Concert – Iced Earth / Into Eternity
This concert comes right on the heels of an absolutely kickass show by Kamelot and Edguy, so it had a lot to live up to. The event began with a long line, which was a result of thorough searches of your pockets and bags at the gate. When I say thorough, I mean it – he didn’t even buy me a drink first! I entered, took a seat (Nokia Theater has soft, comfy theater seats. Nokia theater is wonderful) and waited. The club played a mix of music while we waited, drawing heavily from classic metal bands Metallica and Iron Maiden. At one point, they played Frantic, from the universally loved album St. Anger (St. Anger is not universally loved.) This caused the audience to boo and groan, and it caused me to laugh, because the song was hilariously bad. On the other hand, opening band “Savior from California” was just bad. They had generic guitar riffs, generic basslines, generic drumming and a singer tonelessly shouting into the mic. I try my best to give everything the benefit of the doubt, but there was nothing redeeming about this band, and I was quite happy when they left. There must be a law that says awesome shows need to be tempered by terrible opening acts.
Next was Into Eternity, a band that I sort-of-like. They do put out an impressive amount of energy live (although they’re no Edguy), and they’ve got the most versatile singer I’ve ever seen. This singer (who’s name I do not know) has about a million different styles he can work in, and they all sound good. He can do death metal, black metal, low clean, high clean, squeaky falsetto, and I think I detected a hint of screamo. The really amazing thing is when he blends them in one phrase, beginning a line with a sung note and ending it with a harsh scream, or transitioning from a growl into a clear high note in the same breath. This is an ability that makes this band very interesting, and I wonder why I haven’t seen it elsewhere.
At one point, the guitarist had the stage to himself, and used that time to play a masturbatory solo, reminding me again why I hate shred for shred’s sake. Shred is music community shorthand for playing the guitar incredibly fast. A lot of the time, speed is the only thing these solos have – otherwise, they’re boring runs up and down a scale, or they’re the guitarist’s old practice exercises sped up. For example, see all of Dragonforce’s guitar solos. I like that you can play notes really fast and really precisely, but I wish you would use that talent to make music. The singer called attention to this, calling it wankery, which drawn-out shred solos usually turn into. Bad shred solos are mindless expressions of technical skill and dexterity, with nothing musically interesting in that flurry of notes. There is nothing more masturbatory than playing a ton of notes and not doing anything with them.
After Into Eternity, I saw something that amazed me. The sound guys came on to check the drums, the guitars, making sure that everything worked and was connected properly. But then they did the amazing thing – they began to play. The drummer played some bouncy rhythms on the toms, and the guitarist gave us some generic-yet-nice electric riffage. These were the sound guys! I wish every club would have somebody come on stage and entertain us between the major acts. We’re here to see live music, and some of your technicians must be musicians, otherwise they wouldn’t have taken a job at a music club. All you have to do is throw these guys on stage and let them do what comes naturally. The fans will thank you.
For me, Iced Earth is a lot like Edguy. I don’t listen to them often, because they’re not that interesting for the most part. However, their music is pumped with energy and make me really want to headbang, dance and generally move. This is why I love live music, it’s an energy that surrounds you and fills you. It comes from the performers, it comes from the crowd, and it comes from immense waves of sound bombarding your body, making its presence known in the rattling of your bones (you should wear earplugs to metal shows.) It’s hard to get this particular experience anywhere else, so I recommend you go to a good live music show if you never have.
Overall, the show was fun and forgettable, and pales in comparison to the glorious concert I attended yesterday. Unless something awesome comes up, this will be my last concert for 2008. I‘ve seen plenty of great bands this year, and I‘m really looking forward to what I‘ll see in ‘09. By the way, I don’t hate fast guitar playing. I love fast, interesting solos that take the listener for a ride or tell a good story. I just hate fast guitar playing that has nothing else going for it but speed.