Kicking off the evenings festivities were Atlanta locals The Shield. We had witnessed their first live performance at last falls Pathfinder Metal Fest, which revealed a band that, errmmmm, was not quite ready for prime time yet. Thankfully, they were significantly improved this time around, with better stage presence and performance all the way around from the newly-bleach blond singer and his cohorts. Their short set of Manowar/Maiden-styled metal included no fewer than three songs with the word metal in the title (including an ambitious cover of Manowars Brothers of metal which didnt quite work because its always tough for singers to cover Eric Adams and because its a fairly obscure Manowar tune of which casual fans would likely be unaware).
Nathan, I do not see a single negative comment in this first section; nothing but the truth. Someone who was at both the Pathfinder Metalfest and now this show 9 months later found that you had
significantly improved.
And you stated that you like to have fun on stage and then referred to people in the audience as 'boring douchebags'? The writer of this article noted:
Much mirth was derived from audience and other bands by the song about dragons riding motorcycles. Another tune, Planet Metal, apparently featured lyrics that name-checked other bands, although I couldnt quite make out the words to tell for sure.
So even though I was on the door during your entire set, that tells me that enough people were indeed having fun during your show.
THIS you should have expected after losing two drummers in a few months' time:
Musically, things got a bit off-kilter at times, which made sense when the band thanked their essentially fill-in drummer for stepping in to learn songs at the last minute.
And if you think the white Motley Crue t-shirt is doing you any favors as the lead singer of a
heavy metal band (as opposed to the Dr Feelgood sleeze-rock band), then as I stated in a private email this morning, you are wrong. You will get critiqued/ribbed for it from a few people as you have here already:
Really, my only criticisms of The Shield this time were that the singers white Motley Crue Girls Girls Girls tee shirt has to go, and that their sometimes condescending remarks to the audience (Are you ready for a night of metal? It doesnt sound like it Is that all youve got? Man, you guys need to go get drunk) were unhelpful and out of place. Its a small crowd and youre the opener (and hence, not a band people came to see). Its far more productive to thank the people who did show up early to check out your band than to rebuke them for not being as loud or demonstrative as you might like.
The Shield brought out about 10-12 paying people in the crowd of 75. I often attempt to help the up and coming local acts try to find more of an audience by tacking them onto a bigger show such as this. I could just as easily put any number of other bands on the show if I wanted to sell more than an extra 10-12 tickets.
Yeah, I was trying to help you. But you aren't helping yourself. And in doing so, you're making both of your bands
and me look bad. So take a step back, breathe, and
think before you bring a knife back into a gunfight. That's the only advice I can offer you at this point.
Sorry we're not boring enough for you. Sorry we have fun on stage. Sorry we want people to have fun at our shows. This is fucking METAL. Its about the FUN! Not about standing in the back with your arms crossed like a bunch of boring douchebags.
