Today we are going to recount one of the worst concert experiences of my life.
To begin with, I did not see the first two bands (out of five), not because I was late as usual...I was actually on time for once. No, I did not see the first two bands because I spent an hour or more in the security line, waiting to get inside. Apparently cameras were grounds for automatic ejection (not using them, just bringing them in), and taking your cellphone out in the auditorium would, again, be grounds for automatic ejection. We were scanned with a metal detector. I felt like I was at the airport.
Moonspell was the first band I caught. For whatever reason, I had thought these guys were Gothic Metal, so needless to say I was surprised by the end of the first song. At first I really disliked the vocalist, but he grew on me and by the end of their (short) set I thought it fit quite well. The big disappointment for these guys though was that almost all of the keys were tracked. If you can't play the music live, don't record it on CD that way. I understand if you lsoe a member or something, but otherwise, stick to what is playable live...tracking just isn't the same.
Dimmu Borgir was really the only band I went to see. It was disappointing. I suppose part of the disappointment was the fact that they played 1 old-ish song and only 1 other song not from their latest album (I believe). But in hindsight, maybe that is for the best seeing how they ruined Stormblast in their new take on it. Vortex is great though...but every time he sang I couldn't help hearing Arcturus in my head (RIP). Besides the set list though, I can't really complain about the show...the musicians are solid and even if they are nowhere near Black Metal anymore (not that they were ever close to begin with), the corpse paint is still fun.
But this brings me to the ruiner of the show for me. That is the audience. Maybe I'm just some elitist prick, but man I just cannot stand MTV metal fans who think they are so tough being at a "Black Metal" show. I think the internet has also ruined music just a little bit, because whereas before when a band got big later in their career, you could distinguish "real" fans of the band by talking about older obscure out of print stuff. Nowadays when a band gets on MTV the kids just download their entire discography and all of a sudden they can pass for a real fan. Disgusting. This show was filled with so many un-elite metal fans you could actually smell it, and it was very unpleasant. At least when a show like Opeth is packed, it's full of real fans. Here, I could have picked out maybe a dozen guys I would have thought were into the band just 5 years ago, and here's a hint, they were the ones over 15 who weren't there for Danzig.
Danzig was the closer, by the way. His show was alright and everything, but the music was super boring. I was tired, so I left after a few songs. Misfits, he is not. Bad move leaving, on his part...he can't seem to write good music since.
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