Weheheeellll..... I got there last night as Skinlab was finishing up their set. I was a little surprised to see that Mr. Esquivel had chopped all (almost) of his hair off, it just looked a little weird.
Anyway, the sound pretty much sucked. The band I'm sure was good, but the excess bass and overall low end (not to mention the lack of guitars in the mix) just didn't cut it for a 10th Anniversary celebration imo.
Next up was Nevermore, after a good waiting period while drums were rearanged, while Curran tuned both Jeff's guitar and Jim's bass (what's up with that?... I guess he's a generous guy). They started off with some strange sample of music, those of you there may know what it was but I was clueless (shows you how much I know). They blasted into the first song (again, can't recall which one it was) and the mix was again, suck ass. Bass galore, booming, kicks blazingly loud, no guitars. Now, I was a little perturbed. I understood that they weren't playing through their own amps and whatnot but this just sucked. Still, I headbanged and got into it, and scooted a little more towards the back of the club to avoid some of the up front low end loudness. Great entrance by Warrel with the DHIADW silver mask, leather cowboy hat and outfit (eeks). Shortly though he disposed of the mask and the hat and got to bangin. Curran's guitar strap broke (perhaps the straplock) and had to sit down for most of a song. In the midst of trying to get it fixed, which took a considerable amount of time, they started another song without him on front stage and shortly therafter he came back. All was good until... Warrel asked the crowd to join them on stage as usual towards the end of their set, and someone stomped all over Jeff's pedal setup, rendering his rig useless. End of show for Nevermore. Regardless, it was great seeing them again, they rock anytime even if for a short time.
Devin Townsend....holy crap. I had never seen him live. I got into his stuff about 6 months ago. The first time I listened to his music I was like "where the fuck have I been". he played a lot of SYL stuff, seeing that particular lineup was on stage. Gene Hoglan gave an unfuckingbelievable performance, one of the best drummers out there today. I don't care as much for the SYL stuff but Ocean Machine, Infinity, etc are more appealing. So when he busted into those tunes, it was like a religious experience. Somehow the sound guy/gal (perhaps this was another person?) got their shit together and did a much much better job at the mixing board. Still heavy on the bass but I could hear the guitars now, which made all the dif in the world.
Interesting thing happenned, after DT's set was complete, I realized that I had been standing next to Steve Vai the whole time. So, without hesitation I went up to say hello and express my appreciation for his music, he shook my hand and was graceful in his reply. VERY FUCKING COOL!
That's all folks, I hope it's a good synopsis of that segment of the show for ya!
