5/19/2008 - SJSU Event Center - San Jose, CA
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Since moving to the bay area, i've attended a number of concerts up in San Francisco, but this was my first show in my own backyard. This was awesome because (1) i was able to go directly to the box office and pay face value for my ticket (no ticketwanker fees), (2) the venue is 4 miles from my apartment, as opposed to the hour+traffic drive up to the city, and (3) i was able to use the light rail & avoid dealing with parking.
I arrived at the venue right around 17:30 (showtime) and worked through the reasonably fast-moving line. Just a partial patdown & i was through the doors (i swear, this lax security is spoiling me; it might be rough going back to Slim's next week).
High On Fire, the first band, was already playing when i got inside, so i went straight down to the floor to check them out. The band didn't do much for me. Like many other opening acts, they had a lot of energy on stage, but they just felt flat; no dimension. All of their songs sounded the same to me, using the same slow-churn riffing and drumming that makes me yawn. I couldn't help rolling my eyes when a mosh pit opened up. I must be getting old, because i couldn't suppress the thought of "Man, these kids will mosh to anything."
Toward the end of their set, i finally got bored enough to wander around and have a look at the merch booth. Even though i should be expecting the $35 and $40 t-shirts by now, they still renewed my gripe about overpriced tour merchandise. I realize that merch sales are important because the bands actually get most of the proceeds (as opposed to profit from music sales which go mostly to the labels), but still. These shirts have got to cost pennies on the dollar to manufacture; sell them for $20 and stop exploiting your fanbase. And start stocking smaller sizes while you're at it, bitch.
Wandering around the arena, i decided that it's actually a decent venue. I mean my favorite venues are the mid-size theaters (e.g. the Aragon in Chicago, the Pageant in St. Louis, Bogart's in Cinci). But for an arena, the SJSU Event Center isn't bad at all; nice open floor, enough space to wander around, but the place isn't too huge (pro basketball stadiums are on my blacklist). It reminded me a little of the place in Springfield where i saw Slipknot/Shadows Fall/Lamb Of God back in 2005. As a bonus, there were tons of drinking fountains, which really helped me stay hydrated through the night.
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Job For A Cowboy was up next. Watching their crew set up and soundcheck gave me hope for the band. I don't know why, but the sight of a slick double-bass drumkit up on a riser invokes optimism. The house lights went down, the band started up and...meh :-( I mean their drummer was good, and i liked them better than the first band, but their set still really dragged for me. I passed the time by laughing as the kids ran in terror when the floor opened up, and then rolling my eyes at the moshers' inability to maintain a decent form. (Move in a *circle*, you idiots, not back and forth in a horizontal line! It's a mosh *pit*, not a mosh *gap*.) I also contemplated possible names for the genre of metal bands who just play the same, slow-churn riffs over and over, with no buildup and no dimension. I came up with "Snore-core". [Remember, you heard it here first - it's going to be a thing!] I also decided that "The Sword" (quintessential snorecore band) should be renamed to "The Anvil" because they're heavy, but dull.
After Job For A Cowboy wrapped up, i went wandering again to kill time during the set change. As i passed by the merch booth again, some kid came up, looked at the shirts, and announced "DAMN? Oh wait...nope, still damn - i don't want any of those." HA! Oh, and i saw some girl wearing a Threadless shirt! It was the grey shirt with the Cthulhoid-creepy-crawly guy. Yay Threadless!
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Children Of Bodom, from Finland, were up next. Finally, a *good* band! They exploded onto the stage with "Sixpounder"; one of the few tracks i actually recognized in their set, because i'm not too familiar with their catalog (i only have one of their albums). Really enjoyed their set; these guys play fast, brutal, intense. They are very good at what they do; lightning fast riffs, machine-gun drumming, great vocals over layers of rhythm. And the keyboard adds a nice dimension to their sound. I also like that Janne mounts his keyboard tilted back almost 90 degrees (so that the keys all point towards the ceiling and he reaches over them to play). Definitely need to check out more of their albums.
So i decided to position myself in front of the moshing, but behind the crush zone (just some residual shoving), which put me in this nice pocket of energy, not far from the stage. At one point i looked behind me and was amazed at what i saw - a mosh *channel* running front to back (i.e. perpendicular to the mosh gap from earlier). Like, what the bloody hell? I mean, props for showing me something new and weird, but seriously, what are you guys doing?
At the end of their set, Alexi announced that they had "one more brutal motherfucking song" for us and asked the man on keys to "hit me with something" (several of their songs start with a keyboard intro). Janne obliged by launching into..."Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. Oh hell yeah! I love these guys. It was a great synthy sound, too; made me want to dance. I was tempted to moonwalk through the empty space left by (now idle) pit. After about a minute of fun, he switched to their closing song and they barreled through the end of their set. Awesome.
(Sorry for the crappy photos, btw; cheap disposable camera + low light conditions; better than nothing, though. Click on these to see the larger versions).
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In Flames, the band i was *really* there to see, were up next. These guys never disappoint, taking the stage by storm and delivering their blend of powerful riffs, clear melodies, and intense emotion. They played many of my favorites, including some old-school classics like "Clayman" and a track off of "Black Ash Inheritance", as well as their newer hits including "The Quiet Place", "Leeches", and a great performance of "My Sweet Shadow", which sounds so awesome live! And of course they played several songs from their new album, "A Sense Of Purpose", which i hadn't picked up yet, but planned to soon.
Anders once again delivered his charismatic and amusing comments between songs. After "Come Clarity" (a power ballad of sorts), he said "I know you guys love that soft-ass stuff, so we're going to do another slow one." He was joking, of course, and the band launched into "Take This Life" which is the opposite of slow. And at another point he supplemented the usual "Is everyone having a good time tonight?" with "How are you old people doing up there?" (referring to the nosebleed seats), and then "How about all you parents way up there in the back - doing ok?" Ah-hahaha, i love this guy!
Update on the pit: This time it actually was a circle (and correctly moving counter-clockwise) but i was amazed to see a group of guys *standing* in the middle of the pit, and everyone swirling around them. Bloody hell! I've never seen anything like that before! It was a mosh pit...with a *nucleus*? Weirdly fascinating.
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After In Flames, i went to hit the head and drink a ton of water, and then did some stretches and sat down by a wall to enjoy some downtime. I like going to shows where "my" band plays second-to-last, because it reduces how tired i am when they go on (fewer bands to wait through, especially on a larger bill like this one). I can give my band everything i've got, and then take it down a notch for the closing act. Or...sometimes i'm pleasantly surprised. Like last December in LA; i was more interested in Killswitch Engage, but Lamb of God fucking blew me away. I'd fully expected to slip my ticket stub into my copy of "As Daylight Dies", but after the show i realized that it belonged in "Sacrament".
[Sidebar: For those who don't already know, i save all of my ticket stubs; after each concert, i slip the ticket into my copy of the appropriate band's latest album. This is typically the band which headlined, but may instead be the band i'm most into or the band which performed best that night. The latter case involves a judgement call based on how i feel; sometimes it's an easy decision, other times it's not. Sometimes things go the way i'd expected (e.g. Rob Zombie/Lacuna Coil, 2006), other times i'm surprised (Disturbed/Stone Sour, 2007).]
This was one of the cases where i was surprised.
I'd lost interest in Megadeth (and mainman Dave Mustaine) a good 7-8 years ago. I haven't heard their last 3 albums, and wasn't overly impressed with the new singles. It pissed me off when Dave recut & rereleased his entire catalog. And the lineup changes only pushed me further away. Yes, i was that guy: "*My* Megadeth was Dave, Dave, Nick, and Marty. *This* is more likes the 'Dave Mustaine solo project'. Without Marty it's not really Megadeth. Blah blah blah." I hereby eat my words.
Megadeth were fucking SPECTACULAR!!
Dressed simply in black t-shirt and jeans, his signature mop of orange hair wild about him, Dave Mustaine took the stage, wielding guitar and microphone like he always has. His new bandmates stormed the stage with him and demonstrated that they're not just some band for hire. In particular, Chris Broderick is not only a worthy filler of Marty's shoes, he's a spectacular guitarist all his own, staking his claim on the stage and the band. I hope he stays around; i like this guy. James LoMenzo was a solid backbone on bass (and, i found out later, is no newcomer to the world of rock and metal). And Shawn Drover - powerhouse drummer; i have nothing but good things to say about this dude. And i think he's a lefty; i noticed that he keeps time on the hi-hat with his left hand and hits the snare with his right. Ditto the ride (which was mounted to the left, near the hats). Interesting.
As they launched into their first song, i yet again felt immensely grateful for my earplugs. They had the amps cranked up so loud that i could feel my arm hairs vibrating. Also, the balance was off. Just like Disturbed (Peoria, IL) last year, the kicks were too heavy and obscured everything else. Fortunately (unlike at Disturbed) they fixed it up by the second song, at which point the sound quality (through my plugs, at least) was superb. I later heard people complaining that it was too loud; that they couldn't hear any of the vocals. Wear earplugs, kids. It'll save your hearing *and* make the shows sound better.
I thoroughly enjoyed every single song that they played. This rarely happens for me; in fact, i don't think it's ever happened before. No matter how much i like the band, no matter how amp'd i am about the show, there's always a few moments in every set where my energy level drops; a less-than-favorite song, or a sequence drags somehow & i find myself waiting for things to pick back up. Not tonight. Even the songs i didn't recognize were a joy to experience.
The early portion of the set focused on the newer material, but they soon hit a long series of one song after another that had me screaming my lungs out in excitement. "Trust", "Symphony Of Destruction", "Skin O' My Teeth", "A Tout Le Monde" (to which the Dave let us sing the chorus; man that felt good). The ever-hilarious "Sweating Bullets", the old-school classic "Peace Sells", several shred-fests from the killer album "Rust In Peace". And of course, "Hanger 18" was fucking amazing. The stage was shrouded in green light, alien images displayed on the background screen. For the breakdown jam that kicks halfway through the song, Dave and Chris started on opposite corners of the stage, trading solos, and eventually converged at stage center to duel it out.
In general, i really liked their stage presence and movements. Dave, of course, would step away from the mic and traverse the stage to take his solos, but i liked how he shared the stage so comfortably with the guys. When Chris was shredding, Dave would step back and let him have the spotlight. At other times the two axe-men would stand side-by-side, ripping in tandem, or face off for a dueling exchange. James got his share of spotlight time as well, and one of the guys would frequently hang back to jam with Shawn.
Another nice touch was a mini-solo spot for each member, each of which led into a song. Chris treated us to some jaw-dropping ubershredding, with both hands on the frets. And when it was Shawn's turn, the cranked up the fog machine around his drumkit and he had some LEDs or something that lit up his sticks as they flew across the skins; very cool.
Oh yeah, and i'd almost forgotten how Megadeth performs their sets - one song after another with little or no break in between. No bantor before songs, no rests; all business. Finally, towards the end of their set, Dave took 30 seconds to mention "Yeah, we don't like to talk much; we just play. You know how some bands like to talk and talk and talk and talk *makes the wanking gesture*...we prefer to spend that time playing more songs." Later he briefly introduced his band members "We have Chris Broderick on guitar...James LoMenzo on bass...Shawn Drover on drums...and you all know meeee! Dave Mustaine!"
After closing out the set, they waited the token few minutes before coming back to rock us with their encore - "Holy Wars" Oh hell yeah! Flawless execution through the verses into the mid-song breakdown, and the jam, of course, was on fire, just like the rest of their performance. A perfect end to a perfect set.
The night over, the band members basked in our screaming ovation, waving, tossing out picks, then met at center stage for the classic group bow. Dave took up the mic one last time, the way he does at the end of every Megadeth show (which i'd forgotten until that moment). "You guys know how it goes. *singsong* You've been great! We've been Megadeth! Good night!"
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Needless to say, i'll be picking up a copy of "United Abominations" (Megadeth's latest) and making it home to my ticket stub. Sorry, In Flames; you guys were awesome, but Megadeth made my night and reclaimed their position on my Tier-1 list. But not to worry; Anders mentioned that In Flames will be coming back around on a headlining tour this fall, so "A Sense Of Purpose" may get its own ticket stub after all. Yay! And RAAWRRRR! \m/ \m/
