Man, what a three-show run for me with Fates. I attended the San Francisco, Sacramento, and Redding (all California) gigs over the last few days. The first two were 10-song opening sets, and the last one was a 16-song headline show.
Friday, March 29, I got out of the office early and headed to the venue. Got there super early. WAY too early, honestly. I've been at this place a million times (Slim's in SF), so as I walk up, I hear Queensryche soundchecking "Condition Human." La Torre sounded pretty good. But I was there for Fates. Met a couple of friends who drove 11 hours from Utah to see this. We hung out a bit, and then attended the Fates soundcheck. Funny story -- so the way it works is this. QR soundchecks first, then Fates goes and does theirs, and then their M&G. When the Fates M&G ends, then Queensryche does its M&G, before the venue closes before opening again at the door time.
Well, Ray got confused a bit about what time he was supposed to show, so during soundcheck for Fates, there was no Ray. They do their thing, run through a song or two, and so Joey Vera says - "we gotta check the vocals. What can I actually sing?" LOL. They started checking From the Rooftops with Joey on lead vocals, and he looks out and says "Ok, I forget the rest of the words." I was about to hand him my phone (I was recording but I was going to pull up the lyrics). Then Ray strolls in behind me and does the next song after they are done. Ha ha ha.
The show itself was 10 songs, about an hour, and they played Falling Further, which was nice. Tiny stage. The drums were pushed all the way to the front, so the band were all stuck in place, with Ray literally just having a pole to hang from if he wanted to move. I was dead center in front of the drums, but surprisingly, I could still hear well. Not much of Jim, but heard everyone else fine. Really energetic crowd, sold out. Ray sounded good, the whole band does. They are just incredibly tight live. Probably, other than Dream Theater, the absolute tightest live band out there.
I left after Fates, fighting to get out the door. The place was JAMMED. Picked up a few Fates shirts before they ran out (those of you attending in Portland tonight and Seattle the next night, get to the merch booth early).
Saturday they played Sacramento. Took the fam to the soundcheck and meet and greet. All the guys were in good spirits, and spent a lot of time with the pre-show crowd. There were probably 10 of us. The highlight? Frank Aresti was there! Earlier that day, not even knowing Frank was going to be there, I had brought a gig poster and a setlist from the last time Frank played with this lineup, which was in Dec. 2013, at DNA Lounge in SF. Frank showed up then for the meet and greet, and we got a picture, and Frank guested on "Still Remains." So, I had all that stuff (minus the photo) with me, and had the entire band, plus Frank sign it. Crazy good fortune. Most of those in the meet and greet, had no idea who he was. But myself and a couple of other diehards did. We gave him his space, and then caught him before we left. He took in the show as well. Fates also played Monument in soundcheck, which they did not play at the show itself.
As for the show, Fates played the same gig as SF, except they swapped out Falling Further for Firefly. 10 songs, about an hour. The crowd was pretty receptive to Fates. Again, it was a Queensryche crowd, and you'd think if you knew Queensryche, you'd know Fates. But I'd say the crowd was firmly 85-15 in favor of QR (as it should be, since it was their headline tour). Fates played killer. As I walked out at the end of Fates' set, I heard a ton of people saying how Fates Warning sounded AMAZING. I agree. They really played a stellar show.
Off day on Sunday, then it was up to Redding, Calif., last night for a headline show. Fates played this tiny bar called The Dip. The stage was no taller than maybe two steps up, and it was minuscule. They halved the amount of cabinets they had been using. It was pretty intimate. I had the day off, so I got up there about 4, walked in, had a beer and met up with the same Utah friends that had been doing this three-show run with me. They had these nice 10x13 gig posters (on heavier stock) printed up, and the bar tender gave them to us to have signed. Good soundcheck, and meet and greet was great, as it always is. Those guys are super nice, and generous with their time. The opening band bailed, so doors were 8, show at 9:15. Fates finished at 10:45 or 10:50. 16-song headline set had a couple of nice additions. APSOG Pt. VI, Falling Further, Acquiescence, and Monument.
I am sure most of us have had experiences at a local bar where a cover band plays, and you are right there within arm's reach. It was pretty incredible to have this caliber of a band in the same basic configuration. I have pictures (TAC, I'll get a few to you once I see you've read this), but I was right between Jim and Ray, and had Jim's guitar in my face the whole night. I had been taking a few videos each night, but it was almost impossible. LOL. I did get some great vertical photos though. Good enough in terms of poses and clarity that I will probably print out a few 8x10s, and have them signed the next time they roll through I have this great picture of just me with the band playing From the Rooftops in soundcheck. Its me and they are behind me. Just an incredible shot. ha ha.
The crowd was really small (max capacity of this place was 150, and they were, I'd say less than half full), but they were into it. You could hear them really well during the Eleventh Hour. It was just an incredible time to see such a great band in a tiny place. It was like Fates Warning in my house. They played it like it was an arena, and we really appreciated them going the full distance.
Overall, EXTREMELY impressed with Fates yet again. Three shows in four nights for me. I'm exhausted but it was worth it. Have fun to those of you going to Portland and Seattle. Make sure you get there early for some Fates. They are really on fire. New album next year too!!