A Better Place, A Better Time - Concert Review

Review of the 'Thieves in the Night' Tour on Sunday, December 9th, 2019 at the House of Blues in Boston

Dan P

Dan P (center with glasses and curly hair) with his band 'Dan P and the Bricks'

I had no idea who this guy was going in or that he even had a band. We were running a little late, but we still managed to make it on time for his set. He went on at 7:30. We showed up, and just as we showed up, there was Dan P walking on stage with an acoustic guitar. This was definitely one of the most entertaining acoustic sets I've seen, and certainly the most entertaining solo set I've seen. He filled time in between songs with hilarious banter, and he even put a comedic spin on his otherwise serious songs. Some songs covered serious social or political issues, and he was like "This is a happy song." He just seemed to be an average dad having fun on stage, but Dan P proved to be more than that. He could handle the crowd well and managed to make almost the whole venue laugh. The highlight was the last song when someone asked him to play 'Freebird.' He then played a different song, but dedicated it to a girl in the front named Sarah, the alleged heckler. There was a line about being 40 and balding, which made the place erupt with laughter. Dan even laughed at that one too. Well done, Dan. Well done.

Streetlight Manifesto

Oh boy. Where do I even begin with this one? The band unexpectedly came on at 8:30, even though we were anticipating 9:00. The wait felt like nothing, somehow. They came on and opened with 'With Any Sort Of Certainty,' and the whole floor burst out into a giant mosh pit filled with energy. Everyone was jumping, and everyone was singing. We were all having such a good time throughout the entire performance. The band took fans on a wild journey that covered material from all five of their albums, including the covers album '99 Songs of Revolution Vol. 1.' Highlight songs included 'A Better Place, A Better Time,' known as one of the band's more notable singalong songs, and fan-favorite 'We Will Fall Together,' possibly the band's most popular song. The band performed 18 songs, filled with trumpet screeches, sax solos, and "WOOP WOOP" calls from vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Tomas Kalnoky.

There are many stories I have to tell about this concert, despite it being only about an hour and a half. I'll tell you what I can remember at the moment. I remember a lot of alcohol being spilled on me at the start of their performance. I remember everybody singing every word of the songs AND singing all the horn parts for the songs, too. I remember crowd-surfing a couple times. One of those times, I told my brother and some other guy to "crowd-surf me around the circle pit." They picked me up and ran me around the circle pit for about half a rotation before tossing me onto the crowd in front of them. I remember my brother and I doing this thing where we hold onto each other's hands and spin in circles in the mosh pits, and we had people pushing us to spin faster. I remember there were multiple times when the pit opened up really wide, and everyone charged at each other when the band started playing again.

I need to talk about the band's performance a little bit, too. This band has one of the most musically well-put-together performances I've ever heard. Each of the members (two saxophones, trumpet, trombone, bass, drums, guitarist/vocalist) gives their all to make their performance sound good. The horns section also provides backup vocals when needed. They, oddly enough, don't talk in between songs. There's just a constant flow of music, so the band doesn't lose their flow, nor does the crowd. The horns section is a real highlight of this band, as they provide some catchy melodies in every song in the band's catalog. They played a couple of my favorites, 'The Littlest Things' and 'Watch it Crash.' One of the ones I really wanted to hear, 'Would You Be Impressed?' was not performed, but that's perfectly fine. This band could play any songs, and I would be very satisfied.

Here is a video of the performance from the show (mosh pit example around 2:46):

Thank God It's Friday

Review of Thanx-Killing Fest on Saturday, November 30th, 2019 at The Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts

Light the Torch

This band is known because of frontman Howard Jones, who used to be in the popular American melodic metalcore band Killswitch Engage. I do like Killswitch Engage. I do not like Light the Torch, despite listening through every song they have released. Their performance was okay, but it was nothing special. Nothing about me stuck out about the instrumentation at all. I could hardly hear Howard's vocals because he had his hand firmly grasping the head of the mic. The crowd didn't seem into the music much. One thing I, my brother, and my friend did notice was how crowded the venue was during their set. The whole venue was packed and oversold. This stuck out to me more than the band's flat performance.

Fit For A King

This is the fourth time I've seen this band, and each time they continue to deliver a highly energetic performance. Vocalist Ryan Kirby is always yelling at the crowd to do some crazy stuff. His vocals are always on point, as were the backing vocalist's (also the bassist, I believe). This is one of those bands that is just pure fun to listen to, with hard-hitting breakdown after hard-hitting breakdown. The crowd was ready to party during their set, and they showed up. Circle pits, push pits, crowd surfers - they were there, and only getting hyped up for the next band. The setlist for this band, might I add, was pretty good. I mean, I love the new stuff. I like 'Deathgrip,' their previous album. They only played stuff from these two, however. I would've loved to hear their song "Slave to Nothing" so I could yell out "I'M A SLAVE, I'M A SLAVE TO NOTHING, UGH!" I definitely recommend seeing this band live, if you can.

Ice Nine Kills

If you've read my previous blogs, it's no secret I like these guys a lot. They need no introduction. Well, actually, they thought they did. Before they went on stage, they had a massive curtain blocking the stage with a movie-rating projection on it similar to one that you'd see prior to a movie trailer, but in their own style. It read "IX: PSYCHOS ONLY." After what felt like forever, the band finally came on, playing the intro back-tracking to the song 'Thank God It's Friday' before dropping the curtain and exploding with some crushing instrumentals. They went on to play 12 songs from their newest album 'The Silver Scream,' including the brand-new deluxe edition songs, 'Your Number's Up' and a cover of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller.' They also played five songs from 'Every Trick in the Book,' including the ballad 'Tess-Timony' and my favorite song by them 'Me, Myself and Hyde.' They also pulled out an old song on this tour, another one of my favorites by them by the name of 'The Fastest Way to a Girl's Heart Is Through Her Ribcage.' This song had not been performed for three years prior to this tour.

I feel like I need to talk specifically about their stage show here, too. This was my ninth time seeing this band, They'd undergone major lineup changes since I've first seen them in 2016, leaving vocalist Spencer Charnas as the only member I've seen perform with the band all nine of those times. However, every new band member was completely immersed in the band's horror-movie-themed show. With some songs on the setlist, the band took a couple minutes off stage to change their outfits. Notably, Spencer would dress as different horror movie antagonists. He dressed up as Michael Myers for 'Stabbing in the Dark.' He dressed Ghostface for 'Your Number's Up,' which also saw him sneak up on a mannequin-looking girl on stage and "kill" her as part of the show. The craziest costume was when he dressed up as Pennywise for their song 'IT is the End.' Spencer was in full costume and makeup for this one and even pulled out the clown horn for the song.

Please do yourself a favor and see this band. They put on a killer show.

Welcome to the Private Room - Counterparts Concert Review

Chamber

These guys were the first ones on. My brother and I thought the following band was on first, but we were wrong! We got there pretty early, but they eventually went on and played for 25 minutes. The band was really good. Hard-hitting breakdowns, heavy instrumenals. Everything about them seemed pissed off and angry. This was apparently the last night of the tour, too, and the vocalist had mentioned on Twitter that his throat hurt pretty bad by the end of the tour. Regardless, he did a great job. There were a few people swinging arms during their set. One guy would occassionally come over and start wailing on the guy next to me. No idea why. I guess that's a "mosh pit" at hardcore shows.

END

Next up was END. I didn;t think this band played shows, but I guess they do. They have one EP released in 2017 by the name of 'From the Unforgiving Arms of God.' They also played for 25 minutes. I like this band, and I know their material a little bit. BUT, they played some new songs! All of them sounded pretty good! Mosh pit was just as uneventful as the Chamber's. . . until the breakdown of their last song, 'Necessary Death.' When this breakdwon hit, the whole floor erupted. My brother, my friend, and I were all scared. I remember a guy did a stage dive, and he was punching people as he was crowd surfing. It looked like he was swimming on top of the crowd. The whole pit area was just a massive brawl at this part. We stayed away from that. Glad I got the chance to see these guys.

Varials

This is one of the two bands I'd seen prior to this show. Apparently, my mom's co-worker filled in on guitar for thi band, so that was cool. I also have a windbreaker from this band for their new album 'In Darkness.' They kill it every time. Lots of energy from every band member. They all seem like they're into the music. They're all nice people and that shows in their stage presence. It was definitely cool to hear the new songs live, especially 'South of One' with the vocalist of Counterparts having a guest feature. Mosh pit was the same thing as the last two, except by this point, the room was packed. There was a lot of two-stepping, a form of hardcore dance that I'm actually not sure how to describe. I wish they'd played E.D.A., but they played Empire of Dirt, so I was satisfied with that one.

Stray from the Path

This is a band I don't like too much. Their new album is phenomenal, but everything before save for one album (of I think seven or eight) isn't great. In a live setting, they were surprisingly pretty good. The guitarist and bassist looked like they were 40 year-old Brooklyn natives, because I'm pretty sure they are. The vocaliast looked and sounded like a 35 year-old version pissed-off version of Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks. The performance was solid overall, though. I expected a political speech, but I didn't get much of one thankfully. They did play their song 'Goodnight Alt-Right,' which is such a bad song. They played 'Kickback' and 'Fortune Teller' though, two high-energy songs. They filmed a music video during one of the songs, too. I forget which one. I think they're using clips from all different shows from the tour to string together one music video.

Counterparts

This is the band we primarily came for. The tour was named after their 2018 EP 'Private Room.' Ironically, they released a new album during this tour. They played four new songs, I'm pretty sure, and three from the last one, 'You're Not You Anymore.' The performance this band put on was phenomenal. They sounded so together and coherent. They had great energy, even for the last night of the tour. Vocalist Brendan Murphy delivered a flawless vocal performance. During the song 'Swim Beneath My Skin,' I did a stage dive - my only one for the night. When I ran across the stage, I put my hand on Brendan so he didn't back into me and fall. As I jumped off the stage, he said "Banana Man," since I was wearing my button-down banana shirt. Of course, someone jumped on top of me, and we both fell to the floor. I got rug burn, and I still have it as of the time of writing this blog - almost a week and a half after the concert. I would definitely recommend seeing this band. They deserve the support. As they left the stage, Brendan said, 

"The Private Room is now closed. Thank you all for coming."

Ice Nine Kills Discography Ranking

Please read the previous blog before reading this one!

Ice Nine Kills Discography Ranking

I will only be ranking their full-length efforts, excluding the likes of 'The Burning,' 'The Pop-Punk Ska Years,' 'The Predator,' and any acoustic songs the band has released.

#5 - Last Chance to Make Amends

At the bottom of the list is 2006's 'Last Chance to Make Amends.' I've listened to this bad Larry once, and I don't remember any of it. I know a song from this album made it onto 'The Burning,' but that's about it. This album is more post-hardcore, with a bunch of soaring melodies. In my opinion, the band didn't do this style too well. The album is still pretty good, but a lot of the melodies blend together, and they're not very strong. I don't have much more to say about this one.

Favorite Song: N/A

#4 - Safe is Just a Shadow

2017 re-recording artwork

I think part of the reason this one is so low is just because I don't know it as well as the ones I've ranked higher on this list. This album had a re-recording released in early 2017, which is the version I am more familiar with. This album saw the band's songwriting strength increase drastically from their previous efforts. With added vocal hooks, mind-blowing guitar riffs, and an obvious increase in production value, the band took a massive step in the right direction. The album's opener 'Proximity Mines in the Complex' smacks the listener right across the face with an assault of sounds. The song's opening tapping guitar riff gives the listener a feel of the atmosphere the album is going for - ominous, but relevant within the culture of post-hardcore and melodic metalcore fans. This album contains fast songs with stuttering riffs, dangerous china cymbal hits, and massive dual screams from lead vocalist Spencer Charnas and backup vocalist Justin DeBlieck. The album takes the listener through a journey, with highlight tracks such as 'The People Under the Stairs' and 'The Greatest Story Ever Told,' as well as deep cuts such as 'Red Sky Warning.' Though the album was great for the band, and I do like it quite a bit, a few of the songs fell flat for me. I couldn't tell you what any part of a song like 'So This is My Future' sounds like. Definitely worth a listen, but there is a little bit of filler material here.

Favorite Song: Proximity Mines in the Complex

#3 - Every Trick in the Book

I feel disgusting putting this one at number three. We're into territory of albums I like a lot, now. Front to back, this album captures the storybook atmosphere it was going for. Right off the bat, you can feel yourself immersed in the sound of 'The Nature of the Beast,' based on George Orwell's 'Animal Farm.' Blasting you off from there, the album does not slow down until the semi-ballad 'Star-Crossed Enemies,' based on Romeo and Juliet. Constantly bombarding the listener, Every Trick in the Book has new tricks (no pun intended) hidden around every corner. This is the album that got me into the band, and this album cycle is the first time I saw them. That was way back in early 2016. If it wasn't for the songs 'The Plot Sickens' and 'Alice' I would've ranked this album higher. Something about those songs - I don't know. They just feel super weak and cliched to me. I think the only "deep cut" song on this album, 'The People in the Attic,' deserves some more recognition. The chorus in that one gets me every time. 'Me, Myself & Hyde' has to be my favorite song by this band, though. The breakdown, the chorus, the intro. Oh man, everything about that one is just so good.

Favorite song: Me, Myself & Hyde

#2 - The Silver Scream

2019 deluxe edition artwork

So, I actually rank band discographies over on my Twitter account. I listen to a lot of music. I put this album at number one, and I'm here to tell you why I've changed my decision. The band's 2018 effort is super strong. When it released, I listened to it on repeat for the whole weekend. Within a matter of two days, I'd listened to it at least six times. I can tell you right now, I hate the song 'Savages.' I hate it. So much. The song itself is technically decent, and it's based on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a movie I enjoy. The band keeps pushing the song for radio play, and they play it at every show now. It was widely recognized by fans as the worst song on the album, so I have no idea why they took this route.

In turn, this album contains incredible songwriting on just about every other song, save for 'Freak Flag,' but I'm okay with that song. Every song perfectly captures the sound of the movie it was based on. A good example of this can be found in 'Stabbing in the Dark,' a song based on John Carpenter's 'Halloween.' The song starts off with a clock ticking, signifying the presence of Dr. Loomis. Later in the song, panic chords that gives listeners the feeling they are being attacked by Michael Myers. Oddly enough, I find these panic chords very similar to the strikes of the piano that was made popular by 'Psycho.' Though, these chill-inducing staccatos can be found in the soundtrack to 1978's 'Halloween' in the song 'The Shape Lurks,' a song that plays when tension between Michael Myers and his victim arises. This track can particularly be found near the climax of the film, when Michael is actively pursuing Laurie Strode. Ice Nine Kills capture the intensity of this sequence perfectly in their song.

This album feels like a journey, and it's always pleasing to listen to. I feel fully immersed in the album with every listen, and it fascinates me how they could write songs that capture the source material so well. Huge props to the band on this one. If it wasn't for 'Savages' or 'Freak Flag' though, this would probably be my top pick.

Favorite song: Stabbing in the Dark

#1 - The Predator Becomes the Prey

Every song on this one. Every. Single. One. Banger. I find myself coming back to this album more than any of their other albums. The production is clean. The songwriting is on point. The vocals are terrifying, and at the same time, they're beautiful. The guys really hit the nail on the head with this one, or should I say.. the hatchet? 'Let's Bury the Hatchet...In Your Head' is a song that really captures what this album is about - high energy, heavy music, and songs to get people moving. This one, along with 'The Coffin is Moving' and 'The Fastest Way to a Girl's Heart is Through Her Ribcage,' captures what I like about the album. The hooks on this album are phenomenal. These songs get stuck in my head a lot.

This album has a lot of deep cuts, too, as opposed to the newest two albums. 'The Product of Hate' was one of the first songs by this band that I added to my playlist. My brother used to play this band a lot in the car and at my house before I got into them, and the songs he would play a lot were from this album, since it was their newest release at the time. 'The Product of Hate' was actually one of the songs I recognized while going through the songs on my own time, and I added it to my playlist. I think it's interesting that, with a genre of music like this, they can write a song about the Boston Marathon bombing - what the song is about - and speak how they feel about it.

Another song I wanted to shine some light on is 'My Life in Two.' Beautiful vocals in this song. This one has, in my opinion, Spencer's best vocal effort in their whole discography. The lyrics in the chorus, paired with the melody that brings them to life, get me every time. Just give this one a listen. It's not too long.

This album feels like it flies by when I listen to it. Not literally, but you get what I mean. One second I'ts starting. Next thing I know, it's ending. Lots of fun listening to this one, and I still put it on a bunch.

Favorite Song: My Life in Two

If you read this blog and the last one, thank you for reading. I hope you check out this awesome band! Show them your support. They deserve it.

Change-Up: Who is Ice Nine Kills?

I've reviewed all the concerts I've been to recently, so I decided to change things up a little bit! We will resume with concert reviews next week with the Counterparts concert. In two weeks, I will be seeing a band called Ice Nine Kills. I'm very excited for this show. It will be my ninth time seeing this band. I've met the vocalist, Spencer Charnas, three times. He's super chill. I have two shirts from them, a long sleeve and a short sleeve. I listen to this band a lot. Can you tell I like them? Anyway, let's get into it.

Ice Nine Kills in 2018

What is melodic metalcore?

Melodic metalcore is a genre of music that derives from melodic death metal, blending that style with that of hardcore music and including catchy pop-driven vocal hooks. This type of music isn't normally what someone would think of when the term melodic is thrown around, but the genre is driven by screaming and singing vocals, guitar riffs, spastic (yet organized) rhythms, and, of course, breakdowns. At it's core, the song structure is the same thing everyone is familiar with, a couple of versus with a chorus that repeats a few times, and there's a bridge thrown in there somewhere to change things up. This is usually where the breakdown is. A breakdown is exactly what it sounds like - the song builds up tension, then everything collapses. The flood gates open, the gods abandon us, all hell breaks loose. Disrespect your surroundings. Blegh.

Who is ICE NINE KILLS?

Ice Nine Kills is an american melodic metalcore band formed in the early 2002 by vocalist Spencer Charnas and Jeremy Schwartz in the suburbs of Massachusetts. Originally going by the name 'Ice Nine,' The band started out as a ska/pop-punk fusion band, since the members were big fans of ska bands such as Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, and Goldfinger. Somewhere along the line, the band changed styles and released their first album 'Last Chance to Make Amends' in 2006, followed by the extended play album 'The Burning' in 2007. The band had a major lineup change in 2009, resulting in their sound being shifted from post-hardcore to melodic metalcore, though this sound change was being foreshadowed on 'The Burning.' With the new members, one of them being guitarist, backup vocalist, and co-songwriter Justin DeBlieck, The band released 'Safe is Just a Shadow' in 2010, which contains one of their classic "older" songs, 'The Greatest Story Ever Told.' This is a favorite among older fans.

Their second full-length 'The Predator Becomes the Prey' was released in 2014. By this time, the band had been gaining a substantial fan base. They performed on the Vans Warped Tour in the summer of that year to crowds bigger than they'd ever seen, though it was only a taste of what was to come soon. The album was successful, containing hits like 'The Fastest Way to a Girl's Heart is Through Her Ribcage,' 'Let's Bury the Hatchet...In Your Head,' and one of my personal favorites, 'My Life in Two.'

Ice Nine Kills in 2014

How would the band follow up that album though? They released the song 'Me, Myself & Hyde' in February 2015, just over a year after the release of their last album. This song received praise from their already dedicated fan-base. In September of that year, the band would sign to major label Fearless Records, marking a new chapter in their career. A week after announcing their signing, the band released the song 'Bloodbath & Beyond' as the lead single for their 2015 release 'Every Trick in the Book,' which was released in December of that year. Every song on this album is based on a different book.

Ice Nine Kills in 2015

A couple years and many tours later, the band's fan base grew significantly. It was announced they would be on the 2018 Vans Warped Tour, the final time this tour would run. This was big for them, and they had a few tricks up their sleeve because of that. Not long before the start of the tour in summer 2018, the band released the song 'The American Nightmare' in the form of a narrative music video containing the song. The new album, the band's fifth full-length effort 'The Silver Scream,' was released in October of 2018. Every song on this album is based on a different horror movie, both lyrically and instrumentally. The album was critically acclaimed by fans and critics alike, containing hit single 'A Grave Mistake,' which gets major radio play on satellite radio and FM radio stations. The band has undergone lineup changes since the release of single 'The American Nightmare' and is currently on their biggest headlining tour yet, playing to crowds quadruple the size they had been selling to just a year ago.

Discography ranking blog to come shortly!

Weekend of Concerts 2: Rapid Fire (Night 3/3)

Night 3 (November 2nd)

(A Different Shade of Blue Tour @ The Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts)

This was, by far, the scariest show of the weekend. They took down the barrier in front of the stage. I'm also not sure if you've ever been to a hardcore show, but the crowd is basically just a full-on brawl and it's not even fun. Let's get into it.

SeeYouSpaceCowboy...

This is one of the bands on the lineup that I vaguely knew. They played eight songs over a course of about 25 minutes. They were actually very good. Vocals were on point. Instruments sounded great. Everything was put together well. They're known as a "MySpace revival band," one of the bands that is bringing back the aggressive screamo of 2006, blending it with complex metalcore and mathcore songwriting, and giving heir own spin on the sound. Seeing them play their material live was definitely interesting. My favorite part of their set was when they played '911 Call; "Help I've Overdosed on Philosophy!"' I would definitely see them again.

Candy

This band was one of the ones I didn't know at all, despite listening to all their material prior to the show. Their performance was decent, but there was nothing that stood out to me. The vocalist had pretty good energy, and he had THAT gritty voice you'll find in a lot of hardcore bands that have been cropping up recently. They seemed to just flow from song to song, not really talking in between. They were probably aware of their short 25 minute set time, so they wanted to use as much of that time as possible to play their music. They did good, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see them again.

On Broken Wings

This band sucks. Straight up. The vocalist sounded dehydrated and he looked like he didn't want to be there. I couldn't understand a damn word he sang. He was so bad to the point where I, my brother, and our friend were all laughing All of their songs sounded exactly the same. The crowd was terrible for them. To add onto this, they're actually a band that's broken up, but they play shows every so often, still. They were added about a week before the show, and they only played this show of the tour. They were terrible, but I appreciated the laugh.

Rotting Out

This band was decent, though I also didn't know them. They had great stage energy, especially the vocalist. His vocals reminded me of the sounds a chicken would make if he had a gummy worm stuck in his throat. The instruments were definitely bangin', though. They gave me a 90s hardcore punk vibe, too. This is when the crowd started to get a little more into the music. Not sure I would see them again, but I'm glad I got to see them once.

Stick To Your Guns

I know this band! I actually own a maroon crew-neck sweatshirt from them, and I like to wear it a lot. It's probably ruining the print on the shirt, but whatever. Anyway, their performance was super sick. They played around 10 songs. I knew a good portion of them, one of those songs being 'Amber.' The vocalist called for stage diving during that song, so I went up and did a stage dive. Getting up on that stage that I've seen so many bands on before was weird, even though I was only on it for a little bit (for now). This band went hard, though. Incredibly tight performance, as usual. I could do without the short political speech the vocalist usually gives at shows, but other than that, I recommend seeing them.

Knocked Loose

This show was my 7th time seeing the boys in Knocked Loose. They're one of my favorite bands. Their first full-length album 'Laugh Tracks' is one of my favorite albums of all time. They just released their second full-length album 'A Different Shade of Blue' in September, calling for a tour to follow up its release. They played 10 of 12 songs from that album, plus about five from 'Laugh Tracks,' then just one from their 2014 EP 'Pop Culture.' They also played a song called 'Intro,' which is not a recorded song they have, and it was not played first. They actually opened with my favorite song from the new album, 'Trapped in the Grasp of a Memory.'

As soon as they started playing, the floor erupted. Everyone was losing their mind. It was a very violent set throughout. I somehow got to the front, and I was right up against the stage, front and center, for a few minutes. That was starting to hurt my neck, with all the stage divers, so I decided to stage dive and hopefully go back a little bit. I got pushed back right to the stage, so I just stayed there. It was all good. I was so tired from the last two days (and I was sick), so I kinda just chilled there. I was going nuts banging my head and screaming the words, though.

At one point, I did get a mic grab and screamed a couple words into the mic, and that made me feel powerful. I want to do that again. Unfortunately, I didn't know the words to the new songs all too much, but I did my best. I still had a good time, and I would love to see Knocked Loose again. They have my full support. Great group of guys making great music. I did find out after the show that I had a photographer take a picture with me right in the center. Very exciting!

Me in front of the stage, pointing at vocalist Bryan Garris

Thank you all for reading! It's been a lot of typing across the three semi-consecutive blog posts, but I've been meaning to get them done. Until next time! No concerts until the 23rd, so maybe a different type of post in the near future.

Weekend of Concerts 2: Rapid Fire (Night 2/3)

Night 2 (November 1st)

(The Great Tour @ The Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts)

Hammerfall

The one and only opening band of the night was Hammerfall, coming all the way over from Sweden. This was my third time seeing these guys. Vocalist Joacim Cans was on point as usual, nailing every note. The guitarists definitely seemed to be enjoying their time on stage, which I appreciate. It helps the crowd get into the music, too. They played 10 songs this time around, with their set time being about an hour. Maybe halfway through their set, they played the absolute banger of a song called 'Hector's Hymn.' I looked down to the general admission floor, and I noticed the mosh pit opened up. 

Naturally, I ran right down there to slam myself into some fat, sweaty men!

I'm not super into Hammerfall's music anymore, but they are definitely an enjoyable band to watch live, and they kept the crowd entertained. One of the standout moments was right before they performed their last song. Vocalist Joacim Cans said, "We have one song left for you guys tonight. . . who is booing? For you my friend? We play two more songs. I'm just kidding!" This lead into them playing their most popular song 'Hearts on Fire.' For this song, Cans stood on the barrier, asking the audience to sing with him. This was only a warm up for what was to come later.

Sabaton

One of my favorite bands! I'd been impatiently waiting to see these guys since the last time I saw them in March 2018. They released a new album in July titled 'The Great War,' an album based entirely on events that took place in World War I. The Swedish power metal giants have returned to Worcester to show everyone that they mean business. . . funny business. They aim to put smiles on everyone's faces. They did just that at their show on November 1st. Playing almost entirely World War I related material, meaning choice cuts from the new album as well as emotional ballad 'The Price of a Mile' and a new favorite among fans 'Bismarck.' Other material was included in their set, but the theme of the set revolved around World War I.

My favorite part was the stage tank they brought. They normally don't bring this into the United States because they said they've broken at least three stages with the tank. So, what the stage tank is - well - it's an actual tank. On top of the tank is a platform they put the drums on. This was the first time I'd seen it in person. I hope they do it again.

I did enjoy their song selection. I enjoy the new album, so it was cool to hear a bunch of the new songs live. I wish they'd played 'A Ghost in the Trenches,' but oh well! At least they played '82nd All the Way,' which is another one of my favorites from the new album. I crowd surfed during that one. I crowd surfed a lot at this show. I went really crazy at this show and sung my heart out. This is one of the bands that you can't go wrong with. They always lift me up, and they're always fun to listen to. I also want to mention that I saw my classmate Dan there, so that was epic.

The Stage Tank

Part 3 coming in a little bit. Keep your eyes peeled, but please don't peel them too much or it will hurt.