KsE/BYD Concert
Because I like writing long entries about concerts. And because I don't want to study anymore.
So for Christmas, my present to Jim was taking him to this concert. Really because I wanted to go. But also because - for once - there was a concert coming to Grand Rapids that he would like that wasn't going to be in Detroit. Bought the tickets to be picked up at willcall, since doors were at 6:30 and it didn't start 'till 8. No was I was going to stand around and wait for and hour and a half to see an opening band I didn't care about. Jim got here around 6ish and we hung out, ate, and then left at 7:15ish for the half and hour trip. Only got lost once - whose smart idea was it to put Lake road a mile before Lake somethingelse road? So once we got that figured out, we drove around the mall thing before we finally saw the Orbit Room, and then ran to get the tickets in a long sleeve shirt and hoodie (me) and t-shirt (crazy brother).
Once we got in, found out we timed it perfectly because the first band (2 Cents) had already finished, and Bury Your Dead was starting their soundcheck. Jim took his glasses off so that they didn't die, so I had to describe all the merch for him, but BYD's merch dude wasn't even there, so we decided to get into the crowd for them and then get merch when Hatebreed played. Adam from KsE was at the tables talking to people. I kind of wish now that I had had him sign my ticket or something. He's pretty amazing.
Weren't very close at all, on the backside of the pit where the people were kind of boringly lame. There was this balding 40something dude in a big winter coat freaking out on the side of the pit, and when Jim went into it I kind of kept trying to move away from the old guy, but he kept bumping into me as he kind of thrashed around. Annoying. Then Jim came back out of the pit because there were just some huge guys standing in there pushing everyone around. And THEN some guy came out with blood all over his face. But other than that, Bury Your Dead was really good for the little that I recognized; I hadn't listened to much of their old stuff. Pretty sure they played The Color of Money, Top Gun, Magnolia, and House of Brick from their new cd. Harder to understand live than their cd, but I'd love to see them again.
So then we went and got shirts; Jim wanted one and was getting one for a friend. It's difficult to buy metal shirts in our family as the mother figure doesn't like skulls or violent things. So that knocks most shirts right out. Bouncers kept brining people out, either because they were too drunk or somehow injured. Anyway, we got that figured out and still had to wait for Hatebreed to soundcheck and play. So we went back to the bar section and stood out of the way. The thing is Hatebreed has been around for like, fifteen years or something. So there were a bunch of middle age people there in the back 'rocking out'. This couple comes and stands in front of us, and the guy starts doing this thing where he kind of yells 'YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaah' and she does these strange dancing things with her beer. And then he started air guitaring. Along with Hatebreed. Seriously. Don't bother doing that to any hardcore band. Then Jim started mocking the old guy which kind of made me worried because he was so obviously drunk so who knows if he would have just turned around and slugged us? Ha. Anyway, Hatebreed wasn't horrible, and they're probably like, the inspiration for a lot of good bands, but their lyrics were kind of... I don't know. Repetative? I guess that's kind of a hardcore thing, too. More 'anthemic'. Whatever, they weren't really bad at all.
Once they got offstage, it was like all those old people left. We pushed our way through the swarm of leaving people and got up to 4-5 people back, right in the middle. Dangerous, dangerous spot. While we were waiting this guy started talking to Jim, just randomly, and Jim couldn't undertand most of what he was saying, but it was kind of funny. He wasn't huge but he looked like this big tough guy, and he started shoing Jim a scar he got from kind of being bitten in a pit somewhere else, and so he tells Jim he doesn't want anyone to use their firsts - he wants to leave with all his teeth. As soon as Killswitch Engage started, there was no room to move, and wherever the crowd went, I went. I have a new bruise on my left leg to match the one on my right leg that's still there. Anyway, Jim stayed behind me and kept the crowdsurfers off me, and I tried not to end up with my face in someone's armpit. There is definitely a disadvantage to being a girl in that crowd, I mean, I was that close and could only see Howard's face when he was right there. I did accidentally slam Jim in the jaw when I had to jerk my head back. He asked if I was ok and warned that it was going to be like that the whole time, and I said that I was fine, because really, that's part of the whole experience. But it was pretty intense, I don't think I could have lasted the whole time. I think I kind of surprised Jim, because I know that's where he'll normally be at a concert, and I don't think he thought I was going to want to be right there. Ha. So then this guy in front of me kind of waves at me and motions upwards. My rule for crowdsurfing is that I'm not going to make someone I don't know lift me up just so I can do it - but if someone else volunteers, I would. So I nodded at the guy and signalled to Jim what I was doing, so then he nodded to that guys, and kind of lifted me up and passed me to the other guy, and I rolled onto my back and was just passed along, right to the bouncer. Holy frickin sweet.
So then I had to make my way through the crowd to get back to other side, and passed Aaron, who was being lame and standing in the back. By then my hair was slaughtered, but oh well. I pushed in to the left side, just far enough back so that I wouldn't constantly be pushed, but I could still see and people were still moving. It was pretty fantastic, Joel was right there, and Mike usually was, too. I could see the whole stage though, so I could still see Howard and Adam, who was in his cape and being totally crazily adorably obnoxiously perverted. Sometimes he'd come over to our side and make these horrible faces as he screamed. They all seem amazingly fun. Apparently Howard is from Ohio, but that didn't go over well with the crowd that started chanting 'Fuck Ohio State', and he just laughed instead of getting pissed. And then Mike and Joel starting playing along with the crowd. Fantastic. And then every time Adam introduced a song, Howard would just laugh at him. Or when he ran offstage to get a beer. Adam was just hysterical. All his song introductions had nothing to do with the song, really, but whatever. He looked so different before the show with his glasses and such. So they for sure played My Curse, Rose of Sharyn, Last Serenade, This is Absolution and Darkness Falls. I'm sure they played more new songs, but I can't remember. The last couple songs, they asked for people to freak out, and Jim came out of nowhere and a bunch of us threw him up to crowdsurf.
And then it ended, and people started leaving? So I pushed forward to the middle for the encore. Howard came out and started asking us if we like classic metal. (Yes...?) If we liked tigers (Yessss...!) If we liked riding the tiger (YES!) And if we liked class metal by 4 foot men from Boston or something (HELL YES!) So for their encore they did their version of Dio's Holy Diver, which was fantastic and the perfect ending song. Basically Killswitch was amazing and I love, love, love them and am so glad I got to share Jim's Christmas present. ;)
So for Christmas, my present to Jim was taking him to this concert. Really because I wanted to go. But also because - for once - there was a concert coming to Grand Rapids that he would like that wasn't going to be in Detroit. Bought the tickets to be picked up at willcall, since doors were at 6:30 and it didn't start 'till 8. No was I was going to stand around and wait for and hour and a half to see an opening band I didn't care about. Jim got here around 6ish and we hung out, ate, and then left at 7:15ish for the half and hour trip. Only got lost once - whose smart idea was it to put Lake road a mile before Lake somethingelse road? So once we got that figured out, we drove around the mall thing before we finally saw the Orbit Room, and then ran to get the tickets in a long sleeve shirt and hoodie (me) and t-shirt (crazy brother).
Once we got in, found out we timed it perfectly because the first band (2 Cents) had already finished, and Bury Your Dead was starting their soundcheck. Jim took his glasses off so that they didn't die, so I had to describe all the merch for him, but BYD's merch dude wasn't even there, so we decided to get into the crowd for them and then get merch when Hatebreed played. Adam from KsE was at the tables talking to people. I kind of wish now that I had had him sign my ticket or something. He's pretty amazing.
Weren't very close at all, on the backside of the pit where the people were kind of boringly lame. There was this balding 40something dude in a big winter coat freaking out on the side of the pit, and when Jim went into it I kind of kept trying to move away from the old guy, but he kept bumping into me as he kind of thrashed around. Annoying. Then Jim came back out of the pit because there were just some huge guys standing in there pushing everyone around. And THEN some guy came out with blood all over his face. But other than that, Bury Your Dead was really good for the little that I recognized; I hadn't listened to much of their old stuff. Pretty sure they played The Color of Money, Top Gun, Magnolia, and House of Brick from their new cd. Harder to understand live than their cd, but I'd love to see them again.
So then we went and got shirts; Jim wanted one and was getting one for a friend. It's difficult to buy metal shirts in our family as the mother figure doesn't like skulls or violent things. So that knocks most shirts right out. Bouncers kept brining people out, either because they were too drunk or somehow injured. Anyway, we got that figured out and still had to wait for Hatebreed to soundcheck and play. So we went back to the bar section and stood out of the way. The thing is Hatebreed has been around for like, fifteen years or something. So there were a bunch of middle age people there in the back 'rocking out'. This couple comes and stands in front of us, and the guy starts doing this thing where he kind of yells 'YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaah' and she does these strange dancing things with her beer. And then he started air guitaring. Along with Hatebreed. Seriously. Don't bother doing that to any hardcore band. Then Jim started mocking the old guy which kind of made me worried because he was so obviously drunk so who knows if he would have just turned around and slugged us? Ha. Anyway, Hatebreed wasn't horrible, and they're probably like, the inspiration for a lot of good bands, but their lyrics were kind of... I don't know. Repetative? I guess that's kind of a hardcore thing, too. More 'anthemic'. Whatever, they weren't really bad at all.
Once they got offstage, it was like all those old people left. We pushed our way through the swarm of leaving people and got up to 4-5 people back, right in the middle. Dangerous, dangerous spot. While we were waiting this guy started talking to Jim, just randomly, and Jim couldn't undertand most of what he was saying, but it was kind of funny. He wasn't huge but he looked like this big tough guy, and he started shoing Jim a scar he got from kind of being bitten in a pit somewhere else, and so he tells Jim he doesn't want anyone to use their firsts - he wants to leave with all his teeth. As soon as Killswitch Engage started, there was no room to move, and wherever the crowd went, I went. I have a new bruise on my left leg to match the one on my right leg that's still there. Anyway, Jim stayed behind me and kept the crowdsurfers off me, and I tried not to end up with my face in someone's armpit. There is definitely a disadvantage to being a girl in that crowd, I mean, I was that close and could only see Howard's face when he was right there. I did accidentally slam Jim in the jaw when I had to jerk my head back. He asked if I was ok and warned that it was going to be like that the whole time, and I said that I was fine, because really, that's part of the whole experience. But it was pretty intense, I don't think I could have lasted the whole time. I think I kind of surprised Jim, because I know that's where he'll normally be at a concert, and I don't think he thought I was going to want to be right there. Ha. So then this guy in front of me kind of waves at me and motions upwards. My rule for crowdsurfing is that I'm not going to make someone I don't know lift me up just so I can do it - but if someone else volunteers, I would. So I nodded at the guy and signalled to Jim what I was doing, so then he nodded to that guys, and kind of lifted me up and passed me to the other guy, and I rolled onto my back and was just passed along, right to the bouncer. Holy frickin sweet.
So then I had to make my way through the crowd to get back to other side, and passed Aaron, who was being lame and standing in the back. By then my hair was slaughtered, but oh well. I pushed in to the left side, just far enough back so that I wouldn't constantly be pushed, but I could still see and people were still moving. It was pretty fantastic, Joel was right there, and Mike usually was, too. I could see the whole stage though, so I could still see Howard and Adam, who was in his cape and being totally crazily adorably obnoxiously perverted. Sometimes he'd come over to our side and make these horrible faces as he screamed. They all seem amazingly fun. Apparently Howard is from Ohio, but that didn't go over well with the crowd that started chanting 'Fuck Ohio State', and he just laughed instead of getting pissed. And then Mike and Joel starting playing along with the crowd. Fantastic. And then every time Adam introduced a song, Howard would just laugh at him. Or when he ran offstage to get a beer. Adam was just hysterical. All his song introductions had nothing to do with the song, really, but whatever. He looked so different before the show with his glasses and such. So they for sure played My Curse, Rose of Sharyn, Last Serenade, This is Absolution and Darkness Falls. I'm sure they played more new songs, but I can't remember. The last couple songs, they asked for people to freak out, and Jim came out of nowhere and a bunch of us threw him up to crowdsurf.
And then it ended, and people started leaving? So I pushed forward to the middle for the encore. Howard came out and started asking us if we like classic metal. (Yes...?) If we liked tigers (Yessss...!) If we liked riding the tiger (YES!) And if we liked class metal by 4 foot men from Boston or something (HELL YES!) So for their encore they did their version of Dio's Holy Diver, which was fantastic and the perfect ending song. Basically Killswitch was amazing and I love, love, love them and am so glad I got to share Jim's Christmas present. ;)