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Taste of Chaos 2008
| March 17th @ Patriot Center |
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by Courtney Campbell
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What do you get when you combine Avenged sevenfold, Atreyu and Bullet for My Valentine with pyro and St. Patrick's Day? Oh, don't forget Blessthefall, Idiot Pilot and the 3 J-rock bands. It's Taste of Chaos 2008!
Having seen the tour two nights prior in Asbury Park, New Jersey, the line-up was familiar but having a larger venue, a larger stage with more lighting and the ability to use pyro really brought the show up to the different level.
Kicking off the night on the side stage was Count Your Blessings, , a popish punk (think Warped Tour ) band from Waldorf, Maryland. At this time despite the huge crowd outside waiting to get in, the floor was barely filled. It's rough being the opening band on a tour, especially the local openers but this band played their hearts out to those in front of them making some fans along the way.
The tour bands kicked off the main stage with D'espairsray, the first of the three J-Rock bands. Even without having toured the United States and singing solely in Japanese, D'espairsray as well as the other J-Rock bands, The Underneath and MUCC have a large following. The crowd was screaming and moving in time to the music. Think back to when Dir En Grey toured last year, same thing.
As the evening progressed, the bands switched back and forth between stages. The crowd filled in and by the time Bullet for my Valentine hit the mainstage, the floor was packed. With BFMV taking the stage, there was a definite escalation in crowd participation. Security was kept busy with this constant barrage of crowd surfers and unlike the show in Asbury Park, security knew how to catch the surfers; sorry Asbury Park but half of the surfers there fell on the floor in the barricade area. While Bullet for my Valentine are not a band to move around on a stage, they were comfortable on a big stage and didn't get lost on it. This is a band that has said in the past that they want to conquer the United States and are on their way there. With their new album Scream, Aim, Fire being released just before this tour, it was a perfect opportunity to garner new fans. Of course their set included tracks from the new album but it also included fan favorites like "4 Words(To Choke Upon)" and "Tears Don't Fall" and "Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow (What Can I Do)".
Blessthefall closed out the side stage next. Not sure how else this tour could be set up but with the side stage bands there just didn't seem to be a strong headliner. The bands all seemed to be even. While Blessthefall entertained the crowd wtih their opening drumline and their in time simultaneously movements on stage, they didn't come across as a big enough band to close the stage.
Finally a black curtain was dropped from the rafters and the crowd waited for Atreyu to appear. The curtain fell and the crowd went crazy. Having seen Atreyu at outside festivals and in clubs, this is a band that so easily made the move to the big arena stage. They pulled off an amazing set. They easily worked the stage and the crowd. Their sound was great which was such an improvement from the previous show seen on this tour.
A black curtain again was dropped as the stage was turned over for Avenged Sevenfold. The video screens counted down from 10 minutes and the curtain fell. From the opening of "Critical Acclaim" to the end of "A Little Piece of Heaven", Avenged Sevenfold owned the evening. The
addition of the pyro added to the complete package of the show without being over the top. The stage set up itself was more stripped down than their co-headling tour with Coheed from two years ago; the mechanical deathbat was not needed. The music stands on its own. A nice added touch was the keyboard intro to "Critical Acclaim" by M.Shadows. Great addition! Being St. Patrick's Day, the band invited a few fans up onto the stage for a shot. While this was "cute" the first time, it soon got old. Don't know about you, but another song could have been added to the set instead of this delay between songs. Ending with "A Little Piece of Heaven" was the perfect ending for the night. Great show!
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