Arch Enemy and Trivium in Sioux City: November 10

For the second time in less than seven days, I found myself at the Hard Rock Casino in Sioux City, Iowa for a concert.  This time it was a co-headlining show with Trivium and Arch Enemy.  I have seen Trivium once before, so the reason that I chose to go to this one was to see Arch Enemy.  My wife did not come to this one with me.  She had to dog-sit for her parents this weekend.  I am not sure I care much for going to concerts alone. 

The opening band was Fit for an Autopsy, a group that has started to make some waves.  I did not care much for their brand of deathcore personally.  The entire performance was basically one long breakdown.  There were a couple of decent songs, but this is not likely a band I will be seeking out in the future.  The second band was a metalcore group called While She Sleeps.  Now, this is a band I likely would have enjoyed quite a bit more in my early 20's.  They had some decent material and the singer was undeniably charismatic on stage, but again, I am not likely to seek them out further.

Arch Enemy was next on stage and they performed a fantastic set, dedicated mostly to their material since Angela Gossow took over as vocalist and extending into the Alissa White-Glutz era.  White-Glutz is a powerful vocalist, but the true highlight of the entire night was the incredible guitar performances by Jeff Loomis and Michael Amott.  Those two really put on a show.  Arch Enemy was absolutely worth seeing.

Finally, Trivium closed things out.  They played a little shorter set than I expected, and certainly shorter than last year's set.  They have a new album out, which I have not heard yet, and which I am not sure I will be checking out.  The new songs they played were catchy enough, but not as good as some of their earlier material.  Matt Heafy sounded as if he might be suffering from a little bit of a cold as his melodic vocals were not quite up to snuff.  But, Trivium had some impressive songs, just not as impressive as Arch Enemy.

This was only the second time I have ever gone to a concert alone.  Quite frankly, I do not much care for it.  Maybe if it had been a better lineup I might have liked it better.  Trivium sounded a bit off and neither of the opening groups were really impressive.  Arch Enemy was pretty much the only really good thing about the night.