The Deftones (2/6): I enjoyed the show immensely. There is
always a pleasure in a band that takes you back into you childhood. Sadly, the
front man’s voice has not aged well. Between his voice cutting out and breaking on every
high note and their needing to do the sound check on the fly, the show was
lackluster. Once “My Summer (Shove It)” played. they woke up a lot, however they
never got really good.
The vocals were downright bad. Twenty years of screaming
into the microphone has not been kind to lead vocalists Chino Moreno’s
vocal cords and it really shows. He had a lot of trouble with the whispery high
notes he’s known for and definitely needed the autotune that is so common on the
albums. In their case, autotune is a good thing and really first their song.
TO give credit where it is due, the guitar work was solid,
but that was effectively the highlight.
Avenged Sevenfold(4.5/6): Avenged Sevenfold was utterly
fantastic on stage. They have really
evolved as a band in the past five years. I feel like the death of their drummer
James “The rev” Sullivan in ’09 really woke up their passion. They've risen from a good, if generic , alt-metal band to a
band with fire and a brilliant command of the audience that will no doubt have
staying power for many years to come
Front man, M. Shadows, has an intense presence and drive
that commands attention. While not the most articulate of vocalist, his powerful,
well-coordinated growl is both distinctive and surprisingly versatile. It felt
right in both the slower song and the thrashing fast ones. Shadows never stopped moving for the entire
show. It wasn't the breathless running around many artists do. Fists pumping, Shadows
strode from one side of the stage to the other the embodiment of power.
His versatile was highlighted when performing “Fiction,” in tribute to their late drummer. There is something about hear a hardened,
fearless man’s voice shaking and crack during a song about losing a friend that
really hits the listener’s heart. The performance really spoke well of Shadows
as both an artist and a person.
Dueling guitarists, Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates, were
both absolute powerhouses turning out both
brilliant solos and finger tearing duets they tore up the stage like wild
animals with devilish skill.
Drummer Arin Elljay was flawless. Two full drum sets is a
lot to manage and Elljay had huge shoes to fill stepping in for Rev. But Elljay
was a delicious madman on that stage with a wonderful sense of when to throw
down an insane solo and when to keep the beat subtle.
I could not leave the review without commenting the screen
work and the pyro. The effects have come a very long way over my lifetime and
they were used with perfect sync to the music. Deafening explosions with
frequent but not overdone blasts of exquisitely timed pyro from multiple
sources on the stage, several set changes that happened without interruption
and judicious use of cinematic but not distracting screen work made for a quite
a show.
Overall these guys killed it.
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