Xpression.v2

This past Tuesday, I went with Joe to see a concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in the city. The show consisted of State of Shock, Papa Roach, Seether, and Staind. As you can imagine, it was a pretty exciting lineup for me, and probably the best combination of bands I’ve ever seen. The tickets were a gift from Joe for my birthday, so major thanks to him.

State of Shock opened up and, well, there’s a reason the opening band plays when few people are there. They were so generic and uninteresting that it was almost sickening. I’ve seen a few bands open at other shows that were really good, most notably, Flyleaf before they became famous. These guys (and the girl bassist) simply lacked any real depth, especially when compared to the acts they were opening up for. I was happy when their set was over.

Papa Roach was next and, let me be very clear, I love the “Infest” Papa Roach and greatly dislike most of their stuff after that. Their set, however, was great. Sure, there were a few newer songs that lulled me a bit, including one of their new songs, “Lifeline”, but then they mixed in a bunch of “Infest” tracks that really made the day. Their other new song, “Hollywood Whore” was also pretty good. The real show was put on by frontman Cory, though. He was jumping and screaming and even ran around the hall during “Dead Cell”. As a matter of fact, he climbed down off the VIP seating area right next to me in the general admission area, so I had a chance to pat him on the back. The whole performance was chock full of energy. It was great.

Seether followed and, for the first time, was disappointing to see live. It was just an odd and sometimes annoying set to go through. In between each song, there was this annoying looping guitar sound (why? I have no idea) that quickly got on people’s nerves. When there was actual music being played, you couldn’t hear Shaun’s vocals and, in the rare cases where the instruments were at a lower volume, the vocals were so horribly distorted that you couldn’t decipher what was being sung. I’ve seen Seether live before and they’ve always been very good, but this was a terrible performance.

Finally, my favorite band, Staind, had their chance to take the stage. To be honest, it was the best set I’ve ever seen them perform. The set started with a Johnny Cash song being played over the PA system after which the curtain opened and Staind started with their stuff. I honestly can’t remember the order of tracks, but there was a very balanced mix of old Staind and new Staind. It was amazing and very energetic. You could just watch the set and see why they’ve been so successful.

All in all, it was a great concert. Thanks Joe.

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