Before the show we spent about 45 minutes on the RnR's rooftop bar. It was a beautiful evening so hanging out watching the Nationals on one TV and the Hawks hockey game on the other while drinking Hipster Juice (aka PBR) was a great way to relax.
This was a show I hadn't really thought about going to but decided earlier in the day that we needed to get out for the evening. I got some terrible news about the passing of a good friend and I felt that staying in was the wrong idea...best to get out and enjoy life, even if it is bone-crunching metal.
I like Torche just fine but they are not amongst my favorites. Their latest record Harmonicraft just missed my top 5 metal records of the year. I checked out the other two bands on the bill before hand and was excited for one and lukewarm on the other.
The opener I was interested in was Lo-Pan. I listened to their latest Salvador a couple times before the show and really liked it. They are a metal band with a classic hard rock-cum-metal vibe, meaning they have a good groove and a singer who sings. They have good sense of humor evidently: their name is taken from the bad guy from the Kurt Russell cult favorite Big Trouble In Little China. The band was interesting to look at: 2 very hefty guys who we thought might be related (they don't appear to be), a drummer in a Sonics jersey, and a guitarist who looked like Father Time if he went on a bender. That said, they fucking ruled the evening. The vocals were way down in the mix which was a drag because the singer can really belt it; very soulful classic sounding rock vocals. The guitarist could shred with the best of them. Very impressed with these guys. And I loved the gear: bassist had a beautiful Geddy Lee-style Rick 4003 with a huge bass cab sporting an American flag grill; guitarist had a beauty of a tobacco burst Les Paul. He broke the low E string about halfway through the set...finioshed the song including a solo with the string dangling off, in fact he tore the string off in the middle of a solo, then took about 45 seconds to put a new string on. A real pro!! Bought their t-shirt and would have bought vinyl if they hadn't sold out (good for them!!).
Next us was KEN Mode from Winnipeg. These guys were more of a hardcore and math rock thing which I don't really get into it. Musically it was a lot of screaming and a lot of yelling and they were incredibly loud but they put on an interesting performance. Lots swinging guitars over their heads and jumping around and funny face making. It was evident they are very good at what they do but it isn't really my bag. They have one song on their new record that made it onto my Spotify mix but the rest of it just didn't grab me.
Headlining was Torche from Miami. Like I said I dig them just fine. They are an interesting band in that their songs can shift abruptly from a very hardcore sounding pummeling to a great metallic groove. The melodic parts of their records tend to stay out because they are a welcome respite from the onsluaght. Their songs tend to be pretty short and they didn't take much of a break between any of the songs; they segued right into one another without a pause. The bass player looked a little like Chris Daughtry. The one guitarist had a sweet looking twelve string that he was making do what 12 strings usually don't.
So all in all a very enjoyable evening of metal. We finished it off with a trip to Dangerously Delicious Pies for after concert snacking. Jodi deserved a sweet reward for being such a good sport.
This is Part 1 because Wednesday I am going back to the RnR Hotel to see Kylesa and Blood Ceremony and Lazer/Wulf and another band I already forgot the name of.
No comments:
Post a Comment