as fast as possible. Gene Hoglan also impressed me once again. The man drums so effortlessly and I absolutely loved it when he would twirl his right stick as he was playing. It was a shame that they had to end their set because by the time they closed up with "All Hail the New Flesh" the crowd really got into their set.
However, Dark Tranquillty rapidly came up and continued the energy. They opened up with "The Sun Fired Blanks" and their set consisted of "Punish My Heaven", "Zodiackyl Light", "The Wonders at your Feet", "The Treason Wall", "Monochramatic Stains" and the closer "Final Resistance". I previously had send Dark Tranquillty when they played in September of last year and I have to say that this was a much better show for the simple reason that the sound was much better; I could actually hear the guitar solos and leads, I could understand what Mikael was singing and basically you could you just clearly hear every instrument. As the last time, Mikael looked extremely happy of being on stage and he moved all over the place, shaking hands with fans and just being extremely engaging. The rest of the band were also really into it and moved around as much as possible despite the small stage. They played for about the same time that Strapping Young Lad did and I also wished that they could have played longer.
Up next was Napalm Death and I had heard some of their material but I was not really familiar with them. It seemed that the majority of the packed crowd was here to see this band based on the huge response they got throughout their show. They played with a lot of energy and I really liked the way the singer performed on stage, he clearly was the focal point of the night. I wish I was more familiar with their music so I could have enjoyed their performance a lot more but it was extremely worth it to have had the opportunity to see this band live. The only negative about their show wasn't about them but actually with some of the people at the show. I was in a part of the club where quite a few fights broke out between guys as well as between girls. It's a shame that these individuals do these sort of things instead of watching the band perform.
Finally it was time for Nile to make their appearance and by the time they did one could tell that Napalm Death really took a lot of energy from everyone. That's not to say that Nile played a boring set or anything like that but it was evident that a lot of people (including myself) were quite tired. Despite this, Nile once again proved that they are an excellent live band and that they have no problems playing their music at a live setting and they all looked like they were having a great time especially Dallas.
This was a great show to start 2003 and I recommend to anyone that if this show comes to your city, then you definitely have to see it.
The Key Club
West Hollywood, CA
January 22, 2003
by Rodrigo Escandon
The first concert of the new year occurred at a very familiar venue, The Key Club. This club is quickly becoming the main destination for tours here in Los Angeles. The last two shows that I saw (the Blind Guardian/Sympony X package and the Kreator/Destruction show) were also at the Key Club. It's a cool place that features and upstairs restaurant, 2 bars in the middle and a VIP section at the bottom where the merchandise section also takes residence. There are TV screens set up hanging up from the roof as well as at the floor towards the entrance where one can also watch the bands performance.
I arrived as The Bezerker was playing. I admit I had never heard of this band or what they were about and after listening to them I wasn't impressed by them at all. I was actually quite bored with their music as well as their gimmick of playing with monster-type masks. I was quite glad when they had finished.
For this show, the band that I most wanted to see was Strapping Young Lad. I had the pleasure of seeing them at the Century Media Tenth Anniversary Show and I looked forward to the day of seeing them again. They did not disappoint. Instead of having some sort of orchestral intro, having the lights dimmed or any sort of generic intro piece., the band just walked up to the stage and started playing "Oh My F*cking God". They tore up through their 30 minute set with songs from all three of their albums, including the latest one, like "Rape Song", "Dire/Consequence", "Last Minute", "All Hail the New Flesh" (if I am not mistaken Devin changed the lyrics during the first couple of verses) and "S.Y.L". By now I don't really remember much of what Devin said through out the show but this man is simply hilarious and is a great front man. At one point his guitar wasn't working and he made a joke to the poor guys trying to fix it as fast as possible. Gene Hoglan also impressed me once again. The man drums so effortlessly and I absolutely loved it when he would twirl his right stick as he was playing. It was a shame that they had to end their set because by the time they closed up with "All Hail the New Flesh" the crowd really got into their set.
However, Dark Tranquillty rapidly came up and continued the energy. They opened up with "The Sun Fired Blanks" and their set consisted of "Punish My Heaven", "Zodiackyl Light", "The Wonders at your Feet", "The Treason Wall", "Monochramatic Stains" and the closer "Final Resistance". I previously had send Dark Tranquillty when they played in September of last year and I have to say that this was a much better show for the simple reason that the sound was much better; I could actually hear the guitar solos and leads, I could understand what Mikael was singing and basically you could you just clearly hear every instrument. As the last time, Mikael looked extremely happy of being on stage and he moved all over the place, shaking hands with fans and just being extremely engaging. The rest of the band were also really into it and moved around as much as possible despite the small stage. They played for about the same time that Strapping Young Lad did and I also wished that they could have played longer.
Up next was Napalm Death and I had heard some of their material but I was not really familiar with them. It seemed that the majority of the packed crowd was here to see this band based on the huge response they got throughout their show. They played with a lot of energy and I really liked the way the singer performed on stage, he clearly was the focal point of the night. I wish I was more familiar with their music so I could have enjoyed their performance a lot more but it was extremely worth it to have had the opportunity to see this band live. The only negative about their show wasn't about them but actually with some of the people at the show. I was in a part of the club where quite a few fights broke out between guys as well as between girls. It's a shame that these individuals do these sort of things instead of watching the band perform.
Finally it was time for Nile to make their appearance and by the time they did one could tell that Napalm Death really took a lot of energy from everyone. That's not to say that Nile played a boring set or anything like that but it was evident that a lot of people (including myself) were quite tired. Despite this, Nile once again proved that they are an excellent live band and that they have no problems playing their music at a live setting and they all looked like they were having a great time especially Dallas.
This was a great show to start 2003 and I recommend to anyone that if this show comes to your city, then you definitely have to see it.
