Sounds of the Underground @ the Tsongas Arena today!
[views:50903][posts:161]Tsongas Arena (Lowell, Ma) - [all_that_remains][a_life_once_lost][chimaira][clutch][devildriver][every_time_i_die][from_autumn_to_ashes][gwar][lamb_of_god][norma_jean][opeth][poison_the_well][randomshots][strapping_young_lad][the_red_chord][throwdown][unearth]
[show listing] ____________________________________
[Jun 26,2005 1:55am - BornSoVile ""]
whose the new bass player for atr???
[Jun 26,2005 2:16am - the_reverend ""]
http://www.returntothepit.com/view.php?formid=18764#267254
[Jun 26,2005 2:30am - poopsmcgee ""]
the show was decent,to many problems with sound though
[Jun 26,2005 4:34am - mathais ""]
i paid 33 bucks to see 3 opeth songs. that comes to about 1.15 per minute. worth ever cent...
my opinion is, this show should have been at the palladium.
[Jun 26,2005 9:41am - soilworker ""]
how was the turnout
[Jun 26,2005 10:29am - dreadkill ""]
i saw some local band t-shirts as i was walking around. someone had a sin of angels shirt on and before opeth started, scott (sinistas) pointed out a kid in a porphyria shirt. it was good to see some rttp bands getting due respect at what was supposed to be an "underground" show.
[Jun 26,2005 10:45am - SacreligionNLI ""]
1500-2000 people
i thought the show was good...because i just hung out and smoked bones outside during all the crappy bands.
clutch is the worst band ever...how could you like them
best performance of the night: GWAR
worst performance of the night: a tie between the sound guy and every time i die
biggest letdown: the sound for the drapery falls during opeth's set...i almost punched the damn sound guy in the face
overall i thought it was worth it...we all showed up right as that sepultura cover started, which was pretty cool. I wanted to see SYL real bad, but i actually thought the sound was muddy, a lot of the stuff they did came out like jibberish, though i still enjoyed it thoroughly. hats off to gwar, opeth, and lamb of god(i'm pretty sure they were too wasted to play really really tight but hey they had a pit that was about 100 feet in diameter...or more....it was hard to tell from the middle of it :doublehorns
i liked unearth's set...but from where we were it sounded bad and i was too lazy to go down to the floor and check the mix there
[Jun 26,2005 11:07am - dreadkill ""]
you must have smoked a ridiculous amount of bones. there were alot of crappy bands. i'd have to agree, the worst performance i saw was everytime i die.
[Jun 26,2005 11:15am - SacreligionNLI ""]
not as many as i would have liked...enough though
[Jun 26,2005 12:41pm - BogusRendition ""]
Here is my long and boring review of the entire show:
I have bad memories of dealing with the assholes of SMG security at this place, and I was not suprised to see quite a few incidents throughout the day of them being nothing but bullies who probebly got beat up in high school to much and now use the oppertunity of the power trip their job seems to give them to feel good about themselves, given how miserable their lives probebly are. What else do they have to look forward to other then going home, getting drunk and watching TV? Maybe if they are lucky their wifes will give em head one of these days, thats assuming they don't go home and rape them every night already. And I feel bad catagorizing those guys as a whole cause some of them seemed like perfectly decent dudes, but holy shit, they've got some assholes working there. Anyways...
I got there during Throwdown's cover of "Roots Bloody Roots," which I thought was kinda week. Actually, this show as a whole was pretty weak. And what a cluster fuck it was. The crowd was so young. It was really weird to see what that bunch of bands that sorta got Metal Fest going have been brought into. I've got plenty of mixed feelings about the fame and success and the concept of "staying underground," which this tour clearly was NOT a representation of the sounds that are underground. Perhaps it would have been four years ago, fuck even two years ago would have given the tittle a bit more authenticity. Whatever.
I guess the Red Chord went on really early and I missed them, but how many times have I seen them? Norma Jean is a band that I've never had a shred of interest in, but they put on a fairly good show. Every Time I Die blew, although I have a biased opinion cause I think that blow anyways. Tonight they sounded like Converge for some reason, but they still blew.
I missed Strapping Young Lad while I was outside chillin with old Randy grabbing the free cookies from the buffet. Then we went inside to watch a bit of Gwar. THose guys rule, and since they were all covered in blood themselves, they were dripping the shit all over the place back stage and all of a sudden one of the EMT's started freaking out cause it looked like someone was bleeding and they didn't realize that it was a prop. Then Randy and I made our way up stairs to the Jager tent where we were supposed to meet up with the rest of the dudes from LOG and they were gonna do another signing. But the rest of the band was missing, so it was just a session of "Meet Randy," during which I talked to some dude who was working for Jager and who used to work for Slayer. We were talking about how everyone back stage had thought the Gwar blood was real and he was saying how this time last year when Slayer started doing the actual physical raining of blood thing, there was this time when the machine didn’t work right and all the blood eventually drained out into the street and of course people thought it was real and a bio-hazard team in those big plastic suits came in and “cleared the premises before realizing that the shit wasn’t even real blood.
Then I went down stairs to go watch what I expected to be a one and a half song set of Opeth, but hot damn, it turned out to be 3! Yeah, I don’t know why they didn’t headline this show. Oh wait! Yes I do. MONEY! Anyways, of course they should have played longer, but, yeah… money. They were awesome as always though, and I think they had the best sound of the entire show.
“So we’ve got a new record coming out in September on Roadrunner Records… which of course means it’s going to be a record of strictly nu metal…” “So this will be our last song, but of course we will be coming back at least 15 million times this year, so, not to worry. We always tend to close with this particular track and I think you all know what it is…”
“DEMON OF THE FALL!!!”
“You’re God Damn RIGHT…”
Yeah, Opeth rules. Anyways, at least whoever booked the Canadian show has their head screwed on right, given the Opeth will be headlining up there.
Chimaira was okay, but they are a fake band in my mind. Maybe if I didn’t know that they were fake I’d feel different. I know they worked their asses off before Roadrunner picked them up but they come off as a nu metal band trying to sound old school to me. Whatever. I couldn’t give two shits about Poison the Well and I could care even less about From Autem to Ashes, but they were indeed able to put on a pretty good show. I guess we can all officially label Matt of Dance Floor Justice a “fag” now given that he now has FATA shoelaces, but I guess I can be equally labeled as a “fag” given that I was the one who paid the dollar for them. Clutch was cool, but if this tour wasn’t already a joke, I’d have been seriously contemplating what they were doing on it. It was cool to see old Andre (the huge dude who some may remember from the Asylum and the occasional Slayer show). Clutch to my knowledge is his favorite band in the whole world, and the guy was having a blast. He even gave some little kid a piggy back ride and strutted around the pit for a bit. The only band that impressed me the most before LOG went on was Unearth, and I guess the only reason was that of the million times I’ve seen them, this was one of the best. They kicked ass on stage, but the amount of crowd surfing they were able to instigate was the coolest part. Tons of kids coming over the barrier all at once in such a huge place was indeed an impressive display of the laws of physics in action.
It’s really amazes me how popular Lamb of God became in such a short time frame. Granted, they are good… damn good. I personally don’t care for their “Ashes of the Wake” album, but live the songs rip, plus their older shit is awesome anywaays. I think if I’d been in their shoes, I’d have had a very hard time balancing the good feelings of success with the bad ones of attention overload. Kids seem look up at them as if they are in-touchable rock star gods now, and as cool as that can be, it’s really weird. At the same time, here they are, able to do what they love for a living, at least while it lasts and that’s fucking awesome. Anyways, despite the awful sound, they were able to put on a great show as always, hitting six new songs, four from “Palaces…” two from “Gospel,” and instead on playing “Bloodletting” from the Burn the Priest CD, they play “Suffering Bastard.” That was pretty cool. “We haven’t played this song in six years so here it is…” Anyway…
I could go on and on about how it sucks when media corporations see artists sitting on what could potentially be a money pit and exploit it. But I guess at least this time it wasn’t something as lame as nu-metal.
[Jun 26,2005 1:35pm - anonymous ""]
washed up bands and young bands that want to be washed up. sucks
[Jun 26,2005 1:44pm - CarrotsandSticks ""]
All the bands I was really excited for (SYL, Opeth, Gwar) felt sub par to me. SYL seemed way to quiet. I could hear everything, but the person next to me talking at regular volume was louder then them. They didn't to seem to have nearly any the energy of the 4 other times I have seen them. Opeth's set was short, and they were kind of messy I thought. COuldn't they have picked something else to play. They play those 3 songs EVERY time. Gwar was the main reason I even came, and bahh. I heard they were to get 45 minutes, but they got 30. The blood didn't even work for the first 3 songs, and it hardly worked for any of the deaths.
I was going to come away really dissapointed if it wasn't for LOG. They really fit into the arena setting the best. They were the only band I think who has toured arena before, and they have that wall of speakers. But their show was just perfect. Randy looked so bad ass when he had the lights on him as he smoked that cig, heh. The floor was really fun to. There was no designated pit, it was chaos, and when people did the wall of death I intended to stay out of it but I got thrown into the charge, there was noooo shelter. But it was really fun
[Jun 26,2005 1:45pm - CarrotsandSticks ""]
Could I have brought my SLR into the show? I saw that guy with the dreads there who takes alot of pictures in the crowd taking shots.
[Jun 26,2005 1:45pm - -Mark (MMMP) ""]
The show was AWESOME!
It sucks how all people do is complain about stuff they should have known going to a show like this. Or at least info they could have found out on-line before they went.
I guess people (especially stuck up 'scenesters') have nothing better to do than complain :-p heh heh
I was stoked out of my mind when I walked in and the air conditioning was fully legit. Because it was like 47 million degrees out side.
TRC, ETID, NJ, GWAR, Opeth, Camaro, PTW, UE, and LOG were all AMAZING as always, and the reason I payed $33.50 for that junk.
-Mark (MMMP)
p.s. There was 3500 people there.
p.s.s. The order of bands rotates everynight based on sound scanned cd sales for every city. So whoever sells more in whatever city will play later etc.
[Jun 26,2005 1:55pm - BobNOMAAMRooney ""]
Poison The Well are still around? Haha, I remember when my girlfriend's friends were all about them like three years ago and I thought they sounded like Blink 182 with slightly heavier guitars.
[Jun 26,2005 1:57pm - Josh_hates_you ""]
-Mark said:p.s.s. The order of bands rotates everynight based on sound scanned cd sales for every city. So whoever sells more in whatever city will play later etc.
underground.................
[Jun 26,2005 2:01pm - BobNOMAAMRooney ""]
Actually pretty much every band on this is what Kelly's friends were listening to three years ago before metalcore became too trendy and they jumped ship to old school hardcore like Gorilla Biscuits and Judge
[Jun 26,2005 2:31pm - anonymous ""]
the_reverend said:strapping young lad: they just walked off the stage. it was a pretty awesome set. the sound (atleast up front) was mixed so well. you could hear everything. I'm glad they got the synth right. typically they mess that up and you either can't hear that or it's blasting. they they played a really really short set, but devon was hilarious. he kept telling the audience off and then saying not to buy their "shit". Devon kept making scary faces and staring lynne down.
hehe i thought i was imagining that... glad im not goin nuts... i wish my camera wasnt so much suck....i havent even looked at my pics yet....
for me SYL, Opeth, and Clutch were really the only bands i wanted to see.....
and somehow i ended up with Gwar all over me.... blah
[Jun 26,2005 2:31pm - lynne not logged in ""]
oops that was me and i wicked screwed up the quotes
[Jun 26,2005 3:40pm - anonymous ""]
what was gwars set
[Jun 26,2005 3:42pm - anonymous ""]
WALL OF DEATH WAS AWESOME!!!!!
[Jun 26,2005 3:52pm - the_reverend ""]
CarrotsandSticks said:Could I have brought my SLR into the show? I saw that guy with the dreads there who takes alot of pictures in the crowd taking shots.
that's justin (bogus rendition). he's got permission.
[Jun 26,2005 3:59pm - the_reverend ""]
to justin: the security was fine over all, but they definitely had some buttholes. there was a girl there that was really nice to carina and I. also, in the photo pit was a guy, Bruce, who is super nice and talked to us about blowing his hearing seeing pink floyd and the stones. I think that they were a little bit overwelmed by the crowd surfers... I think they normally do lower key shows. I saw you backing them up.
to mark (mmmp): it's awesome that the lineup changes since the same line up every night would be lame. I hope that the set-lists change every night too. the sound scan ordering is semi-lame, but whatever. I just hope that kids pay attention so they don't miss the bands they are going to see.
[Jun 26,2005 3:59pm - the_reverend ""]
PS: this was also a "groupie-palooza"... which was very very weird.
[Jun 26,2005 4:04pm - succubus ""]
it was my 4th time shooting there (at least) since december...i know some of the security people..and there were at least 2 douches...they are cool for the most part and i usually end up hanging back stage in btwn bands so i on't have to deal with the mess of the crowd..anyhow...aaron was with me and then lynne came too...the major douche bag got pissed and then complained...i think it was around 7pm when i could no longer go in the back...anyhow...this morning i got an email from one of the wive's of someone who played the show and they didn't even let her backstage (she had an aftershow pass) and i had been chatting with her backstage...i mean she wasn't allowed to hang out with her husband who was playing the feckin show?
mehh
[Jun 26,2005 4:07pm - succubus ""]
the_reverend said:PS: this was also a "groupie-palooza"... which was very very weird.
i think i said that to you last night i said groupie galore..but i like your expression better
cool for the bands to be getting all these eager to please young girls...yet sad at the same time
ah well at least now some of the girls i see at non metal shows (young groupies) are the same one's as these metal shows
haha
[Jun 26,2005 4:20pm - Knifesideleft ""]
It really pissed me off that some people around me actually got mad because SYL was calling everyone ugly and whatnot. Saying "They think they are so cool" and whatnot... oh man that made me mad.
Otherwise it was a pretty good show, I was sitting in the stands most of the time, Anyone see a person wearing a Red Over shirt and a tie? That was me... I had been up for about 40 hours straight by the time the show ended because I couldnt sleep the night before waiting for it.
Gwar ofcourse, I think put on the best "show" by far.
Musicly... I enjoyed Gwar DD PTW SYL and LoG the most though out of all the bands. "Sick Of You" and "Black Label" where fucking great (Wall of Death) PTW Should have played Nerdy though...
[Jun 26,2005 5:04pm - Spaldino ""]
Poison the well should have died on the way to the show
[Jun 26,2005 6:05pm - anonymous ""]
what was gwars set
[Jun 26,2005 6:33pm - SacreligionNLI ""]
gwars set was awesome...poison the well should be murdered 5 years ago(all we need is a time machine) so no one would have to listen to their bullshit
[Jun 26,2005 7:57pm - anonymous ""]
does anybody know which songs gwar played
[Jun 26,2005 8:21pm - anonymous ""]
i dont know how any of you actually went to this besdies the rev who goes for free for the love of his pictures.
to the people complaining it was the worst show ever...well what the fuck were you thinking going in the first place? yeah there were a small number of killer bands on this but look at the tour and thier set times....complete waste of your time.
[Jun 26,2005 8:22pm - anonymous ""]
wall of death was ownage
[Jun 26,2005 9:07pm - the_reverend ""]
anonymous said:well what the fuck were you thinking going in the first place?
even though you are anonymous, you are 100% correct...
"you knew I was a snake when you found me, bitch" - old indian dude on Natural Born Killers.
[Jun 26,2005 9:17pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
SacreligionNLI said:clutch is the worst band ever...how could you like them
i think you've smoked yourself retarded, how could you not like Clutch ! :moe:
[Jun 26,2005 9:28pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
hoser said:Clutch rules the fucking world, hands down. By far the highlight of this whole fucking show.
100%, if i didnt have a show i would have been there just to see them and Opeth(i enjoy watch Morbid Angel cover Pink Floyd and Zepplin songs)
the_reverend said:clutch: I'm not a fan of clutch. I think the new stuff sounds like southern 70's nu metal. anyhow, the first song they played was alright. the singer was on guitar in the front. then from there forward, he only sang. for the third track, a guy came out an played second guitar for them.
their new record isn't anything special, it seems a lil rushed for this tour to have a new album to sell. but 70's southern numetal. i don't see that at all, Blast Tyrant was one of the best records released last year.
DreamingInExile said:blame devil driver
see the funny thing about that comment is, if they didn't have the dood from Coal Chamber i bet a lot of people on this board would love them.
[Jun 26,2005 9:30pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
oh yeah you didnt have any pictures of the dood that came out to play guitar for Clutch when Neil just sang but i'm assuming it was Ooze from Tree. he's a gtr tech for them and well pretty much just works for them, he was also on tour with them when they rolled thru the Palladium with High on Fire and came out for a couple of songs. yeah take it from there.
[Jun 26,2005 9:52pm - anonymous ""]
does anyone know any of the songs the gwar played or what about devil driver
[Jun 26,2005 10:04pm - the_reverend ""]
unearth: unearth.. well... it's unearth. their set was realy good. I thought their playing was ok. not as tight as they usually are, but still good. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've seen them in a long time that ken was sober for. granted he and buzz did funnel beers on stage. with in the first few minutes, trevor was in the crowd which was awesome. they did have did have enough lights on the stage. when they did that mutual guitar masturbation thing, you couldn't see what they were doing cuase it was just strobe lights. they ended their set with black hearts still reign. the middle was drawn out longer for them to run around. the set finished with Ken on the top of the right side PA and Buzz on the top of the left side PA. from the back of the place, it looked really cool.
lamb of god: they played an awesome setlist. tons of songs. and kept the energy for the entire set. they have gotten very adept at playing on a large stage. I shot the first 3 songs and then trotted to the back to shoot some shots of the "wall of death". they were all there for the entire day, but randy didn't seem drunk. the last time I saw them, everyone in the band was pissed at randy and he got kicked a lot by the other members of the band. the wall of death was sort of ho-hum... they didn't really even announce what it was. people did separate and crash together, but it was a far cry from the video:
http://www.lamb-of-god.com/ashes2/gallery/index.php?getNumb=3&cat=VIDEO#
[Jun 26,2005 10:12pm - Beesky_Beesk ""]
I had fun because it was free.......
.....and i saw mark MMMP and aaron and carina, and that was cool
and it was free:NEWHORNS:
[Jun 26,2005 10:48pm - dreadkill ""]
Spaldino said:Poison the well should have died on the way to the show
bahahaha. their tour bus, along with devildriver's and most of the other bands' buses, should have formed a caravan and drove off a cliff into a lake of aids semen.
[Jun 27,2005 12:48am - anonymous ""]
seriously, this show could have been at that palladium, they have about hte same maximum capacity....and i dont know, i knew it wouldnt even come close to selling out
[Jun 27,2005 1:16am - BobNOMAAMRooney nli ""]
anonymous said:seriously, this show could have been at that palladium, they have about hte same maximum capacity....and i dont know, i knew it wouldnt even come close to selling out
It was at the Palladium, didn't you hear about Metalfest 2002?
[Jun 27,2005 9:26am - Ol_No.7 ""]
the air conditioning kicked ass. thats the only reason to have shows there. the palladium gets WAY too hot. as for the show CLUTCH was fuckin awesome! wish they could have played a lot longer. their not NU-Metal at all. their a godamn rock band and their awesome at it.
[Jun 27,2005 9:33am - RustedAngel ""]
clutch sucks, I fucking hate that shit.
[Jun 27,2005 9:40am - hoser ""]
Clutch fucking rules. They are not a metal band, that's all. They have some of the heaviest fucking grooves in the stoner rock world, and Neil Fallon is on of the best lyricists and vocalist around. I just beg to differ here, that's all. This was about the 10th time that I've seen them, and to this day, they put on a killer fucking show.
[Jun 27,2005 10:39am - Jesus_Slaves ""]
the only disappointing thing about Opeth was that the sound guy was a complete moron, and i think Martin Lopez was a little intoxicated because he missed a few beats. GWAR was insane, Lamb of God totally dominated, Strapping Young Lad was awesome, and the rest was pure unadulterated dogshit. Norma Jean i have to say was the worst thing i think i have ever seen/heard. Everytime I Die wasnt any better.
[Jun 27,2005 10:47am - RustedAngel ""]
I think clutch's lyrics are horrible. I realize they aren't metal, I listen to some shit that's not metal I just can't get into clutch, it annoys me having to listen to it when someone puts it on. All I can picture is jocks/hicks driving camaro's and having bonfires while fighting eachother.
[Jun 27,2005 11:02am - hoser ""]
Hahahahahahaha....that about sums it up Tom. I dunno about the jock thing, but I do know that most of the music is about hicks, guys who drive old cars in space, buffalo hunters and smoking dope.
[Jun 27,2005 11:12am - Hooker ""]
"Condoleeza Rice is nice but I prefer a-roni."
Surely, the man is a poet.