All right, time to recap the Amon Amarth concert I went to at the Honda Center yesterday. This might have been the first ever death metal-themed concert I have ever been to. Ticket was $25.00 since I got it from the Live Nation concert week offer. I opted not to pay for parking this time around. Parking there was $25.00 and quite frankly, I opted to take a bus to the ARTIC train station across the street and then paying for a Lyft home since it was cheaper. The arena also closed off some parking lots around the arena since they are doing some construction for the OC-Vibe thing they got in development in which will be a LA Live-like entertainment center with some restaurants, hotels, and a nice high-end theater that hold around 6,000 people or so. Hopefully, in a few years, it all turns out nicely and hopefully, I can see bands like Slash or DT in this theater without needing to drive to Downtown LA or Inglewood.
Back to the concert, as I got in, there was probably around 7,000 people that showed up at its peak. You see curtains that closed off around 5,000 seats and not all of the seats or GA sections were full. Still, I think for a four-band death metal concert bill, this was a success and the crowd was good. I had an all right view for what I paid for in the nosebleed section.
First band on the bill was Frozen Soul (from Dallas mother'fen Texas as the frontman shouted many times during the set). I can't recall much about the sound, but I was impressed on a few things they were able to get the people in the circle pit (which by the way included a guy wearing a teletubby suit and one guy wearing I think a banana costume) that was running basically during all four bands sets to do. First they had the pit get on the floor and do pushups during a song and people were willing to comply. Also, during the 2nd to last song, they threw some Magic the Gathering packs and encouraged people to play Magic in the pit and for everyone to make room for the people playing Magic and do a circle pit around it. I couldn't remember much about the set, but I can remember those two things they got the circle pit to do, so that's something.
2nd band was Obituary. I actually liked found them to be the 2nd best band of the night. Nothing fancy, but there was enough that I liked to keep my attention during the set. I cannot say the same for Cannibal Corpse, the 3rd band of the night. You find me dozing off during a set, that would mean the band just didn't do anything to grab my attention and that was the case for Cannibal Corpse. Their sound was basically monotonous for me and nothing against them, but nothing I can pay deep attention to. I did like the frontman banter. He said something like "This next song, you will not out-headbang me. You can try, but you will fail, but at least you tried and that's ok." He also said, "You having a good time? Well, I'm going to ruin your mood by saying this is the last song." They ended up playing two songs after that speech, so whatever.
As for Amon Amarth, I'm surprised on the amount of props they had. They had pyro. They had two giant Viking statues on the side of the stage and then they changed those up for two sea creature statues. They had two guys waving flags around and had those guys, later on, doing a sword and shield fight. There was also a guy in what I think had a warlock costume on that the frontman kicked him around at times. Honestly, the way they approached this show was very Iron Maiden-like if you asked me. Quality playing, you got good backdrops, and good props that fits the songs they were playing. The set was really enjoyable. Also, to commemorate the end of the tour, I don't know if this was the only show that had this, but before they played Raise Your Horns, they had these sizable horns that acted like glasses to drink beer out of and had a toast on a tour well done.
All in all, it was a fun night. $25.00. Can't complain. If I had the fortitude for it, I would go and say, "the next time, Amon Amarth comes to these parts, I would want to try to get a GA ticket just to feel what it was like in that section during the rowing pit," but I know my body is too broken down for that. How I know that is the case is because the next concert I will go to will be vastly different. Going to see Yellowcard and Third Eye Blind in June at the Greek Theater.
Topic: Concerts for 2024 (Read 10910 times)
