When we arrived in Lowell at the Tsongas arena the concert had already started. We got into the arena about 10 mins late due to traffic eventhough we left Peabody around 5 (concert started at 7). I assumed early on that Trivium would be the first to go on and alas I was correct. The only time I ever saw Trivium live was at the Familly Values Tour in 2007 (year is questionable). They were all drunk off their asses and terrible. I watched them for a total of 10 minutes tops and then left to go to a different stage. I guess that was when I kind of lost respect for them. From past concert experiences I'm well prepared to get myself and whoever I'm with to the front of the huge, sweaty, disgusting crowd. We worked our way pretty much to the front left side of the stage and Tori said she wanted to get closer to the middle for Coheed. TIP TO ANY CONCERT GO-ERS; If there's a band you want to be upfront for, make sure you work your way up during the band before. Once that band gets off everyone who was only there to see them will start to spread away and that's when you make your move. So we chilled out and watched Trivium, who were not drunk this time and actually put on an awesome show. As soon as they got off stage we worked our way to the middle and were successful, about two rows back give or take a person or two. With our luck though, we got stuck next to a complete TOOL in a Slipknot mask, whom I felt the urge to smack repeatedly, but did not dispite my best judgement.
I have seen Coheed before at Warped Tour 2007 (once again year is questionable) where I was in the back just paying attention to a few songs. From what I could remember they were pretty good. If anyone listens to them, they're aware that some of their songs are very, very long. For this tour, they cut huge chunks of their songs out to fit more into their set. They don't have the best stage presense but its not like they can jump around and headbang to their music. [Updated Feb. 12: More people put up videos from the concert so I'm adding this video of Coheed in !!]
During about maybe their second to last song I grabbed Tori and asked her if after Coheed she wanted to head out and sit in some seats for Slipknot because, personally, I did not want to be stuck in that crowd when they came on (see, people move when they're done seeing who they want to see). When it comes to concerts I'm pretty good at handling myself with crowd surfers, pushers, and moshpits. The only thing with Slipknot fans is this, they are CRAZY. I've been to my share of hardcore/crazy shows and pretty much, you don't get in my way. I can't count how many times I've woken up the morning after a concert and couldn't even shower because of all the bruises on me. For some reason Slipknot fans make me wicked nervous, probably because I know that without a doubt all of them are exactly like me and don't care who gets in their way, you'll get hit. That as well as most of them are 10x bigger than me with huge muscles. If I were to get hit, I know I'd be down for the count. Like I said before I've been to my share of concerts, and I've been to harder ones than Slipknot, but at other shows people are nice. You get hit, often they apologize or just give you that "I'm sorry" look especially if you are a girl. In my own experince, the majority of people I have met who are very into Slipknot, are assholes. They have no reguard for anyone and don't have a problem beating someone until they pass out. That is just my own personal view and/or opinion. Tori agreed that we should probably get out after the set so, after Coheed's last song we pushed our way through possibly hundreds of people to find some seats.
Since it was general admission (aka, you can sit / stand wherever you find a place) it was easy for us to find some good seats close to the stage off to the side. After a while of sitting there and waiting for the crew to get the set up, Tori turned to me and just flat out said, "I want to crowd surf, it looks like so much fun." I was hesitant at first because Matt (Tori's BF) would probably murder the two of us if anything happened to her (or me for that matter). But, Tori's old enough to make her own decisions so I agreed to helping her get up. We walked back down to the floor and went to the back. We found two pretty big guys and I asked them if they would help me get her up. They kind of looked at eachother and one of them went, "Really?" and we just responded, "Yes please." I grabbed Toris waist and they helped her up the rest of the way. I really wish I got it on tape because it was awesome but by the time I thought of it she was too far gone and I couldn't see her anymore. Only after a few minutes, she came back and said it was awesome. I'm glad she went through with it and got the experience. :]
We went back to our seats and waited a little while longer. I will say straight up that neither of us were as pumped as everyone else that Slipknot was up next. We both were debating on whether to stay for them or not but before we left home we decided we might as well if we were going to be there anyway. For anyone who is not familiar with Slipknot I'll give you a bit of background. They started around 1995 and are now considered a "nu-metal" band. The band consists of 9 members and each wears a different mask. The masks are what sets each apart, and what their are mainly known for. Everyone in the band has their own "main duties", I guess you could call it, to the band. Some members do, however, contribute more than one of their talents. For example, band member Shawn "Clown" Crahan plays custom percussion as well as backing vocals (there are two members that play custom percussion and they are awesome). Their most recent album, "All Hope Is Gone" dropped in 2008 and got them their first gold record. They have been nominated for 7 Grammy awards and in 2006 after 5 previous nominations won for "Best Metal Performance" with their song Before I Forget. They were also nominated in 2009 for the same category.
As soon as all the lights when down, every single hand went up in that crowd and it was like a rush. I turned to Tori and said, "I'm actually WICKED pumped right now." And she agreed. In my own opinion even the worst band can put on a good live show, its all about the fans and how the crowd is feeling. When Slipknot came out I think they just stood on stage for a good 5 minutes, just stood there. They're very aware that their fains love them and frankly I think they could have just stood on stage and not played any music and everyone would have thought it was awesome. Anywho, they started playing and their stage presense is almost like one I've never seen before. Everyone had so much energy and they just loved what they were doing. I want to describe the stage set-up and everything that was going on but I can't. You would never get the effect by me just describing it. So, I took the liberty to go onto YouTube (obviously) and find a video. Now this is not in any way my video. This was taken the night before our tour stop by someone who I don't know. Where this person is sitting was pretty much where we were only they're a bit farther back. The title of the video is "Slipknot Sucks" but ignore it. Haha. Also, the audio isn't the best quality just because its a concert and everything is totally loud. If you can't stand listening to it, then just take the sound off. The point is to see the stage and everything that is going on around it. What I mainly want to point out, which was my favorite part of everything, is the two percussionists, one on the way left and one on the way right.the one on the left (closest) has a set that isn't totally held to the ground. Numerous times throughout the show he got ontop of the set and rocked it back and forth. I don't think it shows that in this video. The other set is on kind of a turn table. It goes up and down and spins. Also, on the front there is a TV and on the side there is a camera. The TV shows what the camera picks up, which I personally thought was really really cool. (Warning; If you do decide to listen to it, there may be some hearable profanity so prepare youself.)
Alright, now that that is over with.... :] Tori and I were both exhausted and didn't end up staying for the entire set. I heard my favorite song of theirs and so did she so we were both satisfied. We up and left I'd say about a half hour before the concert was over, and avoided traffic completely which is a good thing. I hate sitting in traffic after a long concert when all you want to do is take a shower and be in bed. Overall, I found the night to be greatly enjoyable. I always wanted to go to a Slipknot concert because I heard they put on a good show, and I'd say good is an understatement.
I also wanted to take this blog post to do a little music review. After reading all of that I don't think the video needs much of an intro. Anything I was going to say about Slipknot would have been said someplace in the text above. The song I picked is called Duality because it is my favorite song by them. There is some explicit language so once again prepare youself & enjoy! :]
If anything, I now really wish I went because I've wanted to see Slipknot live since I was 13 years old..Though their new stuff isnt to the best of their ability I think, you're right when you say they put on an amazing stage performance...plus Joey Jordison[drummer]..<3 enough said.
ReplyDelete-Joelle.
PS. You, down for the count?
ReplyDeleteI can't see that happening.
You could cause some serious damage to anyone if they messed with you or tori lol.