Staind

The other week (I really need to keep on top of these things, don't I?) we went and saw Staind live. I've been waiting just on about 8 years for them to come and visit our shores, and I was not going to miss out on the opportunity to see them live.

I use the term them loosely, given that the entire show consisted of two people, Aaron Lewis singing, and sometimes playing guitar, and Mike Somethingsomething just playing guitar, the lazy bastard. I have no problem with this arrangement, as most of their songs fit this mode quite well. I think Kris was bored to tears, there was no screaming, and everyone knows how she loves the screamed vocals.

As you'd expect, most of their setlist was from their new album, but they did hit the most popular songs from their older stuff. I was a little disappointed to only hear two or three songs off their major hit in Australia, but I can also give them the benefit of the doubt, as I am sure most of the fans who were there were there just to hear the newer stuff anyway.

The tickets said that we were meant to be there by 8, and not caring about the "Special Guests" listed on the ticket, didn't bother showing up until just after 8:30. To find a queue of people half way along the street at Fox Studios, waiting to be let in. I figured that the support act must be pretty pissed that there was NOONE inside listening to them. We eventually made it through the doors, and found a decent spot, only to be confronted with nobody on stage. Waiting another hour, 9:30 rolls around, and Staind come on. Apparently the surprise guests were so surprising they didn't actually come on stage. Oh well, not to worry.

The only down side to the night was Jabba. Well named. I understand it was a promo tour, but there's no need to stop the set at regular intervals to have an audience Q&A with the band. And you're annoying. Get off.

After the set, the band stayed behind for an audience signing, which was another very cool move on their part. Unfortunately, I did not know this was happening, so I had NOTHING to get signed. I would have asked them to sign my ass, but I could not really sell that on eBay, so there was not much point.

All in all, I really enjoyed the show. I think next time I'd like them to come back with the whole band... does it really cost that much to ship a set of drums over from the US?

The Loud!

Last night we went to see Korn, Disturbed and Hatebreed. 10 Years was also playing, but we did not show up for them, because, frankly, who cares about 10 years? I hope you appreciate that guys, I’ve just about guaranteed your future success, just so the universe can smack me about the head with my bad choices

We also caught the tail end of Hatebreed, and while their music on CD is not particularly memorable, they actually sound really good live. The vocals are not as tortured, and the music appears to have some melody. Things noticeably lacking from their recorded material.



Disturbed were next, and I have to say, probably sounded better than Korn. The volume was not ridiculous, you could hear each part clearly, and the vocalist was absolutely on the target with his singing. I’d not listened to much Disturbed in the past, in fact only having heard the one song (you all know which one). We had put their CD on at home before the concert, so I was not totally out of my depth, but I think not listening to Disturbed is something I will have to remedy very shortly. It was also quite refreshing to hear the lead singer say that he did not care how you obtained his music (CD, download, theft) as long as you listened to it. It’s nice to get permission sometimes.



Then came Korn. Now, don’t get me wrong. I really like Korn. They were, until a couple of years ago, one of my favourite bands. They really hit their stride with the Follow the Leader album. The concert last night however, was extremely disappointing. Granted, I had not actually listened to their new album (the reviews were not good however, and even Kristie said it took her 10-15 listens to get in to it), so a lot of the material they played I did not know. That makes it a bit hard to judge, but I will say that I had not heard that much Tool before seeing them live, but it did nothing to lessen my enjoyment of the show at all. The volume of the parts was all so loud that everything drowned everything else out, to the point where it was actually difficult to recognize the songs of theirs that I really liked!

I am sure that from the POV of the mixing desk guys, the sound was awesome, and I understand the need to make it audible at the far reaches of the auditorium, but come on guys. Even the slow parts of the songs I knew really well sounded distorted. The only parts you could understand clearly were when Jonathon was making his random noises in Freak on a Leash!

On the extremely good side, I finally got a chance to wear my one and only band shirt. Technically the second band shirt I have owned, but I have disowned the C+C Music Factory shirt many moons ago.