This show gave me many aspects which I fully expected, but it also took a turn which left me bewildered and angry. Now I present you a with a concert review and a heartfelt rant...

Diecast was the major opener for the gig tonight. I have a few songs by them and I was a little excited to check them out. What I knew of them was that they seemed to be a quality "nu-metal" type of band. Not super brutal, and on the flip-side, not headed for FM radio either. The groove-type music was a good match in sound for the headliners. The powerful vocals ranged from growling to singing to yelling and featured a strong, melodic chorus from the backing vocals, but the backing vocals were way heavy in the mix and they seemed to dominate when they were sung. The singer was a happy dude, who from time to time would lat people in the crowd sing a few lines from time to time. The crowd of maybe 350 was pretty strong and were obviously fans of the band. There was an off and on pit that never got nasty or stupid. All of the band members were animated headbangers with the exception of the bass player, who was a very boring dude to watch. The Ibanez-strapped guitar duo was competent but there was nothing they did that really blew me away. Hell, I guess I could even say the same about the drummer. Overall they were a BAND, all with equal an equal stake. The highlight of this set for me actually took place off of the stage in the crowd where there was a family rockin' out. Mom, dad, sister, and brother, with the kids appearing in their pre-teens... All having a great time together. The band gave them lots of special attention too, with hand slaps and picks and whatnot. I "congratulated" them after the show and the proud father gave his son a shake and declared, "This is the future of metal!". That rocks. More power to ya dad. Anyway, Diecast turned out to be exactly what I expected and really did put on a good show that was a lot of fun. I rate 'em 7 out of 10.

Now it was time for Drowning Pool. The members consisted of four guys who I found to be suprisingly small in stature. The singer was a blonde country boy that strutted around with one of those big 'ole Elvis type microphones, which I thought was an odd fit for a band who was, and was formerly fronted by a very urban/city aura. His tone and delivery went with his image, which leaned heavily towards southern rock and blues. Ok whatever, right? Maybe they are looking for a new direction. Within a few songs I had discovered that the "voice" of the band was the headset wearing drummer, who took it upon himself to do most of the crowd interaction type shit. The guitarist HAD to be a bald Wayne Static from Static-X. He looked and acted exactly like Wayne. I think he even plays the exact same guitar! The bass player was a mohawk headed dude who looked the part. They both did their share of banging and rocking and were entertaining enough. The bands music was never anything which made you go, "Wow!". You know, the occasional ho-hum solo, some good grooves, etc.

About half way through the set came the moment of my discontent. The singer talked to the crowd about how the next song was for someone who we had lost. Someone who was looking down on us. Okay! QUICK! This is Drowning Pool, who do you think they are talking about?! Dave Williams? Their former singer who died of a heart condition on their tour bus? Nope. Dimebag Darrell. Wait a fuckin' minute. Now anyone who knows me is well aware that I think Dime deserves hella tribute, but how do you put Dime before your true blood? I was livid about this. After the show I asked other people if I was out of line in my feelings on this matter. Everyone I asked agreed that it was in bad taste. To drive the stake in more on the matter, the band then played a horrid cover of Cowboys From Hell, which was marred by a major bass rig malfunction a third of the way through the song. It was so major that they stopped playing so it could get fixed. After two minutes of fixing, they restarted and stumbled through the rest of the song. It was as if Dime was trying to teach them a lesson. From that point on they got around to playing "Bodies", which sounded weak Soon after came the encore time in which they THEN mentioned Dave Williams, belted out a song for him and closed the set with an awful punk cover (THEY called it punk, not me) of Billy Idol's, Rebel Yell. I rate 'em as 5 out of 10.

When it was all over, I was still steamed and still am as I write this article. I truly feel that putting Dime before Dave is a horrible mistake which Drowning Pool really should correct in their future set lists. For the first time I also felt something that has been tugging at me for a while now. Since February I have been to a twenty-one shows and have seen over fifty bands (thank you Jaxx and BGR for making it possible), and in at least two thirds of these shows I have heard lots of words about Dime coming from the stage. Band, after band, after band. Again, I worship Dime. I had the lucky pleasure to spend time with him back in the Pantera days and I think all of metal owes him a tremendous debt. BUT, that thing that that had been tugging at me felt real for the first time last night. I'm really starting to feel like bands are "commercializing" his death. Many bands appear to be waving the Dime flag for personal gain and I fucking hate it. Let him rest in peace.

In my next report I hope to give you the scoop on the Doro/Belladonna show on 6/10 ! 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.

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And oh yeah...

Peace and Metal Grease!

berube