what up all my loyal reader(s)?! i'd like to give a shout out to my favorite reader, eck, because he's the only person who reads this (in order to see if anyone else responded).
little bro aaron and i attended a concert featuring nonpoint, candiria, dry kill logic, and b! at the rock in maplewood, last thursday (12.9.04) which was pretty awesome for $15. plus, $1 miller lites and strawberry cigars didn't hurt... anyway, i thought i'd review the performance to satisfy my own desire to be important
b! opened the show and was a three man group from minneapolis. the featured a huge lead singer with cool hair, but that was about where the good stuff ended. their music - minus vocals - was pretty good and on the heavy scale was about a 5. their vocals totally sucked though! their lead singer obviously wants to be lenny kravitz, who happens to be a pretty cool guy to model yourself after, except if you are opening for these bands. plus, even lenny himself would vary his vocals instead of allowing himself to sound exactly the same on each song. this band needed an uptempo song, but instead stuck with varying types of decent guitar and bass accompaniment and a slow, too soothing vocal style. i would say that this band has potential, but unless they vary things up, they will stay a very localized act. i would give them a 1 out of 10.
dry kill logic was next, and wow was that a change! the featured a lead singer (cliff rigano) who did not touch an instrument along with three other band members. one of the band members also had sweet dreadlocks, but we also happened to look exactly like a caveman (why am i typing this stuff?). their music was pretty heavy, about an 8, and involved a combination of "yelling" and actual singing. they were the first band to incorporate what seemd to be the theme of the night: the love song. for those of you who were not there, though, you would have no idea that the love song was usually each bands heaviest song of the night, which was a pretty sweet idea! overall, their sound was also somewhat consistent, which i thought was not a good thing. their songs consisted of yelling the verses and singing the choruses. it got somewhat repetitive, although it was obvious that they were much more big time than the previous band. they also earned big points with me as they gave away free jagermeister shot glasses following their performance. i would give dry kill logic a 6 out of 10.
the third band of the night was candiria, a band from the bronx, which they never let us forget. i don't know if they wanted to be known as one of america's heroes or what, but i got quite tired of knowing their home base. anyway, this band also featured a lead singer who did not play an instrument (whose name was carley!!???) and four other members. they also liked to yell and sing a bit, but provided even more variety than the two previous acts. their best song of the night, (can't remember the name), featured the lead singer rapping as well as singing/yelling which was a pretty striking combination, easily my favorite of their songs. they also paid tribute to dimebag (as this was within 24 hours of his unfortunate death). this band was also about an 7 on the heavy scale as they weren't quite in the same style as dry kill logic. i thought they were more varied, but i also did not like their music as well as dkl. they drove me nuts mentioning the bronx and the fact that the lead singer wouldn't stop spinning on stage, so i would give candiria a 5 out of 10.
the final act of the night was nonpoint, the only band i had ever heard previously on the radio. all bands seemed to have a "f*ck the radio" attitude, but, possibly unintentionally, nonpoint seems to have the highest radio playability (if there is such a thing!). nonpoint's lead singer, elias soriano, was the third guy of the night to have sweet dreadlocks (which once again is a pointless comment) and was accompanied by three other bandmates. the drummer, robb rivera, opened the show by jumping to make his first big hit, which was awesome! also, the bass player, KB, had a passion for throwing water all over the crowd. overall, their stage presense was great and i was pretty pumped for each song. their best song of the night, for me, was their radio single "the truth" which was great. their tribute to dimebag, "f*ck that" was perfect too and was probably a crowd favorite. on the heaviness side, nonpoint was probably a 7, although to tell you the truth, this scale is absolute bulls*it! their performance was tight as hell though, and i'd go see them again anytime. i would give them an 8 out of 10 (especially for the price tag).
