I have been a Shadows Fall fan for many years and was thrilled the day I saw this show announced. To make it even better, All That Remains was going to be there as well and they were an incredible live band the last time I had seen them.

Up first was The Showdown. I have now seen these guys 4 times this year. My previous review of them was a good one (you can see it here), but I swear if I have to see them one more time doing virtually the same set as all of the other shows I think I may throw up. Their stock is falling quick and I still insist that they need to start using some of their old material again because they are SO much better than their new "rock and roll" image lets on. Some how these guys keep getting themselves onto bills with very heavy bands and they just don't fit.

Next was the Canadian band, Protest the Hero. I was juiced to see them because of the video I saw of them which had a crazy story about the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. In the video the monkeys are all bummed out because they became unemployed when the wicked witch died. Unfortunately as it turned out, the video was better than the band was. They did have a big following that showed up at Jaxx and they were good musicians, but weren't nearly as nutty as I had expected them to be. The vocals hit all aspects, singing, growling, screaming and the music was always laced with weird time signatures that had ample fretboard acrobatics. They also had a guitarist who was a fill in guy. The singer implied that their normal bandmate couldn't get into the U.S. due to some issue with smoking weed. Speaking of smoking, the funniest thing about them was that I noticed the singer would grab himself smokes from a cigarette pack that sat next to his asthma inhaler... Weird, huh? I rate 'em 6 out of 10. I was expecting more.

All That Remains took the stage next and were every bit as incredible as they were the last time I saw them. Check out my previous review HERE. The only difference between this time and last time was that the crowd wasn't anywhere near as insane. ATR had the most fans at this gig for sure. Hell, half of them left before Shadows Fall.

The evenings headliner, Shadows Fall started with an intro from the band Boston, which is their home town. Right off the bat I noticed that some of their songs sounded nothing like their original recordings and I had a hard time making them out. Then on other songs they sounded 100% correct. I don't think I have ever experienced that with any other bands before. The SF crowd seemed to be completely made up of high school seniors that stalked the band like mad for autographs and photos at the end. The singer had the biggest, scariest dreadlocks I have ever seen. They were down past his knees and had the thickness of kielbasa. I couldn't help but look at him and think of Sigmund the Seamonster, which was a trippy kids show from the 70's. I thought that the technical aspects of the show sucked. The audio mix was a mess, with the worst part being the drum mix of the toms that had this big, fat, cheesy, too loud reverb on it. Then from the lighting end of things, the dude running the board kept only a few lighting cans active at a time which resulted in a band playing most of their set in the dark. You really couldn't see shit. To top it all off, the band ended their set after about an hour. Earlier in the show they had made note of the fact that it was the last night of the tour, so I guess they were in a hurry to get home. The only thing that redeemed them was that after the show, the house lights came on, the "get out" music came up, and the kids just stood there... After two minutes of standing at the stage, they started to chant for an encore. The roadies was packing equipment and starting to remove items from the stage. Well, one of the band members took notice, ran out the door and dragged the band back up there to bust out one more tune. Honestly, THAT song was the best one they played all night. I am so sad to report that they rated 7 out of 10. I was really hoping for at least a 9. The encore was a nice redeemer though, because if it hadn't have been for that, the score was going to be lower.

In my next report I hope to give you the scoop on the Finntroll show on 9/19 ! Stay tuned.

Go to the BGR gallery (CLICK HERE) and check out my pics from last night's the show.

BE SURE to check out our friends at JAXX NIGHTCLUB! www.jaxxroxx.com

If you would like to attend a Jaxx show please let me know. I might be able to drag you along with me.

Comments Questions or Concerns? Hit me up! berube@braingell.com

And oh yeah...

Peace and Metal Grease!

berube