Kreator/Kataklysm/Evile/Lightning Swords of Death/Lazarus AD concert tonight!

[Hellbat]

Starting to get ready to rock out tonight! I'm getting off work early to get my proper beer on before the show.

[RacerX]

That is a bitchin' lineup! Isn't a dude in Evile a JCFer? I'm gonna go check for a tour listing...

[RacerX]

says Mar 23 House of Blues Hollywood...hmmmm....next Tuesday...

[Hellbat]

Yeah the singer/rythym guitar player Matt posts here now and again.

I think his userid is Evilematt or something similar. I'll update tomorrow with my thoughts on the show.

[Hellbat]

I prepped for the concert by making a stop at Scrape Records and blowing almost $250 buying the entire Nevermore back catalog (I didn't start listening to them until This Godless Endeavor), a couple of Paul Gilbert vids and CD, Vinnie Moore Minds Eye, and the first Metal Church CD.

So the show was at the Rickshaw theater. I've never been to this venue before, it opened some time in the last year. It is right in the heart of the SEEDY part of downtown though. Being surrounded by hookers and meth/crack heads definitely increased the metal show ambience though. My first shock was, at this venue they sell beer during concerts. My second was they sell it in cans. At first I thought these could come in to play at some point and it did. Oh, I forgot to mention security doesn't do pat-downs at this venue so you can bring in anything that will fit in your pocket. I saw a lot of flasks/bottles and of course prodigious amounts of weed.

It was kind of wierd, the doors were supposed to open at 7:00 and we were there lined up for about 15 minutes before they let anyone in. When we finally got in the first band, Lightning Swords of Death was already halfway into their set. :dunno:

They were okay. The singer I believe said they were from "Southern California", but they really had the Norweigan Black Metal sound going on at the show with lots of tremolo picked rythym lines and screaming/cookie vocals. The best part of this band was the bass player who looked/acted very much like the dude from Venom, except he had a big monkey-butt bald spot and could actually play his instrument. We got about two and a half songs from these guys and the singer left the stage with "Thank you Vancouver, we will be back for more black rituals in the future!" (You need to cookie it for the full impact... )

Up next was Lazarus AD. These guys were pretty good. Looks like this band have a group sponsorship deal going with LTD guitars as the instruments looked custom and brand new, but all had LTD logos. The lead guitartist was pretty decent but not one of those guys where you hear a solo and go "Thats that guy!" The guy on rythym has a wicked right hand and could summon the "Pings of Wyldness" at will.

Up next was Evile. They played a great set, but a little shorter than I'd have liked. They had the best sound of the evening of all the bands. Matt was playing I believe a white RR24 through Peavy head and a Carvin 4x12? Had the classic 5150/6505 presence roar. Ol's solos cut through the mix better than the other bands too. I don't know what gear he uses but he kills. My only complaints would be the bass was a little hard to hear (probably venue issue, it's a concrete box) and the drummer was pushing the beat a little too hard sometimes. It was kind of like the muppets. faster! FASTAAAAR! I would absolutely see them again live.

Kataklysm was decent. Like the first two bands, I don't really know their stuff so I don't know how well the pulled it off. Good energy and they tried to work the crowd along and really got the stage divers going. Unfortunately this is where the beer started kicking in to the crowd.

After they left the stage someone threw on Johnny Cash over the PA system. There were audio cabling problems with the soundboard between teardown and setup for Kreator so the wait between bands was probably about 35-40 minutes. They kept fuggin Johnny Cash playing for the whole time as well as feeding beers to the crowd. While the tech was onstage a few idiots started throwing beer cans at the stage, which prompted the tech to point the guy out and make him stand still until security could get to him. At which point they very sternly told him to not do it anymore...

Kreator came out and played a great set that was interrupted between songs with the singer asking people to stop throwing beer cans at the band all the time. They also were very anti-anybody touching the stage so it was a tough night because the previous band had encouraged it from the crowd.

Anyways it was a fine show and well worth the $34 or so the ticket cost me.

[guitarsjb]

Lazarus AD are pretty good. Nice guys too.

Doors NEVER open on time here, so that strikes me a completely normal lol.

Sounds like it was good time.

[hunter1970]

Hey Jeri how did the Chronicles Of Mayhem show down in Lawton turn out last night,I mean with the snow and everything