kingmike

On Sunday February 25, 2007, I went to see Killswitch Engage/Chimaira in Niagara Falls. The weather sucked ass on the way up. I thought winter was basically done. Well, it isn't. The snow on the roads brought traffic nearly to a crawl. I couldn't even see where the road ended half of the time. He Is Legend opened the show. I got there towards the end of their set because I was having difficulty finding parking. From what I heard, they weren't too bad, but you know how opening bands get treated.

I also saw something I've never seen at a show before. I've seen shirts, pants, water bottles, balloons, beach balls, even shoes tossed around. Some guy tossed firecrackers in the pit. Some dumb motherfucker lit a pack of those noisemakers and threw it in the pit. Now, I've seen fireworks launched out of a car when I saw Metallica on the Summer Shit Tour 1994 at Darien Lake, but I've never seen anything like that inside. What would possess someone to do that at a show?

Next was Chimaira. Chimaira kicked ass. They opened with Resurrection. I don't remember the entire set list, but Nothing Remains was in there, No Reason To Live (off the new album), Dehumanizing Process, Power Trip, Severed, and they closed with, of course, Pure Hatred. Awesome set from beginning to end, and nice to see Andols behind the kit once again. I've got nothing to really say here. Chimaira just kicks ass. Everyone was fun as hell to watch. Matt with his hair, smiling Rob soloing, Mark with Mezgarth's axe (watch the DVD that comes with Resurrection), Spicuzza looks and sounds awesome when he does backup vocals, Jim doing the Tom Araya with his hair, and Andols cracking a smile or two behind the kit. My favorite performance of the night.

Next up was Dragonforce, or as I like to call them, Dragonfarce. I have only heard one of their songs, Through the Fire And The Flames, and I kinda dug it. I did see this video on Youtube where they went through a bunch of their songs and it basically said they all sounded the same. I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Okay, so when the roadies are all done with sound check, the lights go out and then the music plays before the band comes on. Ken's stage music from Street Fighter II was playing. I thought, okay, that's pretty fucking cool. Ken is my favorite SF character, this might be promising. That ended up being the coolest thing about Dragonfucks performance. It wasn't even the cool arcade music, I remember it as the SNES music. Every song sounded the same to me. I know for certain the drumming was IDENTICAL in each song. Not even sounds similar, IDENTICAL. All Dragondicksuck's songs are just fast, that's it. I thought their stage presence wasn't that great, and it just sounded like one long ass song. It is like that song, "This is the song that never ends. It goes on and on my friend." Dragonforce-ashitsidewaysoutofmy ass was like that. I thought they would never get off the stage. I was in the back, and I heard lots of boos. Hmm Roadrunner, great decision promoting Dragonfuckass and shitting on Chimaira. You definitely chose a good band to throw money behind. Fucking bullshit.

Killswitch Engage was what I expected them to be. I know it is not their fault, but I felt it could have been better. Adam D is out with his recent back surgery, and Pat Lachman filling in on guitar and acting like Adam D would have been way too weird. There is no way you can replace the antics of Adam D. I would have liked to hear more banter from Howard Jones, hear him say some funny shit, not like he didn't, but more Hetfield-esque banter. KSE was the shit though. All the people around me knew all the lyrics, and that was good to hear, because I didn't. I did sing along in their entirety to My Curse and The End Of Heartache, my two favorite KSE songs.

All in all the concert kicked ass, except for Dragonforce. Next month, Lamb Of God and Machine Head in Rochester. I can't wait.