Tag: Concert Reviews

On This Day in History

Written By Braddon S. Williams aka “The Concert Critic”

On this date in history, 10/30/21, Black Label Society, Obituary, and Prong staged an epic Halloween Eve invasion at Bogart’s in Cincinnati, OH.

This was my first time at the venerable rock club and it was definitely a memorable experience. Prong wasted no time in getting the enthusiastic audience involved in their thrash-y groove metal. Lead singer/guitarist Tommy Victor remains a bundle of energy, and his joy for playing live music is contagious after 30 years in the business.

Although their set was relatively short, Prong filled it with fan favorites like Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck and their mix was rock solid, the power trio sounding like a much larger band.

Next up was the mighty Obituary, one of the founding fathers of Death Metal. Prong had warmed up the crowd quite well, but Obituary effortlessly took us to a ravenous threshold with their crushing sound. The bedrock duo of drummer Donald Tardy and bassist Terry Butler delivered this massive bottom end that anchored the monstrous riffs of rhythm guitar mainstay Trevor Peres and the scalding leads of Ken Andrews.

Topping off the death metal ferocity was John Tardy’s distinctive roar. I would have expected a more ominous set of facial expressions befitting the subject matter of their material, but Obituary smiled a lot, too. Their setlist was full of brutality, including Slowly We Rot, A Lesson In Vengeance, Turned Inside Out, Deadly Intentions, Chopped In Half, Straight To Hell, and a cover of Celtic Frost’s Circle Of The Tyrants.

Obituary’s lights and sound were excellent, with suitably Halloween friendly hues of deep greens, purples and reds throughout.

Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society put the icing on the cake with a thrilling display of musical muscle, Wylde’s distinctive earthy vocal style, and a catalog of great songs. It had been a long while since I had last seen BLS, dating back to the Ozzfest days, so I was unaware that Zakk had a guitar player in his band that is on Zakk’s playing level. Dario Lorina traded leads with Zakk in a number of songs (most effectively in a segment where both guitarists played with their instruments behind their heads in a jaw dropping display of guitar gymnastics). Lorina also covered the emotional solos in the tribute to Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul, In This River. Wylde sat at an electric piano and sang the heartfelt lyrics to this highlight portion of the show. Other BLS classics like Bleed For Me, Demise Of Sanity, Fire It Up, The Blessed Hellride, Spoke In The Wheel, Overlord, Suicide Messiah, and Stillborn were played with passion, precision, and power.

I was quite impressed with the bass playing of John DeServio and drumming of Jeff Fabb. Those guys are monster players who sometimes get lost in the shadows of Zakk’s super sized persona, presence, and talent. Make no mistake: Black Label Society is a BAND, and a supremely talented one at that.

I love the diversity in this tour lineup. Each group delivered a distinctive style and it all meshed together into a thrilling evening of larger than life metal music. My wife and I will be back for more at Bogart’s without a doubt.

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On This Day in History

Written By Braddon S. Williams AKA “The Concert Critic”

On this date in history, 2/25/2020, I got to see my favorite band in the world deliver a monumental performance at Old National Centre’s Egyptian Room.

The band I’m talking about is Opeth, from Stockholm, Sweden…and they brought another excellent Swedish band along to open the show, Graveyard.

I have been lamenting the state of how too much of modern rock and metal is all starting to sound the same in the way it is produced. Graveyard was such a pleasant surprise by virtue of the fact that they sounded like they just teleported in from 1973. They had this bluesy, analog vibe that was equal parts vintage Sabbath and Zeppelin, but still sounded fresh and original. I thoroughly enjoyed their overall tone and plan to check out some of their studio work.

This was my third time seeing Opeth, and they continue to raise the bar in every possible way; sound, lights, the hilarious between songs banter (a long discussion about the Bloodbath song, Eaten, was spontaneous and lots of fun), and of course the masterful songs.

Touring in support of their latest masterpiece, In Cauda Venenum (Latin translation: Venom In The Tail), Opeth’s music is a breathtaking blend of styles generally labeled either progressive metal or progressive rock. Whatever direction the music takes, it is all played with utter precision and passion.

Each member of the band contributes so much to the overall sound. Martin “Axe” Axenrot supplies the complex drumming that drives the machine, Martin Mendez brings the melodic and powerful bass that holds everything together, Joakim Svalberg plays a wide variety of keyboards that bring in tons of ambience and emotional impact, and also contributes strong backing vocals. Frederik Akesson provides lethal lead guitar work and did much more singing at this show than I have heard him do before (and he has a great voice). Opeth’s leader and chief songwriter, Mikael Akerfeldt, completes the other half of the lead guitar tag team and serves as the amazing lead vocalist…serving up equal amounts of lush clean tones and brutal death metal growls, often in the same song.

Because of their lengthy compositions, the actual song count was relatively short, but 3 songs from In Cauda Venenum made it into the show, and all were magnificent, holding their own with such Opeth favorites as Moon Above, Sun Below, The Leper Affinity, and The Lotus Eater. An incredible encore of Sorceress and the perfection of the final song, Deliverance, put Opeth’s stage time at just over 2 hours.

I have to give a shout out to the audience, too. Everyone was quite vocal during Mikael’s speeches throughout the set, providing a lot of laughter and general happiness, which is always a great addition to a show. The overall atmosphere was pretty euphoric.

This band’s fans are passionate beyond any doubt. Opeth continues to fearlessly explore new territories and make music in their own image. It’s been over a week since the show, and I remain massively inspired!

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On This Day in History

Written By Braddon S. Williams aka “The Concert Critic”

On this date in history, 2/11/2020, I started my year of concerts with an inspiring club show by Machine Head.

The Vogue in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis was the intimate venue for a rampaging 3 hour performance by the venerable metal band led by Robert Flynn.

Machine Head were in town in celebration of the 25th anniversary of their debut album, Burn My Eyes, which they played in its entirety during the second half of their marathon display of metal superiority. For me, personally, it was a revelation to see this band get such a great opportunity to stretch their musical muscles. I had previously seen Machine Head 3 times, but always as part of a festival setting, with constricted time limits. I was beyond impressed at the endurance of Rob Flynn’s vocal chords. The man has a superhuman set of pipes, and definitely wasn’t holding back at any point in the show.

During the first set, Flynn led the reconstituted lineup (last year, longtime lead guitarist Phil Demmel and drummer Dave McClain left the band) featuring Waclaw “Vogg” Kieltyka, drummer Matt Alston, and bassist/vocalist Jared MacEachern through a strong list of fan favorites that covered a wide range of material from various phases of the band’s career.

Kieltyka, a veteran of bands such as Decapitated, Lux Occulta, and Vader, was particularly impressive, playing a mixture of lead styles with ferocity, complexity, and soaring tone that cut through the mix to perfection.

Robert Flynn has grown into a pretty fierce lead guitarist, also, and he went toe to toe with his new partner in several thrilling displays of pyrotechnic guitar battles.

Flynn is a master at getting the audience involved in the action, and he had the small but vocal crowd singing along at every chance, and incited boisterous circle pits throughout the evening.

Some of the highlights from the first set included the massive opener, Imperium, savage versions of Take My Scars, Beautiful Mourning, Locust, I Am Hell (Sonata in C#), Aesthetics Of Hate, Ten Ton Hammer, and Halo. My personal favorite was Darkness Within, where Flynn strummed chords and delivered a 7 minute speech that began on a lighthearted note and gradually became a passionate description of the power that music has to lift us out of depression, eventually beginning the song on solo acoustic guitar and then building into a colossal crescendo of power from the full band, ending with the entire audience vocalizing the melody of the song under Flynn’s direction…a totally breathtaking experience.

After Halo closed the first act on an amazing high note of musical bliss, Flynn brought out original Machine Head members Logan Mader (lead guitar), and Chris Kontos (drums), to pulverize the faithful with a blistering gallop through Burn My Eyes.

Kicking off with the massive tour-de-force Davidian, through other ragers like Old, A Thousand Lies, None But My Own, Blood For Blood, and I’m Your God Now, Machine Head consistently played as if they were headlining a stadium gig instead of a less than capacity club. Before the crushing finale of Block, Flynn and the boys treated us to a medley of Metallica, White Zombie, and Slayer classics that comprised Welcome Home (Sanitarium), One, Seek and Destroy, Thunder Kiss ’65, South Of Heaven, and Raining Blood, that was pure magic!

At the end of the show, Machine Head brought out bags full of guitar picks commemorating the event, and made sure that most of the crowd got at least one. In truth, we got much more than that. We got an evening with a band that proved their love of music beyond all doubt, and delivered a performance of phenomenal power.

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On This Day in History

Written By Braddon S. Williams aka “The Concert Critic”

On this date in history, 11/29/2019, I saw Steel Panther for the 4th consecutive year.

The spandex clad comedic rockers brought their Heavy Metal Rules Tour to Indy’s Old National Centre’s Egyptian Room for an evening of fun and debauchery.

Opening the show was Snakeskin Cowboy, a local band who played a set of original material that was well received by the audience.

Next up was Stitched Up Heart, a Los Angeles band who used too much in the way of artificial ingredients, i.e. backing tracks, for my taste. Their singer was pretty and sparkly, and I guess their music was, too. They weren’t terrible, but they certainly didn’t do much to make me want to listen to them again, either. Coincidentally, the Indianapolis Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker was going on at the same time as Steel Panther’s performance in the adjacent Murat Theatre, and the boys wasted no time (and no opportunities) to make hilarious comments about the ballet.

I have noticed that every Steel Panther show follows a basic blueprint. The band comes out with a couple of songs, then go into about 10 minutes of their decidedly raunchy standup routine, followed by more tunes, more comedy, and eventually a bunch of happy women from the audience conducting an on stage dance party with the band.

Oh yes, and a lot of throwing and catching (and sometimes dropping) of singer Michael Starr’s various hats!

Somewhere in the middle of the show, guitarist Satchel provides a face melting display of guitar wizardry during his obligatory center stage guitar solo.

Bassist (and resident sex symbol) Lexxi Foxx got to do a Hair solo when Satchel and Starr brought out leaf blowers to send his outrageous locks into dramatic propulsion. And don’t forget the power ballads (usually at least one of which is sung directly to a hot babe from the audience).

On this night we were lucky to hear both Weenie Ride and Community Property, both played to perfection with the entire crowd joyously singing every word.

Steel Panther dropped 3 songs from their latest album, Heavy Metal Rules, the irresistibly catchy All I Wanna Do Is Fuck (Myself Tonight), I Ain’t Buying What You’re Selling, and Fuck Everybody.

The opener, Eyes Of A Panther was a fantastic way to start the show, and crowd favorites Asian Hooker, Let Me Cum In, Poontang Boomerang, and 17 Girls In A Row were all high energy explosions of fun.

The show ended with the headbanging, name dropping Death To All But Metal and then encored with Glory Hole.

Even though there is definitely a pattern to all this entertainment, no two Steel Panther shows are ever the same, and that is precisely why I will keep coming back for more.

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On This Day in History

Written By Braddon S. Williams aka “The Concert Critic”

On this date in history, 11/25/2019, I attended my second Alice Cooper show of the year, titled “An Evening With Alice Cooper”, at the prestigious Old National Centre’s Murat Theatre. In a weird way this concert felt extremely reassuring and satisfying. This requires a bit of explanation, because I have never seen a bad Alice Cooper show. However, some have been more awesome and awe-inspiring than others, and the previous show (July 11 at the Honeywell Center in Wabash, IN) just seemed to be lacking that extra spark. As a matter of fact, the show I caught at the Murat Theatre last year was similar, in that I felt like Alice might have been either a little tired or possibly not feeling 100%.

Whatever the case may be, Alice was totally in command on this night, fully energized and singing like a much younger version of himself. Of course, the band have all become rock stars in their own right, and the entire production is seamless and dazzling in every possible way.

Song wise, the show was virtually identical to the Honeywell performance with the one change being the addition of He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask), complete with Jason Voorhees murdering a pair of young people trying to take an onstage selfie. When Jason made a menacing move on Nita Strauss, Alice stepped in and stopped the horror icon from claiming another victim!

Strauss, Ryan Roxie, and Tommy Henriksen all shared lead guitar duties and executed all facets of Cooper’s historic catalog with gusto. The phenomenal Glen Sobel once again dropped an incredible drum solo, and Chuck Garric held down the bottom end in style (and bared his impressive abs…who could blame him?).

I don’t even need to re-state my love of Alice’s music, but Roses On White Lace, Escape, Steven, Muscle Of Love, Devil’s Food, and the band showcase on The Black Widow were all insanely fun for this lifelong Alice Cooper fanatic. Now I need to find a way to see a Hollywood Vampires show to make my Alice experience complete.

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On This Day in History

Written By Braddon S. Williams aka “The Concert Critic”

Cathy Flynn, WickedGoddessPhotography.Com

On this date in history, 11/16/2019, King Diamond brought The Institute North American Tour to the exquisite Palace Theatre in Louisville, KY. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats and Idle Hands were the support bands for this incredible evening of diverse styles of heavy music and dramatic visuals.

Both opening bands were handpicked by the King and they brought headliner worthy performances to prime the capacity crowd for the main attraction.

Idle Hands started the night with a great set of goth tinged melodic hard rock. Their singer, clad all in black, resembled a spookier Joey Ramone, and impressed me with his voice and his stage presence. Of course, the stage itself is marvelous, as is the elegant theater that hosted this collection of thrilling artists.

The Louisville Palace opened in 1928 and seats a capacity of 2800, making this an intimate experience for everyone in the theater. I don’t know how many metal acts have played there, but this place was tailor made for the King Diamond experience. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats took advantage of the high ceiling by use of a large screen hanging above them on which they projected an ever-changing barrage of trippy imagery to accompany their sludgy brand of doom metal. The four piece band from Britain were energetic and resembled classic ’70’s hard rock bands with their long hair flying and their twin guitar attack set to take no prisoners.

As good as the warmup bands were (and they were both great!), there was no confusion about who the crowd was there to see, and King Diamond’s arrival was greeted with a thunderous ovation as he was wheeled out of a door in the center of the gigantic stage set which was designed as a multiple leveled interior of a mental institution. Songs from a number of Diamond’s best albums provided a loose thread of continuity for the visual dynamics that King Diamond excels at, and favorites included Funeral, Arrival, Halloween, A Mansion In Darkness, Out From The Asylum, Welcome Home, and The Lake. One new song, Masquerade Of Madness, held its own among the classics, and an encore of Burn and Black Horsemen (dedicated to the recently departed Timi Hansen) brought the night to a thoughtful and deeply satisfying close.

Diamond’s band was phenomenal throughout, with guitarists Andy LaRocque and Mike Wead delivering consistently jaw dropping playing. Diamond’s eerie falsetto (ably assisted by Livia Vita) sounded glorious in the flawless acoustics of the venerable Palace Theatre. The entire set built up a palpable anticipation of the upcoming double album, which is certain to add to King Diamond’s already supreme arsenal of music, both as a solo artist and as the singer of Mercyful Fate.

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On This Day in History

Written By Braddon S. Williams aka “The Concert Critic”

On this date in history, 11/11/2019, my girlfriend and I traveled to Kentucky to see Slayer one last time (or maybe not…who really knows?) as part of the Final Campaign.

This concert was held at the KFC (Yum!) Center, a terrific venue with both visual and audio superiority. Along for the show this time around were Primus, Ministry, and Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals (performing a Vulgar Display of PanterA).

I have now seen Slayer 4 times in 4 different states on this farewell world tour, and I have written about each show believing it was the end. Well, I guess I knew at Riot Fest that I still had this one lined up, but at any rate I knew the end was getting close.

First things first: Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals opened the festivities with a blistering set of PanterA classics, including A New Level, Strength Beyond Strength, This Love, Fucking Hostile, Yesterday Don’t Mean Shit, and Walk. They also slid in the verse from Goddamn Electric that name checks Slayer, “Your choices are whisky and weed and Slayer, it’s Goddamn Electric!” to great effect.

Anselmo’s voice has undergone a lot of changes over his years of smoking and other forms of abuse, but he still cuts an impressive presence on stage, and had the assembled metal masses pretty hyped throughout the Illegals’ admirable job of covering the mighty PanterA.

Next up was the Industrial Metal fury of Ministry, a band I last saw in 1992. I was ecstatic to discover that Al Jourgenson and co. haven’t mellowed in the least, and they delivered a virtual greatest hits beatdown complete with a light show that threatened to put the entire crowd in seizures.

Among my personal highlights were Stigmata, Just One Fix, N.W.O., Thieves, and an absolutely ballistic Jesus Built My Hot Rod. I sincerely hope I get a chance to see Ministry again real soon.

Primus brought their unique brand of quirkiness, odd lyrical concepts, and staggering musicianship, along with some of the best bass playing (and bass SOUND) I have ever experienced. I hadn’t seen the Primus experience since the late ’90’s, and, like Ministry, they reminded me forcefully of what a thrilling live act they can be.

Les Claypool guided the trio through epic Primus material including Those Damned Blue Collar Tweakers, Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver, Sgt. Baker, Mr. Krinkle, Too Many Puppies, My Name Is Mud, and Jerry Was A Race Car Driver.

As much as I loved all the opening acts and the sheer diversity in musical offerings; the evening belonged to Slayer. I don’t know what I can add about Slayer that I haven’t already said before, but their level of consistency and intensity during this long journey to the end of their touring life has been astonishing.

Tom Araya, Kerry King, Gary Holt, and Paul Bostaph are going out in glorious fashion, maintaining the monumental legacy of Slayer at each stop of the tour, performing like a hungry upstart band with worlds still to conquer, and the adoration that radiates between the band and the fans is a palpable force.

As I have said before, at the end of each show, Tom Araya lingers longer and longer, storing up the love and the memories, and I know I’m not alone in feeling that he is truly the one who is retiring, but as the voice of the band, Slayer goes when Tom goes.

In rock and metal, most bands that retire wind up returning after a time…so as I do in real life, I won’t say goodbye…I’ll just say “See Ya!” I hope you guys have a wonderful retirement. You’ve certainly earned it…but if you want to come back in a few years, us Slayer fanatics won’t be mad…and we’ll be ready!

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On This Day in History

Written By Braddon S. Williams aka “ The Concert Critic”

On this date in history, 11/2/2019, Reggie’s Rock Club in Chicago hosted a superb triple bill show featuring John 5 And The Creatures, Jared James Nichols, and Reverend Jack. The Invasion Tour 2019 was packed with amazing performances and featured one big time surprise guest artist.

First things first…Reggie’s Rock Club is a really small, intimate and nicely set up place to witness live music, complete with top notch sound and lights. The visibility was excellent and contributed to the entire crowd being treated to that wonderful feeling of energy exchanged between performers and audience.

Reverend Jack started the night with an absolutely KILLER set of original bluesy Southern hard rock. These guys have so much potential to really break big. They are young, have great songs and energized stage presence, but most of all they have this singer named Eric Harmon, and he has one of the best set of pure rock vocal pipes I have heard in years. I knew before the first song was over that this guy has a special gift, and the fact that the lead guitarist and bassist add strong harmony vocal support just adds to the magic.

Near the end of their set, they played a cover of Midnight Rider by The Allman Brothers Band and made it a streamlined muscular slab of modern rock, complete with 3 part harmony a capella vocal intro…Bravo, guys! I expect them to do big things for a long time to come.

Next up was Jared James Nichols and his fiery blues based hard rock. Performing as a power trio, Nichols and company wasted no time in keeping the momentum going with tight playing and Nichols’ passionate vocals. His voice was a pleasant surprise for me, because I had only heard his guitar work prior to this show. I follow him on Instagram and knew he was a blazing lead guitar player, but his voice fit perfectly with his larger than life soloing. Nichols is a tall guy with a great head of hair that brings to mind the lion’s mane of Robert Plant in Zeppelin’s heyday, and between the hair and the animated faces he makes when he is soloing makes him super entertaining to watch.

At the midpoint of his set, Nichols brought out a young man named Peter to play a song and it was a beautiful thing to see the joy radiating from Peter’s face. He proved to be a pretty good player, too, trading leads with Jared James and receiving a thunderous ovation from the appreciative crowd. This simple gesture of kindness, coupled with his obvious talents gained Jared James Nichols a big fan (me), or possibly a whole room of them.

John 5 And The Creatures finished the night with a jaw dropping display of musical muscle, navigating through a dizzying myriad of styles including metal, country, bluegrass, funk, and even a little jazz.

John 5’s playing is breathtaking, full of precision, flash, and passion…and always emanating the man’s obvious love of the guitar featuring lots of Halloween themed stage props and a properly sinister light show.

The insanely tight trio kept the pace moving at a breakneck pace. Midway through their show John spoke to us in several humorous song introductions and proved himself to be the humble and likeable person that could give Dave Grohl a run for his money in the Nicest Guy In Rock Music Category.

To our delight, Charle Benante, the supernaturally gifted drummer from Anthrax was at the show and joined the guys on stage for a crusher of an improvised jam session.

John 5 delivered a fun filled medley of classic song intros featuring songs by Rush, Van Halen, Rage Against The Machine, Metallica, Kiss, Megadeth, White Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Motley Crue, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Queen, The Police, PanterA, and even The Knack (remember My Sharona? lol).

The band came out for an encore, and apparently had run out of songs, resorting to having to do one they hadn’t rehearsed (of course they nailed it!). I love shows like this one, with new discoveries and new venues.

I first saw John 5 back in 1999 when he was with Marilyn Manson, and have seen him many times with Rob Zombie, but it was incredibly satisfying to see him stretching his wings and demonstrating his full potential as a guitarist and band leader. I will definitely be back for more of all three of these bands if I get the chance.

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On This Day in History

Written By Braddon S. Williams aka “The Concert Critic”

UFO Band Circa 1970

On this date in history, 10/24/2019, I finally got to see UFO again! It had been 41 years since I saw the venerable English hard rock stalwarts open for Rush back in 1978, at the old Market Square Arena in downtown Indianapolis.

This time around, they played a fantastic show at the Honeywell Center in Wabash, IN. Opening the show was Last In Line, featuring songs from the late Ronnie James Dio, as well as originals from the band’s 2 albums.

Last In Line is comprised of Vinnie Appice on drums, Phil Soussan on bass, Vivian Campbell on guitar, and Andrew Freeman on vocals.

I was impressed with the songs that they composed together, and blown away by the Dio songs, particularly Holy Diver, We Rock, Rainbow In The Dark, and the song the band got their name from, The Last In Line. One minor criticism; I felt that Freeman spent too much time getting the audience to sing the songs, especially considering the fact that the guy has a really strong voice that does ample justice to the legacy of the great Ronnie James Dio.

All three of the musicians delivered outstanding contributions; Campbell’s lead guitar work was blazing, Appice’s drum sound was huge and his playing was right in the pocket, and Soussan sang some nice backing vocals in addition to his solid bass guitar style. All in all, I was thrilled to have such a great opening band for UFO’s final tour.

As I mentioned before, it has been a long time since my 16 year old self saw UFO from the 10th row at what was only my 9th concert ever, and I was curious to see if they still had that magic I remembered so fondly. It took mere seconds to confirm that they did indeed retain that signature sound that made me an instant fan upon release of their magnificent live album, Strangers In The Night. Over the course of their set on this most satisfying night of music, UFO served up song after song of powerful riffs, tantalizing melodic hooks, singalong choruses that get stuck in the listener’s head for days, absolutely glorious guitar solos, and the charming presence and still fantastic voice (at 71 years old) of Mr. Phil Mogg, who has fronted the band since its formation in 1968. Pretty much all of my favorite songs were on display…Too Hot To Handle, Cherry, Hot ‘n Ready, Mother Mary, Only You Can Rock Me, and Rock Bottom (complete with Vinnie Moore’s display of guitar wizardry). UFO returned for an encore of Doctor, Doctor and Shoot Shoot and wished us a Happy Halloween and Merry Christmas, never making a big deal of this being their final tour, but for me and many others it is definitely a major event.

As I told my friend on the way out, “They just don’t make bands like that anymore!” Thanks for the music UFO…you were great when I was 16, and you’re still amazing to me at 57. Respect!

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On This Day in History

Written By Braddon S. Williams aka “The Concert Critic”

On this date in history, 10/12/2019, I saw a trio of bands for the first time at a venue I had never visited before. Jinjer, The Browning, and Sumo Cyco performed at Riverfront Live in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Riverfront Live was pretty impressive, with great sound, lights, and overall visibility. It had a friendly atmosphere and provided a high level of intimacy between bands and patrons.

Sumo Cyco kicked things off with a high energy attack full of movement and punk/metal riffs. Led by the dynamic Skye “Sever” Sweetnam. The Canadian band utilized their limited stage space and set time to the fullest extent, opting to get the crowd participating early. Sweetnam went into the crowd several times and at one point got everyone in the pit area to get down on the floor and wait for her cue as the band vamped away on a mosh inducing riff. When she gave them the sign, the eager fans knew what to do and the singer was suddenly back on stage as the circle pit swirled in front of her.

On a critical level I felt that their guitar player had a tinny tone to his amp, but that may not have been his fault. The opening acts are sometimes prone to not getting the full use of the PA. I also got the impression that their stage moves were a little contrived at times, as if they had practiced hard to look spontaneous. At least they were constantly moving…the effort paid off as their crowd response testified.

Next up were The Browning, from Kansas City, Missouri. I had to do a little research on them to see what musical style they were described as playing. They are listed on Wikipedia as Metalcore, Electronicore, Deathcore, and Crunkcore. That’s a lot of cores, but I must admit I hated their sound within the first 20 seconds they were on stage. The EDM stuff just didn’t seem to fit with the metal stuff, and then there was the super annoying visual aspect of the spinning guitar player. I have to hand it to the guy; he had stellar equilibrium without a doubt. But his playing was monotonous and tedious. If he practiced his instrument as much as he practiced his stage moves, perhaps the band’s music would be more interesting. I found the singer’s constant hype attack pretty pointless, too. The crowd was into it, though, and they had some great pit action going.

I’ve been to enough shows to know that when an audience is in the mood they will mosh to Justin Bieber (just kidding…or am I?) so crowd response is not always synonymous with the quality of the music.

Speaking of quality music, Jinjer saved the night with an electrifying, outstanding display of talent, confidence, and inspired song craft. Jinjer hails from Donetsk, Ukraine, and features a blend of many different styles, making their music both progressive and unpredictable. Front woman Tatiana Shmailyuk possesses a set of seemingly indestructible vocal chords, and uses them to alternately sing beautiful melodies and switch to demonic gutturals in nearly the same breath. Jinjer’s musicians (guitarist, bassist, and drummer) all provide enormous amounts of dexterity on their respective instruments, weaving emotional landscapes that change in subtle and sometimes jarring combinations to suit Tatiana’s flights of vocal fancy.

From the opening blast of Teacher, Teacher to the final chords of Cloud Factory, Jinjer had the place bouncing.

They played a song called On The Top for the first time live and from the sounds of the response, it will become a regular fixture on their play list. Several other songs that really impressed me were Judgement (And Punishment), I Speak Astronomy, Retrospection, and Outlander. Jinjer returned for an encore, playing Pisces and Captain Clock, leaving the stage to a huge and well deserved ovation. Like the time I recently saw Avatar for the first time, I left this show feeling like I had just witnessed a band on the verge of blowing wide open.

Jinjer is poised on the brink of some huge success…mark my words!

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