Run For It Marty!!!

By Eric | June 29, 2007 10:20 am

“Oh, my God, they found me, I don’t know how, but they found me.”

Apparently, somehow, someway, my crappy little website caught the attention of the fans of Dir En Grey, and since I pretty much blasted the band in the review from the Deftones show awhile back, they’ve been trying to critique my review in the comments. I tried to reason (ha!) with one of them, and then another popped up. And I just don’t have the time or energy to debate my opinions of a forgettable opening band with overzealous fans of said band. So I figured I’d just close out the comments with this:

Wow, I see the “Dir En Grey Shitty Review Rebuttal Team” has been deployed in full-force. I get it, my review wasn’t terribly detailed, and you all are trying to point out the error of my ways. Thanks, point taken. I don’t care how “grossly disappointed” anyone is in my reviews, because the reviews are primarily for me, and my personal recollections of the show. Period.

I guess I’m grateful that anyone even found my site, let alone decided to comment on it. But seriously, no one reads this site besides my family and friends, which is about 15 people, tops. I’m sure your collective energy could be spent for far greater gains elsewhere on the internet. Debating opinions with someone who just does this for my own concert recollections just isn’t an effective use of your time.

Anyway, we caught Will Hoge at Thursday in the Square yesterday, so that review will be up shortly. There shouldn’t be any controversy about this one, since it will be a glowing review, and there were no other opening bands. Unless, of course, the Joan Osborne fans come out of the woodwork and slam me for not staying. 🙂

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06/28/2007 Will Hoge (Buffalo, NY @ Thursday in the Square)

By Eric | June 28, 2007 11:47 pm

So after hearing about how great live he was from Tiff, and hearing the various live albums he’s put out, I finally got to see Will Hoge in person. And he didn’t disappoint. The singer/songwriter from Nashville brought his rock/blues/soul revue to Thursday in the Square, and pretty much rocked the place. We heard more than a few comments around us to the tune of “We don’t know who he is, but he’s pretty damn good!”. They opened up with Secondhand Heart, She Don’t Care About Me, and then ripped into The Man Who Killed Love, which got the juices flowing. After a bit of an extended jam on that one, they slowed it down for Someone Else’s Baby, but not before tuning in the local radio station over their monitors! The band then picked it back up with Sweet Magdeline. Woman Be Strong, and Ms. Williams, before getting a bit more serious with Bible Vs. Gun. Back to the rollicking fun stuff with Wait Till Your Daddy Gets Home, July Moon, and All Night Long. As if that wasn’t enough, it seems like their set time kept getting extended, so we got Hearts Are Gonna Roll, and the closer was Doesn’t Have To Be That Way. The band was in fine form, with guitarist Adam Fluhrer rockin solos all over the place. The square kept filling in the later it got, and he had everyone’s rapt attention by the end of it all.

I managed to snag the bass player’s setlist, and we got to meet Will himself near the merch tent for a quick minute to chat and get the setlist signed… he thanked us for coming and “thanks for singing along!”. I think we saw one other group of girls that were singing along, but I have a strong suspicion that he made more than a couple new fans in Buffalo on this night!

[flickr]7082201953[/flickr]

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06/11/2007 Deftones, Dir En Grey, The Fall Of Troy (Niagara Falls, NY @ The Dome Theater)

By Eric | June 11, 2007 11:59 pm

So ten years of concert going brought me to the Dome for some Deftones. There weren’t a lot of people there at first, and they had the balcony closed, so the lack of people was even more pronounced at the start. The Fall Of Troy was up first, and I still don’t know what to make of this band. They’re a three-piece that incorporate some cool metal riffs and solos, but then the songs devolve into just noise, and the singer just kinda wails incoherantly. They had a ton of energy, which at least made them fun to watch, but a half hour was plenty. The middle band was Dir En Grey. The hype on this band is that they’re a five-piece from Japan. They apparently didn’t do any touring or releases outside of Japan from the time they formed in 1997 until 2005, and they’ve also had a ton of underground (and internet) hype. And they suck. To me, it seemed like they were trying to copy every harder musical style, and not achieving any of it. One song had a couple breakdowns, sounding like a poor-man’s Hatebreed, and then the very next song started out like Dave Matthews before launching into some super high-pitched screaming. As I told the kid next to me at the bar, “They’re not the absolute worst I’ve ever seen, but they’re damn close.” Mercifully, they were done after 45 minutes, and then it was time for Deftones.

I hadn’t seen them in seven years (July 2000 at ESL and Runwayz during the White Pony tour). I was hoping for some classics, and some of the new stuff. I got both in large doses! I started out right in front of the bar, and the band started out with two from Adrenaline (Nosebleed and Engine No. 9) and two from Around The Fur (Lhabia and My Own Summer), and once My Own Summer got started, I couldn’t stay on the sidelines any longer. I had to get up towards the front and jump around with everyone in the pit. What a great decision! Everyone in the front was awesome, getting their mosh on without being idiots, belting out every song, picking people up, etc. And Chino sounded freakin’ great. I’ve seen clips where his voice isn’t the greatest, but tonight was not one of those nights. The band did an awesome job of whipping the crowd into a frenzy, and then toning it down with some of the slower tunes (Digital Bath, Passenger, Change, etc). They also whipped us good, with Hexagram, Around The Fur straight into Rickets, Rats, Korea, Root, etc. After a brief rest, the encore got started off with Back To School, then Change, and the riotous closer was 7 Words. Needless to say, due to the heat and humidity in the place, everyone was wringing their shirt out at the end of it. Freakin gross, but you can’t say you didn’t have a good time getting there! And if he ever happens to read this, I just want to give a shout out to Mike from Pittsburgh (and his girlfriend whose name I didn’t catch) for being cool at the bar, trading beers, and catching my watch in the pit! The whole setlist (mostly in order) was:

Nosebleed
Engine No. 9
Lhabia
My Own Summer
Korea
Hexagram
Around the Fur
Rickets
Digital Bath
When Girls Telephone Boys
Rats! Rats! Rats!
Bloody Cape
Xerces
Passenger
Hole in the Earth
Beware the Water
Bored
Feiticiera
Root
————–
Back To School
Change
7 Words

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Ten Years of Concerts

By Eric | June 11, 2007 2:19 pm

It has been an even ten years since my first rock concert. June 11th, 1997. Our Lady Peace, Cool For August, and Puzzle Gut at the Tralf in Buffalo, NY. Accompannied by my friend Christine from the Harrison co-op program (and driven by her mom, Thanks Mom!), we managed to be right up front the whole night. For some reason, the experience of the show stuck with me. Singing along with the CD in your bedroom is fun, but singing along with the band right in front of you, sometimes in places no bigger than your bedroom, with 500 other people who are also singing along with every word is usually even more fun. I whipped together a little retrospective for myself on the past 192 shows over 10 years:

Over these past ten years, I’ve driven way too far to get to shows far too early, only to wait in far too long of lines for far too long in far too cold (or too hot) weather, to be one of the first in line. This led to running to the barrier to be right in front, and then pinned against said barrier for 3+ hours. I’ve been helped off the ground, helped people off the ground, been kicked in the head and/or slammed by crowd surfers (and I’ve subsequently yanked them to the ground), gotten in shoving matches and fights (*usually* not instigated by me); I’ve jumped, moshed, sweated, screamed my lungs out, lavished praise and bitterly complained more than my share about openers and headliners alike. I’ve met lots of band members, some cool, some not-so-cool, some famous, some not-so-famous; met a lot of interesting fans, some cool, some not-so-cool. I’ve gotten autographs, guitar picks, drum sticks, drum heads, setlists, posters, flyers, stickers, promo CD’s and videos, and anything and everything else I could get my hands on. I’ve won contests to see shows, I’ve ridden other contest winners’ coattails to see shows, I’ve gotten into “exclusive” shows by talking to the band. I’ve seen two different shows in one day. I’ve seen great bands, good bands, OK bands, and absolutely terrible bands. I’ve had some of the best times of my life, and some of the worst times of my life at concerts. I’ve celebrated my birthday at shows (1998 and 2005, and within a day in 2000 and 2001). I’ve celebrated New Years Eve (2000/2001) at a concert. I probably should have worn earplugs at more of them, but I’m doing what I can now. I’ve immensely enjoyed these last ten years of concerts, and I look forward to the next ten years (albeit at a far slower pace I’m guessing!).

Naturally, it’s fitting that on the 10th anniversary of my first concert, I’ll be attending a concert. I’ll be seeing the Deftones for the first time in seven years, in Buffalo tonight. Here’s to another 10 years!

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