Yorum

Fri 2 May – Progressive Nation 2008

So, I've been a fan of Opeth and Dream Theater for a few years now and to see them touring together is a better combination than peanutbutter and jelly (to me). The two opening bands for this event were Three and Between the Buried and Me.

Three's music is very mellow, you can hear it here on Last.fm if you're interested. Three are very impressive live, especially for an opening act. That band has some serious musical talent on guitars and drums. Despite the singer sounding kind of like Charlie Dominici he's got a very powerful voice. There was an acoustic bit towards the end of their session where the guitars were absolutely sublime. I'm definitely checking Three out some more now.

Between the Buried and Me did not impress at all. I'm not a big fan of metalcore myself and even though BTBAM does have a progressive edge to it, to me it's really metalcore dressed in progressive sheep's clothing. The singer came off as obnoxious. I don't know if anyone else felt the same. I wasn't very impressed by their musical composition, that is except for this little piece where they started playing guitar banjo style and it sounded like the Banjo Kazooie theme.

Opeth is my favorite band. My charts will say enough about that. Their set wasn't long enough, but eh there were four bands on the bill so what else could I expect? On a good note, Opeth finally played The Drapery Falls, my favorite song. I had to go see them 3 times over the past 3 years to finally hear them play that song live. I'm a little worried though that Opeth is starting to let the business culture get to their head and they are more worried about plugging their latest music than playing their really good songs, many of which are from their middle and first albums. Usually, when I've gone to see Opeth, and even on their Lamentations DVD, they play mostly songs from Deliverance, Damnation and Ghost Reveries. They also played Heir Apparent from Watershed, and The Drapery Falls was the only song they played from Blackwater Park, my favorite album. Again, I don't know if any Opeth fans out there feel me, but I'd rather hear The Twilight is my Robe, Black Rose Immortal, or something from My Arms Your Hearse or Still Life than from their latest 3 albums. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with plugging the latest albums, but that shouldn't be the only thing. Mikael also apologized for playing two death metal songs back to back (in reference to Wreath and Heir Apparent) wtf was that about? You should never apologize for the roots of your music and the fruits of your labor. It's because Opeth is death metal that I like them so much, I love the sharp contrasts between the brutal and the melodic, they should be proud they have such a sophisticated sound and that their fans dig it so much.

Dream Theater is my 2nd favorite band. I'm not sure why, but they just are. This band is extremely skilled, even moreso than any other popular band out there so it's kind of a mystery to me as to why they haven't reached superstar status yet, but I guess it's all for the better. In the Presence of Enemies Pt.1 was the opening song for DT, however, they never played Pt.2 which is really the icing on the cake for me. They really made up for it though by playing Erotomania and going right into Voices (my favorite DT song) and the medley at the end: Metropolis/Learning to Live/A Change of Seasons & the tiny hint of "A Fortune In Lies (DT's first song ever) was absolutely sublime. There was a little parody video called "The Dark Nintendo Night" where Super Mario Bros. was changed to read "Super Majesty Bros." and it consisted of an edited Mario sprite that looked an awful lot like Mike Portnoy running around with the regular Mario music mixed with The Dark Eternal Night song from DT. Funnily enough, they have the same rythm, so it was thoroughly entertaining to watch.

Overall the concert was good, I give it an 8/10. The only reason it lost points was because there was no pit, there were chairs in it, BTBAM stunk it up, and as always, the L.A. crowd seems desensitized to the beauty that is unfolding before their ears, with the exception of a few folks who were actually headbanging, but other than that, not much energy. Other than that, it went well. Oh and word to the wise to all you elitist fuckers out there, don't bash other bands, especially when there are fanatics of other bands around you. I say that because some asshole was saying all the other bands were weak in comparison to Dream Theater. That's like comparing a bannana to a watermelon, to a pomegranate. Learn to appreciate all good forms of music whether mellow, brutal, simple or complex. Until next event, rawk on metalheads!