TesseracT was up first, and I had never listened to them before. I asked a dude there if they were any good, and he said they were great.
Some may like this progressive-metal band, and I understand that, but they bored me and Brad, earning them the genre title of 'bore-core'. You can thank me for that priceless clever remark. Brad remarked that the lead singer in all of the songs sounded like an angsty kid, and the lyrics were probably about how much he hated his mom or something. He also said that TesseracT should practically say "Okay, if you guys have never met the A and Fm chords, you'll feel like you've been best friends with them since the first grade!" because a lot of their songs just sounded the same, at least in that format.
A lot of their songs were rather lengthy too and you couldn't tell when they changed songs. I was looking forward to these guys, and I'm a bit disappointed. I can see where others may like these guys, don't get me wrong, not bashing on them if you're a fan, but I just don't like them.
Also, the guy should've screamed more than he sang.
Thankfully, Animals as Leaders was next, and they're an instrumental metal band.
Tosin Abasi is a great guitarist, and the guitarist who was with him, Javier Reyes, was pretty awesome too, the drummer, Navene Koperweis, wasn't bad either. They really ripped it up wit their instrumentals, and they were actually entertaining, with the screens up behind them, and the lighting. They put up a good show, and I was pleasantly surprised, because I didn't know what to expect from them. They didn't have a bassist though, which was weird, considering they have a bassist on the records.
What was also pretty cool was that Tosin worked with Misha 'Bulb' Mansoor of Periphery on the first album, no idea if he was on the second one though, and some of the instrumentals really did remind me of Periphery, so that was just awesome to hear them djenting it up on stage right in front of us.
But Tosin Abasi.. Man, he knows what he's doing.
Lastly, Between the Buried and Me hit the stage, and they hit it hard.
They started calmly. They wanted to create a calm atmosphere before they completely ripped it up. Once they started really getting into it, everything was great. I wasn't too completely into them before, but the concert makes me want to check out more of their material.
Thomas 'Tommy' Giles Roger is a brilliant vocalist for this band. He can scream his lungs out for an hour and not lose his voice, and he can sing pretty nicely too. The rest of the band was pretty awesome too. It seems like aside from Tommy, though, the band didn't move around much, except for Dan Briggs, the bassist, who was actually kinda entertaining to watch sometimes. The other members were too focused on just perfecting everything, while Tommy and Dan looked like they were the only ones really getting into it. I'm sure the other members were having fun, just not showing it like those two did.
Tommy has a great stage presence, though. He was entertaining to watch, as he'd switch from singing while playing the keyboard, to almost getting right up in the audience's face, screaming, while pumping his fist in the air, giving a kind of vibe that he didn't want to be the only one screaming, he wanted us all to scream every single word with him.
Kinda regretting I didn't get a picture with him. He seems like a pretty cool dude.
Plus, he apparently has pie. That's a plus.
Really kinda bummed they didn't play 'Informal Gluttony' though, also would have been nice to hear their cover of Faith No More's 'Malpractice', and one small thing that kinda bothered me, although it may have just been the fact that I was kind of tired, I thought the setlist went on maybe a song or two too long, but that very well could've just been me.
Also worth noting is that Tommy Rogers was on a track with Devin Townsend, 'Planet of the Apes' on 'Deconstruction' by the Devin Townsend Project earlier this year, so being within 50 feet of Tommy meant that in a way, I was near someone who knew Devin. That may be small to you, but it's pretty awesome to me.
One last complaint, and it's about the venue, not any of the bands, the venue was called Emo's, and every time I've been there, the people there are absolutely terrible. No, they aren't rude or anything, they just don't move to the music. They like to watch, and not move. Where the hell is the fun in that? BTBAM deserved to have a huge mosh pit, but apparently the kids up front were too afraid of getting hurt or something, but here's a tip; if you don't want to be in the mosh pit, get the hell out of the mosh pit.
It almost makes me not want to visit Emo's, despite some great bands coming there, because I know the crowd's going to be absolutely terrible. That sucks. If you just want to stand there and watch, stay towards the back. If you actually want to move, move towards the front. Is that really too complicated for these people to understand? I'm not saying get right in the mosh pit and beat the hell out of each other, I'm just saying that these people should move or dance or something. Standing there, watching the band with your arms crossed isn't fun, and I'm sure the band doesn't like it that terribly much either to see you just observing them like a precious specimen, and not visibly enjoying the music they made. The music you paid to see and hear.
Overall, the beginning was weak, but it got better and I had fun, and I think Brad did too. That or he's a great pretender!
If you went to the concert and somehow came across this, how did you feel about it? And if you didn't go, if you've seen any of these bands live before, how did you feel about it?
Tosin Abasi is a great guitarist, and the guitarist who was with him, Javier Reyes, was pretty awesome too, the drummer, Navene Koperweis, wasn't bad either. They really ripped it up wit their instrumentals, and they were actually entertaining, with the screens up behind them, and the lighting. They put up a good show, and I was pleasantly surprised, because I didn't know what to expect from them. They didn't have a bassist though, which was weird, considering they have a bassist on the records.What was also pretty cool was that Tosin worked with Misha 'Bulb' Mansoor of Periphery on the first album, no idea if he was on the second one though, and some of the instrumentals really did remind me of Periphery, so that was just awesome to hear them djenting it up on stage right in front of us.
But Tosin Abasi.. Man, he knows what he's doing.
Lastly, Between the Buried and Me hit the stage, and they hit it hard.
They started calmly. They wanted to create a calm atmosphere before they completely ripped it up. Once they started really getting into it, everything was great. I wasn't too completely into them before, but the concert makes me want to check out more of their material.
Thomas 'Tommy' Giles Roger is a brilliant vocalist for this band. He can scream his lungs out for an hour and not lose his voice, and he can sing pretty nicely too. The rest of the band was pretty awesome too. It seems like aside from Tommy, though, the band didn't move around much, except for Dan Briggs, the bassist, who was actually kinda entertaining to watch sometimes. The other members were too focused on just perfecting everything, while Tommy and Dan looked like they were the only ones really getting into it. I'm sure the other members were having fun, just not showing it like those two did.
Tommy has a great stage presence, though. He was entertaining to watch, as he'd switch from singing while playing the keyboard, to almost getting right up in the audience's face, screaming, while pumping his fist in the air, giving a kind of vibe that he didn't want to be the only one screaming, he wanted us all to scream every single word with him.
Kinda regretting I didn't get a picture with him. He seems like a pretty cool dude.
Plus, he apparently has pie. That's a plus.
Really kinda bummed they didn't play 'Informal Gluttony' though, also would have been nice to hear their cover of Faith No More's 'Malpractice', and one small thing that kinda bothered me, although it may have just been the fact that I was kind of tired, I thought the setlist went on maybe a song or two too long, but that very well could've just been me.
Also worth noting is that Tommy Rogers was on a track with Devin Townsend, 'Planet of the Apes' on 'Deconstruction' by the Devin Townsend Project earlier this year, so being within 50 feet of Tommy meant that in a way, I was near someone who knew Devin. That may be small to you, but it's pretty awesome to me.
One last complaint, and it's about the venue, not any of the bands, the venue was called Emo's, and every time I've been there, the people there are absolutely terrible. No, they aren't rude or anything, they just don't move to the music. They like to watch, and not move. Where the hell is the fun in that? BTBAM deserved to have a huge mosh pit, but apparently the kids up front were too afraid of getting hurt or something, but here's a tip; if you don't want to be in the mosh pit, get the hell out of the mosh pit.
It almost makes me not want to visit Emo's, despite some great bands coming there, because I know the crowd's going to be absolutely terrible. That sucks. If you just want to stand there and watch, stay towards the back. If you actually want to move, move towards the front. Is that really too complicated for these people to understand? I'm not saying get right in the mosh pit and beat the hell out of each other, I'm just saying that these people should move or dance or something. Standing there, watching the band with your arms crossed isn't fun, and I'm sure the band doesn't like it that terribly much either to see you just observing them like a precious specimen, and not visibly enjoying the music they made. The music you paid to see and hear.
Overall, the beginning was weak, but it got better and I had fun, and I think Brad did too. That or he's a great pretender!
If you went to the concert and somehow came across this, how did you feel about it? And if you didn't go, if you've seen any of these bands live before, how did you feel about it?
