Posts Tagged ‘concert’
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The other week I made my way to a Metallica show. It was their second show in Auckland at Vector Arena, and last one for New Zealand. While I have been a fan of the band for a long time, I had not yet seen them play. My only other opportunity was when I moved back to Auckland from Christchurch. Arriving in Auckland the day before the 2004 Big Day Out, where Metallica were headlining. I should have gone, but being new to town I opted out, and instead just wanted to chill out after 8 hours of driving up from Wellington. That was on the back of their “St Anger” tour anyway, so maybe it was for the best? It was a memorable drive though. A lot of Holdens, and dudes in black Metallica tee shirts all hitting State Highway 1 on the drive north to Auckland. It was like a convoy, except no one told me.
Well 2010, and I finally had my chance to see these guys put on their show. Thoughts going through my head. Hopefully they don’t play too much from 1990-2004. Has Lars finally given up on his hair yet? Will they play “For Whom the bell tolls”?
What was I expecting? Well looking at how the stage was going to be laid out from the Ticketmaster website. I was expecting a big production of a show, and a unique concert experience. Also, a lot of metal.
Realistically I figured I’d get a mixed set list with some stuff I didn’t like as much, but with some great stuff mixed in. Turns out the show delivered on most fronts. All the classics were there, but I missed out on the song wanted to hear as it was played the night beforehand. That was made up by other songs I was not expecting though. The stage production was amazing, and a rare treat for NZ audiences who don’t usually get to see full productions like this. Let me tell you, nothing is more comical than 15 thousand metal heads all going “ooooohhhhh” when some fireball pyrotechnics are shot into the sky.
The crowd was good. Everyone was having a good time, and there was very little aggression until a circle pit opened in front of me right at the end of the show. I was clear enough out of the way that it did not affect me though.
For aging rockers, Metallica still have it. Everything sounded amazing. They brought a lot of energy into the performance, and most impressively, James Hetfield’s singing was really clear and good. Dude’s voice has held up well over the years.
All and all, a great show!
I have some more pics up at my Flickr account. An official bootleg of the show (and all Metallica shows it seems) can be found here for 10 bucks US. (the quality of the recording is also amazing).
Thanks for reading!
Marc
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Apologies for the late comic!
I knew it was going to be tough this week. I had a house guest. A good friend was up from Christchurch. We don’t get to hang often, so I made sure I was the host with the most – but I had to neglect the art to do so.
We hung out. Played some video games, and took in a couple of Shihad concerts. It was awesome. More on that in the blog later this week. How was your weekend?
Reminder: I’ll be at the Auckland Zinefest – Saturday 14th of August (THIS SATURDAY) at St Kevins Arcade, here in Auckland. Come out and say “hi” to me! All details can be found here.
Thanks for reading
Marc
Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.
Faith no More was an excellent concert. I had fun. Like most live events though your enjoyment of a show can really hinge on the audience itself. I’ve been to shows where because the crowd was lacklustre, the band was the same. It works the other way round too. It’s a symbiotic relationship. Faith no More I am pleased to say had the crowd eating out of their hands. The only thing that threatened to derail the show for me was “Missing Toof Guy”.
About two thirds into the set everyone is getting their groove on, and just enjoying themselves. I was in the General Admission area, because this didn’t seem like the kind of show I would want to be seated at. Most people that had seats were actually standing anyway. A big burly dude appears in my immediate proximity and recognises a friend of his who was standing right next to me. Dude had come from closer to the stage than we were, and was absolutely drenched in sweat. He kept going on about how he lost one of his teeth in all the action closer to the stage. It wasn’t the most eloquent of exchanges.
“Bro! Missing Tooof! Haaa Haaaa Haaaa!”
He was extremely obnoxious and arrogant. To make matters worse, he was rolling into people bowling them over and at the same time to greasing them up with his sweat something akin to how “Slimer” would goo someone from Ghostbusters. The slightest touch and you too were dripping wet from HIS sweat on one side. Unfortunately someone in front of him reacted to this moisturous effect. Turning around disgusted he pushes Missing Toof Guy. Missing Toof Guy (MTG) suddenly goes from happy go lucky mode into bar room brawler mode. He is not a small guy either. Things start to get very ugly, with the guy who pushed him immediately recognising it was a big error in judgement, and starts to back down. MTG needs to prove he is the Alpha male though and continues to pursue the possibility of a fight. I’m standing directly next to both of these guys, so now I’m totally out of the concert experience for at least two songs. I know that if shit goes down, there is a big chance I’m getting caught in the middle of it, whether I like it or not. All of this is happening while the song “The gentle art of making enemies” is playing. There is irony there I guess.
Like Murtaugh from “Lethal Weapon” – I can recognise that I’m too old (and crippled) for this shit.
Things eased a bit when MTG took off for a while. I was relieved. Turns out he only went for another beer and to bring some of his boys closer to the fight action. Great. He even made a point of tapping the pushing guy on the shoulder to let him know he had returned to start some shit after the show finished. I’ll give credit where it is due though. Before the encore had even begun, the guy who did the pushing bounced, and MTG and his brawler friends had to choose between their love of fighting, or the concert experience. They chose to stay. I was able to enjoy the rest of the show, and decided that not making eye contact with MTG was wise, seeing as he had that lost opportunity of a fight slip through his fingers, he’d probably look to start more shit if he could.
I might have missed two songs or so, but I am happy nothing transpired from it.
Be safe out there. Heh.
Thanks for reading!
Marc
Last night I was lucky enough to catch one of my favourite bands from my youth, Faith No More (who for the sake of my laziness will be referenced to as “FNM” in this post). The anticipation and expectation of their self proclaimed second coming had set the bar high. I think everyone was expecting a lot. To make things less complicated I actually took the day off work and spent the day drawing, slowly psyching myself for the upcoming show. By 6pm, I finally got my ass down to a local fast food joint and then after a rushed dinner made my way to the venue, Vector Arena in central Auckland.
Parking is always a pain in the ass, but I found a good spot. Not long after entering the venue, the first band Eagles of Death Metal came on to warm the crowd up. By the time they were down they had definitely accomplished that task. “Can you dig it?” and “Ladies!” seemed to be their catch cries of the evening. They were just good old rock n roll. It was fun. However the crowd were definitely there to see FNM. So…did they measure up? Quite frankly. Fuck yes.
The intro had the band playing a cover of “Reunited”, before Mike Patton strutted on stage in a pimping suit with a cane for walking aid to add the vocals. It was great. They quickly got into “From Out of Nowhere” to start proceedings off. I got pretty much all the songs I wanted to hear – except for “We Care A Lot”, can’t win them all I guess. There were even some unexpected songs thrown into the set. Very welcome. Some were the bands own. A couple were not. A brief cover of Lady GaGa’s “Pokerface” had the crowd amused before blasting into “Chinese Arithmetic”. At the end of the set the band gave us two encores. On the first they ended with Crowded House’s classic “Don’t dream it’s over”. Encore number 2 they came back and asked if the crowd wanted more. A rapturous cheer let the band know the verdict. Again, they launch into the same Crowded House song. They do this another couple of times before drawing some boos. Ha ha! Mike Patton replies to the criticism with a “what? – you said you wanted more – I thought we were giving you what you wanted?” It was awesome.
The crowd was definitely reflective of the bands longevity. I doubt there was anyone under the age of 25 at the venue.
It was an amazing concert. Some other things worth noting. The backdrop was simple velvet looking curtains being back-lit with different shades of lighting. It helped keep the casual mood. At one point someone threw a shoe on stage. Which Mike Patton picked up, huffed a couple of times, before throwing it back out into the crowd. The set was stopped for two minutes, with the band urging the crowd to chant “Tom Jones!” in an effort to coax the man from his hiding place. The attempt was in vein. Tom Jones never showed up. “I guess he ain’t here” – General Patton said. We put in all that effort and the bastard doesn’t even show up? Rude.
Photos of this concert are on my Flickr page.
The people surrounding me were mostly well behaved. I’ll post on this more tomorrow.
If the band is coming near you. I very much recommend attending the show.
Thanks for reading
Marc!