The Pulse of the Maggots

By Eric | April 15, 2004 10:57 am

So the show last night was pretty cool indeed… In a nutshell, Sworn Enemy was like every other NYC hardcore band… i.e. nothing to write home about. Chimaira sounded really good and really tight, and got the crowd into it… Fear Factory was kinda boring actually, I didn’t know much about them before, and they didn’t win me over any… and then it was time for Slipknot. They still can perform and entertain with the best of them. Yes, it’s mindless. But damn is it fun 🙂 The review (and the Sevendust one!) will be up shortly…

This won’t make it into the review, so I’m posting it here. Since this was the Jagermeister tour, naturally they’d sell Jager… and Budweiser… and Pop… BUT NO WATER! There wasn’t any place in the building that you could buy water. Yes, you could possibly drink out of the sinks in the one restroom they had open, but seriously, how can you have a show of that caliber (i.e. people moshing, jumping around, etc.) and not sell water? Not even getting overcharged for it, but none at all. Not the smartest course of action in my book.

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04/14/2004 Slipknot, Fear Factory, Chimaira, Sworn Enemy (Rochester, NY @ ESL Center)

By Eric | April 14, 2004 11:59 pm

After getting there right at 6 when the doors were supposed to open, I walked practially the entire length of the road leading to the building to get at the end of the line. Took the better part of an hour to get in, thankfully it was a nice day out. Once inside, I milled about the stands for most of Sworn Enemy’s set. They weren’t anything spectacular, typical NYC hardcore. Not terrible, just not great. Made my way onto the floor for Chimaira, and I’m glad I did. They ripped it up, and there were quite a few people there to see them. They opened with a chopped version of Implements of Destruction, right into Power Trip. Next was Cleansation, Impossibility of Reason, and Severed. Overlooked was next, then before they started The Dehumanizing Process, the lead singer, Mark, had everyone on the floor part down the middle, in a Red Sea type deal. Then as the song kicked in, everyone converged into a massive pit. Kinda neat, and I’m sure it looked even better from the seats. The closer was Pure Hatred, which got everyone into a frenzy (how can you not, with a chorus that just screams “I… HATE… EVERYONE…?”) I felt more whipped after their half hour than I did at the end of the whole Sevendust show, and that’s not to take anything away from Sevendust at all… Chimaira was that good.

I got off the floor after that, milled around for a bit, got a drink, then found a place in the stands to check out Fear Factory. They were actually rather boring, I didnt know much about them before hand, and they really didnt make me want to check them out after their set ended. Then it was time for Slipknot. They played some Corey acoustic song as the intro (I’m bad for not knowing!), and then into the intro loop from self-titled. Slammed into (sic), and right into a new song called The Blister Exists, then my order is shaky, but they played Eyeless, another new song called 3-nil, the new single Duality, Disasterpiece, Purity, Iowa, Heretic Anthem, Pulse of the Maggots, and then during Spit It Out, they again made everyone get down on their knees on the floor, in the stands, everywhere, and when the song kicked back in, everyone in the place popped back up. It looks incredible every time they do it. They closed the main set with Wait and Bleed, which whipped everyone up yet again. Back out for the encore, the (313) intro loop from Iowa into People=Shit, and closed out the night with seemingly everyone’s favorite Slipknot track, Surfacing. A rowdy show, to be sure, but damn if it wasn’t one of the more fun shows I’ve been to lately, mindlessness and all. The Slipknot boys still know how to put on a spectacle, and they sounded as good as that kind of music can sound. Well worth coming home sweaty and tired!

(sic)

The Blister Exists

Eyeless

3-Nil

Duality

Disasterpiece

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04/08/2004 Sevendust, Cold, Apartment 26, Atomship (Rochester, NY @ Harro East)

By Eric | April 8, 2004 11:59 pm

This was way too cold of a day for April, but in any event, after standing outside for about 1/2 or so, everyone piled in and Atomship started promptly at 6:45 or so. They were pretty decent for an opener, and while a bit eclectic (as alterna-metal goes), did a good job of getting the crowd warmed up. The lead singer had an interesting mic stand, as the stand went about halfway up, and the top half was a piece of flexible tubing, almost like wire conduit, so he could whip it around and still have the mic in the stand. Kinda neat! The songs were heavy, but had melody and sounded tight and together. Apartment 26 was up next, and I had bad memories of seeing them in June of 2000 opening for Staind. I figured I’d give them another shot, maybe I was wrong, memory was fuzzy, they’d gotten better, etc. Ah, well, their chance lasted about 30 seconds. They’re still awful. Not so much in the wanna-be electronic vein, but more in the “we’re gonna try and make british pop sound heavy” vein, and the singer just did not have a good voice. Blah. Anyway, after they were done, it was time for COLD. Having just gotten two new guitarists in the recent weeks (Kelly and Terry left, to be replaced by Matt, who was originally in Grundig and Eddie from Darwin’s Waiting Room), and being their first show back with the new lineup, it went off pretty good. Scoot’s voice sounded like it was in fine form, and the new guys fit in nicely. A good mix on the setlist as well, opening with Just Got Wicked, then into Suffocate, Remedy, and then an old one, Serial Killer. Since the band has a song on a new video game called Psi-Ops, they played that, called “With My Mind”. The Day Seattle Died was next, with a nice little tribute to Layne Staley. Then an even better tribute, as they covered AIC’s “Junkhead”, which totally rocked my socks 🙂 Back to COLD, Confession was next, followed by No One, and then for the last song of the night, they started to play Stupid Girl, before switching midstream and closing with Goodbye Cruel World! It’s great to see them playing some more of the self-titled stuff 🙂 Then it became Sevendust time. Another fine show by these boys, they sounded great, lots of energy, and while mainly the same setlist as in Saratoga, it was in a slightly different order. Opened with Black into Denial again, but after that, my recollection of what song was played when is a little fuzzy. For sure, Bitch, Rumblefish, Praise, TOAB, Crucified, Angel’s Son, Broken Down, Skeleton Song, and Suffocate. The main set was closed with Face to Face, and then the encore consisted of Waffle and Enemy. Another show that could better be called “a full contact sport”, and plenty of good tunes to go around.

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Another Survey

By Eric | April 6, 2004 10:20 pm

From Amanda’s page, from wherever she got it, sure to be copied again:

1: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says:
“‘Bugs’–as such faults and difficulties are called–show themselves, and months of…”
~”Why Things Bite Back” – Edward Tenner

2: Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?
Tiff’s head.

3: What is the last thing you watched on TV?
One Tree Hill (Tiff made me do it)

4: WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what time it is:
10.12

5: Now look at the clock; what is the actual time?
10.11

6: With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
The TV.

7: When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
About 8:40, came back in from shopping.

8: Before you came to this website, what did you look at?
My bloglines login.

9: What are you wearing?
Oleander Fed/Ex shirt, jeans, boxers, socks

10: Did you dream last night?
Nope

11: When did you last laugh?
two seconds ago, cuz I farted 🙂

12: What is on the walls of the room you are in?
posters… escher, picasso, an alligator picture, and music posters

13: Seen anything weird lately?
There was a woman at the casino this afternoon with bright red hair…

14: What do you think of this quiz?
The questions seem rather mundane

15: What is the last film you saw?
Went to see Miracle at the dollar$ theater.

16: If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?
A good stockbroker.

17: Tell me something about you that I don’t know:
This is a hard one… um, I really can’t wait to move into my new apartment in Rochester.

18: If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
Get rid of the idiots in the world in general.

19: Do you like to dance?
The real question is, do people like me to dance? I think that’s a no.

20: George Bush:
He was a president, and his son is the president now.

21: Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
My daughter.

22: Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
My son. (could I be any more non-committal?)

23: Would you ever consider living abroad?
nah, I’m sticking with the good ol US of A.

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03/24/2004 Edwin McCain, Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise, Pete Riley (Buffalo, NY @ The Tralf)

By Eric | March 24, 2004 11:59 pm

Tiff absolutely loves Edwin McCain, so after getting a taste seeing him acoustically at the Tralf back in November, this was the full on band this time. Edwin’s guitar player, Pete Riley, opened things up with just him and an acoustic guitar. A nice way to the get the night started. Next was Robert Bradley and Blackwater Surprise, who were a blues band with Bradley as the lead singer. Bradley is a blind black man with a raspy voice, and his voice complemented his band quite well. It was the kind of blues with a bit of an edge that keeps me a little more interested than just flat-out blues. After their set, Edwin was up next with his band, and rocked the place! I personally don’t know too many of the songs all that well, but that didn’t really matter, as Edwin himself and his band rock-and-rolled through a nearly two-hour set, keeping everyone interested and captivated the entire night. A great show to just sit, relax and enjoy. 🙂
[flickr]7082230561[/flickr]

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Rochester Sno-core

By Eric | March 24, 2004 1:53 pm

Last night, due to the generosity of one of my co-workers, I got free tickets to see the Sno-Core tour at Water Street last night. Trapt headlined, and they were pretty decent, about as good as when I saw them open for Nickelback. Smile Empty Soul wasn’t any better than in Buffalo (which wasn’t good to begin with, and the meet-and-greet was lame too). Finger Eleven only got 30 minutes to play, and 5 of the 6 songs were from the new album (the one that wasn’t was Costume for a Gutterball, which I’ve *never* heard them do), and newcomers Strata weren’t bad at all for openers.

Tonight after work we’re going to a Tiff show… Edwin McCain at the Tralf. Should be a nice intimate show, not too many people, good tunes, good times, etc 🙂

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03/23/2004 Trapt, Smile Empty Soul, Finger Eleven, Strata (Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall)

By Eric | March 23, 2004 11:59 pm

This one turned out to be a freebie for me, as my buddy Mike from work won tickets off the Nerve, and then couldn’t go, so he passed them off to me! This also included a meet-and-greet earlier in the day with Smile Empty Soul. The meet-and-greet happened at 3pm, and we waited out in the “lobby” of Water Street while Trapt finished up their soundcheck. Once they were done, Smile Empty Soul did theirs, and they came down and said hi afterwards. Blah. What do you say to a band you don’t really care for? 🙂 Anyway, back to the show at 7, and for an opening band, Strata wasn’t too bad at all. They have a sound much like that of most of Wind-Up’s bands, which isn’t a bad thing. They had their half-hour, and Finger Eleven was up next. Unfortunately, they only got about a half-hour as well. (If you ask me, why SES was billed over F11 is beyond me, but whatever.) Opened with Other Light, into Complicated Questions, and then Absent Elements. They then pulled out a song from Tip, and something I’d never heard them play live before, “Costume For A Gutterball”. Back to the new album for One Thing, and closed out the set with Good Times. F11 sounded excellent, and for only being an opener, still were as enthusiastic as they have been on this latest tour. Then it was time for Smile Empty Soul, and the 12 year olds started to scream. Blah, they really weren’t any better than when I saw them in Buffalo at Edgefest. Trapt was after them, and while they sounded okay, it was the same set, pretty much, that they did in Utica opening for Nickelback (which is the entire album), and just like in Utica, the set started out energetically, but then got boring during the middle of the set, only to liven up again at the end. For free, it wasn’t bad. Can’t say I would have paid to go, however.
[flickr]7082230493[/flickr]

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03/13/2004 Aaron Lewis (Verona, NY @ Turning Stone Casino Showroom)

By Eric | March 13, 2004 11:59 pm

This was one show I didn’t think I’d ever see come to fruition… Aaron Lewis playing solo, acoustically, anywhere outside of the Springfield area, especially now that Staind is huge? No way… YES WAY TED! The Turning Stone Showroom is a pretty nice facility, the layout with 8 people to a table is different, I suppose Vegas shows are like this as well. Anyway, this was just Aaron and a guitar. Not that anything else was really needed… it was that good! He started out with “So Far Away”, and then dug right in on the covers. Pearl Jam’s “Indifference” (Aaron: “I think I forgot a verse in there, s’ok, I got the important ones, right?”), and then “Nutshell” by Alice in Chains. This was followed by “Layne”, and then the one song Staind fans have been dying to hear for years… “Black Rain”. And it’s definately a shame we haven’t gotten to hear this song earlier! “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield was next, and the first real crowd participation song, “Outside”. Throughout the whole show, Aaron kept remarking that he should have created a setlist, that he wasn’t the best guitar player, and that he didn’t know how to play all of Staind’s songs on the guitar, so he was playing all the songs he knew by heart, which happened to be a lot of Pearl Jam… “Elderly Woman” was the next tune, followed by “Let It Out” (a b-side on the Price to Play single), “Redemption Songs” (Bob Marley), “Zoe Jane”, and one of the most interesting things I’ve seen and heard, an acoustic take on Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”!! This whipped the crowd into a frenzy! Aaron next took on the Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes”, and remarked that he did it better than Fred Durst did. 🙂 He attempted to play STP’s Plush, fumbled through half of it before laughing and giving up, and then nailed “Creep” instead. More covers followed, one being an obscure 70’s one-hit-wonder: Stephen Bishop’s “On and On”, a joking take on “Puff the Magic Dragon” (“I don’t know the words to it, and I don’t want to…” :)), and Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes”. The crowd was very appreciative of the covers, and didn’t seem to mind a bit that the set was light on Staind tunes. Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son” was next, and the main set was closed with “It’s Been Awhile”. The crowd was never silent until Aaron came back out to play yet one more Pearl Jam song… “Release”, and then the last song of the night, much to the delight of myself and a couple other folks also yelling for it… “Excess Baggage”. The show was incredible, Aaron sounded awesome, and for the Staind fans that didn’t get to see this show or the one in Atlantic City, they certainly missed quite a bit.

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Dumb Music Survey Time!

By Eric | February 23, 2004 6:43 pm

Throw Winamp on random and jot down the first 10 songs it plays (according to what I saw… no matter how embarrassing. I don’t own anything embarrassing!)

1. Moist – See Touch Feel
2. David Usher – St. Lawrence River
3. A Perfect Circle – The Nurse Who Loved Me (Live 11/01/03)
4. Days of the New – Enemy
5. Korn – Trash
6. Pearl Jam – Go (Live on Two Legs)
7. Matthew Good Band – She’s Got A New Disguise
8. Gravity Kills – Alive
9. Caroline’s Spine – Forget
10. System of a Down – Peephole (Live)

10 out of 9540 songs on Winamp. Not the best cross-section of my music… or is it? 🙂

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01/06/2004 Sevendust, Ill Nino, Element 80 (Albany, NY @ Northern Lights)

By Eric | January 6, 2004 11:59 pm

I got to this show courtesy of working at the Saratoga race track on the install there. Ron and I headed down I-87 to Clifton Park to check out the show. After buying tickets at the door, we got inside and got warm, and I found Krista and Jen, who had driven up from Rhode Island. Element 80 was on first, and being a 4-piece from Texas, they immediately reminded me of Drowning Pool, and they sounded very similar to my ear. Not bad at all, for an opening band, I rather liked them. After their set, Ill Nino got underway, and there were quite a few fans there for them. I wasn’t sure what to expect from these guys, but I was kinda unimpressed with them. The latin-influenced drums were cool, but the songs all sounded the same, and the lead singer was not the most adept at working the crowd, other than to keep telling us to “get up” and then calling us pussies for not getting totally into their music. Blah. It was tolerable, and I’ve seen way worse, but I’ve seen better as well. Then for a horse of a different color, Sevendust came out and rocked everyones socks off! Opening with the signature Black, right into Denial and Crucified, they had the crowd in a frenzy the whole time. Sounding just as good as ever, next was Rumblefish, Skeleton Song, and the new single, Broken Down. Picking it back up with Trust, Praise, then back down again with Angel’s Son, the crowd was singing note for note. Enemy was next, and the main set was finished with Suffocate. Encore time! Starting with Waffle, and then a great closer in Face to Face, the crowd barely had the energy to go two more songs! The last song was supposed to be Bitch according to the setlist, but probably due to time constraints they didn’t play it. Ah well, the show was still amazing, and as always, Sevendust put on a rockin fun show!

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