Well, I finally got to see Fate's last night in Portland. It started about 45 minutes late and there were two opening bands, neither of which were very good in my opinion. Then Fate's came out guns a blazing and the intensity didn't let up until the final note. They put on a very energetic, absolutely killer performance. I was standing at the front center right in front of Ray. All of them were totally into it and it was surprising to see that even Jim and the fill in guitarist were smiling and connecting with the audience. I never imagined Jim to be that animated. Joey of course is the man live and Bobby is a machine and his drums couldn't have sounded any better. The overall sound mix from the front was above average for the Hawthorne Theater and the band does it old school with stage monitors. Ray sounded fantastic for the first few songs and sounded particularly great singing the new stuff, but then he started to struggle with some of the old stuff in the middle of the set. But then he had a minute to go backstage and he probably hawked something up and drank some water because he came back out sounded really good again for rest of the set. Still Remains couldn't have been a better encore in my opinion unless they would have played And Yet It Moves so we left the building blown away by a master class in progressive metal. Unfortunately, there were only maybe 200 people there, but all appreciative diehards with a few new young fans thrown in like the two pre-teen girls in front of me who received not one, not two, but three picks from Joey and Jim. I have to attribute the low attendance with the band basically dropping off the face of America for ten years and the Hawthorne Theater doesn't advertise at all. All of the band members made eye contact several times, even Bobby, and the entire band had that bond with the audience which is the reason why we see our favorite bands live. All in all, a great show, better than I had imagined it would be, and I had high expectations.