Gigantour!

Okay, so I just got back from this little metal festival known as Gigantour. The Sovereign Center was set up with a large stage at one end and a smaller stage at the other (near our seats). As one band would play on one stage, the other stage would be torn down and set up for the next act, and so on. The first band was Bobaflex...forgettable heavy punk shit. The mosh pit started early. Next on the large stage was Nevermore. They played in an old school metal style...good heavy riffing with a decent singer (not great, just decent). Then came another forgettable heavy punk band called Dry Kill Logic. They gave me a reason to go get food. Anyway, after them came The Dillinger Escape Club, er, Plan. They were the worst act of the night. One of their attempts actually sounded like a song...the rest just sounded like finals were over and we needed to blow off steam. Someone in the crowd yelled "You suck", to which the singer responded, "Dude, that's because you're old." Whether that be true or not, dude, it doesn't change the fact that your band did indeed suck. Their guitarist was jumping and popping around so much, one would think he had a cattle prod shoved up his ass that someone forgot to disconnect.

Next came Symphony X. Yes, as you can tell by their name, their metal sound sometimes lends itself to the string sound of orchestra music. They were popular with the crowd, sounded good, and had a great singer. The bands on the small stage were projected out away from us, so it was hard to hear any vocals on some songs, but not with this band. I was somewhat familiar with their music before the show, so it was nice to see them play live. Band #6 was Fear Factory. The music was alright, I guess...sometimes too fast for my tastes...but the singer just ruined it for me. I don't like singers who try to sound like demons. It's not even singing, really. They gave me an excuse to use the bathroom. After them came Life Of Agony, who actually were pretty well known in the early to mid '90s, but hadn't played together in over 5 years until this tour. Not like you'd notice that, as they sounded good and I recognized a song or two that were on the radio back in the day.

Finally, after all of that waiting, Dream Theater took the stage, and for the next 90 minutes, proceeded in blowing all those other bands away. Of course, I'm just a little biased, but so what. They sounded awesome, and I probably came close to knocking Randy out once or twice with my air drumming. I am sooo glad they played in my home city...I just hope they'll stop here again when they start their own tour in the spring.