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Children of Bodom (チルドレン・オブ・ボドム) was one of the bands I was most looking forward to at Loud Park. I should really like them given that I love most of their fellow bands in Scandinavia (In Flames, Opeth, Dark Tranquility, Amon Amarth, Dimmu Borgir, Finntroll, Enslaved, Satyricon, etc.), but Children of Bodom have never quite clicked with me. I was hoping that something would click on this evening. I enjoyed their performance, but they still don’t really move me.
Loud Park was the first time in 19 years that I witnessed Megadeth live. Before that was 1987 at The Stone in San Francisco on the “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” tour. Dave Mustaine has really mellowed over the years. He was positively happy and in a good mood throughout the set.
Both Dave and Chris Broderick, Megadeth’s recent guitar addition, are in really good shape for their ages–for any age really. Maybe they have hired a band chef and personal trainer or something.
Dave, and the band, came out for an encore at the time they were supposed to be done. (All other bands, both days, stuck exactly to the schedule.) He said they would let him squeeze in another song. Then he said, in a way that is totally Dave Mustaineish, he doesn’t like to follow the rules. He did technically play only one more song (Holy Wars), but in the middle he threw in an extra song (Mechanix) so Megadeth ended up going way over time. Everyone loved it. Judas Priest, to stay on schedule, had to start their set just a few minutes later.
The setlist (or set list) was something like this:
Set The World Afire
Wake Up Dead
Hangar 18
Skin O’ My Teeth
Headcrusher
She-Wolf
In My Darkest Hour
Tornado of Souls
1,320
Devil’s Island
Kick The Chair
Sweating Bullets
Rattlehead
Symphony Of Destruction
Peace Sells
Holy Wars Intro (Mechanix) Holy Wars Conclusion
Here is Megadeth doing Hangar 18. Crank it up. This video came out pretty good considering how crazy the crowd was around me.
Arch Enemy’s appearance at Loud Park was one of the main reasons I wanted to attend. I have previously seen many “similar” Swedish bands like Opeth (four times), Amon Amarth, and Dark Tranquility (twice). But Arch Enemy is one of the few bands from Sweden that I like who I hadn’t had a chance to see, until now.
Due to hunger (as I had to grab something to eat before they began), and tiredness, I didn’t have a great spot to view them. The photos came out rather well zoomed up at 17X as their lighting was better than it was for some other acts at Loud Park. The sound wasn’t good though. Indoor arenas are not ideal for sound quality. If you aren’t standing near the mixing board the music isn’t clear.
Another photo of Arch Enemy from Loud Park 09 can be seen in this blog entry.
The set list was something like:
Bury Me an Angel
Revolution Begins
The Immortal
Ravenous
Beast of Man
Snow Bound
Pilgrim
The Last Enemy
I Will Live Again
Demonic Science
Bridge of Destiny
Nemesis
Fields of Desolation
Angela Gossow is the lead singer for Arch Enemy. She spoke, in English, between a few songs and could barely breathe. She was quite winded from sprinting around the stage and her “growling” vocal style.
This video didn’t come out great, but here is a brief taste of part of Arch Enemy’s “Ravenous.” I apologize for the short length and incomplete song, but my SD chip filled up with this video.
Today we’ll wrap up this brief diversion into some old pictures I found while packing for Japan. I don’t remember even having a camera back in 1989, or taking these pictures, but I do remember this evening well.
Sepultura was virtually unknown at the time. This was their first time in the USA, and they had begun their Beneath the Remains Tour in Philadelphia less than a month before.
This show took place at the Omni in Oakland, California on November 30, 1989. The members of Sepultura couldn’t speak much English at this point. Members of Metallica were in attendance, although that wasn’t unusual at Bay Area shows in the 80s. I also met Metallica at a Megadeth show in San Francisco at The Stone on Broadway in May of 1987.
Metallica had already done their best work by 1989. Everything from this point on for Metallica is basically crap in my opinion. Not so with Sepultura. While Beneath the Remains is still my favorite, Sepultura’s next two albums (Arise and Chaos A.D.) are far better than anything Metallica ever did without Cliff Burton.
Andreas Kisser is still with the band, 20 years later.
Max Cavalera split from Sepultura in 1997 and formed Soulfly. I haven’t been much of a fan of Soulfly or Sepultura since.
This last picture is a particularly classic and vintage one. When is the last time someone could smoke at an indoor concert venue? Not only that but the smoker is a mulleted security personnel! Personally I enjoy coming home from concerts these days not smelling like an ashtray.
Once again, I must interrupt my Hakone pictures with something discovered upon packing for our move to Japan. I found a box with photos from the 80s and early 90s that I had taken on a crappy little camera. The picture above is of Fates Warning, a band I loved in the 80s. Once John Arch was replaced with Ray Alder (guy on the right) I lost my enthusiasm. However, I had enough interest in the other band playing on this bill to go see them in Salt Lake City back in 1990.
Jim Matheos, second from the left, was the brilliance behind the band. I could never really appreciate Alder’s voice though.
The band I really went to see was the opening act, Sanctuary. Their two CDs were my constant companions in the late 80s and early 90s. I still listen to them once a year or so for some good memories.
The above guitarist is Lenny Rutledge. When Sanctuary turned into Nevermore he didn’t come along (like the bassist Jim Sheppard).
Warrel Dane, on the other hand, is still going strong on his own and in Nevermore. I like Nevermore and his solo stuff, but the early Sanctuary stuff is still my favorite. He has some of the best pipes in the business.
Dave Budbill is back there on drums somewhere. The club was very small and Fates Warning had all their stuff on the tiny stage too.
Tomorrow I’ll show you another gig from the same time frame.
Sometimes there are good days, sometimes there are great days, and then sometimes there are days that seem like a dream. Yesterday was one of the latter.
Wednesday was my last day of teaching classes in Copenhagen. Finishing up is always a relief and puts me in a bit of a euphoric state. I don’t really know why as I enjoy teaching, but that is just what happens. Plus, my students were very good to me on the last day. They actually applauded at the end (which never happens in the states but did happen to me once in Mexico), and many of them came up to me afterwards with nice compliments, etc.
Payment for my services in Denmark also showed up in my bank account which was a pleasant surprise that I wasn’t expecting for a few more weeks. Everything was going my way.
Also I had some great and timely tunes come on the old ipod as I was cruising around town on my bike. I’m going to miss my bike in a few days when I have to take it back to my Iraqi friend. Biking in Copenhagen is lots of fun. The bike lanes are so well laid out and respected. The scenery is fabulous, and I can’t get enough of the adventure.
So when I finally got home I was in very high spirits. Of course the open bar at our faculty meeting probably didn’t hurt either.
I went online to find out if the local soccer team was playing at the stadium today. When I went to purchase tickets it showed a ticket calendar that included Exodus playing just a few blocks away. At the time I saw this the opening band would just be coming on stage. I threw on my Metaltown t-shirt and hopped on my bike.
I couldn’t believe my good luck. I’m not a huge Exodus fan, but I do own their first four CDs (which I haven’t listened to in ages). Exodus is from my neck of the woods. Although I saw most of the Bay Area Thrash bands live back in the late 1980s at San Francisco Bay Area clubs, Exodus was somehow never on the bill. Seeing them for the first time, in Copenhagen, put me in a dream-like state.
I rode my bike down Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard to see Exodus at The Rock right off of Stroget. I had to get off my bike and walk it for one block as I was on the wrong side of the street. Out of the corner of my eye I see a bill lying on the sidewalk. I picked it up to find that it is 200 Norwegian Kroners! So now my perfect day is ending with a highly anticipated and newly discovered concert that isn’t going to even cost me anything. In fact, I made money off this trip to see Exodus thanks to the kroners falling from heaven. At this point I was quite certain I was dreaming, but I didn’t pinch myself out of fear of waking up.
I parked my bike not 10 feet from the door of the venue. I walked inside to find a tiny club that is nearly empty. It was almost embarrassing to see so few people turn up to see a band like Exodus. But as an audience member, less is more so I enjoyed the lack of a crowd.
The crowd was most bizarre compared to U.S. crowds or even my Metaltown experience in Sweden. Nobody rushed the stage and few even came next to the stage. I was next to the stage the entire night and didn’t even come into contact with other people. I could even take a step or two back from the stage to take a picture and no one would grab my prime spot.
My pictures aren’t that great for a couple of reasons. The first is I brought my daughter’s cheap camera instead of mine since I didn’t know if cameras were allowed. (It turns out that people brought in huge, professional cameras with flash, lenses, etc. and no one said a word.) The second reason is I was actually too close to take pictures even with the widest lens settings. Most of my pictures just show part of a guitar or someone’s head because I couldn’t get any wider.
If you want to take pictures at a concert I don’t think you will ever find a better venue than The Rock in Copenhagen. There is no security. None. Not one single guy. There is no barrier to the stage. I rested my hand on the stage for much of the show. There are no rules except no smoking. And best of all, the crowd doesn’t make it difficult to take pictures. You won’t get bumped. You can roam the entire front of the stage.
Based on their calendar it looks like The Rock hosts my kind of bands. Recent acts included Death Angel, Artillery, Forbidden, Finntroll, Metal Church, and others.
Rob Dukes, Exodus’s vocalist, noted the small crowd by saying something like, “What has become of Copenhagen? Nothing but tumbleweeds?” It’s funny to think that I saw Exodus with only about 100 people just a few days before they perform as one of the main acts at Wacken 2008 in front of more than 30,000 people.
Lee Altus (formerly of Heathen, a band I listen to more than Exodus) was literally less than a foot away from me most of the night. I actually had to get out of his way a few times in order to not be hit in the head with his guitar. I spoke with him a few times between songs. At the end of the show he gave me his guitar pick and the set list (or is it setlist?) you see below.
