Music What was the last concert you went to?

[Spiner202]

Yesterday I went to the Symphony X/Heathen tour.

I'm a massive Heathen fan, and it's funny how it took about 15 years for me to get a chance to see them last year, and then they immediately come back again. This set was obviously shorter, but just as good. The venue was surprisingly empty when they started, and it seemed like nobody was there for them, which is too bad, but they seemed happy.

Symphony X were the much better performers however. Michael Romeo is a Malmsteen-level player. and Russell Allen was perfect too. I saw them on the Underworld tour in 2016 but didn't know a lot about them at the time. I like them quite a bit more now, so it was nice to recognize all of the songs.

That said, I have a massive complaint about this show. It was way too loud. I wear earplugs at every single show, and yet my ears are still ringing this morning. I've never had that happen before, and if I knew it was going to happen, I gladly would have moved somewhere else in the venue. I'm actually surprised that concert volume isn't regulated; I know everyone wants it as loud as possible, but that's actually quite a dumb decision.

 

[The Eye in the Sky!]

The best concerts I've ever gone to are the ones where they aren't maxed out in volume. It just sounds like a wall of noise at a certain point.

Do you use specific ear plugs? I bought a brand last year and they muffle the sounds so bad I don't like wearing them.

 

[Spiner202]

Do you use specific ear plugs? I bought a brand last year and they muffle the sounds so bad I don't like wearing them.

I have custom ones that I got at an ear doctor. They run about $200-$300, but that's in CAD, so they might be cheaper where you are.

Ironically, I temporarily sent in my new custom pair last week to have a small string added to let me take them out of my ears more easily, so I was wearing my old custom ones. I don't think this was the cause of the issue because I've been to probably 100+ shows with that old pair without an issue.

The old ones were supposedly made by hand, while the new ones were made by a machine. The difference is pretty clear as the new ones block more sound and are much tighter. They're just tougher to get out of my ears, which seems sort of dangerous in its own way.

Anyways, I always strongly recommend going this route if you go to a lot of concerts. It is expensive, but definitely worth it if you go to enough shows.

 

[Spiner202]

Two shows in the last two days! Death to All and Cryptopsy are touring together, and they're doing this cool thing where in some cities they play two nights with totally different setlists instead of one night. DTA did Scream Bloody Gore and songs from Leprosy/Spiritual Healing the first night, and then they did The Sound of Perseverance and songs from Human, Individual Thought Patterns, and Symbolic last night. I'd say the second night was better for me, but both were great. Steve Digiorgio is one of the most insane bass players. Gene Hoglan also made all of the crazy drum parts look effortless, even if I do think they messed up a few parts last night.

I don't listen to a ton of Death these days. Largely because I listened to them so much in high school that I felt like I never needed to revisit them, but I'll be jamming them constantly for the next little while.

Cryptopsy is a band that I like more than I should. They don't really write the most memorable songs, and it's just chaotic death metal, but something about Flo's drumming really appeals to me. He's probably an even better drummer than Gene (less power and finesse but more technical).

 

[Gloom-is-good]

Got pretty fantastic seats to see Say Anything late-April for some 20th anniversary tour



As my husband and I walked into the venue, some clown came from behind us and was like "what up nerds???" I turned around fully expecting to not know this person but it was MRM actually

I think it was maybe the second to last song, I was just thinking about why the show had "20th anniversary" on it... Like anniversary of what? Of them coming to Dallas? Their 20th tour through America? What? No... It's 20 years from the date of that album release and just immediately I felt like:

went home and just went directly to sleep

 

[Spiner202]

I forgot to come in here after my last show. Last week on Saturday I saw Archspire, Aborted, and a couple of other death metal bands.

This was a weird show because it was half comedy set and half metal show. Archspire in particular seemed like they needed to write a break into their set after every song because their music is too fast to play more than 1 song in a row. They only played 9 songs, and while they probably should have played more, I was still pretty satisfied.

This is my only show for June () but July is filled with them!

 

[Spiner202]

Went to a mostly local show on Friday night. The band I wanted to see was called Tower Hill, and despite being from Alberta, they were on second (and the Toronto band was headlining). I'm fortunate that it turned out that way because everybody went on 30 minutes later than the advertised set times to that it could "fill up" according to the drummer of the first band. It had the opposite of the intended effect for me because I left after seeing Tower Hill, but would have otherwise stayed for at least 1 of the other two bands.

Anyways, the opener totally sucked. Easily one of the worst bands I've ever seen. The drummer was out of time for most of the set and the singer was really mediocre. What I could make out of their lyrics were politically unfortunate.

Luckily, Tower Hill came on to save the day. These dudes are so totally metal and just play great trad metal. They were really having trouble with their sound for a few songs, but eventually it got sorted out. I don't think their singer can really hit the notes that he does on the record, but he's a massive dude with a great look, and lots of energy. You could tell how excited he was to be there - I don't think they've done a lot of touring.

I didn't plan to buy merch, but during their set, the told us to buy merch (tough to convince me, eh?), so I grabbed the CD and a shirt. Really happy they turned around what was looking like an otherwise rough night!

 

[shortkut]

My wife went to the Green Day concert at Citi Field last night

Linden, Rancid, and Smashing Pumpkins opened for them. Green Day themselves played for 3 straight hours with no break

 

[Fool's Requiem]

My wife went to the Green Day concert at Citi Field last night

Linden, Rancid, and Smashing Pumpkins opened for them. Green Day themselves played for 3 straight hours with no break

I'm going to the show on the 15th here in STL. No Smashing Pumpkins. They're doing a solo show the following week.

I saw went to a concert headlines by I Prevail. Fit for a King, Hollywood Undead, and Halestorm opened for them. I didn't stick around for I Prevail, only really went for Halestorm. Halestorms audio mixer/producer/whatever needs to do a better job. Audio often seemed muffled when the instruments were playing and it sometimes made it difficult to hear the lead vocalist. She had some pipes, though. When you could hear her, she sounded really good. They also had a fun drumline bit in the middle.

I can't say I liked the other two bands. I'm not really a fan of the screaming/growling stuff. Hollywood Undead had a couple fun covers towards the end of their bit.

 

[Mark]

I'm going to the show on the 15th here in STL. No Smashing Pumpkins. They're doing a solo show the following week.

I saw went to a concert headlines by I Prevail. Fit for a King, Hollywood Undead, and Halestorm opened for them. I didn't stick around for I Prevail, only really went for Halestorm. Halestorms audio mixer/producer/whatever needs to do a better job. Audio often seemed muffled when the instruments were playing and it sometimes made it difficult to hear the lead vocalist. She had some pipes, though. When you could hear her, she sounded really good. They also had a fun drumline bit in the middle.

I can't say I liked the other two bands. I'm not really a fan of the screaming/growling stuff. Hollywood Undead had a couple fun covers towards the end of their bit.

She recently did a stint with Skid Row, too. Put Sabastian Bach to shame.

 

[Spiner202]

I'm going to the show on the 15th here in STL. No Smashing Pumpkins. They're doing a solo show the following week.

I saw went to a concert headlines by I Prevail. Fit for a King, Hollywood Undead, and Halestorm opened for them. I didn't stick around for I Prevail, only really went for Halestorm. Halestorms audio mixer/producer/whatever needs to do a better job. Audio often seemed muffled when the instruments were playing and it sometimes made it difficult to hear the lead vocalist. She had some pipes, though. When you could hear her, she sounded really good. They also had a fun drumline bit in the middle.

I can't say I liked the other two bands. I'm not really a fan of the screaming/growling stuff. Hollywood Undead had a couple fun covers towards the end of their bit.

I went to this tour as well, although Halestorm was the headliner in Toronto. It definitely seemed like two completely different crowds. I missed Fit For A King, but Hollywood Undead and I Prevail had basically the same crowd, and a reasonable number of them left after I Prevail's set. The ones that stuck around didn't look like they knew too much about Halestorm.

Fortunately, our sound was pretty good for them. Not perfect, but in an outdoor amphitheatre it's hard to sound perfect, so I was happy with it. I thought they were great. I don't really listen to Halestorm at all, but I got free tickets to see them last year, and they were so good that I went again this year. Like you, I didn't enjoy Hollywood Undead or I Prevail at all. I do like growling, but don't like the genre that those bands play.

She recently did a stint with Skid Row, too. Put Sabastian Bach to shame.

The videos of these shows are insane. She's legitimately the only person to sing those songs correctly since the original albums. I know Halestorm pays better, but I'd pay absurd money to see her front Skid Row.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I bounced after Halestorm played. Didn't even listen to I Prevail. I listened to some of their stuff on YT, and it seemed like the kind of over produced stuff that wouldn't translate well to a concert setting, plus the growling stuff.

Halestorm was quite good despite the audio issues. Everyone in that band is really good at what they do.

 

[Mark]

I bounced after Halestorm played. Didn't even listen to I Prevail. I listened to some of their stuff on YT, and it seemed like the kind of over produced stuff that wouldn't translate well to a concert setting, plus the growling stuff.

Halestorm was quite good despite the audio issues. Everyone in that band is really good at what they do.

I’m not really a fan of Halestorm, honestly. Most of Lzzy’s lyrics sound like she’s trying to convince herself of what she’s saying in the songs, but that’s just me being critical. However, those guys have been busting their chops for years running around the local circuit before they made it big, since they were teenagers. They deserve all the success they’ve achieved so far just on that. She is definitely a student of metal history, and a pretty good guitarist as well.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Phone camera sucks.

 

[Mark]

View attachment 19064

Phone camera sucks.

Looks like they need more speakers to me. Otherwise, seems like a pretty good venue.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Looks like they need more speakers to me. Otherwise, seems like a pretty good venue.

probably the largest outdoor venue in the immediate area. This is where Green Day is playing next week.

 

[Mark]

probably the largest outdoor venue in the immediate area. This is where Green Day is playing next week.

I dunno if you’ve ever made it to Columbia, MD to see a show at Merriweather Post Pavilion, but that place there reminds of it. Before their renovation a few years back, their sound system looked very similar and didn’t really carry sound to the lawn seats that well. I guess it’ll really depend on your surroundings beyond the venue, too. At Merriweather, the sound just got lost in the hill or the woods before they added a larger system.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I dunno if you’ve ever made it to Columbia, MD to see a show at Merriweather Post Pavilion, but that place there reminds of it. Before their renovation a few years back, their sound system looked very similar and didn’t really carry sound to the lawn seats that well. I guess it’ll really depend on your surroundings beyond the venue, too. At Merriweather, the sound just got lost in the hill or the woods before they added a larger system.

The other two bands sounded fine, though. It was just Halestorm where it sounded slightly muffled. Hell, Hollywood Undead had a couple audience members participate by yelling into the mic and it sounded pretty clear. Props to the bald dude, he had some pipes.

 

[Mark]

The other two bands sounded fine, though. It was just Halestorm where it sounded slightly muffled. Hell, Hollywood Undead had a couple audience members participate by yelling into the mic and it sounded pretty clear. Props to the bald dude, he had some pipes.

That’s wild, but not unheard of… reminds me of the sound issues Deftones had at the beginning of a set I saw of theirs in 03, which was a strong touring cycle for them coming off of “White Pony” blowing up and releasing “Hexagram” as a single back when that kinda stuff was a big deal. They were a middle band on the tour with Metallica, Limp Bizkit, and Linkin Park playing after them, but it was still a stacked lineup for 2003. It always bugged me how they started off, because you couldn’t really hear anything Chino was saying until a break in the drumming happened. Then, out of nowhere, his vocals drowned everything else out for half of “Around the Fur” and balanced out by the bridge.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

There are thunderstorms in the forecast on Thursday. What usually happens to outdoor concerts when foul weather occurs?

 

[Mark]

There are thunderstorms in the forecast on Thursday. What usually happens to outdoor concerts when foul weather occurs?

Oh, I can tell you all about this spending years hitting concerts in Bristow at Jiffy Lube Live. Typically, a pop-up thunderstorm occurring before show time will hold attendees at their vehicles. If it’s a large system moving through, with plenty of notice, they’d cancel it. Questionable weather often leads to the most confusion, because they’ll delay start times and start trimming sets and play it by ear on 15 minute intervals. You could be stuck sitting in your seat, at the entrance to the venue, or the parking lot, it all depends on when you get there and when the storm does.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

There's currently a 50% chance of precipitation at the time of the concert.

 

[Mark]

There's currently a 50% chance of precipitation at the time of the concert.

If I were you, I’d keep tabs on the venue’s social media account or website. That’s usually where they’ll announce delays or postponements these days.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Twitter is fucking trash. Posts are out of order. It looks like they have rescheduled events in the past. Thing is that Green Day's tour has very short breaks between concerts. Hopefully their FB account provides updates. I can at least see their most recent posts. Website says they operate rain or shine, but severe weather can change things. It's still only about a 60% chance of rain around the time, but it's all T-storms. Luckily, today and tomorrow went from having rain and t-storms all day to little if anything at all, as the big cell missed us to the south. Hoping for luck on Thursday, as well. I've been waiting a long ass time for a chance to see Green Day live.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Rain pushed back to at least 11 pm.



The Linda Lindas. The instrument playing is fine, the singing isn't that great. Definitely sounds like an indie punk band try to figure out their niche. All 4 members led singing in at least one song, even the drummer. The girl with the short hair sounds like she took her inspiration from Motorhead for her singing.

Edit: Holy crap, these girls are just kids. The drummer turned 14 today. Touring at that age must be difficult.

Edit 3:

Rancid is what you expect from Rancid.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I'll get to pictures later on. Green Day almost made it through their entire show before they were told that they need to have us leave. They were unable to play the two encore songs, Bobby Sox and Good Riddence. Billy Joe wanted to try to squeeze one last song, but he had to resort to ad-libbing a speed version of Good Riddence as we left.

Green Day is AMAZING live. Billy Joe sounds almost exactly like he does on the albums. He sounds better now than he did when they released the Bullet in a Bible live album. Billy Joe had a total blast the whole time. A true professional. He invited someone onto the stage to finish off singing Know Your Enemy. You could tell she was suuuuuper nervous. He asked her to do a stage dive at the end of the song, but she was uncomfortable as he'll doing it, so they basically had her jump back off of the elevated speaker or whatever right at the end. Billy Joe was smart to remind her and the crowd a little later that he respected her for saying "No."

I don't think they really know much what to do with their new songs from Saviors as they pretty much speed ran the songs without doing anything special. I give it a couple of tours to determine what songs the audience truly loves to hear them play. Dilemma and One Eyed Bastard have a solid chance at being concert mainstays.

I hope this isn't the only time I get to watch Green Day live.

Edit: Side note, I'm really glad they at least got to Whatsername. It's one of my favorite songs from them and it's not exactly a concert staple, so I doubt I'll have another chance to hear it live again.

 

[Fire Queen]

finally saw my first concert since 2019 and it was childish gambino (donald glover), who i was seeing for the second time since his atlanta show in 2018. WILLOW (smith) was the opener but we arrived fashionably late and missed all of her set.

he’s made a big deal about how he’s retiring the childish gambino moniker after this tour but he also said the same thing the last tour. this time it feels like he’s serious because this concert really felt like a farewell. he played songs as old as 2010 when at the previous tour he didn’t do anything older than because the internet. (that said his two albums from this year are great and he did play all the best songs off those too. Lithonia was a hell of a closer.) he went all out for the staging and lighting. the live instrumentation was phenomenal. and he did the whole damn show in leather pants.

 

[Spiner202]

I had a bit of a break from shows with none in August, but last night I saw Accept and KK's Priest.

It worked out pretty well because I knew when this show was announced that I would only decide to go at the last second. I had thought tickets were only $40 but when I checked a week or two ago, it seems like they were closer to $80. For the first time ever in my life, I was the beneficiary of finding a cheap ticket on Stubhub (people tell me this always works, but I have literally checked during shows before and still never found anything reasonably priced), so I got one for just under $40.

For various reasons, I'd never seen Accept before. I didn't realize they were basically playing a headliner set. The sound quality was one of the best I've ever heard at a show, which was great because Accept's music is so simple that it really benefits from a clear sound. I didn't have many specific hopes for the setlist because, although I like Accept, I wouldn't say I'm a massive fan. The one song I was really happy to hear was Losers and Winners. I also learned last night that they have 3 guitar players. Mark and Wolf were both on point, so it was just a great set.

I was mostly going to this for Accept, but I was surprised that KK's Priest was so good. For being 72 years old, that dude still shreds so hard. The set was about 2/3 Judas Priest songs and 1/3 KK's Priest songs, and I was surprised that the latter was so enjoyable. The Priest stuff was pretty great because we got some deep cuts. I'm seeing Judas Priest in Montreal on Friday, and I feel like there won't be too many overlapping songs.

 

[Spiner202]

I just got back from a long weekend in Montreal! As suggested earlier, I saw the Judas Priest / Sabaton tour on Friday night. Then on Saturday I saw Deicide's current tour, and then last night I saw Powerwolf / Unleash the Archers. I'll spare everyone the full reviews, but all 3 shows were great. I'd rank the bands I saw as follows: Judas Priest > Unleash the Archers > Deicide > Powerwolf > Sabaton > Krisiun > Cloak > Inferi

I also made a stop at the greatest record store I have found in Canada called Freeson Rock. 18 CDs later and I've got a lot of listening ahead of me! I know there used to be a lot of power metal fans on the old GW - if you haven't started listening to Unleash the Archers, now's the time. Easily one of the best bands around right now!

 

[The Eye in the Sky!]

@Spiner202 will hate this. I had tickets to see Powerwolf and Unleash the Arches on the 13th and couldn't get in.

Doors were at 7, my brother and I had dinner across from the venue at 6. We watched the line fill up. At 6:40 we went to get in line - now this place usually has a line that goes a block or so around the building (@BigDaddy can attest, he went there for Helloween years back) - so we were sure we'd be fine.

We get to the end of the block and a cop tells us to cross, that isn't the end of the line. We look down the road, it goes 3 blocks further an then turns a corner. After the corner it goes half a block.

So we immediately realize we aren't seeing UtA since they went on at 7:30. We sit at a beer garden across from the line and watch it. Setlist.fm posts UtA ended at 8:40... the line is still 2 blocks long. We both were there to see UtA and didn't need to see Powerwolf, so we just stayed at the beer garden.

By the time Powerwolf started, the line was still halfway down the original block. I've never seen this venue with such a long line, or just a poorly planned entry. Luckily tickets were only $40 but it sucked. I don't even know how that many people fit in the venue, and I'm kind of relived I wasn't piled in there with them.

Hoping the massive crowds opening for Powerwolf will allow for an UtA headline tour sometime so I can see them...

 

[Nae'blis]

Man, that sucks. I want to see both of them!

 

[Ben]

The last concert I went to was probably 2018, when I saw Chris Webby in Worcester MA, in some old theater I forget the name of. I think Bizarre from D12 was there too but I cannot confirm this.

People smoked so much weed they set off the fire alarms and the fire department forced everyone outside into the road. Eventually they let everyone back in once they'd cleared it.




We were Power Rangers



After COVID hit he seemed to go off on some anti-vax bullshit though and I stopped listening to him entirely.

 

[Spiner202]

@Spiner202 will hate this. I had tickets to see Powerwolf and Unleash the Arches on the 13th and couldn't get in.

Doors were at 7, my brother and I had dinner across from the venue at 6. We watched the line fill up. At 6:40 we went to get in line - now this place usually has a line that goes a block or so around the building (@BigDaddy can attest, he went there for Helloween years back) - so we were sure we'd be fine.

We get to the end of the block and a cop tells us to cross, that isn't the end of the line. We look down the road, it goes 3 blocks further an then turns a corner. After the corner it goes half a block.

So we immediately realize we aren't seeing UtA since they went on at 7:30. We sit at a beer garden across from the line and watch it. Setlist.fm posts UtA ended at 8:40... the line is still 2 blocks long. We both were there to see UtA and didn't need to see Powerwolf, so we just stayed at the beer garden.

By the time Powerwolf started, the line was still halfway down the original block. I've never seen this venue with such a long line, or just a poorly planned entry. Luckily tickets were only $40 but it sucked. I don't even know how that many people fit in the venue, and I'm kind of relived I wasn't piled in there with them.

Hoping the massive crowds opening for Powerwolf will allow for an UtA headline tour sometime so I can see them...

That's awful. The crowds were definitely huge for Powerwolf (bigger than I was expecting), but it should never be set-up in a way where if you show up before doors, you can't get in on time.

UTA will definitely be back, and they are getting bigger. I'm sure you'll definitely be able to see them soon.

 

[A PineSol Scent]

Before I saw the picture of the outside I thought "that looks like the Palladium." Then I saw the picture of the outside and it says Palladium.

So I think that's the Palladium.

 

[Ben]

Before I saw the picture of the outside I thought "that looks like the Palladium." Then I saw the picture of the outside and it says Palladium.

So I think that's the Palladium.

You know it might be the Palladium.

I didn't actually try to think critically enough about it to notice that. Nice.

 

[dimmerwit]

You know it might be the Palladium.

I didn't actually try to think critically enough about it to notice that. Nice.

I mean with the other thread you're 1/2 for geolocation this evening so you've got that going for you.

 

[The Eye in the Sky!]

Haha yup, palladium is where my concert was. I've been to two dozen shows there and it's always a good time. This was the first one of been to since 2019 and it was just not managed well.

 

[BigDaddy]

@Spiner202 will hate this. I had tickets to see Powerwolf and Unleash the Arches on the 13th and couldn't get in.

Doors were at 7, my brother and I had dinner across from the venue at 6. We watched the line fill up. At 6:40 we went to get in line - now this place usually has a line that goes a block or so around the building (@BigDaddy can attest, he went there for Helloween years back) - so we were sure we'd be fine.

We get to the end of the block and a cop tells us to cross, that isn't the end of the line. We look down the road, it goes 3 blocks further an then turns a corner. After the corner it goes half a block.

So we immediately realize we aren't seeing UtA since they went on at 7:30. We sit at a beer garden across from the line and watch it. Setlist.fm posts UtA ended at 8:40... the line is still 2 blocks long. We both were there to see UtA and didn't need to see Powerwolf, so we just stayed at the beer garden.

By the time Powerwolf started, the line was still halfway down the original block. I've never seen this venue with such a long line, or just a poorly planned entry. Luckily tickets were only $40 but it sucked. I don't even know how that many people fit in the venue, and I'm kind of relived I wasn't piled in there with them.

Hoping the massive crowds opening for Powerwolf will allow for an UtA headline tour sometime so I can see them...

Man that really sucks. I don't remember having any issues or it being nearly that long for the Helloween show. Thank you and @Spiner202 for the reminder that I need to check out more UtA. I think I've only heard Awakening.

 

[Spiner202]

Man that really sucks. I don't remember having any issues or it being nearly that long for the Helloween show. Thank you and @Spiner202 for the reminder that I need to check out more UtA. I think I've only heard Awakening.

A lot of fans will tell you that Apex, Abyss, and Phantoma is their best work. While I like Awakening a lot, they didn't click for me until Abyss. IMO the last 5 songs of Phantoma and every song on Abyss is probably their best work. They were a pretty different band pre-Apex.

 

[The Eye in the Sky!]

Yes. Hardcore fans say Apex is their best album but I think Abyss and Phantoma are better. Gods in Decay is my favorite song in years.

The album prior to Apex is underrated, too. Tonight we ride, Test your Metal are awesome songs.

 

[Spiner202]

Gods in Decay is my favorite song in years.

100%. This song is so insanely good.

The album prior to Apex is underrated, too. Tonight we ride, Test your Metal are awesome songs.

I remember seeing an interview with someone from the band saying they really disliked the song No More Heroes, but I always thought that was one of the better ones from Time Stands Still.

 

[Spiner202]

Last night I saw the Skeletal Remains/Bewitcher tour. I skipped the local opener, but got there just before Witch Vomit went on. I don't really have much to say about them - it was some enjoyable death metal with melody. My only comment is that if your band name isn't on your drum head and you don't have a banner behind you, you probably should mention your band's name in between songs so that people know who you are.

Phobophilic was next. They were like Witch Vomit except marginally better.

Skeletal Remains was a disappointment for me. I'd never seen them before, but they were on about 25 minutes late because they were having a ton of trouble with their soundcheck. The weird thing is that they were the worst-sounding band of the night even despite that - the kick drums were overpowering everything else except the lead guitars. Also, they played the first song, stopped to make a couple sound changes, and then played the rest of the set, so it couldn't have been that bad since the first song went fine. They had very limited crowd interaction, and their entire set used a red backlight that made them hard to see.

I was totally exhausted by this point but decided to power through because I could tell that Bewitcher was going to have a fast turnaround. Those are 3 dudes who just want to play fast music and don't care about sounding perfect, so they actually ripped through their set so fast that the show ended on time. I've seen them twice before, and this was just as good - their new album came out last Friday and I definitely recommend checking it out if you like Midnight or even stuff like Motorhead but can handle harsher vocals.

I also forgot to pop in here last week. Last Thursday I saw the Testament/Kreator/Possessed tour. Kreator and Possessed were, predictably, quite great. I'll only single out Testament because this was my 5th time seeing them, and they almost always sound terrible, even though they're one of my favourite bands. This was easily the clearest and best they've ever sounded, and the entire set was from the first two albums, so it was probably the only time I've seen them where I left very happy. Even better was that this show was like $75, but my brother and I got tickets for $25, so it felt very worth the price of admission.

 

[Spiner202]

A couple nights ago I saw the Undeath tour. I wasn't too interested in any of the other bands, but decided to show up early to support them all, and because I don't like walking outside when it's dark out.

Last Retch was first, and were a fairly mediocre death metal band. I respect the frontman's efforts to get a pit going, because it was definitely a pretty wild crowd throughout the night, but they needed some prodding. I believe they were only on our tour date.

Gates to Hell and Kruelty were both a bit problematic for me. Musically, I enjoyed both of them, and Gates to Hell in particular really had some energetic sections. The problem was that both bands brought out the karate dancers. When the form of dancing is called "crowd killing", you know it's dumb to begin with. I get that these bands are all influenced by the hardcore scene, and that's where this stuff comes from, but it's legitimately the dumbest thing in existence and is way more dangerous than traditional moshing. I ended up going for a different vantage point fairly early in Gates to Hell's setlist so that I didn't get punched in the face.

Thankfully, people stuck with more traditional moshing and crowd surfing for Undeath. They were easily the best band of the night, and even though their sound has changed a bit since the first album, songs from all 3 albums went over really well. I planned to buy either of the first two records on CD, but they only had the new one (which I've already tracked down). More Insane, their latest album, is legitimately amazing if you like catchy death metal with a bit of groove and melody. I'm notoriously picky with death metal, and it's one of my favourite albums of the year in the genre.

 

[Gloom-is-good]

@Spiner202 I love that you go to so many shows and that you share with us your experience

 

[Spiner202]

@Spiner202 I love that you go to so many shows and that you share with us your experience

Glad to do so! I love music more than anything, so always happy to recount my experiences.

On that note, I'll be back in here in a couple of days as the big one is tomorrow night: Iron Maiden

 

[Nae'blis]

So jealous! The Future Past setlist looks so damn awesome!

 

[Spiner202]

It really is an amazing setlist.

I thought since some enjoy my reviews, I'd give some statistics. I'm a nerd (as I presume we all are here) and have a spreadsheet with every concert/band I've ever seen. Here are some stats:

In total, I've been to 274 unique concerts. I consider multi-day events/festivals to be 1 show in total, rather than 1 show per day. Here's the breakdown by year:

Spoiler

Here's the breakdown by city:

Spoiler

In total, I've seen 685 unique artists for a total of 1,058 performance. Here are the bands I've seen 5 or more times:

Spoiler

 

[Nae'blis]

That's pretty cool!

 

[Spiner202]

Iron Maiden was last Saturday! Amazingly, a number of things went wrong along the way, but none of them impacted us.

Firstly, we got in line at one of the gates (because there was no indication you had to go to a different gate for the floor). The guy started to scan our tickets, and the machine was taking a bit of time to scan it. At this point, he noticed that we had floor tickets, and sent us to another gate because they didn't have wristbands. If one of those two tickets had scanned, I can say with certainty we were going to have a problem on our hands. In fact, I think this is what happened to someone else, because while we were in line for the gate at the floor, we heard some one exclaiming very loudly they had spent $500 down the drain, so I presume they had their tickets scanned somewhere else, got sent here, and then had no proof that they had valid tickets.

After this, they gave us both a wrist band and an invisible ink stamp, which I've never had both on the floor. As we were moving from the concourse onto the floor, they were checking that we had both. Some guy in front of us didn't have an invisible ink stamp, and so the person instructed him to go back to the front to get it. Whether he did, I'm not sure, but I don't see why they would give people those stamps later since it's a second security measure in addition to the wristband.

This venue allows you to pre-order merch from the app and pick it up/skip the lines. Luckily we didn't do that, because there was no merch stand on the floor or in the related concourse, and even though security told us we could go upstairs to look at merch, I didn't have any confidence that we'd be able to get back based on what we'd seen so far. You've gotta think that they'd sell way more merch by putting a stand on the floor.

Next, we were near the front waiting for The Hu to come on. My brother and I don't like them, but obviously had no problem with seeing them. The lights went down on time at 7:30, and what I think is a Thin Lizzy song played. It was nothing out of the ordinary - tons of bands have intro songs (including Maiden). After this, a series of speed metal songs came on, which was a bit strange given the crowd and the fact that the show didn't start. Around 8PM, someone came on the PA and said that there were problems with The Hu's equipment, and they wouldn't be playing tonight, and this didn't impact Maiden. It was strange because at 8:15, the lights came back on, and then Maiden's crew switched around the stage.

Bruce said during Maiden's set that The Hu's bus broke down, and although the band made it, the equipment didn't. It seems strange to me - I know they use unique instruments, but they had all day in Toronto to go buy instruments (if those were what was missing), and they had the resources of Iron Maiden behind them, so I'm sure they could have borrowed anything they needed. And if they knew this would happen, why set up the stage for The Hu, and then turn down the lights, and then wait 30 minutes to tell us they weren't playing?

Anyways, Maiden came on just before 9PM and absolutely crushed it. The setlist was incredible - 5 songs from Somewhere in Time and 5 from Senjutsu, along with 5 classics. The highlights for me were Hell on Earth, Wasted Years, and Alexander the Great. I thought the stage show was a bit more reserved than the last time I saw them (2019), until late in the set when the animatronic Eddie got into a gunfight with Bruce. And then the entirety of Hell on Earth had fire going off too.

There's no doubt in my mind that this is the greatest band in the world. I'm not sure how much longer they still have, so go see them if you can!

 

[Nae'blis]

Iron Maiden was last Saturday! Amazingly, a number of things went wrong along the way, but none of them impacted us.

Firstly, we got in line at one of the gates (because there was no indication you had to go to a different gate for the floor). The guy started to scan our tickets, and the machine was taking a bit of time to scan it. At this point, he noticed that we had floor tickets, and sent us to another gate because they didn't have wristbands. If one of those two tickets had scanned, I can say with certainty we were going to have a problem on our hands. In fact, I think this is what happened to someone else, because while we were in line for the gate at the floor, we heard some one exclaiming very loudly they had spent $500 down the drain, so I presume they had their tickets scanned somewhere else, got sent here, and then had no proof that they had valid tickets.

After this, they gave us both a wrist band and an invisible ink stamp, which I've never had both on the floor. As we were moving from the concourse onto the floor, they were checking that we had both. Some guy in front of us didn't have an invisible ink stamp, and so the person instructed him to go back to the front to get it. Whether he did, I'm not sure, but I don't see why they would give people those stamps later since it's a second security measure in addition to the wristband.

This venue allows you to pre-order merch from the app and pick it up/skip the lines. Luckily we didn't do that, because there was no merch stand on the floor or in the related concourse, and even though security told us we could go upstairs to look at merch, I didn't have any confidence that we'd be able to get back based on what we'd seen so far. You've gotta think that they'd sell way more merch by putting a stand on the floor.

Next, we were near the front waiting for The Hu to come on. My brother and I don't like them, but obviously had no problem with seeing them. The lights went down on time at 7:30, and what I think is a Thin Lizzy song played. It was nothing out of the ordinary - tons of bands have intro songs (including Maiden). After this, a series of speed metal songs came on, which was a bit strange given the crowd and the fact that the show didn't start. Around 8PM, someone came on the PA and said that there were problems with The Hu's equipment, and they wouldn't be playing tonight, and this didn't impact Maiden. It was strange because at 8:15, the lights came back on, and then Maiden's crew switched around the stage.

Bruce said during Maiden's set that The Hu's bus broke down, and although the band made it, the equipment didn't. It seems strange to me - I know they use unique instruments, but they had all day in Toronto to go buy instruments (if those were what was missing), and they had the resources of Iron Maiden behind them, so I'm sure they could have borrowed anything they needed. And if they knew this would happen, why set up the stage for The Hu, and then turn down the lights, and then wait 30 minutes to tell us they weren't playing?

Anyways, Maiden came on just before 9PM and absolutely crushed it. The setlist was incredible - 5 songs from Somewhere in Time and 5 from Senjutsu, along with 5 classics. The highlights for me were Hell on Earth, Wasted Years, and Alexander the Great. I thought the stage show was a bit more reserved than the last time I saw them (2019), until late in the set when the animatronic Eddie got into a gunfight with Bruce. And then the entirety of Hell on Earth had fire going off too.

There's no doubt in my mind that this is the greatest band in the world. I'm not sure how much longer they still have, so go see them if you can!

What an adventure! Sounds amazing!

Alexander the Great is a song I have always wanted to hear live!