Rock2Wgtn
Yesterday afternoon I found myself preferring a night at home cooking and eating a nice meal, watching a few DVD's and hanging out with our guests instead of going to Rock 2 Wellington. I knew, however, that I would be dragged kicking and screaming had I made that choice when overpriced tickets had already been bought before The Rock FM decided to give them away for free. Ass bastards!
The show started with unknown guitarists situated at various spots in the crowd shredding on shiny axes. So... shiny...
Did I mention the 100 ft guitars on either side of the stage?
Lordi played first and that's when we realised just how shit the sound was. While the band themselves gave a great show with pyrotechnics and costumes that were a cross between that of Rob Zombie and Gwar, you basically had no idea what they were playing unless you knew all their music. Considering their beginning as winners of the Eurovision Song Contest they realised they were very fortunate to be playing on the same stage as their idols, Kiss and Alice Cooper.
I was most disappointed by the sound. Not only were the acoustics of the stadium not the best for the event but some basic technical errors put a dampener on an otherwise brilliant night. The guitars sounded like mush and it was as if somebody was standing in front of a speaker and would occasionally step away. I could only attribute this to a faulty cable. You'd think with the lineup like this getting the sound right would be a priority!
Next up was a local support act called Sonic Altar. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Weta Workshop for providing a 30 foot, fire-breathing, laser-eyed, roaring dragon to distract me while this abysmal excuse for a band played. It's not that they were particularly bad; they just weren't very good, either. Mediocre and nondescript is the best way I can describe them - a band you'd expect to see open for The Feelers or Dave Dobbyn. Sonic Altar? More like Medio-altar.
The dragon was cool.
Alice Cooper was easily my favourite act of the evening. I don't know how old he is now but with that kind of energy he never showed his age. What can I say? His show was mind-blowing. Just amazing. Before we even saw the man he provided a shadowplay punch-up of an "imposter". This guy puts on a show Meatloaf could only dream of achieving. (Although I shouldn't compare because I've never seen Meatloaf play live :P )He played all the classics leaving the "Poison" and "School's Out" for the encore. His show had everything; a beautiful seductress, daughter-beating, three-drummer drum solo, swords, balloons, hangings, baby-stabbings... Brilliant!
Well done, Alice Cooper, you've gained my respect. I shall be buying your CD's in the near future.
I don't know the name of the second support act but all I can say about them is: while I didn't get into their style of music, operatic medieval rock, I felt they were better suited to the event than the previous support band. More technical glitches which made some cringe.
The dragon was cool.
Kiss didn't show their age either. High energy and no sagging, flabby guts spilling out of their costumes. They certainly looked like they do in all their promotional shots I've seen. While they did play all the classics more than a few people started getting a little tired of every song being dragged out to 15 minutes with pointless solos and audience interaction. What they lacked in music they compensated with LOUD fireworks, flying foxes and flying about on cable harnesses. "I can't hear you!" Paul Stanly would say. Not bloody surprising with those loud explosions going off which I'm sure would have people suing for loss of hearing. They were just so loud.
Overall a fucking excellent night. I'm so glad I got to see them all. Looking forward to seeing Poison, Whitesnake and Ozzy Osbourne tonight.
\m/
The show started with unknown guitarists situated at various spots in the crowd shredding on shiny axes. So... shiny...
Did I mention the 100 ft guitars on either side of the stage?
Lordi played first and that's when we realised just how shit the sound was. While the band themselves gave a great show with pyrotechnics and costumes that were a cross between that of Rob Zombie and Gwar, you basically had no idea what they were playing unless you knew all their music. Considering their beginning as winners of the Eurovision Song Contest they realised they were very fortunate to be playing on the same stage as their idols, Kiss and Alice Cooper.
I was most disappointed by the sound. Not only were the acoustics of the stadium not the best for the event but some basic technical errors put a dampener on an otherwise brilliant night. The guitars sounded like mush and it was as if somebody was standing in front of a speaker and would occasionally step away. I could only attribute this to a faulty cable. You'd think with the lineup like this getting the sound right would be a priority!
Next up was a local support act called Sonic Altar. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Weta Workshop for providing a 30 foot, fire-breathing, laser-eyed, roaring dragon to distract me while this abysmal excuse for a band played. It's not that they were particularly bad; they just weren't very good, either. Mediocre and nondescript is the best way I can describe them - a band you'd expect to see open for The Feelers or Dave Dobbyn. Sonic Altar? More like Medio-altar.
The dragon was cool.
Alice Cooper was easily my favourite act of the evening. I don't know how old he is now but with that kind of energy he never showed his age. What can I say? His show was mind-blowing. Just amazing. Before we even saw the man he provided a shadowplay punch-up of an "imposter". This guy puts on a show Meatloaf could only dream of achieving. (Although I shouldn't compare because I've never seen Meatloaf play live :P )He played all the classics leaving the "Poison" and "School's Out" for the encore. His show had everything; a beautiful seductress, daughter-beating, three-drummer drum solo, swords, balloons, hangings, baby-stabbings... Brilliant!
Well done, Alice Cooper, you've gained my respect. I shall be buying your CD's in the near future.
I don't know the name of the second support act but all I can say about them is: while I didn't get into their style of music, operatic medieval rock, I felt they were better suited to the event than the previous support band. More technical glitches which made some cringe.
The dragon was cool.
Kiss didn't show their age either. High energy and no sagging, flabby guts spilling out of their costumes. They certainly looked like they do in all their promotional shots I've seen. While they did play all the classics more than a few people started getting a little tired of every song being dragged out to 15 minutes with pointless solos and audience interaction. What they lacked in music they compensated with LOUD fireworks, flying foxes and flying about on cable harnesses. "I can't hear you!" Paul Stanly would say. Not bloody surprising with those loud explosions going off which I'm sure would have people suing for loss of hearing. They were just so loud.
Overall a fucking excellent night. I'm so glad I got to see them all. Looking forward to seeing Poison, Whitesnake and Ozzy Osbourne tonight.
\m/