This was one of the best concerts I have ever attended.  I had been listening to their music on MySpace.com for sometime, then to see that so many were going to play at the same time in such a small venue, it was a no brainer to go.  I got there about 45-50 minutes early and had a beer while we waited in line to get searched for weapons and then let into the concert hall.  The concert was at Zenith Freiman and probably holds about 1500-2000 people.  I bought and put on my Machine Head shirt, bought another beer and prepared for Shadows Fall.  The lead singer has dread-locks about 5 feet long.  I've never seen any this long before.  They played only 5 songs, they were the opening band so the crowed wasn't really ready to get into it yet.  Too bad, they played some good stuff.  Had they played later and longer, we would have all enjoyed them more.

Machine Head

The stage crew really moved and got Arch Enemy setup to play.  The lead singer is a blond girl.  You don't see many blond good-looking girls singing in thrash-death metal bands. She sang good, some melody with the groans and growls you expect with death metal.  The 2 guitarists Michael Amott and Christopher Amott are brothers and play well together, one has bright red hair as you can see in the picture, the other brown.  They are famous for being able to shred in sync, which they did and are talented guitarists.  I was very impressed by their playing.  In the band there is a person with blond, red, brown and black hair, I wonder if they do that on purpose.  I participated in my first bout of moshing for the evening and got an elbow in the face about 3 minutes in.  I stepped out and too a break until I recuperated.  I returned into the pit and go hoisted up, crowd surfing to the front where the security guard gently placed my feet back on the ground.

Trivium

After Arch Enemy came Dragonforce.  I saw Dragonforce at Rock Am Ring 2007, they put on a really nice show, but they just don't play my kind of music.  Like the last time I saw them I used their playing time to rest and get another beer before the headliners begin.  I must say though, the guitarists are super shredders, they must have played a 20 minute head-to-head guitar battle which totally rocked.  Herman Li was jamming but for some reason Sam Totman kept making derogative hands gestures at Herman during his solos.  Not sure why he did this, but it wasn't cool.  Just jam dude!  Maybe you have a complex.  The guitarists are the best things about the band.  They are a talented bunch.  On the way out, the bassist was chatting with people out of the second story window, I snapped a picture.  I thought that was cool.

Dragonforce

Trivium was very good.  Again a talented bunch of musicians.  They had a very nice stage setup.  Up to this point the stage shows had just been basic, but the last 2 groups had some really good lights and shows.  I think this is the main differentiator between the openers and the headliners.  Music (openers) versus Music and Show (headliners).  I made my way to the front like always, moshed until I was tired and crowed surfed 2 times to the front.  I always do my solo mosh when I'm walking in front of the stage.  It's my own little performance to show how bad I think I am.  I'm really not, but at those moments I am.  Maybe that's why I like moshing because I can be powerful, helpless and helpfull within a very short period of time.

Shadows Fall

Closing out this awesome show was Machine Head.  The crowd was crazy for them.  What a trip it must be to have 2000+ people screaming 'Machine Head' over and over again.  At one point between songs, the band simply stopped and just let us say it over and over again until the lead singer just stopped us and said 'Wow, thanks.'  At this point I was really too tired to mosh so I just watched from the back.  It's funny to see people in the back pretending to mosh.  Don't know why, I think they just don't like to tight places up front.  Machine Head always pays tribute to Dime Bag Darrell before their song Aesthetics of Hate. The song was written by the band's guitarist/vocalist, Robert Flynn. He states the song is a response to the writer William Grim, whose article on conservative website The Iconoclast - "Aesthetics of Hate: R.I.P. Dimebag Darrell, Goodbye & Good Riddance" - was an attack on Dimebag Darrell and heavy metal in general. Roberts' words specifically on this evening were: "On December 14, 2004, 6 days after Dimebag Darrel was murdered; an article on a conservative website called the Iconoclast was released. The article was called Aesthetics of Hate, Goodbye Dimebag and Good Riddance. The article would go on to say how Dimebag was an untalented possessor of a guitar, and that by playing heavy metal he had reaped what he sowed. The article would also go on to say that anyone who is mourning this man's death is pathetic and ugly. Machine Head had the opportunity to tour with Dimebag and while he was not our closest friend we are honored to call him a friend of ours. For any person here who mourned that day, for anyone of you who cried that day this song is dedicated to you tonight. And this song is dedicated to them and it's called 'Aesthetics of Hate.'"

Overall this was a super group of bands.  If they came back next week I'd go and see them again.  Till next time!

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