Slayer -- Kansas City, MO -- May 13th, 2014

What can be said about Slayer that hasn’t already been beaten to death by millions of fans over three decades? They’re possibly the most universally loved (and loathed after a certain point) metal band all the world over, and it’s not such a far stretch to argue that Slayer is the most important and influential heavy metal band of all time. Last night, the loudest and fastest of the Big Four of Thrash Metal made their way to the Uptown Theater in Kansas City for a night of evil speed supported by crossover legends Suicidal Tendencies and one of the few bands to predate Slayer, the inimitable Exodus.

Opening the show to an already large and loud crowd was Exodus, the Bay Area band that, while coming to prominence at the same time as Metallica and Slayer, never quite reached the same level of popularity as their contemporaries. Perhaps that has put a chip on their shoulder, because Exodus comes out fast and doesn’t let up. Frontman Rob Dukes is a far cry from classic Exodus vocalist Paul Baloff, choosing to have a more harsh style of singing than Paul’s melodic style, but it works well – especially when performing later-era Exodus songs, such as the mid-paced thrasher “War Is My Shepherd.” Of course, Exodus’ most popular album is their first, “Bonded By Blood” and the majority of their 30-minute set was dedicated to that album. The crowd responded with lots of headbanging and huge circle pits. Exodus’ ode to the circle pit, “The Toxic Waltz” incited one of the biggest of the night. Their set was full of energy and was perfect to get the crowd ready for the upcoming bands.

After a surprisingly short changeover of only about 15 minutes, Venice Beach crossover lord’s Suicidal Tendencies took the stage. With vocalist asking, “Kansas City, what the fuck is going on around here?!” they launched into “You Can’t Bring Me Down” and spent their hour-or-so set providing the most melodic and fun music of the night. Suicidal Tendencies came from the California hardcore punk scene, so their music has a bit more in common with bands like The Dead Kennedys than Slayer, but their later-album songs introduced a great deal of thrash metal to their sound and caused a ruckus in the underground scene back in the 80s. Suicidal focused mainly on their second album “Join the Army” (Possessed to Skate, War Inside My Head) and their third album “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today” (Trip At The Brain, Pledge Your Allegiance). Suicidal Tendencies has slowly been climbing back into the public eye with a lot of touring and licensing of their songs out to various forms of media. They still bring an amazing skate punk/thrash show despite being around for over 30 years, and that alone is cause for moshing celebrations.

It seems like headliners Slayer never stay away from the Kansas City area for too long. Their last legitimate headlining US tour in 2007 was at Memorial Hall and their appearances on the Mayhem Festival in 2009 and 201 along with their co-headlining tour with Megadeth in 2012 all hit Sandstone (or Capitol Federal, Or Cricket Wireless, or whatever it is now) Amphitheater. Thankfully, it seems the Kansas City crowd hasn’t grown weary of Slayer just yet. On this particular tour, Gary Holt of Exodus was replacing the late, great Jeff Hanneman on guitars and Paul Bostaph, their drummer from 1992 to 2001, replaced Dave Lombardo behind the kit. Both performed their duties quite admirably and no one could really tell the difference. A huge difference, though, came in the choice of songs to perform. Slayer played 19 songs last night, but not a single song was released past 1991. The first five Slayer albums are almost universally proclaimed as some of the best heavy metal albums ever made, and to get 19 cuts off those is almost unheard of for Slayer in this day and age. Some highlights were undoubtedly “Chemical Warfare” and “Captor of Sin” off the 1984 “Haunting the Chapel” EP and “The Antichrist” and “Black Magic,” two rare cuts off their 1983 debut album “Show No Mercy.” It was a classic night for a classic band with a classic crowd in attendance.

Slayer:

1. Hell Awaits
2. The Antichrist
3. Necrophiliac
4. Mandatory Suicide
5. Captor of Sin
6. War Ensemble
7. Postmortem
8. Altar of Sacrifice
9. Jesus Saves
10. At Dawn They Sleep
11. Die By The Sword
12. Hallowed Point
13. Seasons In The Abyss
14. Chemical Warfare
15. Dead Skin Mask
16. Raining Blood
17. Black Magic
----
18. South of Heaven
19. Angel of Death

Suicidal Tendencies:

1. You Can't Bring Me Down
2. Trip At The Brain
3. War Inside My Head
4. Subliminal
5. Possessed To Skate
6. I Saw Your Mommy
7. Cyco Vision
8. Pledge Your Allegiance

Exodus:

1. Bonded By Blood
2. Piranha
3. Blacklist
4. War Is My Shepherd
5. The Toxic Waltz
6. Strike Of The Beast

Slayer: 9.5/10
Suicidal Tendencies: 8.5/10
Exodus: 8/10 

What can be said about Slayer that hasn’t already been beaten to death by millions of fans over three decades? They’re possibly the most universally loved (and loathed after a certain point) metal band all the world over, and it’s not such a far stretch to argue that Slayer is the most important and influential heavy metal band of all time. Last night, the loudest and fastest of the Big Four of Thrash Metal made their way to the Uptown Theater in Kansas City for a night of evil speed supported by crossover legends Suicidal Tendencies and one of the few bands to predate Slayer, the inimitable Exodus.
Opening the show to an already large and loud crowd was Exodus, the Bay Area band that, while coming to prominence at the same time as Metallica and Slayer, never quite reached the same level of popularity as their contemporaries. Perhaps that has put a chip on their shoulder, because Exodus comes out fast and doesn’t let up. Frontman Rob Dukes is a far cry from classic Exodus vocalist Paul Baloff, choosing to have a more harsh style of singing than Paul’s melodic style, but it works well – especially when performing later-era Exodus songs, such as the mid-paced thrasher “War Is My Shepherd.” Of course, Exodus’ most popular album is their first, “Bonded By Blood” and the majority of their 30-minute set was dedicated to that album. The crowd responded with lots of headbanging and huge circle pits. Exodus’ ode to the circle pit, “The Toxic Waltz” incited one of the biggest of the night. Their set was full of energy and was perfect to get the crowd ready for the upcoming bands.

After a surprisingly short changeover of only about 15 minutes, Venice Beach crossover lord’s Suicidal Tendencies took the stage. With vocalist asking, “Kansas City, what the fuck is going on around here?!” they launched into “You Can’t Bring Me Down” and spent their hour-or-so set providing the most melodic and fun music of the night. Suicidal Tendencies came from the California hardcore punk scene, so their music has a bit more in common with bands like The Dead Kennedys than Slayer, but their later-album songs introduced a great deal of thrash metal to their sound and caused a ruckus in the underground scene back in the 80s. Suicidal focused mainly on their second album “Join the Army” (Possessed to Skate, War Inside My Head) and their third album “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today” (Trip At The Brain, Pledge Your Allegiance). Suicidal Tendencies has slowly been climbing back into the public eye with a lot of touring and licensing of their songs out to various forms of media. They still bring an amazing skate punk/thrash show despite being around for over 30 years, and that alone is cause for moshing celebrations.
It seems like headliners Slayer never stay away from the Kansas City area for too long. Their last legitimate headlining US tour in 2007 was at Memorial Hall and their appearances on the Mayhem Festival in 2009 and 201 along with their co-headlining tour with Megadeth in 2012 all hit Sandstone (or Capitol Federal, Or Cricket Wireless, or whatever it is now) Amphitheater. Thankfully, it seems the Kansas City crowd hasn’t grown weary of Slayer just yet. On this particular tour, Gary Holt of Exodus was replacing the late, great Jeff Hanneman on guitars and Paul Bostaph, their drummer from 1992 to 2001, replaced Dave Lombardo behind the kit. Both performed their duties quite admirably and no one could really tell the difference. A huge difference, though, came in the choice of songs to perform. Slayer played 19 songs last night, but not a single song was released past 1991. The first five Slayer albums are almost universally proclaimed as some of the best heavy metal albums ever made, and to get 19 cuts off those is almost unheard of for Slayer in this day and age. Some highlights were undoubtedly “Chemical Warfare” and “Captor of Sin” off the 1984 “Haunting the Chapel” EP and “The Antichrist” and “Black Magic,” two rare cuts off their 1983 debut album “Show No Mercy.” It was a classic night for a classic band with a classic crowd in attendance.
- See more at: http://millsrecordcompany.com/hell-awaits-slayer-live-kansas-city-05132014#sthash.X7AC0agb.dpuf

What can be said about Slayer that hasn’t already been beaten to death by millions of fans over three decades? They’re possibly the most universally loved (and loathed after a certain point) metal band all the world over, and it’s not such a far stretch to argue that Slayer is the most important and influential heavy metal band of all time. Last night, the loudest and fastest of the Big Four of Thrash Metal made their way to the Uptown Theater in Kansas City for a night of evil speed supported by crossover legends Suicidal Tendencies and one of the few bands to predate Slayer, the inimitable Exodus.
Opening the show to an already large and loud crowd was Exodus, the Bay Area band that, while coming to prominence at the same time as Metallica and Slayer, never quite reached the same level of popularity as their contemporaries. Perhaps that has put a chip on their shoulder, because Exodus comes out fast and doesn’t let up. Frontman Rob Dukes is a far cry from classic Exodus vocalist Paul Baloff, choosing to have a more harsh style of singing than Paul’s melodic style, but it works well – especially when performing later-era Exodus songs, such as the mid-paced thrasher “War Is My Shepherd.” Of course, Exodus’ most popular album is their first, “Bonded By Blood” and the majority of their 30-minute set was dedicated to that album. The crowd responded with lots of headbanging and huge circle pits. Exodus’ ode to the circle pit, “The Toxic Waltz” incited one of the biggest of the night. Their set was full of energy and was perfect to get the crowd ready for the upcoming bands.

After a surprisingly short changeover of only about 15 minutes, Venice Beach crossover lord’s Suicidal Tendencies took the stage. With vocalist asking, “Kansas City, what the fuck is going on around here?!” they launched into “You Can’t Bring Me Down” and spent their hour-or-so set providing the most melodic and fun music of the night. Suicidal Tendencies came from the California hardcore punk scene, so their music has a bit more in common with bands like The Dead Kennedys than Slayer, but their later-album songs introduced a great deal of thrash metal to their sound and caused a ruckus in the underground scene back in the 80s. Suicidal focused mainly on their second album “Join the Army” (Possessed to Skate, War Inside My Head) and their third album “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today” (Trip At The Brain, Pledge Your Allegiance). Suicidal Tendencies has slowly been climbing back into the public eye with a lot of touring and licensing of their songs out to various forms of media. They still bring an amazing skate punk/thrash show despite being around for over 30 years, and that alone is cause for moshing celebrations.
It seems like headliners Slayer never stay away from the Kansas City area for too long. Their last legitimate headlining US tour in 2007 was at Memorial Hall and their appearances on the Mayhem Festival in 2009 and 201 along with their co-headlining tour with Megadeth in 2012 all hit Sandstone (or Capitol Federal, Or Cricket Wireless, or whatever it is now) Amphitheater. Thankfully, it seems the Kansas City crowd hasn’t grown weary of Slayer just yet. On this particular tour, Gary Holt of Exodus was replacing the late, great Jeff Hanneman on guitars and Paul Bostaph, their drummer from 1992 to 2001, replaced Dave Lombardo behind the kit. Both performed their duties quite admirably and no one could really tell the difference. A huge difference, though, came in the choice of songs to perform. Slayer played 19 songs last night, but not a single song was released past 1991. The first five Slayer albums are almost universally proclaimed as some of the best heavy metal albums ever made, and to get 19 cuts off those is almost unheard of for Slayer in this day and age. Some highlights were undoubtedly “Chemical Warfare” and “Captor of Sin” off the 1984 “Haunting the Chapel” EP and “The Antichrist” and “Black Magic,” two rare cuts off their 1983 debut album “Show No Mercy.” It was a classic night for a classic band with a classic crowd in attendance.
- See more at: http://millsrecordcompany.com/hell-awaits-slayer-live-kansas-city-05132014#sthash.X7AC0agb.dpuf

Iron Reagan -- Lawrence, KS -- April 24th, 2014

"We're going to play 37 songs, so we'll be done in about 15 minutes."

Iron Reagan may not have hit the 37-song mark Thursday night at the Replay Lounge in Lawrence, but they came close and had a rambunctious time doing it.

Iron Reagan is a four-piece crossover hardcore/thrash band from Richmond, VA featuring members of Municipal Waste and Darkest Hour. Their music is the aggressiveness of old-school hardcore bands like Spazz and Black Flag, but with the riffing and fun demeanor of current thrash bands, like the aforementioned Municipal Waste. The band was in good (and drunken) spirits for the whole show - only the drums were set up on the stage, everyone else was out on the floor of the Replay Lounge, sometimes even venturing into the mosh pit to perform. The band ripped through at least twenty songs in half an hour - maybe more - which included songs like "Eat Shit And Live," "Snake Chopper," and the 7-second opus "Your Kid's An Asshole," which the band performed twice in a row. In fact, Iron Reagan performed the first five songs from their recent 4 1/2 minute EP "Spoiled Identity." Vocalist Tony Forresta exclaimed heavy metal magazine commissioned them for something 5-minutes long to include with an issue of the magazine. "Most band's give them one song, we gave them 13." Near the end of the set, Iron Reagan performed a cover of "Don't Tread On Me" by Cro-Mags, and from the first note of that song, the Replay was a battleground for 90 seconds. Personally, I've never seen a venue go from mild enjoyment to complete and utter chaos in such a short time before. The band ended their set with Tony Forresta chucking his mic at the speaker, pulling down part of the Replay's ceiling and dismantling the drummer's kit in a true punk rock fashion. Certainly one of the most memorable shows the Replay has had in quite some time.

Touring with Iron Reagan is their fellow Richmond friends in Occultist. Occultist, with their two guitars and one extremely thick bass, had a much heavier sound that Iron Reagan - they play a very crusty style of death/thrash metal, almost like Amebix or even Extreme Noise Terror. Again, most of the band was set up on the floor and vocalist K.Z. was out in the crowd, pushing the punk's in attendance to start some moshing. Occultist had very heavy riffs and even some pretty impressive guitar solos - a great contrast to the simple (yet infectious) bands they were sandwiched between.

Opening the show was Vomit Assault, the crust warriors from Lawrence. Vomit Assault looks like they should play solely Discharge covers, but their sound was very unique - there were definitely its crust punk moments, but most of the songs (mostly 7 - 9 minutes in length!) had elements of progressive, sludge and heavy metal in them, including some pretty original melodies coming from the bassist and guitar player. They play both styles, metal and punk, pretty nicely, and not a whole lot of bands can do that. Interesting stuff from a great local band!

Iron Reagan: 9/10
Occultist: 9/10
Vomit Assault: 7.5/10

Iron Reagan included (some songs missing):

Mini Lights
Drop The Gun
Insanity Plea(se)
Walking Out
Paycheck
Snake Chopper
Tongue Tied
The Living Skull
I'm Regret
Zero Gain
One Shovel Short Of A Funeral
Cycle Of Violence
I Ripped That Testament A New Asshole
Your Kid's An Asshole (x2)
Don't Tread On Me (Cro-Mags cover)
Eat Shit And Live

Earth -- Kansas City, MO -- April 1st, 2014

To the uninitiated, Earth would look like just any other band. A three-piece with a modest set-up, some members with a few tattoos, and introducing themselves to the crowd and politely asking people to not use flash, but encouraging them to record the show. However, Dylan Carlson and company make up one of the most influential underground bands of the 90s heavy rock/metal scene. On a chilly Tuesday night at the recordBar in Westport, the band trudged through seven songs in 80 minutes to a crowd that was receptive to the music when they weren't zoned out in the droning riffs.

Earth is, has been, and always will be firmly rooted in drone metal. But within that planting, they dabble around in riffing and beats that are more Boris than Sunn O))). Speaking of Boris, opening song "Old Black" from the 2011 album "Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I" is proof that Carlson's guitar playing and song structures have directly influenced the Japanese band, namely the album "Flood." The band switched back and forth between old and new songs, performing three tracks off their upcoming album to be released in July. They seem a bit more darn and ambitious than their past few albums, especially on the new track "There Is A Serpent Coming." The rest of the set featured "Coda Mestoso In F (Flat) Minor" from 1996's "Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons," albeit with a reworked intro. Carlson joked that it was the last album of theirs before this upcoming album to feature vocals. The trio also performed "The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull" from the same-titled 2008 release, and ended with "Ouroboros Is Broken," which was far and away the heaviest song of the night, which is saying something when it comes to Earth.

Earth seemed to have reworked all of their songs into a live setting. Take "Ouroboros Is Broken" for example. Originally a 20-minute drone piece on a 1991 EP, it was later re-worked into an 8-minute track in 2007, however it was much softer there. Live, the band seemed to straddle the line between the two song lengths, but performed the song heavier than it has ever been recorded. The same can be said for "Coda Mestoso," a groovy, drone-y piece on album but absolutely crushing live. It's the sign of a great band - rework the songs for a live setting that can make fans appreciate both the recorded and the live versions. Not every band can pull this off, but Earth do it easily.

Opening the show was local band Expo '70. They were a perfect blend of Kyuss and Earthless - at times being very catchy heavy stoner rock before melting into a huge, long, psychedelic metal jam session. I'd heard of the band before but never got around to checking them out, but I might just have a new favorite local opening band. I haven't been this impressed with a first listen to a local band in a very, very long time.

1. Old Black
2. There Is A Serpent Coming (new song)
3. The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull
4. Rooks Across The Gate (new song)
5. Coda Maestoso In F (Flat) Minor (with re-worked intro)
6. Badger (new song)
7. Ouroboros Is Broken

Earth: 9/10
Expo '70: 8.5/10

Terror -- Lawrence, KS -- March 26th, 2014

It might be a cliche now but last night at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, hardcore music fans came together and became one big family. One giant, aggressive, moshing, stage-diving and smiling family.

The "Fuck The Message" tour landed at The Bottleneck in the midst of a cold and rainy evening, but that didn't stop the mass of hardcore fans from coming out early to see the first band, Expire from Milwaukee. Expire's music fit in perfectly with Stick To Your Guns and Terror - short, extremely aggressive songs that make for great crowd scream-alongs, and punishing breakdowns that induce slam dancing and stage dives. Their song "Abyss" had the biggest crowd reaction, with the crowd dogpiling on Expire's vocalist to sing along. If an opening band's duty is to warm up the crowd, Expire may have done it so well that they stole some energy from the acts that followed.

The next couple of bands had more of a meldoic take on hardcore music. The first was Counterparts from Ontario. Although their music is definitely a take on hardcore, it was focused more on melodic riffing and even contained some clean vocals - the only of the night. The crowd seemed a bit more subdued for Counterparts, especially compared to Expire, but there was a small contingent of fans up against the stage singing along with every song.

After Counterparts was the South Carolina-based Hundredth. Hundredth is a band that has blown up in popularity in a very niche-genre of melodic hardcore. Again, they performed with a lot of melody and more emphasis on riffing and vocals. They had a bit more reception from the crowd, especially on their final song "Desolate," which is probably their most straight-forward hardcore song. Lots of singing along and hardcore dancing for that one.

It's been a while since Los Angeles' Terror has been around these parts - they opened for Suicidal Tendencies in Kansas City back in 2008 and the 10 for $10 tour at the Midland with a myriad of bands, but that's it. Their reception was frenzies from before the first song even started. Frontman Scott Vogel is legendary in the hardcore scene for his crowd interaction, and that night was no different. Between songs, he'd get the crowd to move in, but made sure everyone knew there would be no violence and no fights tonight. "Friendly aggression" is what he called it. More than once, he reiterated that the stage was as much the crowd's as it was the band's, and the crowd took that to heart. During "Stick Tight" it seemed there were more people in the air stage diving than were on the floor at The Bottleneck. At one point, people were using the crowd-surfers near the front of the stage as launching points for their stage dives. It was truly insane, but everyone had smiles and were high-fiving and hugging each other throughout the show. Terror ripped through classic songs like "Out Of My Face," "Spit My Rage," and the old-school "Push It Away." It was far and away the most energetic, active, and absolutely crazy crowd that a Lawrence or Kansas City show has had in a very, very long time.

It was Scott Vogel's 40th birthday that night and he said that he believes in the power of hardcore. He believes that it can bring everyone together, no matter the race, religion, hair-length or anything else, and everyone can release some pent-up aggression for a couple of hours. It seems like Lawrence gave him the best birthday present he could ask for - a perfect hardcore show with the perfect hardcore audience.

Stick To Your Guns:
Diamond
Empty Heads
Against Them All
Some Kind if Hope
Bringing You Down
What Goes Around
We Still Believe
The Bond
Life In a Box
Such Pain
D(I am)ond
Built Upon The Sand
This Is More
Amber
Terror:
Out Of My Face
Stick Tight
Spit My Rage
Push It Away
You’re Caught
Live By The Code
Your Enemies Are Mine
Always The Hard Way
Keep Your Mouth Shut
Keepers Of The Faith
Hundredth:
Weathered Town
Carry On
Demons
Ruin
Free Mind/Open Spirit
Desolate
Counterparts:
Witness
(You Think You’re) John Fucking Locke
Slave
Outlier
Reflection
The Disconnect
Compass
Expire :
Bark
Anchor
Reputation
YDN
Anxiety
Spit It Out
Pretty Low
Abyss
Focus
Just Fine
- See more at: http://millsrecordcompany.com/caught-mosh-terror-live-lawrence-ks-03262014#sthash.kGKfl7x0.dpuf

 Stick To Your Guns:

Diamond
Empty Heads
Against Them All
Some Kind if Hope
Bringing You Down
What Goes Around
We Still Believe
The Bond
Life In a Box
Such Pain
D(I am)ond
Built Upon The Sand
This Is More
Amber

Terror:

Out Of My Face
Stick Tight
Spit My Rage
Push It Away
You’re Caught
Live By The Code
Your Enemies Are Mine
Always The Hard Way
Keep Your Mouth Shut
Keepers Of The Faith

Hundredth:

Weathered Town
Carry On
Demons
Ruin
Free Mind/Open Spirit
Desolate

Counterparts:

Witness
(You Think You’re) John Fucking Locke
Slave
Outlier
Reflection
The Disconnect
Compass

Expire :

Bark
Anchor
Reputation
YDN
Anxiety
Spit It Out
Pretty Low
Abyss
Focus
Just Fine

Terror: 10/10 (best crowd I've ever seen at a show)
Hundredth: 7/10
Counterparts: 6/10
Expire: 8/10 

Stick To Your Guns:
Diamond
Empty Heads
Against Them All
Some Kind if Hope
Bringing You Down
What Goes Around
We Still Believe
The Bond
Life In a Box
Such Pain
D(I am)ond
Built Upon The Sand
This Is More
Amber
Terror:
Out Of My Face
Stick Tight
Spit My Rage
Push It Away
You’re Caught
Live By The Code
Your Enemies Are Mine
Always The Hard Way
Keep Your Mouth Shut
Keepers Of The Faith
Hundredth:
Weathered Town
Carry On
Demons
Ruin
Free Mind/Open Spirit
Desolate
Counterparts:
Witness
(You Think You’re) John Fucking Locke
Slave
Outlier
Reflection
The Disconnect
Compass
Expire :
Bark
Anchor
Reputation
YDN
Anxiety
Spit It Out
Pretty Low
Abyss
Focus
Just Fine
- See more at: http://millsrecordcompany.com/caught-mosh-terror-live-lawrence-ks-03262014#sthash.kGKfl7x0.dpuf

Between The Buried And Me -- Lawrence, KS -- March 7th, 2014

This isn't your grandpa's progressive music.

Between The Buried And Me headlined a progressive music package at the Granada Friday night that included three other bands that are continually pushing the package for conventional music, and ever pushing the "progressive" moniker to places it hasn't been before. A very full Granada Theater was extremely receptive of all four bands, filled with lots of singing, lots of moshing and lots of smiling faces.

The first band of the night was Canada's The Kindred. The Kindred is normally a progressive metal band in the vein of Last Chance to Reason and maybe even Protest The Hero. However, they were performing without their vocalist, so everything was instrumental. Their performance without vocals didn't take anything away from them at all, and actually might've even benefited them in some places. Definitely a modern take on progressive music, they combined the breakdowns and palm-muted riffing of djent with the technicality of guitar solos and keyboards to great effect. However, it seemed like without their vocalist, the music was catchy enough to stand on its own for a bit, but it was obvious the songs were written to have a singer carry it along. They didn't have the outrageous riffing or heaviness that Animals As Leaders has, but they could get there if they wanted to. A respectable first band of the night.

California's Intronaut was up next, and personally it was my first time seeing them since 2008 with High on Fire at the Bottleneck. They've changed since then, mellowing out a bit and really embracing the stoner and progressive sides of their music. Their half-hour set included mostly cuts from their latest album "Habitual Levitations." The song "Milk Leg" showcased their incredible bassist - he even had a couple of solo's during their performance. Definitely one of the highlights of the set. Overall, Intronaut was a different kind of heavy from the rest of the night, but their sound was very welcome.

There isn't a more polarizing metal band today than Deafheaven, but you wouldn't have noticed it at this concert. As soon as the band started their opening song "Dream House," the crowd barely let up with moshing and headbanging. At one point during the song, vocalist George Clarke hopped down into the crowd and everyone screamed along with him. Deafheaven's set comprised of material solely from their latest album "Sunbather," which took the metal music world by storm last year. Deafheaven is obviously influenced by shoegaze and post-rock bands such as Explosions in the Sky and My Bloody Valentine, but the majority of their sound is extreme, blast-beat laden and shrieked-vocals black metal that they do just as good as the Norwegian masters of the genre. George Clarke is one of the most impressive frontmen I've ever seen, not only from his impeccable black metal vocal abilities, but he was constantly bounding around the stage, acting like a man possessed. An explosive performance and the best of the night.

Between The Buried And Me are at the center of this new-school progressive metal movement, and they proved it Friday night by performing all of their new album, The Parallax II: Future Sequence, which has enough twists and turns to make even the staunchest of Dream Theater supporters' heads spin. However, for the uninitiated, playing through all of their latest album might be too much. "Parallax II" might be the band's most ambitious release yet, with interludes and movements-within-movements everywhere and music genres going from metalcore to death metal to pop music to everything in between in the span of one song. Luckily for BTBAM, they have some of the most talented musicians around today to keep things interesting for those not vested heavily in their music. Guitarist Paul Waggoner and bassist Dan Briggs provide enough jaw-dropping moments per song that is worth the price of admission alone. There were several moments during BTBAM's set that stood out from the rest, particularly the songs "Telos," "Lay Your Ghosts To Rest," and "Silent Flight Parliament." However, the encore performance of the brilliant "Sun of Nothing" from the equally brilliant "Colors" album further cemented it as maybe the best progressive metal song of the 2000's.

All in all, the lineup of this tour is proof that progressive metal is no longer just confined to Rush and Dream Theater and is quickly moving to the heavier side of things. Based on the performances from all four bands, that's undoubtedly a good thing.

BTBAM:

1. Goodbye To Everything
2. Astral Body
3. Lay Your Ghosts To Rest
4. Autumn
5. Extremophile Elite
6. Parllax
7. The Black Box
8. Telos
9. Bloom
10. Melting City
11. Silent Flight Parliament
12. Goodbye To Everything Reprise
====
13. Sun of Nothing

Deafheaven:

1. Dream House
2. Irresistible (over PA)
3. Sunbather
4. The Pecan Tree

Intronaut:

1. The Literal Black Cloud
2. Vernon
3. Harmonomicon
4. Milk Leg
5. The Welding

Between the Buried and Me: 7.5/10
Deafheaven: 10/10
Intronaut: 8/10
The Kindred: 7.5/10

Primitive Man -- Lawrence, KS -- March 5th, 2014

A small review of the Primitive Man show from last night. My full review is here:

http://blog.millsrecordcompany.com/hate-scorn-brevity-primitive-man-live-jackpot-lawrence-ks-030514

Amon Amarth -- Lawrence, KS -- February 9th, 2014

"Oden! Guide our ships
Our axes, spears and swords
Guide us through storms that whip
And in brutal war"

These lines from Amon Amarth's "The Pursuit Of Vikings" were chanted so loudly by a packed house at the Granada on Sunday night that people passing by the venue outside might have mistaken it for a Viking rally from Valhalla itself.

The Swedish melodic death metal band may just be the most popular and recognizable foreign death metal band right now, and the passionate crowd attests to that. From the second they took the stage to the last note of the final song, Amon Amarth had everyone at the Granada in the palm of their hand. Whether it was their punishing opening song "Father Of The Wolf," the subdued "Cry Of The Blackbirds," or the absolutely punishing "Destroyer Of The Universe," the five Norsemen on stage were greeted with plenty of headbanging, crowdsurfing and singalongs to whichever song they performed. It's a rare thing for a metal band to get such a raucous reception to both old songs and new. One of the biggest crowd reactions was from the title track of the band's 2008 album "Twilight Of The Thunder God" - the crowd just about sang half the song on their own.

Frontman Johan Hegg had a giant smile on his face every time a crowd surfer went over the barrier. At one point, a little kid came over the barrier and Johan just grinned and gave him a thumbs up. The guys in Amon Amarth might look like terrifying Vikings, but they just wanted everyone to have a good time. The band performed for over an hour and a half and hit songs from six of their eight albums and sounded perfect the entire time. One of the best pure death metal performances the Granada has seen in a long time.

For most people when this tour was announced, the support band Enslaved was the main reason to get excited. Norway's Enslaved doesn't tour the United States nearly as much as Amon Amarth, but it's a mystery why not. Starting off as one of the main bands of the second wave of black metal out of Norway (along the likes of Mayhem, Darkthrone, Satyricon, etc.), Enslaved now injects a healthy dose of progressive and psychedelic music into their music. It was evident on songs like "Death In The Eyes Of Dawn" and "Ruun" that the band has evolved so far from their beginning black metal stage. However, when the band played "Allfaðr Oðinn" off their 1992 demo Yggdrasil - older than many of the fans in attendance that night, they showed that they can still belt out fast, evil black metal with the best of them. Enslaved's performance was just magic. Maybe it was the inclusion of some clean vocals and keyboards or maybe it was frontman Grutle Kjellson's drawing of runes in the air during songs that just made them so fascinating to watch, but they were the best band of the night. Truly a sight to behold!

The lone American band on the tour was none other than Ohio's Skeletonwitch. Their brand of blackened thrash metal (with just about every other type of metal mixed in) served as the perfect combination to get the show kicked off at maximum speed. Their first album is a landmark of recent American thrash metal, but more recent songs like "Beneath Dead Leaves" and "Crushed Beyond Dust" show that Skeletonwitch only gets faster and heavier with time. Their set closer "Within My Blood" is also quite possibly the greatest closing song in live music history. A swirling torrent of riffs and headbanging - the type of metal to throw some beer to!

The sound was nearly perfect the entire night - everything was mixed great and was loud, as metal should be! All three bands put on amazing performances and left the crazy crowd satisfied. The town of Jayhawks left that night as true viking warriors!

 Amon Amarth (9:30 - 11:00):

Father Of The Wolf
Deceiver Of The Gods
Death In Fire
For Victory Or Death
As Loke Falls
We Shall Destroy
Runes To My Memory
Varyags of Miklagaard
Last Stand of Frej
Guardians Of Asgaard
Shape Shifter
Warriors Of The North
Destroyer Of The Universe
Cry Of The Blackbirds
War of the Gods
====
Twilight Of The Thunder God
The Pursuit Of Vikings

Enslaved (8:15 - 9:00):

Death In The Eyes Of Dawn
Ruun
Ethica Odini
RIITIIR
Allfaðr Oðinn
Isa

Skeletonwitch (7:30 - 7:58):

The Horrifying Force (The Desire To Kill)
I Am Of Death (Hell Has Arrived)
Burned From Bone
Sacrifice For The Slaughtergod
Beyond the Permafrost
From A Cloudless Sky
Crushed Beyond Dust
Beneath Dead Leaves
Within My Blood

Amon Amarth: 8/10
Enslaved: 9.5/10
Skeletonwitch: 9/10

Origin -- Lawrence, KS -- January 16th, 2014

It was very comforting to see a good-sized crowd filling out the Granada in Lawrence on a freezing Thursday night for what was to be a raucous homecoming for one of Kansas' most prized possessions in music, rounded out with some of the best of the local metal scene.

Kansas' own Origin might just be the biggest musical export from the state in decades. The band has a storied history that includes tours with extreme metal bands such as Immolation, Nile, Vader, Arch Enemy and Necrophagist, just to name a few. The band has toured all over North America, Europe and Asia and is on the cusp of releasing their sixth album on Nuclear Blast records - quite a feat for what started as just some guys from Topeka in 1997. Despite all that worldwide recognition, there might not be a crazier crowd for Origin than with a hometown show. Jason Keyser, the recent addition on vocals, is a master of showmanship, constantly interacting with the crowd, helping crowdsurfers onto the stage, only to push them off into the waiting sea of madness, all the while delivering an extremely impressive vocal performance. Backed with some of the most on-point, technically proficient metal music from Paul Ryan on guitar, Mike Flores on bass and John Longstreth on drums, it's easy to get lost in bewilderment at just the music being played, but you've got to be on the lookout for the rogue stagediver landing on you.

Origin touched on each of their releases, including a hilariously too brief snippet from their upcoming album, "Omnipresent," but it seemed like the crowd was most receptive to their last two albums, "Antithesis" and "Entity". The torrent of moshing and crowdsurfing kicked into overdrive with crowd favorites "The Aftermath" and "Wrath of Vishnu", where newer cuts like "Saligia" and "Evolution of Extinction" showed more of the progressive side to Origin's madness. In the end, each song was met with an explosion of passionate crowd movement to match the explosion of ferocity on stage. Most of the attendees down near the stage probably left that night bruised and covered in sweat, blood and beer, but that's just normal for a hometown Origin show.

Providing direct support was the infamous Troglodyte. The band needs no introduction to those paying attention to any part of the local heavy metal scene, but the masked quintet plays one of the best deathgrind sounds not just in the Midwest, but in the country. Using up just as much energy for the headliners, the crowd exploded in movement and screaming along for Bigfoot-themed anthems like "Murderous Bi-Pedal Hominid Rampage (Where are My Legs?)" and a particularly vicious performance of set closer "Caught (On Super 8)". The band knows how to marry brutal riffing with infectious grooves and brings the best of both worlds to the stage to make for an unforgettable performance every time they perform.

The show was opened by three more local acts. The first band to take the stage was A Plague In Faith. This young band combined elements from several modern death metal bands and puts on a very entertaining show. Their vocalist has some serious pipes, and the performance went very old-school when the bassist hung up his guitar for a second mic, putting on a guitar-only death/grind performance for one song. Just like the old gods would have it!

The second band to take the stage was Species. The band injected the most groove into their sound of the night, fitting right in with bands such as After the Burial or The Faceless. Very energetic and very tight sounding.

Third up was Confined In Flesh. These guys take old-school death metal and inject it with new-school life and the output is very catchy, yet brutal at times, metal that's easy to mosh to. The crowd gave a huge response to it, and hopefully the band plays many more shows very soon.

Origin (maybe incomplete/definitely out of order):

The Aftermath
Wrath of Vishnu
Echoes of Decimation
Staring From The Abyss
Finite
Expulsion of Fury
Purgatory
Swarm
Saligia
Banishing Illusion
Evolution of Extinction
Portal
Implosion of Eternity

Origin: 10/10
Troglodyte: 9.5/10
Confined In Flesh: 8/10
Species: n/a / 10
A Plague In Faith: 8.5/10

Kreator -- Lawrence, KS -- November 7th, 2013

The aptly named Legends Of Thrash tour made a stop at the Granada in Lawrence on a chilly Thursday night and performed to an unexpectedly enthusiastic turnout of metal heads, young and old alike. The night was full of riffing, guitar solos, blastbeats and lots of smiling, moshing maniacs.

The show wasted no time in getting things going, with California thrash maniacs Warbringer. Coming off the release of their fourth album "IV: Empires Collapse," the band showcased a side of their musicality not seen before. The album, which comprised the majority of their set, has a very strong heavy metal influence, although it still has some breakneck thrash moments - the kind of which Warbringer does better than most of their recent contemporaries. Their performance was spot-on and the mixing was great, very easy to hear vocalist John Kevill and and the guitar solos came through great. Warbringer's drummer Carlos Cruz (ex-Hexen, ex-Mantic Ritual) was one of the most impressive drummers I've ever seen in a band. "That dude has serious chops" is the understatement of the year. Warbringer can still blast off at lightspeed, but now they've shown they can take a page from Slayer's "South of Heaven" and slow it down but keep it heavy. The future for this band looks exciting.

The most impressive part of Overkill is that they're one of the first thrash metal bands in America, but they're faster and heavier now than they've ever been. Opening with 1987's "Deny The Cross" sent the crowd into a frenzy of moshing and singing along that didn't let up for a second. Overkill has one of the most impressive discographies in all of thrash metal, and this co-headlining set touched on the classics, the contemporary greats and even a couple of left-field surprises. One surprise in the set came from their performance of 1999's "Necroshine" - the track itself isn't necessarily a rarity or anything, and it comes from an era that Overkill was experimenting more towards groove metal, but it just came across as insanely heavy - maybe another nod to the stellar sound mixing from the Granada that night? As Bobby Blitz and crew ripped through their standard set-closer for almost 30 years of a cover of Subhumans' "Fuck You," it's apparent that Overkill is quite possibly the best American thrash band that is still active from the 80s.

When Kreator played the Beaumont Club last year, the only fault I could find was they came across muffled because of the sound system. Not only did the band sound clear and vicious, they outdid themselves and put on a devastating performance. Whether it "Endless Pain" from their debut album, or "Phantom Antichrist" from their fantastic album last year, each Kreator song was performed with just as much ferocity and technical brilliance as the last. Frontman Mille Petrozza is legendary for his unique vocals and his stage presence - he was constantly playing to the crowd and getting people to circle pit all night long. There was actually a part during "United In Hate" that had the crowd vocalizing along with the guitar melody - I don't think I've seen it done with that much vigor in the crowd outside of an Iron Maiden show. Mille raised the Kreator flag, as he always does, before launching into "Flag of Hate" and "Tormentor," the last two songs of the night, and the weary but appreciative crowd gave their all one last time. The crowd left everything they had on the floor for these three bands, and it made for one of the best all-around heavy metal shows that this area has seen in quite some time.

Kreator:

1. Phantom Antichrist
2. From Flood To Fire
3. Warcurse
4. Coma of Souls (intro only) > Endless Pain
5. Pleasure To Kill
6. Hordes Of Chaos (A Necrologue For The Elite)
7. Riot of Violence
8. Enemy of God
9. Phobia
10. Violent Revolution
11. Acoustic guitar solo > United In Hate
12. Civilization Collapse
13. Flag of Hate/Tormentor

Overkill

1. Deny the Cross
2. Bring Me The Night
3. Electric Rattlesnake
4. Hammerhead
5. Rotten To The Core
6. Hello From The Gutter
7. Ironbound
8. Necroshine
9. Thanx For Nothin'
10. Overkill
11. Elimination
====
12. Horrorscope
13. Fuck You (Subhumans cover)

Warbringer:

1. Living Weapon
2. Severed Reality
3. The Turning Of The Gears
4. Hunter-Seeker
5. Living In A Whirlwind
6. Scars Remain
7. Towers of the Serpent

Kreator: 9/10
Overkill: 9.5/10
Warbringer: 8.5/10 

Baroness -- Lawrence, KS -- June 4th, 2013

In the past year, Baroness have gone through things that would rip most bands apart. They released the double album Yellow & Green last summer that was initially met with divisiveness. Shortly after, the band was involved in a horrendous bus accident - similar in destruction to the fatal crashes involving Metallica and Decapitated that killed key members of those groups. Fortunately for Baroness there were no fatalities in the bus crash, but it left the members hospitalized and the fate of the band unknown. Well, it'll take more than a bus crash to keep the mammoth-sized beast that is Baroness down for long. Frontman John Baizley, along with guitarist Peter Adams and replacements Nick Jost and Sebastian Thomson brought every ounce of their rehabilitated selves to a sizeable crowd at the Granada theater on a humid Tuesday night.

Although Baroness is near the top of "sludge" metal bands signed to Relapse Records from Savannah, Georgia, their sound is much more rooted in the riff and melody of heavy metal than the dissonance and power chords of their friends in Kylesa and Black Tusk. Baizley uses his distinct melodic vocals in time with driving riffs to create a unique take on this dirty type of heavy metal. Some songs, such as "March To The Sea" and "A Horse Called Golgotha" do not shy away from the high notes on the guitars - a rarity in sludge metal these days. These riffs and strong bass presence mixed with impressive drum fills make for a very danceable, or headbanging, live show. With each song played, the stage lights were changed to the appropriate color from which album the track originated from. Mostly yellow and green lights, though there was a healthy dose of blue lighting and an appearance of red lighting for "Isak" near the end of the set, which sent the crowd into a frenzy.

John Baizley and Peter Adams might just be this generations dual-guitar attack duo in the vein of a stoner version of Judas Priest's KK Downing and Glenn Tipton. The sound throughout most of the night was a bit too loud, rendering Baizley's guitar and the bass sound heads and shoulders above all else, but it evened itself out at times. And speaking of too loud, this might have been the loudest show to ever hit the Granada. "Board Up The House" reached excruciatingly painful levels of volume and made some in the crowd rethink about being up too close for the band. Despite that small gripe, Baroness played an outstanding set and the crowd was extremely receptive. There was a lot of singing along to nearly every single song which put a big smile on Baizley's face. If tonight is any indication, Baroness' music transcends the heavy metal spectrum and is common ground for countless different music tastes and personalities. If Baroness is indeed taken from us much too soon, at least their music will inspire and bring happiness for a much longer time.

The only opener of the night was Coliseum, also from the south. While the sludge is apparent in their sound, Coliseum is very much rooted in the hardcore punk scene. Like a grittier, faster, looser version of Kyuss, Coliseum thrashed through a 45-minute set unleashing songs like the infectious "Black Magic Punks" and the grooving "Blind In One Eye." Guitarist/vocalist Ryan Patterson gave a quick speech on how their first ever show was opening for Baroness in 2004 and have basically been touring with them for almost a decade now. It just made their energetic set that much more endearing and special for the moment.

Baroness:


Ogeechee Hymnal
Take My Bones Away
March to the Sea
A Horse Called Golgotha
Foolsong
Little Things
Green Theme
Swollen and Halo
Board Up the House
Sea Lungs
Cocainium
Eula
The Sweetest Curse
Isak
The Gnashing
====
The Line Between
Jake Leg

Baroness: 9.5/10
Coliseum: 8.5/10

Suffocation -- Kansas City, MO -- April 22nd, 2013

Full review here: http://blog.millsrecordcompany.com/suffocation-riot-room-2013

Suffocation (might be missing a song, may be out of order):

Thrones Of Blood
Mass Obliteration
As Grace Descends
Catatonia
Funeral Inception
Rapture Of Revocation
Liege Of Inveracity
Pierced From Within
Purgatorial Punishment
Devoid Of Truth
My Demise
Infecting The Crypts

Exhumed:

The Beginning After The End
Dis-Aseemboly Line
Through Cadaver Eyes
Slaughtercult
Torso
Distorted and Twisted to Form
Limb from Limb
Guitar Solo
Funereality
Decrepit Crescendo
All Guts, No Glory
As Hammer to Anvil
The Rotting
The Matter of Splatter

Suffocation: 9.5/10
Exhumed: 9/10
Jungle Rot: 8.5/10
Adimiron: 6/10
Troglodyte: 8.5/10

Fu Manchu -- Kansas City, MO -- April 8th, 2013

Riffing, thy name is Fu Manchu. The semi-legendary stoner rock band came to Kansas City on really the first warm day of the year for us and played their awesome album "The Action Is Go" to a sweltering packed Record Bar.

After wailing on their instruments for a few minutes, the band kicked right into the album with the kicking opening track "Evil Eye." Right from the start, it was apparent there were more than a few diehard Fu Manchu fans in the audience. Lots of singing along and lots of headbanging - a girl even stage dove near the end. The crowd was great. Each song from the album elicited huge responses from the crowd, especially "Anodizer" and "Hogwash", which were two of the heaviest songs of the night. They didn't talk too much during the set, but they were moving all around headbanging into the audience. For the encore, we got something a bit different than previous sets: Rojo Ojo off their first album was a great surprise, and King Of the Road was a perfect closer. The mic stand got thrown into the audience for us to finish the song off. Perfect way to end such a killer show. After King of the Road, Scott Hill jokingly said "ALRIGHT, KING OF THE ROAD FULL ALBUM, LET'S GO!" before chuckling and walking off. Bastard!

Opening was Minneapolis band Bloodnstuff. They are a two-piece with a drummer and a guitarist, but the guitarist had a myriad of pedals and played so well it sounded like a full band was playing with him. I was getting whiffs of Clutch, Queens Of the Stone Age, mathcore and, oddly enough, the guitar one of Liturgy, all in one. Very good.

Fu Manchu

Evil Eye
Urethrane
The Action Is Go
Burning Road
Guardrail
Anodizer
Trackside Hoax
Unknown World
Laserbl'ast!
Hogwash
Grendel, Snowman
Strolling Astronomer
Saturn III
Nothing Done (SSD cover)
====
Rojo Ojo
King Of The Road

Fu Manchu: 9/10
Bloodnstuff: 8/10

Title Fight -- Lawrence, KS -- January 30th, 2013

Title Fight was, by far, the craziest crowd experience I've ever been a part of at a show. More so than Ceremony and Origin combined. I know people always say stuff about how as soon as the band starts, people go crazy? That literally was what happened here. As soon as the band started the intro to "Numb, But I Still Feel It," the number of stage-divers was in the teens by the time the actual song started. It kept up all night long with tons of divers, moshing and surfers. The set contained mostly songs from their last album "Floral Green," but I'm super okay with that. Maybe the hugest response of the night came from "Secret Society." Title Fight is, like all good punk music, extremely bass driven and the sound and mixing was loud but still super clear. When they kicked it into overdrive like with "You Can't Say Kingston Doesn't Love You" and "Symmetry," the D-Beat drums came through and only facilitated more and more stage dives. It seemed like everyone took one last launch off the stage during the closing number "27" and although they ended after that, people stuck around wanting more. Short and sweet, just as it should be. One of the best concert experiences ever.

Opening for Title Fight was KC's Clairaudients. They're one of the more interesting local bands - their sound is very easy to take in but pretty hard to pin down exactly just what kind of music they are. There's elements of post-hardcore, blues, noise rock, shoegaze, melodic hardcore, and more. They blend this all together to switch seamlessly from rocking out to chillaxing in, and they do it all brilliantly. Really looking forward to seeing them again.

The first band to play was Sovereign States. They're the band that plays the cover show at a bar in town every Monday. Their original songs weren't so bad! In the pop punk/melodic hardcore vein, it was pretty good. When they tried to do other stuff, it kinda hurt a bit, but that might be because their vocalist was coming down off a cold. Huge props for covering Saves The Day's "At Your Funeral." Any band who does that gets an automatic pass from me!

Title Fight: 9.5/10
Clairaudients: 8.5/10
Sovereign States: 7.5/10

Title Fight:


Numb, But I Still Feel It
Secret Society
You Can't Say Kingston Doesn't Love You
Leaf
Symmetry
Loud and Clear
Safe in Your Skin
Lefty
Youreyeah
Like a Ritual
Calloused
No One Stays at the Top Forever
Head in the Ceiling Fan
Shed
27

High On Fire -- Kansas City, MO -- December 10th, 2012

---

This was my first show since Converge on Oct. 20th - so almost my first in two months. Perhaps I should slowly walk back into the world of live music with a low-volume, low-key show? NOPE. It was High On Fire and Goatwhore, and my ears are still ringing. Aside from that, it was one of the most solid shows I've ever been to!

First band was local doom rock/metal guys In The Grove and I just have to say...why have I not heard these guys before?! Honestly one of the best first performances by a local band that I've not heard of before. Very heavy and very catchy, had a whole Boris/Doomriders/Torche thing going on and they definitely weren't afraid to solo it up or crush the audience with riffs. Very impressive all around and a great way to start the night.

Up next was Lo-Pan from Ohio. Another band I had not looked into prior to the show, but they definitely made me and quite a few others fans tonight. Very bass-driven stoner/sludge metal with clean vocals in the vein of Kyuss. Not really in the vein of Kyuss, more like they ARE Kyuss. That's exactly what they sounded like and it ruled heavily. Their bassist also is one of the best bass players I've ever seen. He was shredding on that thing and was matching the equally talented guitarist note for note. Lots of headbanging with them and I hope they start to get huge.

Goatwhore was the first ever metal band I saw live when they opened up for Celtic Frost on their reunion tour on October 16th, 2012. I saw a bit of them earlier this year when they headlined a much too large venue following Hate Eternal, but playing after Erik Rutan and co. didn't do them any favors. Here, though, they sounded amazing. Full of tons of energy and constantly just going from song to song was awesome. Ben Falgoust might actually be one of the better live vocalists I've seen. He sounds almost exactly as he does on Goatwhore's studio work. He would bound around the stage and interact with the crowd during songs. Definitely a great frontman. The rest of the band was on point - especially Sammy Duet. His guitar tone was crunchy and heavier than I expected. They turned out to be a LOT better than I had expected! Despite being a really different genre of metal than the other bands here, they were a great change of pace! I didn't get a close look at the setlist and it looked like a few songs were crossed out, but I'm pretty sure their set was the same as the other dates.

The main attraction, though, was High On Fire. This is one of the smallest venues the band has played at and it made for an immense show. The band is LOUD, but they were mixed extremely well. I was 2 feet away from Matt Pike right in front of him the entire show and it was almost a religious experience. He is such a good riffer and non-technical soloist that I don't want to headbang during the songs just so I can watch him - and I don't even play guitar. But yeah, they sounded very heavy. The guitar was very full and the bass and drums added to it. It's much heavier in person than on album, if you can believe that. The crowd really got going during "Frost Hammer" and "Devilution", but my favorite performance of the night was "Speedwolf." That track just has such a heavy groove that translates so well live. Matt introduced most of the songs and thanked the crowd a few times, but other than that it was all business - just how it should be. They ripped through a great rendition of "Snakes for the Divine" and left the stage while everyone picked their ears and minds up off the floor. A great last concert of 2012.

Picked up a pretty nice brown HoF shirt with a really cool design on it. Wanted the Richard Pryor shirt and also "High On Fire" done in the Masters Of Reality album cover style, but they were out of my size. D: All bands have a TON of merchandise, though.

High On Fire:

Serums of Liao
Frost Hammer
10,000 Years
Devilution
Last
Fertile Green
Speedwolf
Rumors of War
DII
Fury Whip
Blood From Zion
Snakes for the Divine

Goatwhore:


Collapse in Eternal Worth
When Steel and Bone Meet
Parasitic Scriptures of the Sacred Word
Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult
Embodiment of This Bitter Chaos
In Deathless Tradition
Sky Inferno
Beyond the Spell of Discontent
Judgement of the Bleeding Crown
To Mourn and Forever Wander Through Forgotten Doorways
An End to Nothing
Apocalyptic Havoc


High On Fire: 9.5/10
Goatwhore: 9/10
Lo-Pan: 9/10
In The Grove: 8.5/10

Saint Vitus -- Lawrence, KS -- October 2nd, 2012

Awesome show, although the crowd could've been much better. Lots of people just standing around for most of Vitus' set except for the last two songs, which seems to be kinda typical nowadays, unfortunately. The band sounded great, though - Dave Chandler's tone is straight out of the late 70's and Wino sounds great. He was goofing around with the crowd in between songs and got down to let them sing with him on some parts. And Dave, of course, ran out into the crowd on the last insane solo for Born Too Late, rubbing the strings on random patron's heads. He just threw his guitar on stage at the end, put both fists in the air, and walked to the merch booth while the reverb kept going. So awesome.

It was my fourth time seeing Weedeater, and it was probably the loudest I've ever seen them. They're already playing on blown out amps, but they just proceeded to blow them out even more. Dixie Dave was just as nuts as ever, and he seemed to have a good time joking along with the other members of the band. His vocals sounded fantastic, too. "Jason...The Dragon" was massive and "Weed Monkey" is still one of my favorite closing live metal songs. Probably consistently my favorite band of this type of genre.

Sourvein was the first touring band to play. I'd seen the vocalist in Hail!Hornet twice earlier this year, and he's still just as good in his main band. It took a few songs for the crowd to warm up, but they got a great reception. Very, very loud and very sludgey. Some of the best sludge/stoner vocals I've heard. I might want to see Hail!Hornet again next time, but I won't complain with Sourvein.

Opening the show was local band Death Valley Wolf Riders. They are basically what happens when you cross Speedwolf with Alabama Thunderpussy. Cool southern speed metal/rock. Fun kinda-southern vocals about motorcycles, werewolves and guitars - good fun and good opener.

All the bands had a lot of merch. Saint Vitus' main draw was a shirt with their logo on the front and "FUCK THAT WEAK SHIT" in the Vitus font on the back. Also a nice long-sleeve and other stuff. Was really hoping they had the pink/blue Born Too Late tees still, but nope. Sourvein had one design that was their logo in the Sunn amps logo, but in a million different colors. Weedeater had a million different shirts, too. I picked up a Vitus patch!

Saint Vitus (the order might be a bit off, but these were all the songs):


Blessed Night
I Bleed Black
War Is Our Destiny
Let Them Fall
The Bleeding Ground
The Troll
Living Backwards
Dependence
The Waste of Time
Clear Windowpane
White Stallions
====
Dying Inside
Born Too Late

Weedeater:

Hammerhandle
Mancoon
Turkey Warlock
Jason... The Dragon
God Luck and Good Speed
For Evans Sake
Gimme Back My Bullets
Monkey Junction
Weed Monkey

Sourvein (out of order, but all songs were played):

Imperial Bastard
Shipwrecked
Uneasy
Seamerchant
Gemini
Fangs

Dirty South was written, but not performed

Saint Vitus: 9/10
Weedeater: 9/10
Sourvein: 8/10
Death Valley Wolf Riders: 7.5/10

Kreator -- Kansas City, MO -- Septembe 16th, 2012

This is the old-school heavy metal tour of the year for sure. Swallow The Sun is old-school heavy (despite not being old), Accept was old-school rocking, and Kreator was old-school brutality! Despite a few sound issues for some of the bands, it was a solid night overall.

Hellevate opened the night as people were still coming in. They only had time for about four songs, but they made the most of it. The whole band is really animated, especially the vocalist. He reminds me of a young Bobby Blitz. The riffing was solid and they had a nice thick bass sound, but it all kinda went to moot because not a ton of the crowd was feeling them. Tonight was their album release show, too, so it kinda sucks they didn't get at least a bit longer. Great warm-up, though.

It was my first time seeing Swallow The Sun since they played with Soilwork, Darkane and Warbringer back in 2008. This band seems to get on really odd tours. But they were still really heavy. They played six songs, but only two of them had any clean vocals - they catered their set to appeal to the fans of this tour, obviously. When all the instruments just started riffing together in one of their painfully heavy and slow breakdowns, it was so awesome. Swallow The Sun here and then Katatonia a few days ago? I'm in melancholic death/doom heaven. Awesome.

Up next was the legendary Accept. "Legendary" is a fair title, because they've absolutely earned it. A very high energy performance from all members of the band, spot-on sound and great crowd interaction. They were good and loud without being overbearing. The lead guitars came through perfectly, especially during the solos. The new vocalist also sounded fantastic. The band didn't spend that long chatting up the crowd in between songs, but it's okay because they spent most of their time rocking out! Lots of singing along with them. Old-school awesome!

Kreator was very punishing and very brutal, but unfortunately the sound problems that had been reported for previous shows were prevalent here. About half of their set, I could barely hear the guitars when they weren't soloing. Fortunately, this didn't deter from the overall performance that much. Their mix of likable new songs and classic ones went over very well with the crowd and there were several large mosh and circle pits during their set. They unfortunately cut out Betrayer, but the rest of the set was the same. Mille's vocals were great and the whole band sounded awesome for being able to play so fast. If you see Kreator, expect to mosh!

Kreator:

Mars Mantra
Phantom Antichrist
From Flood Into Fire
Enemy Of God
Phobia
Hordes Of Chaos (A Necrologue To The Elite)
Civilization Collapse
Voices Of The Dead
Extreme Aggressions
People Of The Lie
Death To The World
Coma Of Souls/Endless Pain
Pleasure To Kill
The Patriarch/Violent Revolution
Flag Of Hate/Tormentor

Accept:

Hung, Drawn, and Quartered
Hellfire
Restless And Wild
Losers And Winners
Stalingrad
Shadow Soldiers
Pandemic
Breaker
Bucket Full Of Hate
Princess Of The Dawn
Up To The Limit
Teutonic Terror
Metal Heart
Fast As A Shark
Balls To The Wall

Swallow The Sun (I think):

Emerald Forest and the Blackbird
Hate, Lead the Way!
Psychopath's Lair
Cathedral Walls
New Moon
Swallow (Horror Pt. 1)

Kreator: 8/10
Accept: 8/10
Swallow The Sun: 8/10
Hellevate: 8/10

Devin Townsend Project -- Lawrence, KS -- September 13th, 2012

Man, the drive there was stupid. The highway was down to one lane for most of the way and it was pouring down rain. I was ANGRY, but I'm really glad I stuck it out and went!

I got to the Granada about halfway through Stolen Babies' set. I wasn't really all that impressed with them. I guess I'm used to accordion's being used in a kick-ass, folk metal way, but it just kinda didn't serve a purpose in their set. I thought their bassist and drummer were pretty good, but other than that...nothing really stood out for me. And they're the second band I know of where one person's sole job is to bang on an empty oil drum during shows.

Paradise Lost was awesome! Those kinda old-school, late 80's/early 90's doom bands always bring it. They were very heavy, although the vocalist seemed like he was struggling on a few songs. I guess he had some voice problems and ended their set early at an earlier date. The whole band was really into the performance, though. Really good though.

The big response of the night came from Katatonia, however. One word: Wow. These dudes can put on a show. They were heavy, melodic, had some amazing solos and just absolutely ripped everyone's face off. There was a ton of headbanging in the crowd and lots of singing along, too. Jonas' vocals sounded spot on, and both of the guitars really crunched and brought the house down around them. I can't believe I even entertained the thought for even a second that I might have skipped them. Never again!

I was actually going to leave after Katatonia, but I'm pretty glad I stuck around for Devin Townsend. Although he wasn't nearly as jaw-dropping as Katatonia, I was really glad I stuck around for him. First and foremost - he is an entertainer. I don't think I've ever seen a frontman for a band engage an audience like he does. Whether it's talking to the crowd in-between songs or playing to them during songs, Devin is just really fun to watch. Most of the stuff they played was on the heavier side, although the song "Life" has a really upbeat, almost pop sound that was fantastic! Set went really fast, and I really hope he'll be back many more times.

Devin Townsend set:

Seventh Wave (Ocean Machine)
Life (Ocean Machine)
Supercrush! (Devin Townsend Project)
Kingdom (Devin Townsend/Devin Townsend Project)
Liberation (Devin Townsend Project)
Truth (Devin Townsend)
Regulator (Devin Townsend)
Color Your World (Devin Townsend)
Vampira (The Devin Townsend Band)
Lucky Animals (Devin Townsend Project)
Juular (Devin Townsend Project)
Grace (Devin Townsend Project)

Katatonia:

1. Dead Letters
2. Buildings
3. The Longest Year
4. Deliberation
5. My Twin
6. The Racing Heart
7. Lethean
8. Teargas
9. Walking by a Wire
10. Sleeper
11. Hypnone
12. Forsaker
13. Leaders

Paradise Lost (included(Out of order and incomplete):

Enchantment
Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us
Tragic Idol
One Second
Say Just Words
The Enemy

Devin Townsend Project: 8.5/10
Katatonia: 10/10
Paradise Lost: 8.5/10
Stolen Babies: 6/10

Vektor -- Kansas City, MO -- August 21st, 2012

Shows like these are the reason I live for heavy metal. There is no other place in the world that makes me happier than at a metal concert. Surrounded by tons of my friends and a lot of fanatical Kansas City metalheads, Vektor put on one of the best performances ever and have solidified their place in the annals of heavy metal history. I could honestly write like a 50-page paper of why heavy metal is the greatest thing in the world right now because of this show, but I'll try and keep it brief and just about the amazing show tonight.

The thing about Vektor is that they are definitely on the brink of exploding with popularity. When I saw them a few years back, at a free show nonetheless, there was barely anyone there for them. At this show, they had a big crowd (especially for a Tuesday night past midnight) and the numbers didn't dwindle at all throughout their set. I would say there was close to 100 people or so in this tiny bar and I don't think anyone left during their set, which was amazing. During Black Future, David broke a guitar string and left to repair it, so the rest of the band kinda jammed on stage for a good 10-15 minutes. The crowd was really understanding, and let out a cheer when they did a bit of The Number Of The Best and Scavenger Of Human Sorrow. After David got everything fixed, they ripped right back into the set. We missed a couple of Outer Isolation tracks because of the technical difficulty, but it seems to me we got a bit of an extended encore.

Black Future was, of course, a killer tune. I headbanged so much during each song that my neck broke, but none more so than for Hunger For Violence. You have to mosh to that song. It's not a suggestion, you HAVE to. And everyone should be familiar with how much I don't like to mosh. Tetrastructural Minds was insane and is still my favorite track off of Outer Isolation. I think they were originally going to end with Forests of Legend, but we wanted Accelerating Universe, so they played that! It was seriously insane. So much moshing and headbanging. They were about ready to pack up but everyone kept screaming. At this time it was like 12:50 AM so they got the okay for one more, and gave us Asteroid! Killer, killer stuff.

The sound was impeccable. I could really hear each instrument and the vocals perfectly, which was surprising because I was up right in the front. This is kinda weird I guess, but I absolutely love the thick bass sound that Vektor has, and it was mixed perfectly tonight. The bass on Cosmic Cortex makes me want to rip my face off. Erik and David hit every note perfectly, and Blake on the drums is one of the most talented drummers I've ever seen, especially with such a modest kit.

The dudes were really, really appreciative of the crowd. Huge crowd on a Tuesday night in Kansas City...who woulda thunk it? Erik came up to me afterwards and laughed at my shirt of choice for the show (my bright blue and yellow "Defend Pop Punk" New Found Glory shirt :3 ) and assured me that they'd be back in KC. YEAH!

Three amazing local bands opened the show. The first to play was Meat Shank and they play awesome death/thrash. Probably the best performance I've seen by them. They were a lot heavier than they've ever been, and there were lots of people headbanging to them. They did a killer cover of Slayer's Antichrist too. They need to play more!

Second band of the night was one of my new favorite power metal bands from the area, Alsatia. They have the riffs and solo of thrash metal, but the vocals and keyboards for Rhapsody-esque power metal. It mixed very well, and the guitarist and keyboardist do that Bodom-style solo battle type thing very well!

Direct support came from Hellevate who play like (and get the reaction of) a legendary thrash band. Seriously, the vocalist has the charisma and the pipes of Bobby Blitz, and their brand of thrash was so infectious that it kind of boggles my mind how they aren't the biggest band from the Midwest right now.

Man, I just can't get over how amazing this show was. Having a ton of my friends there, some who I haven't seen in a while, just added so much to the experience. I love heavy metal so much and I will love it more than anything else for the rest of my life.

Vektor: 10/10
Hellevate: 9/10
Alsatia: 8.5/10
Meat Shank: 8.5/10

Vektor:

Cosmic Cortex
Black Future
(long jam while David fixed his guitar)
Echoless Chamber
Tetrastructural Minds
Dark Nebula
Hunger For Violence
Deoxyribonucleic Acid
Accelerating Universe
Asteroid

White Wizzard -- Kansas City, MO -- August 9th, 2012

Despite it being the first night of the tour and despite the two opening touring bands not playing the first date of the tour, White Wizzard put on a phenomenal show. Even though they go through more lineup changes than a preseason football squad, the group they have now are phenomenal. Their new lead guitarists can both shred, but I was on the side of Jake Dreyer and he was melting my face in every song. There was a nice, thick, Maiden-esque bass sound to every song, and the new vocalist Joseph just added to everything. They were really appreciative and there were more than a few fans in the audience that were headbanging and singing along with a ton of the songs.

The coolest part of the night was when someone pointed out that there were a few underage kids (the venue was 21+) were watching through the windows out on the street. Near the end of their set, someone opened the door right next to the window, and during a song, guitarist Jake walked outside and started playing to those two kids! It was so awesome. My friend and I went out there and headbanged with them! I remember when I stood outside that same venue to watch Exodus in the freezing sleet because I wasn't 21. White Wizzard totally made those kids have a memorable night!

Every song they played was awesome, especially the older stuff like 40 Deuces, Over The Top and High Speed GTO. Iron Goddess Of Vengeance was really heavy, too. Just all around good sound and great performance from the band.

We didn't get Icarus Witch and Widow, who will be on later dates of the tour. Direct support came from local heavy/power metal band Ancient Creation. One guitar, bass, drums and vocalist, but they were really heavy. They're older dudes, so instead of just emulating that classic heavy metal sound, they are the real deal! Their songs Apocalypse and Bringer Of Evil were awesome, and they can really shred.

Opening the show was good ol' Vanlade. The power/speed/thrash powerhouse added a second guitarist to their lineup again, and it only added another layer of awesome to their sound. This might have been the best time I've seen them, and they ended with a cover of Steppenwolf's Born To Be Wild. Awesome!

Such a great show, even though some of the bands fell through. Next time!

White Wizzard:

Torpedo Of Truth (new song)
40 Deuces
Celestina
Out Of Control
Starchild
Flying Tigers
Iron Goddess Of Vengeance
Fall Of Atlantis
Over The Top
High Speed GTO

Ancient Creation included:

Apocalypse
Bringer of Evil

Vanlade included:

Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf cover)

White Wizzard: 9/10
Ancient Creation: 8/10
Vanlade: 8/10

Warped tour -- Bonner Springs, KS -- July 9th, 2012

What a great time I had today. By far the best Warped Tour I've been to. It was pretty much cloudy and sprinkling rain all day today, until the sun came out for the final hours of the festival. Couldn't ask for a better experience. No sunburns, no dehydration, all fun!

I got to Sandstone (now Cricket Wireless, but I'll never call it that) Amphitheater around Noon and I could hear some music going on already. Warped was split up that the main amphitheater with the big stage, in front of the seats and the general lawn area, was one of the main stages. The rest were in the 2nd parking lot. As I got in and walked down into the lawn area, I realized the band playing was For Today. I walked down and the singer was screaming about how the only way for salvation was for everyone in the crowd to give themselves to Jesus Christ today and to not wait to do it. Right after, he wanted the biggest circle pit and for everyone to go crazy. The fact that what I heard of them was one big breakdown didn't help either. I quickly booked it over to the parking lot.

My first really big letdown of the day followed shortly. As I made it to the parking lot, I started to walk over to the giant blowup schedule they have to see when everyone is playing. Unfortunately for me, I walked by Man Overboard who were just finishing up their set. They were one of my must-see bands, so I was pretty devastated. I didn't really hear enough of them to give a proper review, so I can only hope that they'll be back soon. Rather than see half a song from them and judge them on that, I went and picked up one of the printed out schedules they have for sale (even though it cost $2, it's super preferable for me.)

I went over to a different stage and saw my first band of the day: Four Year Strong. Even though I was off to the side and in the back of the giant crowd there, I thought they sounded really good! Really heavy for their infectious brand of pop punk. I actually think they are creating the best pop-punk around right now. "It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now" was awesome and there were tons of people crowd surfing during their entire set. Great way to start the day off.

I had a good chunk of time until the next band I wanted to see, so I walked around a bit. Warped Tour is really cool because they have a ton of tents for each band on the tour, and then some more tents for labels, social things, etc. There was always something going on. I picked up a shirt and a vinyl from New Found Glory. At this point I walked over to the Ernie Ball stage and watched local dudes The Atlantic played, and they were great! They're kind of just straight up rock-n-roll and I'm really looking forward to seeing them again soon. I love the KC music scene so much!

As I walked down to the amphitheater stage, I passed blessthefall finishing up their set. Still as bad as when I had to suffer through their entire set. I just don't get them at all. Anyway, I got to the amphitheater pit area with a sparse crowd and waited for Streetlight Manifesto. As soon as they took the stage and started their "Saints Come Marching In" intro, the pit area had a good sized crowd. Literally for every song, the entire pit turned into a bunch of happy people skanking everywhere. I've never seen anything like it. The pit area was pretty full by the end of their set, and everyone was skanking! So much fun. The band was great and is pretty much the epitome of why ska is such a fun genre. They didn't talk a whole lot to the crowd, but that was alright. Great stuff! I hope I can see them again when they come back.

At this point it was the biggest break I had in between bands. I mostly just walked around and listened to a bunch of bands and went and got some more merch. I watched a little bit of Yellowcard - not enough to do a proper review, but I heard them play a new song and it sounded alright.

I made my way back to the amphitheater stage. I passed Rise To Remain playing, and they didn't sound good at all. Again, just a passing glance, but not my thing. There were a million people at the amphitheater stage, both in the pit and in the seats. They were there for The Used. I can maybe count five songs by them that I like, and they were pretty much their biggest hits, so I decided to check them out. As soon as they started, I could tell they weren't going to be very good. I don't know if it's because Bert was sick or drunk or a crackhead or a combination of all three, but his vocals were terrible. Especially for the old songs. I stuck it out for Take It Away, The Bird And The Worm, two more songs and The Taste Of Ink, then I got out of there.

At 3:30, New Found Glory was doing a signing. I wasn't going to do it because I thought there was no way I would get there early enough, but to my surprise it was about 3:20 and there were only about 20 people in line. I had to do it. As I waited, I listened to this guy called Troy Harley on the Ernie Ball stage. He was playing a cover of some pop song and his normal songs weren't that much better, but then he did a cover of The Pretender by the Foo Fighters, and that actually wasn't too bad. But I got my vinyl copy of Radiosurgery signed by all of NFG which I am still so stoked about. I was wearing my Final Four NCAA shirt that had both the UK and KU logo's on it, and Chad was like "Oh, nice shirt man! My family is from Kentucky and I love UK!" and I was like "UK? Don't you mean KU?" and he just laughed. They were the first band I ever saw live, so it was such an amazing moment for me.

Right after the signing, I checked out Transit on the small Ernie Ball stage. I knew I would like them, but I had never really listened to them before. They were one of the biggest surprises of the day! I'd definitely say they were like a cross between Man Overboard and Fireworks. That Melodic Hardcore/emotional pop-punk type of stuff. It was really infectious! The crowd was definitely into it, and during the last song the vocalist dove into the crowd while everyone was jumping on each other to scream into the mic. I'm really glad I caught them. Will definitely be checking them out more.

I was pretty worn out by this time, so I skipped walking back down to the amphitheater stage to see Miss May I, and headed over to the Kevin Says stage to check out After The Burial. Before them was a band from New Zealand and/or England (lol accents) called We Are The Ocean. I thought they were really, really good! It's kind of weird, but they gave me a vibe kinda like Muse and Rise Against mixed together. After their few songs, ATB started setting up. As soon as they took the stage, the crowd in front of them swelled to huge numbers. So many people came just as they started. Their first song was nothing special, but then they did "Berzerker" which is just a fun song. I don't know how anyone could not at least headbang to that song, especially to the breakdowns. Luckily the pit was full of actual pitting and no dancing. The bass sounded non-existant, although the guitar players are just as good live as they are on album. And I really thought their vocalist was good, especially his guttural lows. I left after Berzerker, knowing that they could only go down from there.

On the Monster Energy stage was Every Time I Die. They had another huge crowd waiting for them, and as soon as they started the pit turned into absolute mayhem. A million billion crowdsurfers and moshers. Craziness. I didn't stay for ETID's whole set, but I know I saw them play We'rewolf, Underwater Bimbo's From Outer Space, and Wanderlust which I thought was a brilliant song. I wouldn't mind seeing them in a smaller venue with better acoustics.

Before my main band of the day, I stopped at the Tilly's stage to check out We Are The In Crowd. They're like old Paramore and if All Time Low wasn't terrible now. Not a whole lot of people there, but a lot of people singing along, mostly screaming underage high school girls. You know, that kind of band. But they did Paramore-worship adequately!

FINALLY, it was time for New Found Glory. They came out to Gary Glitter's "Rock And Roll" AKA The Song They Play At Chief's Games. They took the stage in matching NFG Basketball jerseys and kicked right into Hit Or Miss. The entire place erupted: people were circle pitting, tons of people were surfing from the back of the crowd up to the front, and EVERYONE was singing along. It was so much fun. I sang to every single song and it was such a fun experience. They went right into Understatement and there was a huge circle pit for it. Jordan went out into the crowd and was letting people sing and kept giving the mic to crowdsurfers. They shot out t-shirts into the crowd to whoever was on someone else's shoulders and they were having a ton of fun on stage. We got Truck Stop Blues, which was awesome, and Truth Of My Youth. Truth was a fun song, although I wish we would have gotten At Least I'm Known For Something, or another Radiosurgery song. I really hope they take out the Green Day cover after Warped. It's a TON of fun and everyone sings along, but I'd much rather have another NFG staple. The set-closer, My Friends Over You, is pretty much a perfect example of pop-punk. It might even be the pop punk anthem. It gave me chills to everyone singing along, especially in the quiet part. Great way to end their set.

After NFG, I booked it over to the Ernie Ball stage again, which thankfully wasn't far away, to catch the last half of Fireworks. I'm really glad I went, because even though I saw half their set, they were amazing! Their vocalist is really talented, and all their songs ooze of melody and catchiness and amazing lyrics. Again, not a huge crowd for them, but everyone that was there was super passionate about singing along with them. They ended with "Detroit" which is super easy to sing along with, even for people who really don't know them. After their set, I went and got a shirt and their AMAZING album Gospel, which the vocalist autographed for me! One of my favorites.

At this point, I was dead tired. I contemplated just going home, but thankfully I stuck it out for the last two bands I wanted to see. While waiting at the Tilly's stage, the Monster Energy stage started with Sleeping With Sirens. Good Lord almighty, I don't think I've ever heard a worse vocalist in my entire life. I can't really comment on the music, but I had to move closer to my own stage so I wouldn't have to hear him sing anymore. So bad, but people were going nuts for them.

The smallest crowd I was in that day was the 20 - 30 or so that was there for Polar Bear Club. I was kind of surprised they were on a big stage, so I kind of assumed that they might rotate with some other smaller bands. The vocalist was super appreciative of us checking them out. He got down on the barrier and we all swarmed him. They were playing at the same time as Sleeping With Sirens on one side of them, and Taking Back Sunday on the other, so he was so happy for the people that showed up for them. The one song I know by heart for them is Living Saints, and it was amazing live. Screams In Caves and Killin' It were also fantastic. They played like they were in front of 10,000 people and it was such a great experience. Please, PBC...come back to Kansas soon!

The last band I wanted to see was on the same stage, and they started early! It was I Fight Dragons, and they are certainly a different band than the one I saw years ago opening for mc chris. They are definitely more rock oriented, going so far as to re-tool some of their older songs to appeal more to a live setting. They still had their goofy keyboard player (dressed up as The Stig from Top Gear) playing his Guitar Hero controller and Power Pad, and all the members playing SNES controllers during The Faster The Treadmill. I really wish they would have played Heads Up, Hearts Down, but I loved everything they did. I really need to check out their newer stuff. Oh, and their lead guitarist can SHRED.

And that was it. IFD started a little early, so I got to leave while Rise Against played behind me, and I passed a huge crowd waiting for You Me At Six. It took me a million years to get out of the parking lot, but this was by FAR the best Warped Tour I've ever been to. No dehydration, no sunburns, and my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Hung out with some great friends there (including Nick_to_the_face who watched IWABO) and it was one of the best days ever!

Four Year Strong

Tonight We Feel Alive (On a Saturday)
Stuck in the Middle
What the Hell is a Gigawatt?
Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die
Heaven Wasn't Built to Hold Me
Maniac (R.O.D.)
It Must Really Suck to Be Four Year Strong Right Now
Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)

Streetlight Manifesto

Intro (The Saints Go Marching In)
Would You Be Impressed?
Watch it Crash?
(New Song)
We Will Fall Together
Down, Down, Down to Mephisto's Cafe
Somewhere in the Between
A Moment of Violence
Here's to Life

The Used

Take It Away
The Bird and the Worm
Listening
Put Me Out
The Taste of Ink
All That I've Got
Pretty Handsome Awkward
A Box Full of Sharp Objects

Transit

1978
Listen & Forgive
Long Lost Friends
Asleep at the Wheel
Please, Head North
Skipping Stone
All Your Heart
Stay Home

We Are The Ocean

Trouble Is Temporary, Time Is Tonic
What It Feels Like
Bleed
Runaway
Nothing Good Has Happened Yet
The Waiting Room

Every Time I Die

Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space
Wanderlust
Floater
Bored Stiff
We'rewolf
I Suck (Blood)
Ebolarama

We Are The In Crowd

Rumor Mill
Never Be What You Want
Exits and Entrances
For the Win
The Worst Thing about me
Kiss Me Again
Lights Out
Both Sides of the Story

New Found Glory

Hit or Miss
Understatement
Truck Stop Blues
All Downhill From Here
Something I Call Personality
Anthem for the Unwanted
Truth Of My Youth
Basket Case (Green Day cover)
My Friends Over You

Fireworks

Arrows
I Grew Up In A Legion Hall
X's On Trees
When We Stand On Each Other We Block Out The Sun
The Wild Bunch
Summer
Detroit

Polar Bear Club

Bottled Wind
Our Ballads
Living Saints
Burned Out in a Jar
Screams In Caves
Pawner
Killin' It
Most Miserable Life

I Fight Dragons

KABOOM!
Save World, Get Girl
The Faster the Treadmill
CrAzie$
Spokesman
(Goldfinger cover)
Money
The Geeks Will Inherit the Earth

Four Year Strong - 8.5/10
The Atlantic - 8/10
blessthefall - 4/10
Streetlight Manifesto - 9/10
The Used - 6/10
Troy Harley - 6/10
Transit - 8.5/10
We Are The Ocean - 7.5/10
After The Burial - 7.5/10
Every Time I Die - 8/10
We Are The In Crowd - 7/10
New Found Glory - 9.5/10
Fireworks - 9.5/10
Sleeping With Sirens - 3/10
Polar Bear Club - 9/10
I Fight Dragons - 8/10