There were a lot of... 'normal' looking people there, you know the short hair, baseball cap, white variety there. The kind of 'Octane' crowd, with some 'meathead' crossover. Not judging (hey *I* bought a ticket), just an observation. This was a sold out show, and it was PACKED. Saw a guy with a mullet, with his family. A different crowd than you'd see at say...Sabaton or Helloween.
Got there in time to see most of Acaro. I was unfamiliar with them, but they seemed to be like Killswitch lite. Not bad, but not anything different or unique. Kind of the same vibe, but I really didn't find them interesting. The singer crowd surfed on the last song.
Periphery was on next, and by that time my buddy arrived, so we were just hanging out, and I wasn't really focused on them. They are apparently are from the DC area, but I wish they were better. I think I've seen them open for another band before, but I really can't recall. They had a different, more progressive sound than any of the other bands on this bill, which was a nice change. But the peculiarities and changing styles throughout some of their songs was a bit jarring to me. I think I needed to concentrate on them a bit more to give them a fairer shake. Not bad, but not something I was like I NEED TO GET THIS ALBUM like I was for Nightrage.
Shadows Fall (whom Tony and I last saw in like 2007 apparently) were on next. I was pumped cause they were killer last time I saw them. This time they had kind of an odd set list but they sounded very good. Those guys are underrated guitarists and I don't know how they got shafted when Lamb of God and Killswitch Engage got big and they... didn't. Good energy from the crowd, I think there were pits, but we were kinda far in the back (as is the custom for these damn sold out shows). My only real complaint was that they needed to turn the volume up for them. I was fully able to hear people talk around me.
Killswitch Engage finally took the stage and people were rather rowdy by that time. I had not seen them with their original singer (that Jesse guy [Times of Grace]) and was wondering what to expect beyond the yubtub clips I've seen/heard. I was pleasantly surprised that he sung the old KSE stuff pretty fantastically and handled the Howard era stuff satisfactorily too. The crowd was very receptive and people were singing along to the um bigger songs. I think there were def people there who didn't realize this was the 10th anniversary tour for 'Alive of Just Breathing' and that they were doing that album in its entirety. Some people were motionless or had blank stares for some of the "Alive.." album deep cuts. Then they regained their animation for the 'hits.' Regardless, the crowd response was great. I think my only real complaint was that they played a short headline set (1 hr). We really could have used a standard 1 hr 20 minutes (or thereabout). I dunno the reason for the (to me) short set time. Pretty great way to end the year tho. This is probably the last show of 2012 for me (unless I end up going to Kix on Saturday).
I think I am kind of annoyed at 'whole album' tours, it has become routine- Death Angel (Ultraviolence), KSE (Alive..), Wintersun (pretty much played all of Time I), Amon Amarth (Surtur...), Megadave (Rust In Peace), upcoming Anthrax (Among...) and I'm sure there are others. Sometimes its cool, because they will play songs they haven't played live in ages or ever. But it seems to be getting to be too much of a fad. I say that now, and watch Maiden announce it will play 'Somewhere in Time'...
Merch- I got a Shadows Fall patch for $1 (nice!) other Shadows Fall and Killswitch shirts and stuff were ...kinda lame.
Photos:
Hustler Van and Shadows Fall Merch
Acaro
Shadows Fall (blurry)
Killswitch (not the best)
Setlists:
Acaro (7:30 - 8:01) (they probably had a few more but this was at least the last 4 songs)
- ?
- ?
- Becoming the Process
- ?
Periphery (via setlist.fm)
- Ragnarok
- Have a Blast
- Buttersnips
- New Snu
- Facepalm Mute
- Make Total Destroy
- Icarus Lives!
- The Light That Blinds
- The Idiot Box
- Weight of the World
- King of Nothing
- Still I Rise
- Destroyer of Senses
- Divide and Conquer
- War (Bob Marley & The Wailers cover)
Killswitch Engage (10:20 - 11:25)
- A Bid Farewell
- Rose of Sharyn
- Numbered Days
- Self Revolution
- Fixation on the Darkness
- My Last Serenade
- Life to Lifeless
- Just Barely Breathing
- To the Sons of Man
- Temple From the Within
- Vide Infra
- The Element of One
- Without a Name
- Rise Inside
- My Curse
- The End of Heartache
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