Welcome. Here is a brief synopsis from the Soilwork/Darkane/Warbringer/STS concert from Febuary 12th 2009 at The Palladium in Worcester, MA.
I've dreamt of seeing a metal show such as this. I have seen Soilwork a few times. But the last time I saw them was in November 2007 with Lamb of God/Devildriver/Killswitch Engage in Lowell MA. They opened for the three American bands and played a brisk 5 song/23 minute set. I was pissed. How could a band that great open for 3 bands with half as much experience! In any case, I was stoked to hear the 10 fan-voted cuts they planned to play this time around! Lotta old shit that I love. Then I read fellow Swedish metal heroes Darkane would be joining them. I've always felt Darkane is way too underrated; they consistently push out brilliant albums throughout their solid career despite other Goth-metal bands such as IF, Soilwork and Dark Tranquility get all the accolades. I knew very little about Warbringer. They are young and I own only their one LP debut album. But good thrash is good thrash; I expected a beer fueled uptempo set with a badass pit! STS are so good. Great doom metal at it's best! Knowing this is only their 2nd time in the States, I had to be there to see em' live. They came over here once, but it was with Katatonia, and well, I like the faster stuff.
After making the 90 minute trek from my metal show in Salem MA to Worcester MA, I arrived early..........very early. I walked Main Street with my better half around 1PM........................doors did not open until 7, at least that is what the black and white flyer read on the side door at the venue. The city was desolate. The NEHMF madness from last April(the last time I was here) was long gone. It was cold, windy, and dark. The sidewalks were consumed by mounds of frozen snow that was a greyish-black from the dirt and trash. Trash filled the sidewalk's as did huge potholes from the weather destructed winter.
Anyhow, I sat across the street at a cafe' thinking of metal and watching the unoccupied venue. Around 2 PM, a long grey tour bus and a few white vans and attached trailers pulled up. I recognized a few passengers who hopped out and carried their equipment into the venues front door entrance: members of Soilwork(Speed and Ola). Later on, I walked around Main Street again, making sure I walked by the venue and bump into Speed. After a brief hello, I went my way. Around 5 PM, I ventured to Irish Times/Rehab to watch the fools wait out in the cold while I enjoyed a few brews. Now, I have not been at this bar since The Syn threw a NEHMF press party last year. When I entered this time, I noticed 1 female bartender sipping beer from a plastic cup(at least it was Sam Adams) and just 3 patrons! The three men were dressed in black sitting at a table eating dinner. I made sure not to bother them, surely it was one of the bands, right? Indeed. After a few Magic Hats, one dude got up and left. He was tall, about 6 feet, with black jeans, black tee and white high tops. I was sitting by the entrance/exit, so when he left I gave him the subtle nod. He did in return and a brief conversation ensued. It was none other than the energetic vocalist from Warbringer John Kevill. He was cool man, though he seemed a bit out of it(come to find out he was pretty baked).
Kevill went his way, but not before him telling me the only other 2 patrons were from Swallow the Sun. Yes! In a smooth manner, I went to the bar and ordered another round, right beside the one other occupied table. So, I said hello. The two men were Markus Jamsen(guitars) and Aleksi Munter(keys). I kept it short, after all, they were eating. But they were both personable, especially Aleksi. As they went back to their almost finished fries lathered in excessive ketchup, I went back to my window seat across from the venue.
By 7pm, as doors were set to open, the line was only 17 deep. Huh? A huge underground show like this with a great line-up like this should of had a few hundred. Albeit the economy is devastated and it was a Thursday night, I expected a few hundred. Especially after talking to some Palladium employees around 4 who confirmed about 300 tix sold. I entered the venue and went straight to the will call. My girl was in, but................my name was not on the list! The tix were only $20, but man, c'mon. I soon learned that someone from Warbringer forgot to submit the press list or V.I.P. crew. Luckily, I made a call and the person came down................none other than the friendly but baked Kevill! He submitted a couple names from a text on his cell. Cool................I was in!
I went up the steps after getting my wristband and opened the doors. Wait a minute I said....no, the show was limited to the upstairs only. I've been to the Palladium roughly 12 times and never once was the venue confined to just upstairs. The stage was so tiny, how the heck could 5 or even 6 members fit up there without bashing into one another? If you stood on the stage, it looks like an uppercase L. You have the stage, then about 12 full rows of roughly 16 concert go-ers, then about 16 rows of 12, as the bar takes up space from there on. Then you can head upstairs where it can hold maybe 100-150 more folks. Up there, the view was kickass! You can stand by the railing or fight for the one couch that could fit maybe 3 people. The merch tables were small and quiet for most of the night. Warbringer and STS had one table with a girl(the girlfriend of the tour buses driver) who oversaw things. She spent some time eating her KFC meal during the quiet times. They had the usual $15 cd's and $20 tees, plus $15 beanies and $30-40 hoodies. The dude at the Darkane/Soilwork table seemed more interested in messing with his laptop.
The concert began at 7:29 ET with Swallow the Sun.(It must have been because if Warbringer opened and then STS came on the crowd would be bothered by the lack of tempo, how else does does one explain how a thrash band with just one album get the nod over a great band with a handful of EP's and LP's in a short period of time?) STS played 4 cuts and stayed on stage until 7:58 ET. It was great. I noticed that the 2 dudes I met earlier were in 2 different mindsets; Markus shook his head a few times and gave what appeared to be a negative thumbs up(like that oxymoron ha ha) while Aleksi(now sans-glasses) was like an unleashed tyrant gritting his teeth and headbangin' with his long locks. It was cool. Almost immediately after the set ended, STS came upstairs(mostly unnoticed) and went to their merch table. I went over and said hello. I found out from bassist Matti Honkenen that the guitars would almost unheard and non present and thus that is why they were telling the person working the board to turn the guitars up. Too late, but they did not seem that angry as they told me this. For the rest of the night, I joined STS upstairs to watch the other 3 bands and talk metal. Markus went into his duffle bag underneath a gold colored fold-up chair and pulled out a jug of Vodka.....................and then a tiny 32 oz. plastic bottle of cranberry juice. The plastic cups now filled in hand..............it was time for Warbringer. But not before I noticed that during STS set that Kevill was pacing and walking in circles and that Warbringer guitarist John Laux turned down a somewhat sexy blond bartender paying $4 for a Red Bull and thus settled on a free 16.9 oz. plastic bottle of Polar water.
The Warbringer set was fun. Except for the folks wanted to get to the only men's room, which was right by the stage and thus the pit. Enter at your own risk! The set went for about 37 minutes as the guitars took center stage alongside frontman Kevill's energy. He yelled and screamed and had good fun with the crowd. He plugged the band's upcoming tour with Kreator and Exodus(which will happen at the Palladium as well) and also played some metal off their upcoming album due out in May. Kevill ended the night by saying "Thank you Massachusetts, I smoke fuc*#ng weed!".
Next up was Darkane. They were solid too. Everything was great, especially the guitar interplay between the two guitarists, one with a shaved head the other with long white/blond hair. The band sounded great and played a couple tracks off the new album and "secondary effects" from the album Layers of Lies was a highlight amongst many others during their 45 minute set that ended at around quarter of ten.
Once again, it was cool to see the teamwork. It appeared that each band helped one another between sets. They carried and moved one another's equipment between sets(only Fear Factory was played between sets) especially members of STS working their asses off. The crowd had expanded to maybe 250 people as Soilwork took the stage. The band came out and played a solid set. Between songs Speed went through a door out back. I assume he was taking a piss because he had a slew of beer cans in front of the drums that he sipped out of quite often. If he did not have a brew in his hand, his hand rested out his shaved head too. Songs such as Follow the hollow, Like the average stalker, black star deceiver, The chainheart machine, Rejection role and shadowchild sounded pretty solid. But the crowd got most excited about the songs Soilwork played from the new album, such as 20 more miles, exile and sworn to a great divide. My fave moment was when the band played Song of the damned.
Once the set hit the one hour mark at 11:09 ET I made my escape. I had a much needed cab waiting for me and my girl. I did not hear cuts they planned to play, such as Nerve, As we speak and Stabbing the drama. But maybe they did after we left. I may regret that though.
FINAL RANDOM THOUGHTS
There was two bartenders. One guy who seemed to be doing very little and the blonded who spent more time on her blackberry than serving drinks, although the customers were few and far between as she tapped on her blackberry. She certainly was not a fan of metal. I saw only one security guard, with a gut and black gloves. He hung out in a corner on top of the bar. He was not really needed, as the pit was small with about 10-12 people in it throughout the night. Nobody got on stage although they easily could have. One person crowd-surfed twice. There was only one minor injury. The lighting was different. It was mixture of red and white. All 4 bands mingled with the crowd. They slapped high fives and had no issue with being touched and grabbed. There was not too many chicks, although a malnourished 16 year old kid with a grey tee looked like one as he kept his hands up for the whole night. Having zero muscle, zero facial here and medium long brown here made it seem like it was a chick. Most of the people I talked too were there to see Soilwork and had little if any knowledge of the other 3 bands. There was no backdrops. No giant poster behind the band saying who they were. There were no autograph seekers, save for a 5"10 decent looking girl dressed in black with black hair who seemed to dig the guys in STS...................until her boyfriend got wind that they she had them sign some stuff with her back being a prop and escorted here out of there and back downstairs. To hear more about the show listen to my metal show Fridays 3-6 on 91.7 wmwm(we stream online, go to the homepage) check out www.myspace.com/wmwmdrive or listen to a brief audio summary on yesterday's webcast from the post-show at http://www.archive.org/details/drivenfridaythe13th2009
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