METALLLLLL!!!!!1!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So. A week ago I went to my first metal show. My friend devoidofthought wanted a companion. I had never been to a metal show before. I don't even listen to the music. I generally like my music subtle, gentle, beautiful and intellectual.
There were three acts: two openers (Varg and Wintersun); and the headliner (Eluveitie). Here are links for your reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPBpS0CE2Dg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnhdJVh9iIY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msRy4vcSX4k
devoidofthought had heard Eluveitie as an opening act at a prior show, and wanted to hear them headline. The overall genre was, I was told, 'folk metal' (verified when one of the lead singers for one of the bands screamed at the audience "DO YOU WANT TO HEAR SOME PURE, FUCKING FOLK METAL?").
The show was interesting. I didn't realize it, but metalheads are pussycats; gentle, polite and very respectful. I've seen other shows at the Republik and found this one the least threatening (at other shows there was far more testosterone being inappropriately displayed). For all of the volume, the music is, essentially, very melodic, pan-Celtic, and the lyrics derived frequently from epics, folk tales and whatnot. The instrumentation was broader than drums, base and guitars (which was one of the attractions for me). (Slow down the music, turn down the volume, add more synth and a good voice and what do you get? Enya.) But it is certainly the volume and the very insistent rhythms that charged up the audience: fists thumping the air; the metal sign being held aloft; thrashing about in the pit. I was even given a display of about five guys, all in a circle, snapping their heads about to get their hair to thrash like whips. Gender identification was a challenge, too; it was impossible to tell the guys from the girls (they all of them looked rather homely, IMHO).
Not a scene for me, really (although it was the first place I went where I could wear my hair down and fit right in...except for the black turtleneck, maybe...). But, hey, I've done it once. It was worth an evening. And certainly the musicians and the audience were well worth listening to, even though I return (gratefully) to my Baroque concerti and Renaissance lute music...