I went and saw the band Avatar (the one from Sweden) last night, mainly because I had the night off, nothing better to do, and tickets were only $15. Didn't hurt that the show was local, in Battle Creek, and I didn't have to drive to Detroit/Chicago/Grand Rapids.
I went to the concert not really knowing much about them other than youtubing a couple of their videos. They put on an excellent stage show, fwiw. The band dresses up in what looks like old circus stagemaster costumes...the short waistcoat with the double row of buttons - kinda like Napoleonic cavalry uniforms, the white pants, etc and they wear makeup that gives them a mime/clown/black metal corpse paint scheme vibe.
Music was ok, very competently played, my biggest grip was that every song was in 'E'...well, they downtune to something like C or D-flat, but you get the picture. They have a mishmash of metal genres...nu metal, melo-death metal, maybe a bit of groove metal, a touch of symphonic and prog metal.
Anyways, I had a good time. I thought I would run into a couple of friends there but I didn't see them.
As a side note, I could've played last night as in one of the local opening bands. My friend that I jam with on New Years Eve every year, his band was supposed to be one of the openers, but I guess their lead guitarist is ill. My friend sent me a PM on facebook last Friday asking me to show up Saturday for practice and fill in so they could do the gig.
I have never, ever, played with his band before, and in their half-hour set they usually do a mix of three '90s nu-metal/rock songs that while I know the songs, I've never attempted them, and three originals. There is no way in hell that with just one practice I would've been comfortable with playing those songs. It would've been a trainwreck on my part, to say the least.
Maybe if I was as skilled as
@Mark Wein or
@micwalt I could've pulled it off, but I'm not. Not even close, as you guys that have been to pragestock know after hearing me play.
Now I am one of those old people. It is a really cool place, it is an outdoor venue, but the stage and some seating in like a theater, but there are plenty of lawn "seats." It really is a great venue, the sound is really good and it isn't a pain in the ass to get to or get out of. Here is a pretty good pic of the venue. They have a bunch of symphony shows and older rock acts. They do some pretty cool things where they show musicals but have an orchestra there playing the soundtrack. I really should go there more often.
