Summer Concerts '13

This summer I got to see quite a few concerts; Tomahawk, Rush, Yes, Wintersun, and some rather cool local bands. All these concerts being on top of my own I got to perform in due to being in my town's community band, so quite a musical summer.

Poster by Tara McPherson (x)

 Tomahawk - Bets Buy Theater; June 2, 2013

This was the first time I got to see any of Mike Patton's projects live, and it was just fantastic. The opening act was Buke and Gase, who played their custom hybrid instruments. They had a really unique sound, and the whole crowd seemed to really enjoy hearing them perform.

01. Houdini Crush | 02. Hiccup | 03. Your Face Left Before You | 04. Misshaping Introduction | 05. My Best Andre Shot | 06. Fussrate | 07. Split Like a Lip, No Blood on the Beard | 08. Sleep Gets Your Ghost | 09. Cyclopean | 10. Tending the Talk

As would be expected, when Tomahawk went on they sounded fantastic. As part of their Oddfellows tour, they played a decent amount off the album, but also having a good amount of songs varying from their other albums as well.

01. Mayday | 02. Flashback | 03. Oddfellows | 04. 101 North | 05. Stone Letter | 06. Birdsong | 07. Rape This Day | 08. Capt. Midnight | 09. I.O.U. | 10. White Hats / Black Hats | 11. God Hates a Coward | 12. South Paw | 13. Point and Click | 14. Rotgut | 15. Laredo
Encore: 16. Totem | 17. Just One More (George Jones cover)
Encore 2: 18. How Low Can a Punk Get (Bad Brains cover)

Tomahawk @ Best Buy Theater, 6/2/13

Rush - Jones Beach; June 23, 2013

This was my first time getting to see Rush live, as part of their Clockwork Angels Tour, and wow they were amazing. They played for three hours, split between two sets and an encore. For the second set they played most of Clockwork Angels with an additional 8-piece string ensemble performing with them.

Rush @ Jones Beach, 6/23/13

Their whole set sounded fantastic, with a wide range of songs from throughout their discography. The addition of the string ensemble really added a fantastic new element to the sound of their songs. I really just loved the whole thing, and hope to see them live again in the future.

Set 1: 01. Subdivisions | 02. The Big Money | 03. Force Ten | 04. Grand Designs | 05. Middletown Dreams | 06. Territories | 07. The Analog Kid | 08. The Pass  | 09. Where's My Thing? (including drum solo) | 10. Far Cry
Set 2 (with Clockwork Angels String Ensemble): 11. Caravan | 12. Clockwork Angels | 13. The Anarchist | 14. Carnies | 15. The Wreckers | 16. Headlong Flight (including drum solo) | 17. Halo Effect (guitar solo intro) | 18. Wish Them Well | 19. The Garden | 20. Dreamline | 21. Drum Solo (The Percussor) | 22. Red Sector A | 23. YYZ (exit Clockwork Angels String Ensemble) | 24. The Spirit of Radio
Encore: 25. Tom Sawyer | 26. 2112 Part I: Overture | 27. 2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx | 28. 2112 Part VII: Grand Finale  

One last thing I forgot to mention, as the nature of the Nikon Theater at Jones Beach being outside, and the timing of this concert, we pretty much had a perfect view of the "super moon" that was taking place. Granted there where times when the clouds would block it, but for the most part could see it above the stage set up where Rush was playing. Just something neat that added to the whole experience of the concert.

Yes - NYCB Theatre at Westbury; July 31, 2013

For this show, Yes performed three of their albums each in their entirety which were Close To the Edge, Going For The One, and The Yes Album. The nature of the venue I saw them in is that it is relatively small, with a circular stage in the center and seats surrounding that. Now this stage can spin, which it did while Yes performed, so that way as the show went on they would be facing each part of the audience.

After the show we stuck around a little bit, my mom wanted to see if there was any chance in getting her programs from the 70's signed, and after a bit of waiting that happened! So she got Steve Howe and Alan White to sign her programs, since she had seen them back in '74 and '76. We also met Jon Davison, and all three of them had signed our tickets as well. So on top of seeing a great concert, getting to meet some of the guys in the band was an added bonus.

Wintersun - Irving Plaza; August 8, 2013

Now while formed in 2004 instead of as earlier as the other bands I'll talk about here, still considered by many including myself legends. Wintersun performed at Irving Plaza on their first US headlining tour with Starkill, Arsis, and Fleshgod Apocalypse. Unfortunately due to running late and missing the train, by the time my brother and I arrived at the venue we had just missed both Starkill and Arsis.

We did get to hear Fleshgod Apocalypse and they put on a really good show. A nice blend of heavy technical death metal, symphonic metal, and don't forget some operatic singing incorporated with the harsh vocals. Naturally I ended up picking up a copy of their album Labyrinth which also sounds fantastic.

Their set was the following: 01. Temptation | 02. The Hypocrisy | 03. Minotaur (The Wrath of Poseidon) | 04. The Deceit | 05. The Violation | 06. Elegy | 07. The Egoism | 08. The Forsaking  

After the concert I was made aware that apparently the concert I had seen was a sold out show. They deserve it, Wintersun and Fleshgod Apocalypse (I'm sure the same applies to the first two bands) each put on a killer set. Hopefully this will mean they might extend the tour with more dates. *crosses fingers*

01. When Time Fades Away | 02. Sons of Winter and Stars | 03. Land of Snow and Sorrow | 04. Beautiful Death | 05. Darkness and Frost | 06. Time | 07. Death and the Healing | 08. Battle Against Time | 09. Beyond the Dark Sun | 10. The Way of the Fire | 11. Starchild  

Have to say that seeing Wintersun live completely blew me away. I had been familiar with both their albums for a while and just experiencing it live was a whole different thing. On top of sounding fantastic musically, the whole bad just has a ton of energy on stage which just goes to the crowd. Everyone in the venue was just so into their songs, and there were points where the crowd was singing louder than Jari. Their performance was really just such a great experience to be in from all ways of looking at it.

One treat of the evenings performance was getting to hear a song off of the upcoming album Time II, "The Way of the Fire". From hearing this, needless to say I can't wait to hear the whole album. Wintersun also had played through all of Time I throughout the concert, as well as some songs from their first album. Now I just have to say,  if you see Wintersun is having a concert in your area, I would highly recommend going as you will not be disappointed in the slightest amount.

Optic @ Even Flow, 8/17/13

Even Flow Bar & Grill; August 17, 2013
Out in Bay Shore aw a really cool show of some local bands; Harmonic Dissonance, SarGasm, Optic, and Two Cent Sam. I have seen SarGasm once before, and Optic multiple times previous so as expected they sounded great. SarGasm did some cover songs and I think some originals, and Optic performed some songs from their upcoming full length album Iris In. Harmonic Dissonance I had been meaning to see for a while, and they also put on a great performance so I'll try to see them again at some point. Now so far each of the bands that performed were metal in one way or another, and the last band Two Cent Sam was no (maybe more on the indie side), but they sounded great as well. I didn't end up staying for their whole set since I was sick and at that point in the night not feeling too well and needed to head home, but I heard most of it and they did a good job.

Epic Kings & Idols at Irving Plaza

This past Sunday, September 23rd, Katatonia performed at Irving Plaza as part of the Epic Kings & Idols Tour with Devin Townsend Project, Paradise Lost, and Stolen Babies.

Stolen Babies opened up the night, with their dark cabaret styled metal. Their music was a lot different from the other bands playing, but I'm glad they were part of this tour since they really sounded great. Some of the people at the show didn't seem very enthusiastic about them, but even if they weren't your cup of tea, they still put on a good show.

Their set was:
01. Mind Your Eyes | 02. Second Sleep | 03. Never Come Back | 04. Filistata | 05. Civil Disguise | 06. Push Button | 07. Spill


Following them was Paradise Lost, a gothic-doom metal band who also put on a really good show. Durring their set I did hear a few (or just one person yelling it a few times), that they should be co-headlining. From hearing them play, I do see how them being co-headling with Katatonia would make a but more sense musically than Townsend. I haven't heard enough of them or Townsend to decide which I would have preferred being the co-headliner, but the show that actually was still very good.

Their set was as follows:
01. Enchantment | 02. Erased | 03. The Enemy | 04. Tragic Idol | 05. Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us | 06. In This We Dwell | 07. Say Just Words

The co-headliner for the night was Devin Townsend Project, who went on third. For me, the highlight of his set was when Dominique (from Stolen Babies) joined the band onstage to sing and play accordion. For me, having her with the band really added to the song ("Wild Colonial Boy"). His set was good, it seemed to alternate with songs I thought were pretty cool and ones that were just okay. Some of his stage antics I found a bit immature, especially for someone his age, but it’s not like he out on a bad show or anything. It was good, he should have just kept the talking to a minimum (which was really my main complaint).

His set was the following, alternating between songs from Devin Townsend Project as well his other projects:

01. Supercrush! | 02. Kingdom [Devin Townsend song] | 03. Regulator [Devin Townsend song] | 04. Planet of the Apes | 05. Where We Belong | 06. War [Devin Townsend song] | 07. Wild Colonial Boy (feat. Dominique) [Devin Townsend song] | 08. Vampira [The Devin Townsend Band] | 09. Lucky Animals | 10. Juular | 11. Grace

Lastly, Katatonia closed out the night, and while doing so really stole the show with their performance. After Townsend's set surprisings a lot of people left, which surprised me since Katatonia still was yet to go on. But they were the ones missing out, and that just allowed for more room. I personally am really glad that for this show they were the headliner, because this allowed them to have an encore going over the allotted hour that Townsend had. I seriously loved their set, and I honestly think they completely blew away all the preceding bands with their performance. Plus I think that after their performance I would have been disappointed with whomever followed. But they were the main reason I went to this concert, so I was just so happy to get to see them. I feel like they just put so much into their songs, and it really got everyone into the music even more so. Their set seemed to be the only one that really got the crowd going, and the only one that people were actually moshing to. Just to show how much the power of gloom compels you. But in all seriousness, just seeing how everyone was so much more into the music for them really added to the whole experience.

Their set consisted of a variety of their discography, which was as followed:
01. Dead Letters | 02. Buildings | 03. The Longest Year | 04. Deliberation | 05. My Twin | 06. The Racing Heart | 07. Lethean | 08. Teargas | 09. Deadhouse | 10. Walking by a Wire | 11. July


Encore: 12. Day and Then the Shade | 13. Forsaker | 14. Leaders