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So my boy and I went to see Kittie and Kataklysm (devil driver headlining, ew) this week before the tour ended. Now I have to say that I was extremely annoyed by the club's management. Ive been to this club more times than any other venue and I've come to expect them to be reasonable, and decent bouncers (seriously, these guys dont take crap, so the pits are usually really safe). But lemme give you a little taste of how poorly this particular show was run:
- Kataklysm (the fourth band) played for 15 minutes. IF even that. The opening bands had lengthy 25-30 minute sets, and Kataklysm were promptly told to cut their set short and get off the stage because of time.

-Kittie's Banner was hung upside down. Wth? I'm sorry, but there is no excuse for that. At all. Do you job and do it right. You can tell, even with their logo that it was upside down. =/

-The sound guys were not listening to the band members requests to turn said mic up or down.

BUT! When it came to the music, it was a good show. The opening band was pretty decent metalcore, and got a small pit going, which is usually pretty difficult. Where I'm from, nobody pits for the first band. Maybe you'll have one or two super anxious people, but nothing of value. These guys, got a nice opening pit.

The next band was called Hostility and they were friggin great. They hail from San Fransico California and play thrashy death with some groove. I should have gone and bought a cd, but they were handing out free demos from their new album, so Nate and I both got one. It was a nice surprise seeing them, because I didnt know they were playing the show and they really got the energy flowing in the club.

Misery played next. Boring set, boring band.

Kataklysm was up next and I had forgotten how awesome those guys are live. Really, really good live prefromance, especially for death metal. Let's face it, how many times have you seen a death metal act and all they do is growl into the mic and play the instruments. I mean, I respect you for playing well, but that doesnt mean I am all revved up. Kataklysm had awesome energy and everyone went nuts, even if it was only for 15 minutes.

Then came Kittie, pretty much our reason for going. I've slammed Kittie a lot on the past, but I suggested Nate check them out a few weeks back because he really likes female screaming. Then I saw they were playing so I figured, "Meh. We havent been to a live show since my brother played live in my hometown, why not?" Freaking A. They are really awesome live. It was sort of funny because the crowd really didnt know what to make of it. You go from Kataklysm to where everyone has their fists in the air, screaming the lyrics, cheering, the works to.......Kittie where everyone is just kind of staring looking stupid. The lead singer....Morgan something, is freaking hysterical. After each song she'd talk to crowd or complain about the banner (they sufefred a few technical difficulties like the drummer bass drum malfunctioning) so they had a couple minutes to chill. But, they eventually got the crowd pretty revved up. I hopped in the pit for the last song, but people had been chucking beer on the ground so for the life of me I could not stay on my feet. (Doesnt help when people peg you for being a girl either.) I liked their live prefromance enough that I think I'm going to go buy their new album or at the very least get their debut. They were just a fun band. Haha, their bass player had awesome facial expressions while she was playing and I would like to point out that she had my bass. Custom sparkle paint job, but it was my freaking bass. YES!

Devil Driver was obviously the headliner. Nate and I listened to one song and went home and watched a movie. Never could understand their fanbase, and never will.


Oh well, sucessful night I'd say. It was fun, I would reccomend seeing Kittie live if they were playing with another decent metal act. Or if you get the chance to see Hostility, do it, because they are REALLY fun.

I love Kataklysm, saw them a few years ago, they put on a great show, and I've always like their music. Sucks they only got to play for a little while.

I really dislike Kittie, and their boring music, terrible vocals and well, boring compositions, but hey, I'm not the one who went. My friend used to really like them, and then after a show once got to hang out with them in a mall for a few hours. He grew out of their music, but said he'd still chill with them since they were pretty cool. I would to for that matter, I'd chill with anyone.

I've seen Devildriver before, I didn't care for them, but the pits for their shows are really awesome, but that was back in the day when I used to like pits. I don't care for them anymore, but if one starts around me, I'm not just going to stand their like a big stump. I would have probably left too, and then went to IHOP for pancakes, like I usually do.




What was Kataklysm doing on that tour? sounds like they were the only Metal band. confused

I'm amazed at how many people leave shows early to go get food or coffee or something. I have a really hard time leaving shows before they end, even if the final band isn't really somebody I like (though I was a breath away from walking out on Fear Factory).

I've seen Dying Fetus and Eluveitie separately, both bands put on a great show, I'd love to see them with Kataklysm. I'd go the Nile/Ex Deo show, I've seen Nile and even though they don't move it was suprisingly interesting, interesting in the fact that they were playing really fast but they all looked very bored and tired....the singer too.

I bet they are interesting, the less complex your music is, the better live performance you can put on, in general. I'm not saying be uncomplex is a bad thing, I just call it as I see it and I could definitely see Kittie's appeal, but they don't do anything for me.

Devildriver are if-y, they switch between making Metalcore and Melodic Death Metal, or they used to. I haven't heard anything from them since their 2005 release, so maybe they finally switched all the way to Melodic Death.

Never seen Exodus or Alestorm but I've seen Finntroll, they have weird pits. And I've seen plenty of Hardcore punk bands, and a few thrash ones. I know crazy pits, and when I seen DD it was at Ozzfest, and that was a crazy pit, not the craziest I've seen but crazy.


@Volvy: you almost left during Fear Factory? Why!?
When I seen them in 2006 and they were amazing.

Dude, they were boring as s**t. Maybe it was an off day for them, but they had no life and they didn't sound very good. It wasn't just me, either. Virtually the entire crowd was standing there looking bored. Except when Frank Mullen walked back out on stage. Everybody went crazy for that wink

It didn't help that the three previous bands were Kataklysm, Hypocrisy, and Suffocation... all of whom totally killed. Made FF look like second-rate crap by comparison, despite being the headliners. When Mullen came back out during Fear Factory's set and everybody went nuts, the FF vocalist even muttered something into the mic about "what did I do to deserve this?"

Funny, because the other three bands were so good I'd be tempted to call it the best metal show I've been to, if only Fear Factory hadn't sucked so hard core.

Speaking of pits, GWAR's got pretty interesting when I saw them in Vegas. Oddly, though, it seems like some of the biggest pits happen for nu-metal and metalcore bands. KoRn and KSE both had crazy crowd action when I saw them.