Photos and Review by Jeff Palmucci
Slipknot photos HERE
Lamb of God photos HERE
Bullet For My Valentine photos HERE
Once when we were in high school, my parents grounded my sister Heather. She got so mad that she locked herself in her room and started blaring some of my Iron Maiden albums at top volume. It took three hours before my mom kicked her out of the house. Freedom through metal.
The point is: sometimes you are just in the mood to hear some heavy fucking metal. If so, last Tuesday’s show at the Xfinity center was a great place to be. Unfortunately, because of bad timing WRT traffic, I missed openers Motionless in White. That’s a bummer. They play a form of goth metal that I really enjoy. It’s much different from the more mainstream metal of the main bands of the night.
However, getting stuck in traffic and being late for the set really got me in the mood for… wait for it… some heavy fucking metal.
The first band that I got to see was Bullet For My Valentine. I love how these guys perform: extremely animated, wailing on their instruments, classic wide stances. My friend’s daughter asked me for a BFMV t-shirt while I was at the show. Yeah, they have a bit of a heart throb thing going, but they back it up with some pretty good music.
Lamb of God was up next. Did you know that the original band name was Burn the Priest. Cool. As an atheist and former Catholic, their lyrics (many times critical of religion) appeal to me. However, even given their anti-religous leanings, I have to admit that bass player John Campbell still looks to me like the hardest f-ing rocking Santa ever!
Finally, Slipknot took the stage. These guys put on an incredible show with elaborite set design and amazing pyrotechnics. Check out this shot. How the hell does drummer Jay Weinberg keep from catching on fire? Do they wear asbestos jumpsuits? That’s got to itch like hell.
They played quite a few tracks from last year’s studio album .5: The Grey Chapter, including my favorite The Devil in I. If you don’t know Slipknot, give it a listen on Spotify or Pandora. Or you could just turn on any random radio station. It’ll probably be playing.
Finally, I just need to point out that Corey Taylor has the best evil laugh in metal today. It’ll keep you up at night.
A parting note for my kids if they are reading this. Auntie Heather’s psy-ops trick isn’t going to work on me. I’d probably just start rocking out with you. It’ll work on Mom.