I’m expecting a light concert season for 2012, as I only have two shows confirmed. The first was this past Friday (Avenged Sevenfold and Halestorm at the Mohegan Sun Arena) and the second won’t be until late August (Carnival of Madness, same venue).
I’ll put the review for Friday’s show first and follow that with a couple concert season odds and ends.
First up was Halestorm. The name sounded familiar, but I’d never heard any of their music, live or otherwise. Opening bands are a crapshoot, especially if you’ve never heard their music before. Halestorm delivered in a big way and probably are the best new (to me) opener I’ve ever heard. They were on for about 45 minutes, if I recall correctly, and their set included songs from both of their albums. Freak Like Me, American Boys, and Here’s to Us were off their new album and were all solid performances, but the one that sold me was Familiar Taste of Poison from their first album. I actually ordered both of their albums from Amazon the day after. They were that good. Musically, the band is excellent, but I was impressed with the drummer and especially the lead singer. Their lead singer is a powerful female vocalist with the certain gruffness or edge to her sound (like a Janis Joplin) but still has a flair for softer, slower, and darker (like the lead singers of Evanescence or Nightwish, except without the classically-trained feel). The drummer can pound and the guitars and bass come into the mix nicely, with speed and hardness, but not overpoweringly so. Their stage presence was great, as well. Halestorm clearly knew how to work the room and did thank the fans for making it possible. A good opener will prime the crowd for the headliners and make a name for themselves, as well. Halestorm did both masterfully here.
Then, we got Avenged Sevenfold (A7X). This was my first time seeing them live and I have all five of their studio albums. It should’ve been my second time, but that story comes later. A7X started with Nightmare, the title track of their most recent album, and blew the roof off. The crowd was absolutely on fire and that frantic pace kept up for pretty much the entire 90 or so minutes they were on. These guys rock hard, really hard. Beast and the Harlot and Welcome to the Family followed. They even went back to the Waking the Fallen album on multiple occasions. Buried Alive was an absolutely awesome performance, complete with pyro. These higher-energy songs were consistently mind-blowing, but the “lighter and slower” (relative versus absolute) songs like So Far Away, Afterlife, and A Little Piece of Heaven were possibly even better, particularly the last two. A7X is extremely talented musically all the way through. Guitars, vocals, bass, and drums are all incredibly strong, certainly one of the best collections of talent on the scene today. I hear both the 80’s/90’s heavy metal and the 90’s/2000’s hardcore and hard rock in A7X, which is truly awesome. The stage presence was great and even had a little light drinking, though obviously not enough to impair performance. They of course thanked the fans for making it possible and absolutely delivered.
Overall, this was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. It was well worth the price of admission and the venue was great. The arena played Metallica and similar rock during the intermissions. Both bands took the time to acknowledge the fans and thank us for making it possible for the bands to do what they do (this is a simple gesture that is more noticeable in its absence than its presence, as I detailed in a previous review for a band I won’t name here). I’ll gladly pay to see either band again and will follow them. I even walked away with a new zip-up hoodie and a hat (I usually only get one item per show, so I was a big spender getting two this time).
And the extra notes I mentioned.
The Rockstar Mayhem Tour in early August is a maybe. I have calendar questions, and I have issues with the nearest venue, namely the Comcast Center in Hartford. I went to Mayhem there last year, which was a great show, but the lawn area was flea-infested (and you’re not safe even in the seated area). I was covered in bites. When I got home, I stripped naked on the back porch and left clothes, shoes, and stuff outside before going straight for the showers. Probably not what you want to hear, but this was no joke. Furthermore, I was supposed to go to the Rockstar Uproar Tour there last September, but didn’t because I broke my foot the day before and the venue’s accommodations for injured/handicap people were, in my view, deficient to the point of being dangerous whether using crutches or a wheelchair. Even if I didn’t have calendar issues, I’d still think twice about going there, at least during the summer. The sound quality is sold, but the venue itself is beyond awful.
Unlike last year, when I didn’t start doing concert reviews until well into the season, I’ll do a whole post for each concert I attend. I need stuff to write about outside of the world’s three-ring circus comprised of the 2012 US election, the Eurozone collapse, and miscellaneous history/current events.
And that, as they say, is that.
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