King Diamond and Slayer at Stir Cove, July 7, 2015

I don't know why I debated with myself over going to this one, because, King Diamond. If you've read this page at all over the years, you know I'm a Kind Diamond fanboy and I have been for a very long time. OK, I do know: I didn't exactly want to support the Mayhem Festival, regardless of how great the headliners are.

The show was in Council Bluffs, Iowa (just across the river from Omaha), and, being a smaller venue for the tour, the Victory Records stage was absent from this stop. Not that I would have gone to that anyway, and its absence made the tickets considerably cheaper.

Anyway, giving The Devil Wears Prada a miss, I arrived just before HellYeah's set. There's still evidence online that I was once a Mudvayne fan, and I'm not going to deny that I still enjoy listening to a song or two off L.D. 50, but I was not expecting a lot from these guys. Despite some melodramatic "metal saved my life" hyperbole in his stage banter, they put on a good, high-energy show. Who knew? I mean, the music wasn't good, but they knew how to perform.

Then, over at the King Diamond merch table, I met this crazy motherfucker who's at least one tooth short and clearly has unimpeachable taste in music. I picked up a KD patch, and was found by the elusive Metallattorney there with his awesome wife. (She was there reading A Game of Thrones, and apparently threatening to drag him to see Foreigner soon.) After catching up with my law school cohort, I got in as close as I could to the stage to wait for the King.

Their set was awesome. Instrumentally, every one of them was at the top of his game, and the drums hammered hard and loud. Listening on record you can get caught up in the guitar riffs and vocal melodies, and you might miss how punishing the percussion actually is. Live, you can't miss that. King himself I had trouble hearing at first, but soon he was at the top of his game, too. In fact, his vocals were chilling, and only a few times toward the end did he start flagging in some of his lower-high-range. Very impressive, especially considering his age.

Some of the song choices were a little odd. I definitely would not consider "The Family Ghost" to be one of his better tunes, not even one of the best on that album, but they played it. and they didn't play "Abigail" or anything from The Puppet Master either. The highlight for me was the Mercyful Fate tunes, especially "Evil." I lost my shit for that one, singing along to every word, and I dare say a whole lot of other people there lost their shit, too.

The stage show was pretty fun. He brought up "Grandma" (in a rubber mask) and "Miriam" was there, too, "Abigail" showing as a preggo belly under her dress. King's grimace was there in full force, but I was a little surprised at the minimal stage banter. Given the average age of the band, I wouldn't call it surprising to see how slowly they moved around, but I still felt like they were capable of pouring more energy into the show than they did. Which isn't to say they didn't sound perfect, because they did. But, you know, it wasn't exactly like watching Converge.

After King left the stage, I discussed the crowd with Metallattorney and his wife. We spotted a dude in a Hellhammer shirt, a few Obituary shirts, and the ones you'd expect (Slayer, Metallica, Slipknot) plus a few oddities (Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers, oddly enough). The crowd included at least one 3-year-old with a mohawk (and a mom in a Sixx A.M. shirt) and a lot of 50+ dudes, along with every age in between.

I needed something to drink, so I passed up the $8 domestic swill and grabbed a free Rockstar energy drink. I was able to take about four swallows before throwing it out. Not that the taste is horrible, but when you're not 14 anymore you can't drink that sugar crap. Then it was time for Slayer.

Now, ostensibly King Diamond and Slayer were co-headliners, but that's just the way it is on paper. In reality, Slayer plays last and they have pyrotechnics and a much bigger light show.

Tom Araya looked awesome with a full beard, and Kerry King looked exactly like he always has. And they played perfectly, running through a bunch of late-catalog favorites to begin with. But once again, I was a little disappointed at how they didn't seem very animated. Kerry was banging his head just like you'd think, but for the most part, it seemed like someone bolted their feet to the floor. Tom could have gone to the casino and been replaced by a statue and a recording, for all I know. Almost zero stage banter, too. (Man, these guys need to go see an Opeth show. Or maybe they've just found over the years that they're not charming enough to pull it off?)

Still, it was an amazing spectacle, and it sounded fantastic. There was a sizable pit, but outside the pit I was disappointed in my fellow fans. When they finally played the classics, I found myself pretty much alone in shouting along to "South of Heaven" and the big finale ("Angel of Death," of course). Most of the time when I go to a show, I have plenty of opportunities to take a picture of hundreds of people raising the horns and going nuts, but as you can see, that didn't happen. Most of the people there were merely spectators, and I've got to say, as a metalhead, that's unacceptable.

All in all, I'm very happy I went. The very next day, King went on for a full show without his makeup for the first time in over 30 years of performing, due to an eye infection, but I got to see the real deal. And who knows, I might never get another chance within a reasonable driving distance.

Oh, and one last thing to you dumbasses who think it's a good idea to smoke pot at a show: I hope it was worth being escorted out. Keep that shit to yourself next time.

The Decibel Magazine Tour 2015

April 4 at the Bourbon Theatre, Lincoln, Nebraska

I bought my ticket to the Decibel Magazine Tour about three minutes after they went on sale, and that is not exaggeration. I don't really care about Converge, and Vallenfyre I could take or leave, but At the Gates? This is the band who released arguably the best metal album of the 90's. Yeah, I was excited. When Pallbearer was added to the bill, that anticipation built even more.

So last night I attended.

The rest of the people there were exactly the kind of people you expect to see at a legit death metal show, save for one hipster chick. There were more Mercyful Fate shirts than metalcore or tech-death shirts, as far as I could tell. Unfortunately, they didn't manage to pack the house. If I had to guess, I'd say there were close to 800 people at the Amon Amarth show back in November, but maybe only 300 for this one. That's too bad, because it doesn't bode well for future tour prospects. To be fair, it was the night before Easter, and church is usually pretty early on Easter--but I don't know how much difference that makes to this crowd.

Anyway, the relatively small number of people ensured that I could stake out a spot just behind the rail, five feet from center stage, for almost the entire night. My calves are sore from holding my ground during the At the Gates set, but it was worth it.

Slipknot and Korn at the Century Link Center

November 6, 2014

After seeing Amon Amarth on Tuesday, seeing Slipknot and Korn was a very different experience. I went with a friend whom I would not describe as a metalhead, which made it a lot more enjoyable for me. But aside from that, the show had some issues.

First of all, the Century Link Center is a completely different venue. The beer selection was a crime against humanity. Literally the best thing they had was Shock Top wheat, and that was $8, which is of course ridiculous. And the wait in line to get any alcohol was asinine. Other than that, I can't really fault the venue--getting in was easy without an especially horrible security process, and seating was fine--but it's a lot less enjoyable to be in a place of that size than a smaller club.

The other fans there were exactly what I expected. Nearly everyone there was my age, which meant they got into Slipknot and Korn most likely when they were in high school in the 90's. (Also, a few of them brought their kids.) Which is fine, but it is telling when a band's appeal is so limited to a certain group of people who got into it at the right time. On top of that, I saw only two Slayer shirts, two Black Label Society shirts, two or three Metallica shirts, and a whole lot of Slipknot shirts. Although on the surface I might be of those people, those people don't really share my taste in music.

Well, anyway, none of that was surprising. On to the music.

Amon Amarth at the Bourbon Theatre

November 4, 2014

For the first time ever, Amon Amarth rode into Lincoln, Nebraska, and I was witness.

It was at the Bourbon Theatre, where I've been a couple of times before. They of course had to use the larger stage and room. The house was packed--even more draw than Opeth, apparently, although that might have something to do with the supporting acts. Of the crowd, I didn't see anything distinctive. They ran the gamut of what I would consider "typical" metalheads, with shirts ranging from Darkthrone to Obituary to Motörhead to Veil of Maya. Longhairs mixed with normal-looking dudes and, of course, an old lady who didn't seem to belong and a guy with bizarre hair and face piercings whose parents didn't love him.

Skeletonwitch was up first. Apparently their vocalist was unavailable due to personal issues. So they played a 30-minute instrumental set. While they're still a killer band, the songs leave much to be desired without vocal accompaniment. I'm sure they could have torn the place down with someone rasp/screaming the chorus of "Beyond the Permafrost," but it didn't happen that way and people didn't get terribly excited. We were appreciative, and they gracious, but it just didn't feel right.

Then came Sabaton. I'd never actually heard this band before, but apparently a lot of people were actually there to see them. It was, let's say, an interesting experience. They wore matching camo pants and had clearly worked out some choreography among them, which seems pretty damn un-metal to me. But the vocalist was charmingly self-effacing, and compared his band to the Village People. He also had a lot of energy and knew how to throw his mic around and catch it, and had an undeniable stage presence. He got half the crowd singing his lines. But when it comes right down to it, the music was fun but not that great. It was somewhere between Dream Evil and Turisas. And even though half their melody came from synths, there wasn't a keyboard player in sight. They played somewhere north of 45 minutes, and it was fun but too goofy for my taste.



Finally, there was Amon Amarth. They were everything I expected: Loud as hell, and bringing the riffs. Johan Hegg had an imposing presence (and Viking-appropriate girth) and also knew how to get the crowd involved. They played a solid 90+ minute set list that drew at least from Versus the World to the present.* What else can I say about them, really? It was exactly what I expected, and exactly as great as I expected, and I would highly recommend seeing them.



*However, I don't know the earlier material and there was a song I wasn't sure I recognized).

Agalloch at The Waiting Room Lounge

Omaha, July 7, 2014

Agalloch played The Waiting Room Lounge in Omaha last night, and I had the distinct pleasure to attend. The short answer is, it was worth the two-and-a-half-hour round trip to see them. I also managed to take a decent live video (embed at the end of the post).

This was my first time at this venue, and I was impressed with the layout. There was a separate area for the merch table, and plenty of room to see the band, with high visibility. The sound was great as well.

I missed local openers Ezra, but if you're interested in their act you can read about it here. As I arrived, Thrones was playing. I was a little surprised to find a band on the bill that I'd never heard of, until I discovered it was a one-man ambient/electronic act. I use those terms loosely, because this was some heavy, intense music, and was far from boring. It didn't blow the crowd away; it did get some appreciative hoots, but I also overheard someone calling it "shit."

This might be a good time to talk about the crowd. There were about 75 people in attendance. Only a couple didn't fit the expected stereotypes--a guy in plaid and another just dressed as a regular dude--while the rest wore almost exclusively black T-shirts. The shirts I saw were all the big names of black metal, plus a few oddballs like Braindrill and Between the Buried and Me. The crowd was definitely into Agalloch's set.

Witch Mountain on Trial

Witch Mountain

Witch Mountain came to the Bourbon Theatre in Lincoln Tuesday night. I hadn't been to a live show in 8 years . . .

An Aside

Maybe I should go into that. You can skip this part if you want, but it might provide some context.

I had a friend from high school. During college, we went to a few live shows. Not often. We saw Metallica, Rob Zombie, Korn, System of a Down, Powerman 5000, Godsmack, Static-X, and Skrape over the course of about four years. I know, not the coolest, most cred-building list ever, but it is what it is. Last I knew, he was getting into Hatebreed, and, probably the Dropkick Murphys or something. I don't know anymore, because he's apparently written me off. The feeling is mutual.

The only other live show I've attended was A Perfect Circle, with my then-girlfriend now-wife. She liked the music OK, but the people at the show freaked her out. I should have taken her to a metal show instead, because those fucking goths. Anyway.

So I haven't had anyone to go with. And I'm not the kind of person who "does things." My idea of fun is watching a movie, by myself, and having a few beers. Other people are usually the ones who make me "do" things. And I had no idea how people find out what bands are coming to a small, out-of-the-way city like Lincoln anyway.

The result is, I hadn't been to a live show in 8 years. I was going to see Master with Lightning Swords of Death a few months ago, but Master (or their people) failed to check the requirements of immigration law, so that fell through. I was just going to forget about the live thing altogether, but when I found out Witch Mountain was coming to town, I couldn't resist.