NEW ENGLAND METAL AND HARDCORE FESTIVAL 2005
(Warning: The following is very graphic intensive [yes, I could have re-sized the images, but then they would be seen in all their glory, now would they?]. I would suggest running away from this site if you are on a crappy connection.)
To anyone who doesn't know, the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival has been a tradition of mine and several of my friends for several years now. Ever since the festival ended in 2004 (our second year to Worcester for the Fest), we have been planning and anticipating for this year's festival. What made the antipation level even higher this year was the fact that the festival was being extended from its normal 2 days, to THREE whole days, virtually 12 hours each day.
Finally, on April 22nd, the Friday (and the weekend) before finals started, myself, Nate, Tony, Ian (Tony's brother), Josh, and Matty all piled into Tony's new (and my I add fucking kick ass), Cadillac DeVille bright and early that morning. We got out on the road around 10:30 anticipating a 3.5 - 4 hour trip. Unfortunately though, our trip was extended by another few hours because the shortcut that was suggested to us by Tony's Mom ended up adding another few hours to our route because of misdirection and complete and utter confusion in some areas. Eventually though, we arrived in Auburn (the site of our mighty hotel), checked into the hotel, and beat feet up to the room, only to find a special surprise....
There was only one fucking bed!
Yes folks, we had (or so we thought) reserved a room with two queen sized beds. However, according to the guy behind the counter (who ended up being a cool shit, because we had to talk with him several times over the weekend), our reservation was down for one king size single. *shrugs* Shit if I know what the hell happened! All I do know, is that we were already a few hours late for the fest, so we dropped our crap in the room, freshened up a bit, and took off to The Palladium to meet our weekend of nonstop musical mayhem!
FRIDAY April 22nd, 2005
We arrived in the mighty Palladium a little before 6pm (of which the doors were supposedly to be closed, but it turns out the time was extended another hour, so we didn't have to rush as much as we did). We got to the doors, were frisked, and went inside picking up all kinds of Metalfest goodies along the way. We immediately went downstairs to the Main Stage to be greeted by the rumblings of Premonitions of War.
(images from www.theundergroundscene.net)
Overall, Premonitions was a decent wake up call to the weekend that was in store for us. While primarily hardcore, with some tinges of thrash and grind thrown in, they were an aggressive elixar to get the blood pumping. Following Premonitions, was All That Remains, who remain (no pun intended) one of the focal points of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal movement. This will be my third time seeing this band live, and let me tell you, this is by far the best I have ever seen them play; they absolutely rocked my world.
(images from www.metalandhardcorefestival.com)
Following All That Remains, I was really friggin working up a sweat and ready for more musical mayhem. I had moshed a bit for these guys, but really wasn't interested in sticking around in the pit for the next act, the hardcore act Throwdown. Overall, I was impressed with these guys when they got moving. However, I think the highlight of the Throwdown set was seeing Tony (who was standing right behind me), try his hand at a pit. I had warned him that hardcore pits could get violent, and since Throwdown was about as hardcore as you could get, seeing Tony go into the pit and coming back out was priceless. You see, we were right on the edge, pushing people back as they ran into us. Tony, I guess listening to his adrenaline, ran into the pit like a bat outta hell, and proceeded to run around it spinning and flailing every which way as he went around. This probably lasted a good 15 seconds before he came back holding his head, arm and a few other parts of his body. Despite being knocked around myself I just started laughing at him. I didn't even see him get hit, but with all the arms and legs flying around in the pit, it was no wonder he got decked somewhere in the process!
Throwdown, while being a better than average hardcore act, was followed up by a metalcore act that is really taking charge in the mainstream aggressive music scene. These guys that I speak of are As I Lay Dying, quickly becoming the next Unearth and Killswitch Engage, except they are from California instead of New England. I saw As I Lay Dying last year, and man they ripped it up good. This year, I expected no different, and I got exactly as I expected...some kickass metalcore right to my noggin (literally in some cases).
(images from www.metalandhardcorefestival.com)
And oh man...the highlight, by far, for Friday and one of the best bands of the entire weekend, was none other than the reformed death metal legends of the early 90's, Obituary! Convinced by Andrew WK to reform (Andrew's drummer is/was the drummer for Obituary), this was the band's first show back on their reformed tour. I was absolutely in awe of the power and absolute flawlessness of their sound. Even after several years of being broken up, Obituary had not lost an inch of balance in their music. To say the least, I moshed my ass off for Obituary, crashing into as many people as possible (before I got cramps that is...I mean who the hell gets cramps when they friggin mosh? Do you have to wait 30 minutes after eating before moshing? I was disappointed that I was sidelined for the last half of their set because of the pain in my side). They played the godly "Chopped in Half", "Slowly We Rot", "Threatening Skies" and many more in their hour set that just rocked me to the point of wanting to shed some tears.
Despite the fact that Obituary absolutely demolished me mentally, it wasn't until the next band, metalcore legends in the making Unearth, that I was absolutely demolished physically.
For one reason or another, Tony and Nate had left (Matty and Josh were out and about out of sight for the entire weekend, therefore I lost track of trying to find them), leaving only Ian and I to face the oncoming storm (yes, that was a pun! aahahahaha! *ahem* Yeah....no one knows what I am talking about probably). As soon as Unearth got started, I knew this was going to be a painful hour, and it sure as hell was. I was not even really close to the moshpit, but I was pushed around like nobody's business! Soon, a second moshpit opened up right where I was and I began moshing my life away in this smaller, yet just as violent rendition of the bigger pit. While moshing my ass off, I receive a gentle tap on my shoulder. I turn, ready to deck someone with the amount of adrenaline that was coursing through my veins at the time, only to find a guy on an equal adrenaline high signaling with his hands that he wanted to go up. So, naturally being the nice guy that I am, I bent down, interlaced my fingers, and sent that mother into the heavens with the help of a few others. Following this, the heavens broke lose with people flying over my head every which way! I looked over and saw Ian equally fighting for his life! Suddenly I turn and in the darkness I feel the recognizable sole of a Ked brand sneaker pressed up against my face. No matter which way I turned I was either facing a thrashing moshpit, some dude trying to jockey for a closer position, or some overhead unidentified flying dude (ufd) of which I must identify by the brand of shoe they wear pressing up against my face, eyeball, ears, the top of my head, whatever. When Unearth's set was finally done, I cheered as loudly as I could (with my voice already going, the first day of the fest), followed by a mighty sigh. I looked over to find Ian staring me down as well just as bewildered. After gaining back my bearings, I wandered toward the stairs leading up to the meeting place the group had assigned. Just shaking my head all the way up at how unbelievable that experience had just been. Out of all the concerts I had been to, that was by far the craziest experience I had ever been in.
(The band trying to get the crowd
going.)
After gathering and chatting about the set, we all agreed that the last band of the evening Hatebreed was not worth seeing. We were all thoroughly worn out after the long drive to Worcester, and the 6 hours we had been at the fest that day.
We made our way back to the hotel completely dehydrated and hungry. We stopped at a late night convenience store to pick up drinks and munchies (in which Tony was sure he was being hit on by a couple of local chicks sitting in a truck in the parking lot). Upon arriving at the hotel, we drank, ate, and showered. We were all dog tired and turned in after an hour of small talk and consuming of our convenience store purchases (Matty, Josh and I took the bed, while Nate, Tony and Ian slept on the floor). However, once we were in bed, some weird shit happened...
Nate, sounding like some strange tranvestite on account of his voice going, started making sexual advances on Tony. This sounded really...wrong, but none of us could hold back from laughing our asses off. Soon, Josh started getting into the mix, but was quickly overtaken by Nate's sultry vocal performance. Because of a pact we made, I cannot associate specific things we said, just because it was all between us. But we were all in tears from laughing so hard to say the least. This was followed by a good 15-20 minute interlude of bad AC/DC covers sung by the entire gang (except by Ian, who had passed out, possibly from his injuries). An....odd, but entertaining night was called for to end the first day of our glorious Metalfest weekend.
Top Bands for Friday
1. Obituary
2. Unearth
3. All That Remains
4. As I Lay Dying
5. Throwdown
6. Premonitions of War
Bands I Wish I Had Seen
Ion
Disonance
Catastrophic
Hatebreed
Kylesa
SATURDAY
COMING SOON!!!!!