Report

Sounds Of The Underground Show Report From Philly

Band Photo: Lamb of God (?)

I recently had the chance to attend Sounds of The Underground's stop in Philadelphia. I was stuck outside waiting until around 2:30 so I didn't get to see most of the bands. Anyway, this is how the day went for me:

I got inside finally around 2:30 and then had to go meet up with Ryan Primack of Poison The Well for an interview. I got back from the interview just in enough time to see Throwdown perform even though I don’t like them I still watched their set. They did a cover of Sepultura’s Roots Bloody Roots, which is odd considering they only had about twenty-five minutes to play. They also played one other song that I knew, For My Friends I believe it was called. After Throwdown left the stage Strapping Young Lad began to set their equipment up.

After about fifteen minutes of setting up Devin Townsend came onto the stage and was telling fans to suck his dick and then began stating that it smelled like an ass-load of metal at the venue. They played about five or 6 songs, I don’t remember the titles but they didn’t play any songs I knew prior to the day. However they did sound amazing and I was really impressed with their set. Around 25 minutes after they started their set it was time for them to finish up and exit the stage and up next was Every Time I Die, followed by Norma Jean. I didn’t catch either of their sets as I was attempting to get a drink which took about an hour or so. I’m also not a big fan of either of these bands, they did perform pretty well. If you’re a fan of them then I’m sure you enjoyed it because they sounded pretty good quality wise and the fans in attendance were into them quite a bit. After both of those bands had ended their sets I worked my way up to the front to take pictures for Gwar, because they were up next.

Now, I had never seen Gwar before so I had no idea what to expect. While they were setting up their equipment all you could hear every so often besides Mudvayne’s Lost And Found album playing over the PA system was random sounds of fake slashes of a sword and a woman’s voice screaming. It was quite entertaining how it was playing out of no where. Anyway, Gwar finally made their way out onto the stage.

They came out dressed in their usual costumes that everyone knows, as well as having a few special guests on stage. A few catholic Pope’s were on stage with them! However, these Pope’s were wearing all red cloaks instead of white. The costumes were bearing a swastika with the catholic cross over top of it. Apparently they feel the Catholic Church is fascist, tyrannical and oppressive. They decided in the middle of their opening song to decapitate one of their monsters. Immediately blood was spraying all over the crowd, the stage, security guards and even me as I was taking pictures of them at the time.

They had killed numerous monsters while performing and "taking over the world". The most comical one was when they were introducing the president, George Dubya Bush. Then Bush started masturbating as well as few members from Gwar helping him out. The Oderus, vocalist of Gwar, decided to go and seem to help out as well. However, he then ripped his manhood off and his intestines were falling out and blood was squirting all over. Then a few band members went on twirling his intestines around in the air. All the while they were playing Bring Back The Bomb, which is off of their latest album, War Party. Overall the band played about eight or nine songs I believe and it was the most amazing performance I’ve seen in my life. After they left the stage, the main acts were about to come on and the stage crew began their tedious task of cleaning up after Gwar destroyed the stage.

After about thirty minutes Unearth made their way onto the stage, they came out and immediately the crowd screamed in approval. They played The Great Dividers to start with and the crowd was pumping their fists and singing along with Trevor Phipps during the entire song. Among their set-list of songs were Black Hearts Now Reign, Endless and Lie To Purify to name a few. The crowd was really into their performance, as they always are. Ken Susi, guitars, was his usual energetic self, running around the stage like a madman along with the rest of the band as well. They sounded amazing and played for about thirty-five minutes and then took their exit. Next to perform was Opeth, I’ve never really heard all of their songs or even had the chance to catch them live.

They came onto the stage and the fans were in great approval of them as well, despite their songs lasting around 9 minutes on average that they played the fans still were enjoying it. I was as well, it was a nice change from the rest of the bands, it was nice to hear something a little mellow in the middle of the day to calm everyone down and give everyone a rest from going crazy in the pit. However there was a pretty nice pit for them as well. I didn’t catch any of the song titles but they sounded amazing and they had really good stage presence, even though the people behind the scenes made them end their set early for whatever the reason was.

Chimaira took to the stage about twenty minutes after Opeth had left. The drummer Kevin Talley was the first to enter the stage, playing the drum part on the intro for I Hate Everyone. Next to enter was the keyboardist, Chris Spicuzza followed by guitarist Rob Arnold, and then the rest of the band entered the stage. The band played a couple new songs during their set, which included Nothing Remains and another new track called Comatose. These songs were both extremely brutal. Also, they played Cleansation as well. I had to leave after about four or five songs, because I was trying to set up my interview with Lamb of God and couldn’t hear anything near the stage. I never actually got the interview with Lamb of God and their manager told me that I was late, yet the interview was supposed to be at 6:00 pm and no one called or answered their phones until about 7:00 pm, just a tad bit hypocritical that’s all. Anyway, after attempting to get the Lamb of God interview for a good hour or so I started to feel really sick so I left the show.

All in all, it was an amazing show, any fan of metal or hardcore shouldn’t miss it. It’s well worth the money for the ticket and there is plenty of stuff to do and see there. They have a big merch section with a different table for every band playing the tour. Every band pretty much does a meet-and-greet at their merch tables almost everyday. I would definitely suggest you check this tour out of it stops in a town near you! The tour is making the following stops along its path of destruction:

6/30 Winston-Salem, NC Dixie Classic Fairgrounds
7/01 Portsmouth, VA Harbor Center Pavilion
7/02 Sayreville, NJ Starland Ballroom Parking Lot
7/03 Montreal, QC Stade Uniprix
7/04 Mississauga, ON Arrow Hall
7/05 Cleveland, OH The Scene Pavilion
7/07 Minneapolis, MN – US Bank Theatre @ Target Center
7/08 Chicago, IL Tweeter Center Parking Lot
7/09 Sauget, IL Pop's Lot
7/10 Tulsa, OK Brady Village
7/12 Atlanta, GA Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre Lot
7/13 Orlando, FL Tinker Field
7/15 Dallas, TX Smirnoff Music Center Lot
7/16 Corpus Christi, TX Concrete Street Ampitheatre
7/19 El Paso, TX El Paso County Coliseum
7/20 Mesa, AZ Mesa Amphitheatre
7/22 Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles Sports Arena Lot
7/23 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre Lot
7/25 Seattle, WA Qwest Field Event Center
7/26 Vancouver, BC Pacific Coliseum
7/28 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
7/29 Saskatoon, SK Saskatchewan Credit Union Centre
7/31 Denver, CO Universal Lending Pavilion

You can check out my photos from the show in the photo gallery.