The downside to big shows

It was a sweat fest at the Kill Hannah/ It Dies Today/ Papa Roach show at Starland Ballroom last night. The venue was completely filled to capacity with metaled out guido people, and it wouldn't be surprising if it was actually over-sold. One thing is for sure, being a fairly short person packed in like a sardine wasn't much fun. What's the point of having a press pass to review a show when you're thrown in with the fans and can't see anything, I ask?

Let's start with the opening act, a local band of middle-aged wanna be cheese rockers whose members, besides the bald singer, haven't gotten haircuts in years. The crowd had to suffer through 30 minutes of them spitting out corny songs like "In Your Mouth" and "Quicksand." For some reason, people crowd-surfed for them. But remember, these were not music people, they were drunk guido-wanna-be-metalers who just didn't know any better. For a band that used so much distortion, their sound lacked power and fell flat. Not sure what was sadder, to be the band playing or the girls cheering for them when they covered The Who?








On to the highlight of the night: Kill Hannah! They owned the stage from the second they plugged into their amps. Actually, they owned things from the minute you walked into the venue. Kill Hannah’s merch table was the only one that had a line. Ironically, Papa Roach’s was vacant. Not sure what that says. There were deff. Kill Hannah tattooed fans in the front row, and during the band’s set, you couldn’t even tell that they weren’t the headlining band. Everyone went crazy. Especially when the band covered Billy Idols’ “Rebel Yell.” Vocalist, Mat Devine is a pro. He spent a lot of his set time being supported by security while singing in the crowd. Kill Hannah have the stage presence, the show and they bring the rock. What more could you ask for? (Ok, I have an interview with Mat going up on www.planetverge.com!)



It Dies Today… What can I say about them? I almost got crushed the first time I saw them play at the Knitting Factory in New York City and this show was no different. Forget about taking pictures in the photo pit. I value my life and am not a fan of getting someone’s shit stained sneakers kicked into my head. Pre-show, new vocalist Jason Wood warmed up his voice while setting up merch. It sounded really good. So there you have the secret to how to keeps screams so strong. Sing. If tonight was any indication, It Dies Today is doing just fine since the departure of Nick Brooks in January. In fact, the only person who isn’t too fine is the kid who left them a comment on MySpace saying he drove an hour-and-a-half for the show just for It Dies Today and then found out it was sold-out.




Headliners Papa Roach, I’m sure tore the Starland Ballroom apart. But I wasn’t there to see it. In fact, I left in the middle of It Dies Today because there’s no point in reviewing a show you can’t even see. However, I did happen to walk into a special acoustic show Papa Roach put on for radio station winners before the show. It led me to have a bit more respect for the band. In the past, I have written them off as just another mainstream radio band, and then once Colby started looking like James Hart from 18 Visions, it was all over. But acoustically, he has a great voice and I really enjoyed all the songs. It was a nice VH1 Storytellers kinda thing. Check out the clips I put up on www.youtube.com/user/planetverge.

*By Joelle