So, Iain and I went to the Hottest Chicks in Metal show last night in Grand Rapids, MI, where somewhere around 700 packed into The Intersection to catch a glimpse of said “hot chicks”. Interesting group, this crowd was. Almost equally male to female, with ages ranging from pre-teen to somewhere around grandfather range, you could see on many faces that they had no idea what to expect. Little did I know that I really had no idea what to expect either.
Stolen Babies
First up for the night, LA’s Stolen Babies seems to be equal parts Mr. Buggle, Oingo Boingo, and a Tim Burton gothic wet dream. Lead singer Dominique, dressed like a gothic girl clown doll, strapped up an accordion, and you could actually feel the crowd go “WTF??” But their infectious gothic metal dance grove soon had the crowd nodding and bouncing along. The instrumentation was a tad odd, with the keyboard player banging on a 55 gal. steel barrel and other metal objects, and the bass player occasionally shifting to upright, but the drummer was straight up outstanding. While way out of the ordinary for a supposed metal show, their stage presence was entertaining and a couple of the songs kinda got under my skin. Check some of them out on their myspace, especially “Push Button”. Oh, and yeah…..Dominique does qualify as a hot chick in an odd, gothic sort of way.
In This Moment
Second on the bill was the new pride of the RMM forums, In This Moment. I think that a simple “Hell Yeah!!!!” could properly suffice as they were outstanding. From the opening song right to the end, they had the crowd jumping, moshing, and headbanging along to their exceptional brand of metalcore. If you have heard their CD, then you know their songs are great. But the CD does nothing to show you the power and presence that they have live. Maria is amazing to watch, and her vocal work was spot on. The entire band was way into the show and exhibited the most energy of any band this evening. Kudos to the band for putting on the best set of the night, and I look forward to hearing them do a full show instead of their allotted 25-30 minutes.
The Gathering
The bill was “The Hottest Chicks in Metal”, right? The Gathering’s singer, Anneke, could be considered a hot chick, but metal?? Nope, no way, no how. Let me back up a bit. I guess it could be fair to say that this band pissed me off before they hit the stage. You see, I am a former sound man and roadie, so set changes set the tone for me. This band took 20 minutes to set up after ITM was off the stage, and considering that all the opening acts shared their backline (except for amps) and drums (except for cymbals), that kind of time is inexcusable. Add to that, they took an additional 10 minutes after they finished setting up for who knows what. Just an empty stage while we all were standing there. When they finally came out, they looked like college kids that just walked over from their coffee shop. No effort at all in putting on a good show or looking decent. The music? How to you describe crap? Maybe a little bit alternative, electronic, and some emo would cover it. Very simplistic, and it almost seemed to me that the band members were struggling with music that a 6th grader could play. And don’t get me started on Anneke and her Axl Rose snake dance that she did probably 50 times. I got so fed up with it; I left and sat in the lounge until Lacuna Coil came out, which cost me about 20 feet farther from the stage when picture taking time came around. Arrgh!
Lacuna Coil
This was the band that everyone came to see, plain and simple. Lacuna Coil tees were in abundance and most of the pre-show chatter centered around them. On their second trip to GR, Christina and gang certainly had the crowd from the opening sounds of their sequencers right up to the final notes. For most in the crowd, the show was excellent. I, on the other hand, was quite disappointed in finally seeing a band that I have wanted to see for over two years. Were the songs well played and performed? Yes they were. Did they play their big hits? Yes they did. Did they mix in some of their older material from the first two albums? Yes, to that as well. So what was wrong? Well, I am somewhat of a live music purist. I want to see the band perform their music to the best of their abilities without the use of a ton of gadgets and gimmicks. To my ear, almost half of the music that came through the speakers last night came from computer samples and tracks. Strike one. Couple that with the lack of interest in showmanship from the two guitarists and bass player and that is strike two. Strike three is actually not LC’s fault, but the lighting was terrible, with almost no use of the front spots, and by this point the club was so filled with smoke that it looked like watching them through LA afternoon haze. Almost the entire set was backlit and rarely could you even make out any details to any of their faces. Plus, as was the case most of the night, the sound mix was quite poor. From the amount of music that is pre-recorded and the lack of interest by the musicians, I can see LC soon being a two person operation with simply recorded background music. And while I have 3 Lacuna Coil CD’s, it really wasn’t until last night watching the show did I fully appreciate how many songs sound so similar, and how much their music falls directly into the nu-metal fold. Not that this is a bad thing, but it just didn’t hit me before. Lacuna Coil is all about the songs and the singers, and that was painfully clear last night. But I found them to be a band that is much better appreciated in the recorded form, rather than live.
