After going back home and to bed Friday night, I was up again Saturday night and on my way to Dexter Avenue. I was there as they arrived. Full make-up and everything. They went straight in and started setting up with the sound check. I was outside, but maybe it was the acoustics of the place, but just warming up they sounded one-hundered percent better than last night. What an improvement! Once again they were the second band to play. As they took the stage and the curtains began to open the egyptian inspired guitar riff once again led into their Eurythmics cover of Sweet Dreams. The band afterward played the exact same songs in the exact same order except for these changes that I noticed.
1. During Mors Dura, Dex(Guitar) played an insanely fast solo during the (what I call) second uprising of the song.
2. During Oceanic Rush, Shoji(Bass) played his Bass interlude/solo a lot more crisp than the previous night. I liked that change.
3. During Bite of an Apple, Dex(Guitar) stepped up again to play one of the most emotional solos I have heard. When I looked over at Shoji you could tell that the music was actually flowing through him as he heard this solo.
4. During Moment of Vanity, Drei(Vocals) walked over to Shoji(Bass) (and I don't know if this was rehearsed or just on the fly) but Drei and Shoji bounced back and forth screaming the chorus words of "what is this?" and "suffacate" it was something. I could also tell that Dex was not expecting that since he nearly jumped backwards as they began that.
5. That was the end of their show. But when Selardore was finished with their set they challenged Dex to a guitar duel with thier guitarist and a vocals duel with Drei against their vocalist. But then a little kid got on stage and his mom told them that he wanted to scream first. Well Selardore and Dex started playing and the little boy screamed his head off. For a kid of that size (must of been 5-6 years old) the boy could scream. After about five minutes he quit and the crowd loved him. It was really cool. Then he got off the stage and Selardore started up again. Cory(Vocals:Selardore) started up first and an intense vocal battle began that lasted (back and forth, back and forth) for around another five minutes. Then they quit and the guitars were ablazin'. Riff after insane riff, solo after insane solo Dex and Trey(guitar:selardore) went back and forth until finally as Dex continued to play Trey got down on knees and bowed toward Dex. Afterward the crowd was up and jumping around and just crazy. It was awesome. But it ended therr (the show) and everyone packed up to go home.
I hope to see Moment of Vanity and Selardore do it again. Maybe at their next show. Maybe......
I video recorded the show, and if anyone out there would like to purchase a copy from me, you can e-mail me at [email protected]
Overall I give this show a 4.75 out of 5.0
Moment of Vanity played second out of the three bands playing on Friday. They started by playing an Egyptian inspired riff which led directly into their Eurythmics cover of Sweet Dreams. At the end of their nearly six minute cover, the producers of the show turned out the overhead lights and turned on the spots,Shoji opened Mors Dura up with its bouncing bass intro. With a few seconds delay afterward the band jumped into Fate, another of thier fast pasted songs. After the feedback ran out Drei(vocals) anounced that the band was taking an intermission ( I later found out that this meant he and Chaz(Guitar) were taking the break). Right as they went to get drinks the drums and bass started up with Dex's guitar coming in soon after for a six minute jazz improve. As this filtered out, Dex(Guitar) started the intro to Oceanic Rush, a back and fourth fast pace riff/duel between the two guitarists, then suddenly all instruments came in and it sounded wonderful. After the slow chorus the instuments cut out and Shoji(Bass) stepped up with a bass interlude/solo and then the entire band came in again and once again the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, it was moving. Oceanic Rush is truly my favorite song of theirs. Right after drawing out Oceanic Rush and finishing it, Dex(Guitar) started their new song Bite of an Apple ( I say new because I had not heard it before, being only to their Nagasaki Nightmare Holloween show), it was a bit of a change. As all the band came in to play their parts it was an interesting sound. It was more "mainstream" sounding than their earlier songs.(not saying that it sounded bad, it was just different.) With a sung first verse and chorus it was a good change for the band. (Later I found out that the song was originally concieved and co-written by Shoji, along with the chorus lyrics written by him also. He must have something working up in that head of his.)It was a really "epic" sounding song if you get what I mean. It was mainstream sounding, though Moment of Vanity kept up their apeal to the "non-conformists". Next, as the music rung out in the amps, Dex stepped up to the mic and introduced the next song, "This next song is our title track, Moment of Vanity." This song came as a suprise also: 1. For the band to have a title track, that suprised me. 2. This song was like the last, a more mainstream sound then their previous songs. That's why I say that they are the "new" songs of the band. It seems to me that when they added Chaz(Guitar) and zOoM.2(drums) their sound evolved from the speed/death metal of 2003 to their very unique sound of 2004. The song started with a very quick arpegio inspired guitar riff played by Dex, suddenly all the instruments came in (I think the band likes doing that) and the song started in. After about five minutes the song simmered down and Dex began to play the arpegiated riff again. At first I thought the song would end as he slowed it down, but suddenly he sped it up again and Shoji came in playing a Bass version of the same thing. This grabbed everyones attention. Going back into the chorus one more time afterward they ended their show with that. Overall though, and this may be surprising to you, I'll give the show a 3.5 out of 5.0, a little above the average rock show if not just average for Moment of Vanity.