Grendel / Ludovico Technique / Deathmaschine @ Asylum 13 (Delaware) 8/23/2014

I took a road trip to see aggrotech band Grendel ($24) at Asylum 13 (Mojo 13?) up in Delaware. The trip up took a bit, due to rain, a fuel spill on 95, and general weekend traffic, but coming back wasn't too bad.  I actually saw a couple people I recognized from the DC area gothy scene (Midnight) who also made the trip up!

VNV Nation / Whiteqube @ Empire 5/14/2014

Juliya and I went to see VNV Nation (Victory not Vengeance) ($25) at Empire. We met up with Kate, Jason, and DarKNess, and Lori (Chris Crazy-Wolf was also there, but he was hiding!).

Combichrist/ William Control/ New Years Day @ Empire 4/4/2014

I went to see industrial/EDM group Combichrist at Empire ($20). I saw Jason, Jess, Rick, Joanna and her bf, and Milla there.  This is one of 3 industrial/EDM shows that Empire has listed so far this year, and the first time I've seen Combichrist so I was pretty excited. A lot of my metal friends went up to Baltimore to see Y&T, but I picked this as I needed to see Combichrist. Y&T was great when I did see them, so Combi better be amazing!

Project Pitchfork/ Ayria/ Spider Lillies @ Empire 6/2/2013

Went with John and Kate to see goth/electronic/industrial/whatever group Project Pitchfork ($20).  I was only somewhat familiar with Project Pitchfork ("Timekiller"), and not much or other with the others, but I've def been pleasantly surprised at these electronic shows before. There was some horrible on and off rain, and that kind of set the mood a little...darker. There were a good amount of people there, a lot of the same people from the Night Shift event the previous week- Joanna, Dar K Ness, most of Ego Likeness, among others.

KMFDM @ State Theater 3/18/2013

Went to see KMFDM ($30) at the State Theater w/ Milla and John n Kate. We saw Paul and his lady and some older gentleman from midnight there. And the guy with the blue dreads from Ego Likeness.

Hanzel Und Gretyl / Deathmaschine @ Recher Theater 2/15/2013

I went with John and Kate to see Hanzel Und Gretyl at the Recher Theatre - and was expecting a pretty happening show. However, the turnout was nothing like the KMFDM show we saw last year, so I was wondering if Recher did not promote, people were too busy, conflicts, the rain/cold/shitty weather or if people just don't dig Hanzel und Gretyl. There were about 80 people, tops at the show last night and it was visibly bare, compared to KMFDM which drew hundreds of people and was comfortably full. Tickets were relatively cheap ($15 in advance, face val). I was kinda furious that we coulda avoided buying in advance arrggh.

The Birthday Massacre @ Empire 11/29/2012

Went to see the Birthday Massacre/WIlliam Control/Aesthetic Perfection/Creature Feature/My Enemy Complete at Empire last night. Met up with Milla, John, Kate and saw Phoebe, Matt, AND Jesse (ASOT) there too! There were a lot of people, the parking lot was packed and there was a great turnout. Not a sellout, but the dancefloor was basically full, with a lot of observers from the railings.

Icon of Coil @ Empire 9/6/2012

Went to see Icon of Coil / [:SiTD:] /Ego Likeness /Platform One @ Empire (Jaxx) with John and Kate ($23). I think this was a Spellbound promotion. There was a pretty good turnout, IMO..about 120 people or so. Saw Matt H., Phoebe, and some other people who frequent midnight there too! Some interesting people as always, a cute girl with bat backpack, a girl with a mostly shaved head and head tattoo, a very tall dude in a kilt, a guy in a mesh shirt and gasmask, etc. As John said, there were a TON of chicks there (as opposed to the sausage fest at...most metal shows). This was a late show, doors at 8:00 X_X: Note, this was also their first stop for this tour, and first USA tour in like 8 years! That's 2 first tour stops in 2 days for me (Accept/Kreator and Icon of Coil) !

Aesthetic Perfection @ Ottobar 6/10/2012

 Went with John n Kate to Ottobar to see Industrial band Aesthetic Perfection. They had X-RX from Germany with them, too. Got there around 9, paid my $12, and X-RX took the stage about 5 minutes later. There was a decent crowd there, not too packed, but decently attended. about 50 or so people? Ottobar seemed smaller than I remembered for Winger years ago. The parking lot seemed way easier and less sketchy this time, too. There was someone sitting out there, monitoring it too.

X-RX I was only familiar with maybe a couple songs (Stage 2), but I thought they sounded great. they played mostly from their new CD ($17- purchased). Songs "Push it" and "Blood On the Dance Floor" were not covers, much to our dismay/chagrin.  Crowd was getting into it, a lot of crowd participation (hey! hey!)  but not as energetic when Aesthetic Perfection came on. X-RX was 2 guys doing live vox over their computers playing the music. They were also good at saying what the song titles were :3

Aesthetic Perfection I also only recognized a couple songs, also played a bit from their album ($13, purchased). I thought X-RX sounded heavier and better, but they were still good. They had a couple plastic flamingos on stage for some reason. Aesthetic Perfection was a vocalist and some live drummer. Pretty cool, the live drums augmented the sound. Their set started out slow, IMO, but picked up speed. People were moving a lot during their set, so I guess they were a hit? I enjoyed their set. The vocalist also had a sweet tattoo of the Universal Studios monsters (Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein's Monster, etc.) on one arm. So badass.


The set times seemed about 15 minutes earlier than the advertized times. ex: Aesthetic Perfection was to go on at 10:30-11:30, but I think they were on around 10:15- 11:15 (def stopped around 11:10 , 11:15). So on a Sunday THAT was nice. I was expecting things to last until like 1 or so.

They had CDs for the opener we missed, shirts ($?) and CD for X-RX ($17 damn), Aesthetic Perfection ($6- single, $13 album, $17 delux album w/ bonus CD of remixes), - a Patch ($5), shirts (?). Small but decent merch selection. Kind of wished they had more CDs, but glad they didn't cause I woulda had to get those too.

Overall a very good show, oddball day for it, but glad I went. My neck was sore the next day from headbanging. Legs fine since they were mostly stationary LOLz

People Uploaded videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6GeL6aEa4E&feature=youtu.be (X-RX)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXmtVQpxcpo&feature=youtu.be (Aesthetic Perfection)
You can see Kate in the shadows on the right on the X-RX one.

Pictures:
http://stevesnack.tumblr.com/post/25183199661/aesthetic-perfection-ottobar-6-10-2012-i-x-rx
http://stevesnack.tumblr.com/post/25183302488/aesthetic-perfection-ottobar-6-10-2012-ii
http://metalcowboy.tumblr.com/post/25183458138/aesthetic-perfection-ottobar-6-10-2012-iii-note

X-RX
Escalate
Activate the machinez
Hard bass hard soundz
Hit the drums
Kein Herz
Blood on dance floor
The Update
Push it
Stage 2


Aesthetic Perfection

All Beauty Destroyed
A Nice Place to Visit
The Devil's in the Details
Inhuman
One and Only
The Little Death
Hit the Streets ( Sounded like La Grange or Spirit in Sky)
The Siren
The Ones
The Great Depression
Spit it out
Living the Wasted Life

Rammstein @ First Mariner Arena 4/25/2012

After about 11 years (my first concert), Rammstein came back to the DC area. They played at Nation last time (now defunct, similar in size to 9:30 club), and this time the First Mariner Arena.My brother and Milla and I met up (briefly, as we apparently were running late later) with John, Kate, and a couple of their friends. Merch was OK, didn't really see anything I loved. Shirts were like 35, they had a bunch of posters, and I think a bag.

Some member of Combichrist (Joe Letz) DJ'd some Rammstein remixes (dubsteppin'), which seemed like kind of a faux pas - playing songs that Rammstein would be playing later. They sounded decent tho. He had a stuffed Unicorn, apparently. Similar to Straftanz's Unicorn obsession? Not sure.

My brother and I got to Baltimore early (I took a whirlwind day off) and parked across from the venue ($20! bastards) and watched a crowd of the unwashed queue up and slowly get frisked and let in. There were def a few cuties including this one girl with a very short skirt (cheek was seen). A lot of Rammstein shirts, a smattering of other metal and heavy music shirts too. A lot of black too of course. We rolled out to eat then walked back with Milla from her superlong boating trip.

The seats were SMALL. I don't know how you could sit in that seat with no legroom for an extended period of time. John had an aisle seat, otherwise I think he would have gone mad. I was next to a ...big boned... gentleman. So I was a little crushed. We had a decent view from the left side of the stage.

Rammstein came on around 9 to start a very elaborate show. They marched in from the floor, with a torch, Rammstein flag, and a Maryland flag (cheap pop). The whole band marched to the middle, where a giant catwalk was lowered and then they walked across that, over the crowd to the stage. Ominous music played to the cheers of the crowd throughout this time to further set the mood.

They started off with a bang and didn't really let up until Haifisch (a song I could have done w/out zzz). The pyro  was so hot that we could feel it from our far away seats. Imagine what it was like on stage or on the floor!! See below for the full show report. Some ...enthusiastic...fan jumped and tried to climb on the catwalk during the intro to Bück Dich. Security freaked out and got him down quickly- he was dropped into the crowd.  And it looked like he was escorted from the venue. There were about 3 different pits at a couple times during the show also.


Sonically, I had no complaints- they sounded loud, crisp, and great. Performance was as professional and a bit more elaborate than the last time. They sounded great, put one of is not the best show. I coulda done w/out Haifisch and Ohne Dich, but I suppose one needs a break too. Def worth the money- I think probably show of the year for me, despite the distance from the stage and crammed space.



Rammstein
Sonne (fire)
Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen Sehen
Keine Lust
Sensucht
Asche zu Asche
Feuer Frei!
Mutter
Mein Teil Du Riechst So Gut
Links 2-3-4
Du Hast
Haifisch (raft over crowd, mini inflatable shark was thrown in too)

------------

Bück Dich (some nut tried to climb the catwalk and was tackled by security)
Mann Gegen Man
Ohne Dich

------------

Mein Herz Brent
Amerika
Ich Will
Engel
Pussy


(since someone else already wrote this, why write it again?-

Show Details:(from: http://www.metalsetlists.com/showthread.php?t=20242&highlight=rammstein )
Sonne - fire during the chorus
Wollt Ihr Das Bett In Flammen Sehen - the sleeves of Till's jacket shoot out firework sparks
Keine Lust
Sehnsucht
Asche zu Asche
Feuer Frei! - flamethrowers on Paul, Richard, and Till's faces at the end of the song
Mutter - Till stands under a shower of firework sparks
Mein Teil - the song starts with Till (dressed like a chef, covered in blood, with a butcher knife for a microphone) pushing out a giant cauldron with Flake inside (like Volkerball). After the middle section of the song, Till comes out with the flamethrower, and then brings another much larger torche and torches the pot. Flake jumps out with the fog machine on his back shooting smoke and such, he runds around the stage and is chased by falling fireworks.
Links 2-3-4 - Till comes out with the big crossbow which shoots fireworks around him. Later in the song, they shoot off 2 red fireworks that circle around and explode on the stage.
Du Riechst So Gut - flamethrowers on Richard and Paul's arms; band freezes on stage after the tapping section
Du Hast - so much fire. At one point, the stage just looked like it was actually on fire. But no... it wasn't.....
Haifisch - Flake rafts over the crowd
(bridge comes down, and they all crawl across to the other stage on all-fours in leashes with Cristoph holding them, and whipping them as they crawl. Richard is already on the other stage doing the intro to Buck Dich from the infamous live video.)

Buck Dich - Till wears this odd contraption on his face (kind of like a muzzle) that shoots out liquids like the dildo in the aforementioned video
Mann Gegen Man - Flake hits one of them (couldn't really tell which one) with a large fluorescent light bulb
Ohne Dich
(bridge drops down, they all go back across, and bow. Till says "thank you very much," and they all walk off stage.)

Mein Herz Brennt
Amerika - AND SUDDENLY... confetti... EVERYWHERE
Ich Will
Engel - Till comes out with the metal wings with the torches
Pussy - foam-shooting penis cannon

VNV Nation @ Ram's head Live 3/12/2012

Went to see VNV Nation on 3/12/2012  at Ram's Head Live with John and Kate. I was not sure about going to this show as Iced Earth is/was the next day... but I did end up rolling up.  We got there about 7:45 and thought we were missing part of Straftanz, but they went on at 8PM instead of the advertized 7:30PM. Good! So we had a couple happy hours.

Straftanz was, like last time, energetic and enjoyable. They had a unicorn toy that I do not recall them having last time that they displayed prominently during one song. I think they had the same setlist

VNV Nation was similar to their last show- very positive and surprisingly high energy for a fat man. It was loud, but not so loud that I needed earplugs. They played a slightly different setlist than in December, so that was fun. It seemed maybe extended, but maybe the 'extended live set' that was purported didn't seem that extended. Oh well.

There was a smallish crowd (no balconies opened, but the floor was decently filled- if everyone was there you could fit everyone on the main floor and still have decent 'personal space'). Some cute girls, some not, some glowsticks, a lot of people wearing black (duh). Was a good concert overall.

Straftanz Photos
Straftanz Photos II
VNV Nation Photos
VNV Nation Photos II

Straftanz
Forward Ever
Fuer Die Kinder (Ist Mir Egal!)
Straftanz
The Bass Below
Die Neue F-Klasse (Ein Panzerlied)
Turbo
Tanzt Kaputt, Was Euch Kaputt Macht! 

VNV Nation
On-Air
Chrome
Space &time
Tomorrow never comes
Darkangel
illusion
Standing
Honour
Nemesis
Legion
Epicentre
Resolution
Control
----
Distant (Rubicon 2) (?)
Fearless
---
Beloved
Nova
Perpetual