Gigs You've Been to Recently

[fps]

A thread for the gigs you've seen recently and what you thought.

I saw Monster Magnet last night.
Support - Them Damn Crows. Unlike most support acts, they played as if they were on a BIGGER, not smaller, stage. I appreciated that.

Monster Magnet were great, celebrating Powertrip, my only issue is they didn't play 19 Witches, which is my fave song from the album! Dave was superb. His guitar didn't seem to be sending signal though - the low E string was off the fretboard for half the gig. It didn't matter. Hefty muscular performances, but Baby Gotterdammerung really got me, as it does when I listen to the album.

Also, this is the best gig review I've ever read.
https://thequietus.com/articles/27701-rod-stewart-live

 

[Lorcan Ward]

January has been good so far.

Slipknot - these guys will always put on a good live show. So much going on at every part of the stage that there’s never a dull moment.

Behemoth - They were supporting Slipknot. Not the biggest fan of these guys but they put on a great show. A bit of an odd choice for Slipknot to have a support band with such similar theatrics in their stage show.

Caravan Palace - They were great! So much stage presence and all very talented individuals. They’d be great at a festival. They attracted some really obnoxious people though which put a bit of a dampener on the mood at times.

Insomnium - These guys are killing it at the moment. Jani from Sonata and the guitarist from Omnium Gatherum are right at home. Great setlist and the new songs are really good live. A bit strange finally seeing one of my favourite guitarists of 16ish years not play sonata Arctica songs.

I’ve Polyphia next month and that’s it for a long time. There’s a bit of a drought here in Ireland but we are getting a 2 day metal festival this summer which is shaping up nicely.

 

[SD83]

Saw Opeth in December and was VERY disappointed... last time I saw them was when they were touring for Ghost Reveries, and that I remember as a rather good concert, and I used to find Michaels banter rather funny, but that night, it just didn't work. At all. In hindsight, even with the old songs the, to me, often seem like great parts just randomly put together, hoping to craft a brilliant song every now and then, and then there are songs like "Nepenthe" which might work as background music in a jazz bar or whatever you call that sound, and some of it was actually rather cool from a musicians perspective, but it made absolutly zero sense as a song. And his banter has apparently exploded from short, concise and funny to just endless stories to the point where it felt like he was talking for several minutes between each and every song. This might be OK for a band like Thy art is murder where every song is bascially the same and definitly the same genre and to a degree it is inherently silly(don't get me wrong, I find them rather entertaining, if a bit overrated and I love a deathcore show/record), but with Opeth... no, just no. Image Dream Theater having James tell a short story from his youth just before or after every guitar solo...

Saw Jinjer & The Agonist a week later... twice actually, and I did go there for Jinjer, I never really got into The Agonist back when Alyssa was singing for them and after they got a new singer I maybe heard one song... Jinjer were great, as always, but The Agonist, that was something else. As much as I love Tatiana, but Vicky was definitly the best vocalist those two nights, and the rest of the band wasn't any worse. Also, the new songs and the setlist itself were great. Plus, and that is something that always gets me, the entire band was just hanging out at the merch after the show, talking to everyone who came by, taking pictures, signing stuff (which is something that Jinjer called "VIP upgrade" and charged 70€ for, including shirt but not the ticket)...

Really looking forward to Slipknot and Behemoth next month. Never seen Slipknot before, and Behemoth were awesome last year, so I have high hopes for that one.

 

[Mprinsje]

I also saw monster magnet, last saturday. One of the most boring things I've seen in a long while. I've never really heard anything from them though, so I'm glad I got in for free. The support was great though, Radar Men From The Moon, a Dutch band. Check em out.

I saw knocked loose in December, that was awesome and one of my favourite shows in the last 6 months.

I also saw Cult of Luna last November, also awesome even though I hate the venue they played.

Also saw Sleep in the same venue as CoL, equally awesome and venue equally sucked.

Seeing slipknot and behemoth tonight, pretty excited.

 

[c7spheres]

Haven't seen them yet but I might go see Dokken. I never got that into them, but they're coming to AZ with all original line up with George Lynch too. I know my freind will flip out and want to go so I'm gonna see if I can work the stage crew and get him on board as a crew member. Seeing shows from behind the curtain is always (usually) a good time and you usually get to shoot the shit with the band a little too before sound check. Sometimes you may get to do a pre sound (signal) check if you're lucky. I'd love to get my hands on George's guitar if even only for a second. I want to feel how his guitar is setup. It's all an ulterior motive in this case. : )

 

[SamSam]

My last two gigs were:

Archspire
Revocation
Rivers of Nihil
Soreption

&

Archspire
vulvodynia
despised icon

Those were a few months ago now (I have to travel abroad for concerts), I was gutted I missed the last tech trek tour but my partner won't let me take our infant to experience some quality death metal

 

[Metropolis]

Hypocrisy - Should have been longer set, only about 30-40 minutes. But after 12 years not seeing them it was nice.

Arch Enemy - It's always awesome to see Jeff Loomis play, and guitarwork with Michael Amott was amazing. Overall band delivered very solid performance.

Amon Amarth - They do one thing right which is viking themed melodic death metal and it just works. Their stage show is nowadays huge, filled with pyrotechnics and stage props. Drummer had a rising platform which represented a big viking head, which was awesome.

Dream Theater - This was "evening with" gig with two sets and encore. They played whole Metropolis Part 2, which is one of my favourite albums from them. LaBrie's voice was again... bit eh in the higher notes but it didn't bother me too much, overall great gig.

 

[TedEH]

Haven't been to a lot of shows in the last month or so, but the most recent notable stuff:

Amon Amarth / LoG / Slayer - I got the tickets really cheap, and missed a tiny bit of the Amon Amarth set. The performances seemed to be solid, but I was kinda disappointed in the sound in the venue. It seemed like they didn't quite have enough volume to fill an arena properly. It was echo-y, like you were listening from the hallways. I've seen shows in that same arena before, so I know it can sound good.

Amorphis - Some friends of mine were the local openers. I don't know why I didn't expect it to sound quite as good live, but the singer nailed it IMO.

Aristocrats - Sweet jebus that was a great show. Good showmanship, especially given there's no vocals for anything. They're really good at putting together a set list. Played everything I wanted to hear, and some new things. The sound in the venue was also great that day. Everything about that show was fantastic.

Ensiferum - I remember being super impressed by their drummer, one of those guys who makes it look easy.

 

[jonsick]

A quick rundown of last week

Insomnium / Conjuror
I knew I wasn't going to love Conjuror and I don't. I mean, I didn't hate them, nothing they did made me want to leave the room. And actually I'm surprised that I quite liked what they were doing. That said, I don't think I could sit through a whole album. That sort of doom just isn't my cuppa tea. But interesting that I liked it more than I thought I would. Insomnium were on top form though. A really nice solid mix of material from across their albums. Sadly no Unsung or The Killjoy but I guess they're bored of those ones. I'm a major Markus Vanhala fan, he definitely reflects myself a lot in terms of guitar tastes. I did wonder why they put massive sound-deadening screens in front of the amp stacks, to me it did make things a lot more muddy. But hey, there ya go.

Dimmu Borgir / Wolves in the Throne Room / Amorphis
Again, Wolves are just one of those bands for me; I should absolutely love them, but for some reason it just doesn't tick my box. They sounded great though, a nice clear mix. Amorphis are one band I really like though and I was... disappointed. Half of the Amorphis sound is certainly the guitars. And given their use of Kempers, it was almost a waste of time the guitarists turning up. It was odd, you could tell where the guitars were. But like every band I've seen, professional and local, that uses these modellers live, it sounded exactly like what I call it - it's silence coloured in. A real shame. Moving on, the last 3-4 times I've seen Dimmu Borgir, they were poor. Bloodstock, when they played with Kreator a few years ago, it was always no guitars (again I think they used to be on modellers) and a lip-service nod to their old material with Mourning Palace stuck on the end. This time, however, they blew me away. It had been a while since I saw a good Dimmu gig and they were god damned awesome! The guitars were beautifully clear, despite a few minor issues with Victor's bass at the start, didn't miss a beat.

Monster Magnet / Them Damn Crows
I only caught a few minutes of Them Damn Crows and from what I heard, I was not disappointed about turning up late. I think I caught the last two songs and honestly most people around me looked bored. I can't say anymore about that, I went off to the stand to snag me a shirt. Monster Magnet playing Powertrip was the main event. It's safe to say this is a band that just never ages, never loses the movement in the whole set. Everything was lovely mixed and clear as a bell, David Wyndorf's vocal was a little too loud at times, but otherwise all forgivable. Of course the addition of Negasonic is always welcome. I really hope these guys play Bloodstock! They had the whole audience start to finish!

Slipknot / Behemoth
I must admit, Behemoth was the only reason I got tickets for this show. Most of my party were definitely into the Slipknot aspect more. No matter. Behemoth came and slaughtered all around them. I seemed to be one of the only few in my immediate vicinity that had any clue who they were which surprised me greatly. Behemoth have made a massive name for themselves in recent years. But I guess that's the price you pay for being in seated. No matter, great show, great choice of songs; Eschaton is always fucking legendary live. Slipknot delivered well. I must admit, I'm more a fan of the older stuff than new so my attention was held more at various points than in its entirety. That and the constant breaks of nothing going on between songs at times got a little old. For what it's worth, I was at their very first London Astoria gig. It was entertaining to hear Corey give a little bollocking when he said that anytime he talks about it, it's like so many people claim to have been there, it must have been a 150,000 cap show (the Astoria never held that many). But those who were there know! It was Kill II This supporting and I've never ever seen a support band get the crowd riled up to that point. But I digress, I got the t-shirt from that gig at home, so byte me! For me, Slipknot have come down a fair bit in their ferocity over the years, but giving things like Surfacing and Eyeless a spin out is always welcome. Surprisingly no "Spit It Out", but the rest was (sic).

 

[GunpointMetal]

I think the last real major production I saw live was Lana Del Rey. Mega guilty pleasure of mine, the GF loves her, and she's got a great stage show and band. We have a few friends who work at the venue so we got to chill in an empty luxury box and got free beers all night. Pretty hard to complain.
As for metal stuff, been to or played a bunch of shows with local or regional touring bands and the scene around here is just nuts right now. Bands from crusty d-beat to hyper-polished hydrodjent to hardcore to death metal to poppy metalcore to mathcore and they're all just killing it. I haven't seen a "bad" local band in well over a year. Even the ones I may not listen to on record bring a great live show, lots of energy, skilled musicians.

 

[ChrispyFinch]

I saw the most recent BTBAM/CHON tour, Intervals opened for them with a 30 minute set, then BTBAM with what seemed like 2 hour set, and CHON. I'm already not a fan of CHON, but in this context they were just completely over shadowed by better song writing, sound and stage presence.
Good for them for headlining, other people were into it which was nice to see them have a good show. Just not for me.

Before that i caught a Veil of Maya tour..with Intervals again in the line up.
Intervals killed it, but everyone else was meh. I don't know why, but Veil NEVER has good live sound when i've seen them (at different venues too).

 

[ZXIIIT]

Morrissey - Great set, great sound, half empty arena show, briefly stopped the show to kick someone out with an anti-Morrissey sign in the crowd.

 

[bulb]

can someone come to my bands show? the band is called periphery, we aren’t very good

 

[ZXIIIT]

can someone come to my bands show? the band is called periphery, we aren’t very good

You guys got a myspace or hi5?

 

[jonsick]

can someone come to my bands show? the band is called periphery, we aren’t very good

I saw you guys once.

Are you the guy who wears the funny hat and plays the hurdy gurdy?

 

[bulb]

You guys got a myspace or hi5?

we are on myspace

 

[nsimonsen]

Managed to see a couple of killer shows while in LA for NAMM.

- The Faceless, Night Verses, Lee McKinney at 1720
- Issues at Chain Reaction
- Poison The Well 20th Anniversary show at El Rey Theatre

All of them were a good time, but the PTW in particular was super inspiring and emotional.

 

[Bastian93]

can someone come to my bands show? the band is called periphery, we aren’t very good

My last concert was Periphery in Munich back in November. One of the most energetic gigs I have been to.
Plini was outstanding too and I was positively surprised that he brought Jakub with him
Best 30 bucks you can spend on something!

 

[Ralyks]

I haven't been to a show in a long time. This year so far though, I've gotten tickets for Mr. Bungle, Caligulas Horse/Moon Tooth, Cult of Luna/Intronaut/Emma Ruth Rundle, and Friday will probably get tickets for Napalm Death in NYC and Matchbox Twenty at SPAC in NY

 

[Ordacleaphobia]

- The Faceless, Night Verses, Lee McKinney at 1720

haha what. I had no idea this tour was a thing. I totally could have caught one of those shows, too. RIP.
Last show I was at was the return show The Ghost Inside played in LA last year. Best show I've ever been to, no contest. The positive energy was palpable throughout the whole venue.

Things kind of went off the rails in my personal life last year though so I haven't really been able to find the time to see anyone since. It's kind of off of this place's vibe, but I'm catching Nothing, Nowhere in Berkeley in a couple months, that should be cool and another really positive experience.