Knotfest: August 8, 2019

Yes, I went to Knotfest, Slipknot's annual (?) traveling roadshow.  That may come as a little bit of a surprise for people who have been reading this blog for a long time, because I generally have not had many positive things to say about Slipknot.  I liked them in the early years, when the self-titled album was released, but felt there were diminishing returns on each of the two follow-ups.  I never picked up anything after the third album because I simply did not like it, other than a few songs.  So why did I go?  Because the other bands were Volbeat, Gojira and most importantly, Behemoth.

Unfortunately, the night was a huge disappointment.  Due to circumstances beyond our control, my wife and I were late in arriving and missed the first band.  That band turned out to be Behemoth, the primary reason I wanted to attend the concert.  We had some issues getting to the venue, the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska, due to road work and the fact that we both had to work that day and we live two hours away.  And for some inconceivable reason the concert started at 5:30.  Plus, my wife insisted on listening to Disney music on the way down, so there was that.  I guess I misjudged the popularity of Volbeat, thinking there was no way they would be playing anywhere other than first that night.  So, when I figured out that we had in fact missed Behemoth, I was pissed.  I seriously considered calling it a night.  But, I did not think that was a reasonable response so I tried to make the most of it.

There were some definite things working in favor of enjoying the night.  My wife looked amazing first of all.  Secondly, we got the tickets for free, and were in the luxury suites, thanks to my dad who got the tickets from his company's lottery.  The company he works for built the arena so they have a luxury box.  There were free snacks and drinks provided, and I was able to enjoy the high quality meat from the meat and cheese tray provided (I am on a bit of an unusual diet and mostly just eat meat these days).  So the seats and snacks were great.

The first band we saw perform was the terrific Gojira.  I am not great about checking them out every time they release something new, but the albums I have checked out have been amazing.  I was a bit disappointed they did not play "From the Sky", which is still my favorite song from the band, and one of the heaviest riffs ever.  But their performance was amazing and with any luck, their exposure on this tour should help increase their popularity.

Next was Volbeat, who I have seen previously when they opened for Megadeth and Rob Zombie a few years back.  I like some of their stuff and own one of their albums, but their more recent material has been less than impressive.  Their eclectic mix of metal and rockabilly is a lot of fun when it is working.  I will say they put on a great performance and definitely got the crowd going.  My wife really enjoyed them, even though she kind of hated them the first time we saw them.  Although I don't think anyone on Earth enjoys them as much as the guy in front of us did.

Finally, Slipknot took the stage.  I do not know if it was because I was annoyed about missing Behemoth, but they just sounded bad.  All you could really hear was the percussion, which sort of makes sense since they have three percussionists.  But Corey Taylor's voice sounded off, and the riffs could barely be heard.  And with nine fucking people running around, you would think the show would be more exciting.  I still cannot figure out the official job of the one idiot who spent half the show walking around on a conveyor belt while flailing his arms around.  I could not see his mask close enough to identify which one he was.  They also sounded a little flat, without much energy.  I was annoyed enough that we ended up leaving about three quarters of the way through their show.

Despite the huge disappointment at not seeing Behemoth, the reason I wanted to go to the show, it turned out to be a pretty decent night.  Hopefully I will have another opportunity to see Behemoth again soon.  My wife suggested going next weekend to see Knotfest in Kansas, but I feel like they got enough of my money Thursday night.

Concert Review: Volbeat, Megadeth, and Rob Zombie May 24, 2012

I went to my first concert in a couple of years on Thursday night.  Volbeat, Megadeth, and Rob Zombie were playing at Tyson Event Center in Sioux City, Iowa.  Since that is only about an hour away from my home, I managed to talk my wife into going along.  I had seen Rob Zombie several years ago, so Megadeth was the main draw here.

VOLBEAT:
I am not terribly familiar with Volbeat.  I kind of bristled at some of the praise heaped upon them by Metalsucks and since my tastes are typically not in line with that website, I never really gave them much of a chance.  I will say that the Danish band impressed me quite a bit on Thursday night.  They played a fast-paced and energetic show.  Their variety of influences were on display Thursday night as elements of rock and roll and  punk shined through.  The vocalist's crooning howl was definitely a strong point.  It was also obvious that Volbeat knows their metal, playing excerpts from Motorhead, Metallica, and Slayer among others.  We did not see their entire show as we were running a bit late, but I may have to check out some more Volbeat material.

MEGADETH:
As I said, Megadeth is the reason that I wanted to go to this concert.  If it was just Rob Zombie and Volbeat, I would not have gone.  I have been a Megadeth fan almost as long as I have been a metalhead.  They were the second band after Metallica that I got into.  But I had never seen them in concert so I had to go.  Megadeth has not lost a step, they played a very fast-paced show.  We did not get much of Dave Mustaine's personality as the band leapt into the show and did not really slow down until it was over.  The show featured a sort of greatest hits collection.  There were a few tracks from their latest album, but otherwise they played the usual classics: "Symphony of Destruction", "Peace Sells", "Hangar 18", and "Sweating Bullets" all made it into the set.  They of course closed with "Holy Wars" as they typically do from my understanding.  They sounded great.  It's hard to believe they have been active for over 30 years at this point.  My only complaint is that the video accompanying some of the songs seemed to skip a bit.

ROB ZOMBIE:
As I said, I have seen Zombie before.  I had an idea of what to expect.  I was a little disappointed that they relied almost entirely on video screens for the effects this time around instead of the moving set they had the last time I saw them.  I have not really checked out much Rob Zombie material since being disappointed with the musical direction taken on the new tracks on Zombie's Greatest Hits collection several years ago.  Turns out I did not miss much.  Zombie only played three songs I had not heard before.  The rest of the material was mostly from his first two solo albums and of course "Thunder Kiss '65" and "More Human than Human".  Zombie did play us the trailer from his upcoming movie Lords of Salem which looks interesting.  My wife particularly enjoyed his show.