The Blackest of the Black Tour
Rating: 5 Skulls
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The Blackest of the Black Tour
Rating: 5 Skulls |
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Death's Review (5/3/03, Universal Amphitheatre, Hollywood, CA):
Nile
Photos by HelI didn't really realize until the day of the show that this was not a national tour, this was a two-show "test run" for a possible national tour. Well I have to say, Blackest of the Black had a pretty killer lineup overall, and its organizers should be commended for putting together such a cool bill. I'm not a big Glen Danzig fan, and I'd already seen him live, so I don't think I would have come out to see him again. But throw Opeth, Lacuna Coil and Behemoth on the bill and I'm there in an instant. Add in Superjoint Ritual and Nile for icing on the cake. Hopefully, these shows did well enough to justify a full-scale U.S. jaunt some time in the near future.
BehemothThey sure picked a nice venue for the dry run. Universal Ampitheater is a state-of-the-art, mainstream indoor concert facility located inside the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, near the Waterworld stunt show, to be precise. Spinal Tap-esque in concept, I know ("Opeth, with puppets!"), but trust me, it was brilliant in execution. At least if you were hooked up like we were for this one, with access to the V.I.P. area with free food, beer and wine (plus M&M's and Junior Mints!), and private bathrooms. Free beer was a huge bonus for this five hour plus long metal show where the large size beers out at the concession stands were $11 each. We got into the venue and watched Behemoth, who were on stage. These guys are totally underrated, and it looked great to see them up there on this huge mainstream stage with giant video screens projecting footage from the performance on either side of the stage. They delivered a punishing first blow to the still filtering-in crowd, and I was pleased to see a pack of hardcore fans in the front center behind the pit area who were shouting along with every song. Behemoth have momentum right now - the spate of recent touring in the U.S. is starting to pay off.
DanzigLacuna Coil was good. I'm fairly sure this was the first time I'd ever seen them live. Christina sounded great, in fact the whole band pretty much sounded exactly like they did on record. Visually, however, the two-singer, male/female dynamic is emphasized live, both in the mannerisms of the two vocalists as they play off one another and the clothes the band members are wearing (skirts for the guys, pants for the woman). I heard one guy behind me screaming "Nile!" for about half the set, but I knew better that I was seeing something cool.
Superjoint RitualNile was Nile. That is well trodden-territory for this website. It is great to see the band included on this bill, and they made their American death metal presence felt. For me though, this night was about the mighty Opeth, at this point surely one of my favorite bands, particularly live. Too bad they only had a 40-minute set. With Opeth, that meant there was only time for three songs. But a great three songs they were: "Deliverance," "The Drapery Falls," and "Demon of the Fall". Sure, I wanted more, but I was happy for what I got. At this point in the night, the place had started to fill up. It was awesome to look around a fairly full Universal Ampitheater and see everyone going crazy for Opeth. Five years ago a scene like this would have been unthinkable. Surely, the new golden age of heavy metal is finally upon us.
Lacuna CoilSuperjoint Ritual was fun. How could they not have been? Phillip J. Anselmo is always entertaining. This time he lectured on issues ranging from the merits of the new Darkthrone album Hate Them to talking about thrashing and headbanging like it was 1987. Superjoint played a long set overall, and they kept the crowd entertained. Anselmo repeatedly reminded us that - like he told us ten years ago - he ain't never gonna sell out or go away. Pissin' people off is what he does, etc., etc. It's fun. That's right, with the future of Pantera uncertain, Superjoint Ritual is kinda fun to have around. "Fuck Your Enemy" is a great song and crushes live for the 2:00 it lasts. They've got some great riffs scattered throughout the record. And Anselmo knows how to work a crowd. It isn't Pantera, but it works.
I pretty much flaked on Danzig. I started his set backstage drinking until they pulled the plug on the beer. Then I came out and watched a couple songs before getting bored and wanting to go home. I was lit, and I was tired from a long day. I drank beer, saw bands from Poland, Sweden and Italy (as well as truly exotic locals like South Carolina and Louisiana). I hung out with friends and talked metal and had a great time. Will the New England Metal & Hardcore Fest top this? Sure it will - it goes for two days and is a national event. Blackest of the Black had the feel of a stop on a local tour, surely by design, and although it felt like a tour, it felt like a tour that was going to be able to bring a much needed dose of a metalfest type atmosphere to your local hometown. I had a blast, and I got to see three songs from Opeth.
Hel's Review (5/3/03, Universal Amphitheatre, Hollywood, CA):
For a change, I will not be regaling you with a story of missing the opening bands. Yes, it's true. Death and I arrived in a timely fashion for once in our lives. However, I still managed to walk in during the fourth song of Behemoth's set, so instead of taking photos from the nice pit in front of the stage, I stood behind the barricade, about a foot farther back, and managed to get some decent photos anyway, since there was no competition for the front row yet. Behemoth played to a woefully small crowd, having taken the stage at the insanely early time of 6:10 pm. I fear I will never be able to accept this part of the LA lifestyle - every show seems to start at an unreasonably early time. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - metal is a late night activity! Why is this such a difficult thing for the local venues to grasp?
OpethDespite the earliness of the hour and the lack of people in the audience, Behemoth gave it their all, and put on a blistering twenty minute set which garnered a very positive reaction from the few in attendance. The drummer was situated very close to the front of the stage, which allowed for maximum visibility, and I very much enjoyed watching him swirl his hair while simultaneously executing some complicated double bass. While there are a number of things surrounding this situation that I might complain about, the performance given by Behemoth is certainly not one of them. Once again, this band delivered.
After I caught back up with Death, we began the first of what would ultimately be many forays into the backstage area. We were both blessed with passes by the publicity powers that be (and much thanks to the responsible party!!), and truth be told, this is the best part of shows at the Universal Ampitheatre. The backstage area is basically a big beer garden, with drinks, food, and recognizable faces galore. This is one of those places in LA where, if you find yourself asking, "Is that ___?" - the chances are very, very good that it is indeed. So, instead of filling the spaces in between the bands with "and then I went backstage" I'll skip over the set changes for the rest of my review. Pretend they're not there, or fill in the blanks with this information, as you see fit.
Lacuna CoilI raced back out to ensure I had my full three songs in which to capture the Italian glory of Lacuna Coil. While my photos failed to capture the fact that all of the men in the band were wearing skirts, while the only woman wore Capri pants, I still managed to get a bit of documentation. The photo pit was already getting quite crowded, and after spending too much time dutifully following the "no flash" instruction written right on my pass, I began to realize that I was the only one doing so. Now, I usually ignore the rules until I'm told otherwise, but they are always such hardasses at this venue, I had decided that I didn't want to deal with having every last one of the security people chastise me, and so I didn't even try at first. But after two songs produced nothing but very crappy, very dark photos (why only blue and red lights during Lacuna Coil?), I decided to embrace peer pressure, and began joining in the effort to blind the band in earnest.
BehemothOnce I was forced out of the photo pit again, I wandered the venue, alternately watching the band and dodging security - I had no idea where my seat was, and didn't particularly care, something that is pure anathema to the staff here. From above, Lacuna Coil's practice of simultaneous headbanging while bent over at the waist is visually very striking, as are the men's skirts. But I could not help but wonder - why are all the men wearing skirts? A mystery that may never be solved, I suppose. Maybe it is some Italian thing… Overall, their set sounded great. I was fairly shocked that the male vocalist has no other duties in the band, and it was clear in this instance, that he is the weakest member of the band. But if he's the weak link, then Lacuna Coil has little to fear.
Superjoint RitualNext onstage was Nile. Personally, I've always been quite fond of this four piece and their Egyptian-themed brand of death metal. I also consider them to be a great live band, and all three guitarists continually switching off vocal lines is usually the icing on the cake. On this occasion, I had the opportunity to closely watch the drummer at work (for the same reason I was able to view Behemoth's drummer so well), and noticed that he also executes some high difficulty maneuvers featuring simultaneous headbanging - a distinct bonus! Seeing the band work so well together in front of an enthusiastic crowd is always rewarding, and tonight this held true. While I know not everyone loves Nile, I do, and anyone else who does would have loved this performance also. The crowd this night agreed.
The nonstop bill continued with the mighty Opeth. While I spent a few moments during Nile savoring the luxury of the photo pit, I had seen them in enough different environments to be able to easily shrug off the bad memories of shooting Nile at the Key Club recently. However, I last saw Opeth at the Troubadour and that was a complete nightmare, from a photographic standpoint - the fans were utterly rabid and all seemed determined to touch a member of the band. So taking photos of Opeth from a nice roomy photo pit was pretty great, but by this point in the evening, the other photographers were increasing both in numbers and in competitive attitude. It was starting feel like a very different kind of pit in there, and for a change the fans had nothing to do with it.
OpethOpeth's set was fantastic, and for a change, I can tell you the setlist: "Deliverance," "Drapery Falls," and "Demon of the Fall." Yes, you read it correctly - only 3 songs. So we all were kicked out of the photo pit halfway through the second song. As the band pointed out, their songs are so long, three is actually a pretty long set for an opener. And they invited the audience to come to the San Diego show the next night, where they promised a much longer set would be played. But for me, these three will have to be enough for now, because I didn't make it to San Diego…
Our marathon evening continued with Superjoint Ritual taking the stage shortly after 9 pm. Phil started by openly confessing to being really wasted, and predictably embarked upon the first of several rants. While I've definitely seen him go on for much longer, he was in fine form this evening. At the outset, he apologized to the security staff, and then told anyone in the audience that if they could make it up there, his stage was our stage. He told us that Superjoint Ritual is the band he's always wanted to be in. He repeatedly raved about the new Dark Throne album, Hate Them. And basically ranted a great deal about how metal he is, and how underground, and all the stuff that I've known for a while, and that he doesn't really need to keep telling me. I believe him. But he's still convincing someone - either that, or he just really likes to talk. Oh yeah, that's it.
NileSuperjoint's set was great. But have you ever noticed how short Superjoint Ritual songs are? I hadn't, until the third song ended (about 9 minutes after the very first note was played) and security manhandled us out of the photo pit. Definitely not enough time to get adequate material, and it was made even worse by my fellow photographers, who by now had begun acting like they were in a pit, and physically shoving others around. This was primarily because there were too many photographers there, and most of them had apparently been to few metal shows in their lives - it was definitely going to their heads. But the band more than made up for the poor behavior of my colleagues, and Phil's energetic antics were as entertaining as his monologues. The rest of the band matched his energy level perfectly, and everyone onstage was clearly having a ball, as was the audience. One industrious fan even performed an acrobatic jump to take Phil up on his offer to share the stage, and looked baffled for a moment once he was up there - apparently he hadn't expected that to work as well as it did - then very politely greeted the band and allowed himself to be lead off by the late-arriving security force.
The hilarity ended, appropriately, with Danzig. I confess that I have never been a fan of the man, not even in his Misfits days, and in my opinion, Danzig was the worst act on the entire bill. However, I do have to admit he is a total showman, though I don't think my guffaws are precisely the reaction he's going for. His stage was very elaborate, with bone things, and spike things, and things with big boobs. I didn't stick around for the fireworks, though, knowing Danzig and having seen his show many, many times before, there were definitely pyrotechnics in store for the fans. But I really can only handle five or six Danzig songs, since I think they all sound exactly the same anyway. But most of the crowd was having the time of their life when I took my leave.
DanzigIt really isn't very often that you can see five fantastic bands in a row like that (six, if you like Danzig). For that fact alone, this show deserves five skulls. Every band on the bill played their hearts out, and the crowd loved every second of it. Though there were only two dates this time, I was told that Mr. Danzig is hoping to make this his version of the Ozzfest, and I wish him all the luck in the world with this endeavor, as long as he continues to keep with the concept of offering the best of the underground - he's certainly on the right track with this bill. May you all get to see a similar one come to your town in the future.
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