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

Upcoming religious experience: SAINT VITUS!

One of the best bands EVER, Saint Vitus, will be in Lawrence on Oct. 2nd! These guys are legendary, and they're on top of their game right now. Opening is the ever amazing Weedeater, along with Sourvein! They'll rip the roof off the Granada.

Saint Vitus -- Merriam, KS -- March 28th, 2011

Whelp. Now that the show is over, I can confidently say that last night was the greatest night of my life and that life is not worth living now because I'll never relive last night ever again.

Although Helmet wasn't headlining this stop on the Metalliance tour, local band Apehanger opened the show to make everything even. They're pretty much one of the few local bands that I would classify as "doom" that are any good. In fact, they were pretty damn awesome. They at times reminded me of a Khanate-like sound, but much much much (much) faster. Good stuff.

The first of the touring bands was The Atlas Moth. I'd never heard them prior to this show, but they surprised me at how good they were. They definitely had a more psychadelic sound and a more black metal (at least in the vocals) sound. It was awesome! Only complaint I had was that I seriously doubt they need three guitarists, two would make the sound a lot clearer.

After them was Howl. It was my third time seeing the band, but the first with a new guitarist. The lead guitarist/vocalist was great, and this time was by far the best time I've seen them. Their new guitarist was awesome at soloing and even had to switch guitars halfway through the set! Lots of headbanging for them.

The thing about Red Fang was that I really dug their more groovy songs, but when they went over to the more sludgey type of metal, it wasn't as good. Still fun, though! Also incredibly loud. Too loud, actually. Couldn't hear the vocals for most of the songs. They ended their set with Prehistoric Dog and that was great. I really hope they slay everyone on Mayhem Fest!

Kylesa was great, although pissed off because they had lost a piece of their vocal equipment. It just made them play with that much more furious anger. They even used a theramin (!!!) and the dual drums came off awesome yet again. Running Red was amazing and the opener of Hollow Severer was heavy as hell, but my favorite will always be Scapegoat. Love it to death. Kylesa is awesome!

I had literally heard not one note of Crowbar until I saw them last night, but they might be the most surprisingly good band to me so far this year! I will be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of sludge metal, but Crowbar are the godfather's of the genre and are everything right with that type of music! Some of their songs had a fast punky beat to them too. Kirk was great and interacted with the crowd a lot, and the crowd went nuts. Such an awesome surprise!

And then came Saint Vitus. I can't even begin to articulate how amazing their performance was. Definitely in my top 5 performances ever. Probably the best performance I've ever seen. Wino is a legend. There's no other word to describe him. He was so into the performance. He would get right into the crowd and sing, give us all crazy eyes, stuff like that. He dove off the stage and crowd surfed during White Stallions and drank from a bottle of Jack on stage which he then let the crowd take swigs from. But for every unforgettable moment Wino gave to us as a vocalist, Dave Chandler gave to us an unforgettable moment as a guitarist. The solo's he played were all one of a kind and he looked like an absolute madman. During Mystic Lady, he looked like he was about to have a seizure from going so crazy on his guitar. He ran out in the crowd and kept rubbing the frets on people's heads during Born Too Late and even plucked at the strings with his teeth. The best guitarist performance I've ever seen, hands-down.

I know I'll never see Saint Vitus again like I did last night, and that really makes me upset. Damn.

Saint Vitus

Living Backwards
I Bleed Black
Clear Windowpane
Blessed Night (new)
White Stallions
Mystic Lady
Dying Inside
Born Too Late

Crowbar

Conquering
Lasting Dose
All I Had
New Dawn
Sever
Liquid Sky
I Have Failed
High Rate
Cemetery Angels

Kylesa

Hollow Severer
Unknown Awareness
Running Red
Scapegoat
Tired Climb
Distance Closing In
Don't Look Back
Said & Done

Red Fang

Reverse Thunder
Sharks
Wires (new)
Painted Parade (new)
Suicide (Dust cover)
Prehistoric Dog

Howl

Heavenless
Horns of Steel
...And The Gnawing
Ashereh / Jezebel

The Atlas Moth

Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence
(New Song)
...Leads to a Lifetime on Mercury

Saint Vitus: 11/10
Crowbar: 9/10
Kylesa: 8.5/10
Red Fang: 8/10
Howl: 8.5/10
The Atlas Moth: 8/10
Apehanger: 7.5/10

War Is Our Destiny

I'm still in shock that a concert this good will be here.

March 28th at the Aftershock Bar and Grille in Merriam, KS.

Saint Vitus
Crowbar
Kylesa
Red Fang
Howl
The Atlas Moth

This is legendary.