[Tiste Simeon]

Freakin' A... Just been to two freaking incredible concerts this weekend. Saturday evening I went to "Progressive Nation" tour - Unexpect, Bigelf, Opeth and Dream Theater. Oh my goodness, the amount of amazing musicianship and pure metal was just unbelievable! Unfortunately, my tickets told me the wrong time so I missed Unexpect and half of Bigelf. Might have to see about getting some money back on this one...

Dream Theater:


And then on Sunday evening I went to see what has become one of my favourite bands ever - the Mighty freaking KARNIVOOL!!! They were the second band in a line up of four with the highly amusing reggae metal band, Skindred headlining. Karnivool were utterly mindblowing, and they played some of their best songs (though not All I Know...) It should be at this point that I thank Cold Iron for introducing me to them. I want to reiterate, get their albums and go see them! I heard the Merch guy say that at every concert they have loads of people buying their CD because they go "Who are these guys, they freaking rock!" so they are picking up a fairly big following here...
Also, they are really nice guys and they signed a CD of "Sound Awake" for me and invited me to come and hang out with them backstage.

Anyways, the Pit List:
Neck and back ache from headbanging to Opeth and Dream Theater.
Bruises all up and down my arms from elbowing/being elbowed.
Big bruise on my leg from being kneed.
A slight black eye from being punched as I leapt into a guy.
I got elbowed in the same place about three times in one song.
I can't hear too well at the moment...
I got punched by a girl in nothing but jeans and a bra...
I nearly crushed a girl who must have been only 14 or so and about half my size. It was an accident.
I punched a semi naked man in the chest to have him spin round and give me the thumbs up.
My voice is going...
I shoved a guy into a bunch of big violent people, to find out it was actually a chick...
I'm quite strong. One girl got smacked in the face and was trying to get out of the pit, and I managed to hold about 20 moshing people back in order to get her out, and hold them there til she was clear!
The wall of death is about the most fun and exciting thing I can think of right now.

Some pics of Karnivool:






And me with the freaking band! (The singer disappeared...)

This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 12 October 2009 - 01:05 PM

[Mushroom]

I hate you

[chill]

Me too.

[Tiste Simeon]

I'm feeling teh luff.

[Illuyankas]

Disappeared? Yeah, I'm sure he only 'disappeared' while you were there. They find him yet, or did they not search the boot of your car?

[Tiste Simeon]

Nah I saw him later, so he must have worked his way free gone for a pint or something...

[Stalker]

good stuff.

Too bad that the tickets were off though, missing some acts is never cool.

[Mr.James]

Damn you tiste.....the closest thing we got to a rock concert here was two months ago when some teens (READ: attempted) to play some hits like The Trooper and Holy Diver and such...

God I miss 2007, when I was joyfully headbanging to Metallica at Wembly in London..

p.s: what style so these Karnivool guys play? I've never heard of them before!

[Tiste Simeon]

They are a progressive rock/edging on heavy metal/melodic kind of band. They are quite hard to describe really...

Themata:
Simple Boy:
All I Know: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBJ3DQ76XOk

Some of my personal favourites.

[Anomander]

Tiste... you bastard.

[Abyss]

Do you usually go to concerts in nothing but jeans and a bra?

- Abyss, just wondering...

[Bent]

Abyss, on 12 October 2009 - 06:35 PM, said:

Do you usually go to concerts in nothing but jeans and a bra?

- Abyss, just wondering...

repped for that.

On topic - nice Tiste, but I think you might be stretching the truth a little bit about the 20 guys you held back....maybe 10, but your ams would have to be really long to keep 20 men back....just saying. (now Macros...his hands might be big enough to do that.....)

[Cold Iron]

You're freakin welcome. Awesome job on hanging out with the band, very cool. I've met the lead singer but he was playing time crisis at the time so distracted

I'll be seeing them in 5 weeks and again in January at a festival headlined by Muse.

Here is some footage of them live last year when they were a little smaller, their stage production at the last Aussie headline tour was much bigger than this. I was at this show by the way:

[Tiste Simeon]

Is the lead singer always seemingly stoned? He seemed pretty out of it at the gig though perhaps he's just a bit weird...

I'm hoping they come to the UK again soon.

[Cold Iron]

I don't know much about him really, I've seen his other band live (Birds of Tokyo) and he seemed a lot less... eccentric as he does at karni shows. I get the impression that he is just that into the music...

From some of his lyrics I would guess he's had a history with medication, possibly for depression. Check out this song:

Also drug reference in simple boy "I'm high above the world, why should I feel pain, or feel at all".

He's a bit of a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Wears a long white shirt like a creepy doctor at some shows too.

This post has been edited by Cold Iron: 12 October 2009 - 10:22 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Abyss, on 12 October 2009 - 06:35 PM, said:

Do you usually go to concerts in nothing but jeans and a bra?

- Abyss, just wondering...

Hey man, anything goes at metal gigs.

@CI - That kind of makes sense. When he was speaking to the crowd he didn't seem too messed up tbh just when he was singing he looked pretty zoned. I chatted to him after he's a nice guy.

That Birds of Tokyo song is... quite haunting...

Bent, on 12 October 2009 - 07:37 PM, said:

On topic - nice Tiste, but I think you might be stretching the truth a little bit about the 20 guys you held back....maybe 10, but your ams would have to be really long to keep 20 men back....just saying. (now Macros...his hands might be big enough to do that.....)

Well I don't know. There was a bunch of people crowding round, and I pushed them all back so she could get out. It felt like 20 but you're right, I don't have Macros hands...

This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 13 October 2009 - 08:42 AM

[MTS]

I am green with jealous rage right now, Tiste.

EDIT: what? No Zanth smiley? This is ludicrous. I guess I'll have to settle for this then

This post has been edited by Mappo's Travelling Sack: 13 October 2009 - 09:24 AM

[Sixty]

That's awesome! I had an opportunity to go to Progressive Nation with some friends earlier this Summer when they were in Boston...and I passed. Yeah, terrible idea.

Hopefully DT's back in Boston soon; I hear their live performances are sick. =D

[Tiste Simeon]

It's the third time I have seen them live they are really quite astonishing, especially when Mike Portnoy brings on a bunch of other drummers and they do an epic drum piece together!