Concert: Crashing Through The Holidays Tour Featuring The Acacia Strain, Despised Icon, Full Blown Chaos, The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza and Recon
Posted on November 26, 2007 at 9:33 pm by admin
It was my first time watching at show at Detroit’s Magic Stick, although I’d actually been to the venue/bar before for an after part for the Metal Blade 25th Anniversary tour. Almost all of my concert experiences have been at Harpo’s, but by far The Magic Stick is the nicest place I’ve been to watch a concert.
Then first band to take the stage was New York’s Recon. I wasn’t familiar with the band, and what I got was metalcore not focussed on melodic death metal, but still with great big single note breakdowns. I can’t really think of much more to say about them though…
I had actually met the members from The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza only an hour before performing, just as their van pulled into the venue. I introduced myself, and they asked if there was anyone who could provide assistance getting their gear into the venue. They were in luck, as I had 2 friends hanging around inside the bowling alley who were eager to lug the bands gear upstairs. Afterwards, my friends were rewarded with t-shirts, free entrance into the show, and a discount on The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza CDs. In a conversation with the band, the bass player used me as an example as to why one of the guitarists should go with the huge chop-style sideburns.
Amazingly, all the bands were able to refer to The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza by their full band name when speaking about them onstage. The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza of course plays super-heavy tech grind under the influence of The Dillinger Escape Plan. The vocalist moved around the stage with confidence, while the bass player beat the living daylights out of his instrument. The guitarists were less mobile, preferring to concentrate more on their playing. One thing is for sure though, The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza made some die-hard fans that night!
Many people were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Full Blown Chaos and their New York brutality. This was one band that my circle of friends seemed to get hooked on easily, as I had only played a few songs in passing to one friend who wanted a shirt from them, and another friend had become a fan of them without my influence.
There aren’t too many bands playing the style of metal (mostly heavy thrash) and hardcore, so it makes Full Blown Chaos come off as much more original in lieu of many bands out there today. Vocalist Ray Mazzola was big and imposing as he belted his songs out. Apparently 2 fights broke out during their set, and Ray asked the would-be pugilists to bring it up front, although no one carried through.
The Crashing Through The Holidays Tour marks the 6th time I’ve seen Despised Icon. Their live show is of course absolutely crazy, with just about every band member who’s mobile moving everywhere across the stage. There was one fan in particular up front who seemed to know the words, and was able to do the exact same vocal style as Steve Marios, and the band handed the mike to him on several occasions. Strangely, their set seemed short, I assumed it was due to the fun I had watching them, but some friends said they only played 5 songs. I could’ve sworn it was more…
Down from 3 guitarists, to 2 guitarists, to 1 guitarist, back up to 2 guitarists, and now down to 1 guitarist again, The Acacia Strain seems to have lost their newest guitarist from Unholy. The lack of a member was just slightly disappointing, as much of The Acacias Strains songs are based around busy twin-guitar attacks. They did the best they could though, as under the many flashing brightly coloured lights, their songs were both insanely heavy and busy, and actually much faster than I heard on their albums at home. They made use of the large space on stage, moving everywhere during the songs.
The Acacia Strain likes to keep their set so busy, that during the first half of the set, there were no breaks between songs! Talk about action not letting up! There were moments when possibly the bass player or guitarist were having sound problems, but vocalist Vincent was able to continue the stage banter for quite awhile things were being fixed without boring the audience. One funny fact; he said he had a cold and was suffering diarrhea. He was still able to make it to the end of the show though!
Recon at MySpace
The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza at MySpace
Full Blown Chaos at MySpace
Despised Icon at MySpace
The Acacia Strain at MySpace
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Copyright © 2007, Xtremely Media, All Rights Reserved
