Luckily, the weather stayed okay, and we left about 2 PM on Saturday. We dropped my brothers wife at a friends house, in Troy, MI, and continued on to Royal Oak. The tickets we had were printed online, and allowed us entrance without having to wait in line. We parked about a block up the street right at 7, and basically walked right in. It was sweet. Totally worth the extra $6.
The Royal Oak Music Theatre holds about 750 people. That means there isn't a bad seat in the house. Regardless, we went and stood right near the front. We were about six or eight feet from the stage! Nice. We had about an hour until the opening acts came on, but there was a waitress coming around, so that was nice. Oh, and the bathroom had an attendant! You may be thinking that that is a little highbrow, but he was just a big dude, not dressed up or anything, and he also sold candy. But still, a nice touch that made for a clean bathroom.
The first opening band was called Powerglove. I got grabbed two of their albums the week before hand, so I knew their songs. If you read this blog, you know I like the 8-bit metal, and that's exactly what these guys are. Metal interpretations of video game music. They are amazing! They wear these big foam(?) props that look straight out of a D&D game. I recommend going to see them if you have a chance, or at least pick up their albums. If you like metal, video game music, or both, you won't be disappointed.
The second band was awesome too. They were called Turisas. They hail from Finland. Everyone knows I like me some Euro-metal! Now, american bands seem to be stuck on having just guitars and drums. European bands seem to be willing to try things you might not expect. Turisas has a fiddle player. He was cool. They also have a very beautiful woman who plays the accordion. Yes, I said the accordion. You know what, it works. They would definitely fall under the Power Metal heading. They were all dressed up in viking/barbarian type garb. Animal skins, the lead singer wore a piece of shoulder armore, and they were all in war paint. It also happened to be Finland's Independance Day. So in the middle of their set, they stopped and did their national anthem. They seemed very proud of that, and that was cool. I would also go see them again in a heartbeat.
Then came the big show, the main attraction, the band known as Dragonforce. My god. They were unbelievable. They played an awesome mix of stuff from their new album, Ultimate Beatdown, and their previous albums. Yes, they did Though the Fire and Flames during their encore. I mean, c'mon, it's a staple, and an all around face melting song. I screamed until my abs hurt, and I headbanged until my neck hurt, and it was completely worth it. Before the show, I'd read so many places that they either weren't as good live, or that they couldn't be as good because their songs are so fast an technical. Well, I can tell you from experience. Those people are as wrong as you could possibly be. In fact, in my opinion, they may have been better live than their recorded albums. I'm sure they missed notes here and there, but you know what, with everyone yelling and the general noise of the concert, you couldn't possibly notice a missed note here and there. Plus, their energy, their presence, and the fun they seemed to be having on stage brought something that couldn't possibly be on a recorded album. I haven't been to many concerts in my life, but I couldn't see another concert being better than this one. It was just epic!
No cameras were allowed in the venue, but thankfully, the theatre has people come in and take pictures during the concerts, and then puts a slideshow of them up online. You can see the pics from this concert here. There is one picture of two girls, one wearing a red Weezer T-Shirt. I'm the glasses, forhead, and hair peeking over the tops of their heads. :-)
The coolest thing about the whole concert? I GOT A PICK! Yes, a guitar pick. A Dragonforce guitar pick. With Sam Totman's signature printed on it. Below are a couple of pictures. This is not my actual pick. I swiped these photos from ebay of someone selling a neclace made with this pick, hence the hole and little metal ring at the top. Otherwise, this is identical to mine.
I mean, how cool is that?
