Thursday, the new addition to the annual gig brought back my teenage rebellious chaotic learning-myself years. Death Angel, Exodus, Testament, and Anthrax brought it with fierce and didn’t disappoint. I could see some in the crowd questioning why Cypress Hill was finishing up the night, but clearly they were much younger then I and didn’t understand the connection back in the day. I didn’t go in but the mosh pits were alive and non-stop, generating dust clouds that hovered just above the crowd and lingered since there wasn’t much of a breeze. I stayed back singing along in my best death metal voice, knowing tomorrow I’d probably wake up needing some Hall’s lozenges, either from the dust or the signing, probably both.
Friday, I had my 4 year old niece with me so my priorities were temporarily swapped. Child first, music second. Ayron Jones was excellent. He’s got the Seattle sound down! And I didn’t realize he was a black guy until he walked out on stage. Crobot were good fun entertainment with a Russell Brand look-a-alike jumping out of a dragon egg on stage (my niece thought that was awesome) orange tiger print dinner jacket and no shirt flailing around onstage with his seemingly long arms and long legs. Good music too! I skipped most of Pop Evil (churro distraction) but from what I could see and hear I was actually impressed. I’m not sure what I expected but they have a female drummer who killed it and the lead singer wasn’t some pompous looking emo wanna be, which I guess is sorta what I was expecting. I guess I did have some presumptions. Avatar was fucking awesome!!!! I was watching from a distance with a 4 year old on my shoulders so mostly through the screens on the side of the stage but HOLY SHIT they rock. I might be biased but I also love the goth, paint-your-face Marilyn Manson type so I’m for sure a new Avatar fan. Skillet were good, didn’t know their drummer and guitar player were also female so new found respect there. My cousin didn’t like them because she said they had the most horrible band name ever. I kinda like it. They were all dressed in black, music was good, very mature sound. I missed Dropkick Murphys due to porta potty 4-year old experience. (you don’t need the details). Seether is always a freakin good time and they didn’t disappoint. They played a much longer set then the opening at GSR for 3 Doors Down. And Sean Morgan made some comment about Machine Gun Kelly’s beef with Corey Taylor. Can’t remember exactly what he said but I remember he referred to him as “Squirt Gun”. Actually there were several bands who made some comments about it, all very un-supporting of what “Squirt Gun” was saying and reminding us to let him know how we feel about his juvenile shananagans once MGK hit the stage. LOL! I missed Suicial Tendancies because their set conflicted with Seether and again, I had a 4 year old to lag around. Rancid kicked ass as I expected and wow, they are looking old. But they still got it like they did 25 years ago. Volbeat, I’m not a fan to begin with so took Harper (niece) around looking at booths and getting loads of attention in her blue tutu and tieara, she was a princess. Then finally Metallica came on and just as I predicted, they were ok, not great, not horrible, just ok. I danced and sang along to everything from And Justice for All and earlier and dissed the songs from the Black Album to present day. It was about 50/50. We decided to slip out a little early to catch an Uber back to camp and just as we exited the grounds, I could hear Master of Puppets start up. So I sang and danced with Harper throughout our walk back to the RideShare spot….still enjoying Master, Maaster, Maasterr, Maasterrrr.
Saturday, no more child so music climbed back into the drivers seat. I wasn’t familier with a handfull of the early bands to decided to just pick one and go for it. I choose well. DED were great! Black worn clothes with the white goth powder and heavy fast deep low chords. I LOVED IT! Got all the way to the rail! Bones UK were 2 girls (bass/guitar) and a big black guy drummer who were hilarious as well as talented. I’m a new fan! And when they announced they were from Camden, I went crazy. Well, I lived in Camden for 11 years. 🙂 I caught only the last song of August Burns Red as I was headed to the Coors stage for Alien Weaponry. I saw these kids back in 2018 at Wacken in Germany and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. I worked my way all the way to the rail and was ready when they walked out on stage. I got kicked in the head twice by body surfers but I WAS NOT MOVING! I was more in front of the bass player but the 2 front guys move back in forth so got a picture or 2 and I couldn’t get my video working in time so only caught the last 10 seconds of their Haka opening. Walked away with the set list, then found them behind the barrier and got all 3 signatures!!!!! MY WHOLE WEEKEND WAS CHISELED IN THE HISTORY BOOKS! By far, one of the highlights, having my niece the day before was the only thing better. Atreyu were good, could definitely tell they are maturing in their stage presence. Anti-flag had the dirtiest pit, seriously people coming out of there a whole new shade of brown. I missed Gojira because they conflicted with Body Count. I saw Gojira a few weeks ago at Knotfest Iowa and I’m going to see them in November at Rockville Daytona Beach so its justified. Body Count freakin nailed it! The crowd was the biggest for the Coors Stage (don’t know how big it was for Alien Weaponry because I was at the rail and couldn’t see). Somebody had pilfered a shit load (no pun intended) of toilet paper from the porta potties and started throwing toilet roll all over the crowd during their set. Ice Tea also introduced his son who was aiding on vocals and his 2 year old daughter who came out, danced, and did the final “mic-drop”. They also had Dave Lombardo from Slayer on drums. ITS WAS KICK-ASS! Offspring were hilarious but holy shit they are looking old. The lead singer has a beer belly but they still know what they’re doing. They had the crowd singing along and making fun of themselves, the crowd, even calling the festival ‘Aftershave” Really Good show! I’d been waiting all day for Mudvayne and since I was a big fan back when they first got started in Chicago (I was living in Chicago at the time) My adrenaline was already pumping and it was dark enough for a cool light show. They all had painted themselves in various different characters i.e. red face with spiked black hair and goggles. Chad, the lead singer came out in a clown face and jumpsuit, later changing into a balloon type clown outfit and then later into a silver vest type thingy. All-in-all I jumped, danced, and sang along until my voice started cracking and my throat started yelling back at me. It was so good to see them again and can’t wait to see the next show at Rockville. Since I wasn’t a big Misfits fan and my cousins friend wasn’t feeling all that great, we skipped Misfits and headed out for the night.
Sunday, I was the youngest of the group coming in at a mere 50 years old so by Sunday I was hearing all the complaints from my festival going buddies. I, on the other hand was trying to pump them up by singing some Steel Panther songs and hoping by the time we finish with breakfast everyone would be anxious to get there. It worked! We arrived in time to catch a few LAW songs. Nothing too exciting, sound was good but no other comments. Then we watch Mammoth WVH, this is Wolf Van Halens new band. His music is kinda slow but still rock, emotional but not emo, and heavily influenced by classic rock (clearly evident). He didn’t talk about his Dad, the great Eddie and when he introduced the band he used first and last names until he got to himself, then just said, “And I’mWolf”. So I respect that he’s not searching for fame on the curtails of his father. And he’s an excellent musician playing guitar and keyboards during the set. My cousing was (still is) a huge Van Halen fan so he bought a Mammoth t-shirt and got as close as he could without being uncomfortable. Steel Panther was amazing, the crowd was rocking along with them and all their 80’s hair band metal galore. They are always a fun time and my cousins thought they were hilarious! Black Veil Brides were alright, nothing to spectacular but good. In This Moment are very theatrical. For some reason I thought they were an emo band but hell no! They are a female fronted dark goth-metal band with a lot to say! I’m a new fan. Pennywise got me jumping around which was a good thing because the noodles I bought were a bit heavy so THANK YOU PENNYWISE for helping me burn those calories. I watched a little bit of Mastadon although I’m not a big fan. They have good music but I’ve always found them a little boring in concert. Social Distortion opened with Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash and they had my attention from that point forward. Although I was already planning on watching them and they are always pretty good. For Rise Against, I sat way in the back with my cousins friend who was really having a hard time being on his feet all day. He’s not somebody I would normally become friends with but was being courteous and trying to be helpful only because of our mutual connection. Otherwise, in the back of my mind I was calling him a racist hypocrite. Older guy with a very old mentality. Then Metallica again. They opened with Whiplash, and finished with Fight Fire with Fire followed by Creeping Death so I was pretty happy. They ended up playing the whole Black Album on Sunday in between the opening and finishing songs which I tolerated with respect. But don’t ask me to sing along cause I didn’t, just out of spite I guess. My protest gave my cousin a reason to sing AT me during this time. I just took a deep breath and personally, again checked in on my tolerance which held up well. My smirks and eye rolls just enticed his loud singing. Cousins UGH!
Overall the festival was great! Bands were great, crowd was awesome, people were fun, food was good, and the weather was not too hot and not too chilly at night so you can’t ask for much more.
Aftershock 2022 already in the calendar.
