Oh god, I love Protest the Hero. I love them so much, so very much, so when I found out they were touring I knew I had to go see them. I got my ticket in advance and everything, which is a bit of a rare thing for me to do. There was no way I was missing this show, even though I had class that conflicted with it. Well fuck class, I went to go see Protest the motherfucking Hero. However, I had to sit through many bands to experience their awesomeness. Was it worth it?
Well I'll tell you something right now, waiting in line for this show was arguably the most fun I've had waiting in line. I meet up with my friend Joe at about 6:30, and there's half an hour to kill, and I turn around and see a kid, probably no older than fifteen, puking his guts out on the sidewalk. Even better, his throw-up was neon red... nasty shit. So, for the next half hour myself and the others around me watched as people walked by, and every time they stepped in the vomit we would cheer uncontrollably. It was extremely fun. So fun, in fact, that once the line started moving I heard cries of "aww now we have to go to the show." We actually ran into the kid later and found out why he was throwing up. Apparently six percs and two blunts of hydro don't mix very well. Who knew?
The first band I had to sit through was a local band from Jersey called NoN-StoP! If the way they spelled their names and their ridiculous outfits (school uniforms) were a warning of anything, it was of their overly generic music. NoN-SToP! play a thrash that sounds a bit like crossover thrash. Hear them for yourselves here. Listening to them now I like them a lot more than I did when I saw them live. They just didn't have much stage presence and everyone was so psyched for Protest that no one really gave them much attention. They weren't super awful or anything (except for the horrendous backup vocals), and I would much rather of had them not play and have Protest play a longer set, but what can you do? They do get kudos for having a hot singer though.
Next up was Tesseract, who recently have been getting a lot of press do the success of their album One. What they were doing under Maylene and the Sons of Disaster I'll never know, but they put on a decent show. As I was telling my friend, Tesseract is one of those bands that relies so heavily on precise tonality and sound that their live shows will never be as great as their albums. Such was the case this night, as they were good, but their sound was a bit too muddy to stand up to their albums. During their set the dancers decided to show up though, they went absolutely nuts for those polyrhythm breakdowns. I decided not to take anyone's shit and was knocking em down left and right, but just when I felt I had made a dent in the number of dancers, Maylene and the Sons of the Disaster took the stage.
And the dancers went absolutely nuts. Holy shit, I've never seen so much hardcore dancing for a band that isn't even considered "core." These guys are straight southern metal, but whenever those drums slowed down arms and legs started to fly. I tried my best to knock as many of the dancers off-balance as I could, but what is one man against fifteen or twenty? I did get compliments on my work though, showing that people do want to rebel against these assholes, but oftentimes feel they are too outnumbered to do anything. Well that's what this website is for people. Anyways, Maylene put on an alright show, but I was too focused on taking out dancers to really appreciate it. My friend said it was ok, and I never really liked Maylene, so I'm assuming I didn't miss much.
Next up, after a brutally long sound check, was Protest the Hero, and man what a show did they put on. They started with "C'est La Vie" and played numerous songs off their new album including "Dunsel" and "Sex Tapes." I was up in the front headbanging and singing the words, so I didn't go in the pit much, but from what I saw it was a nice mix of dancers and those trying to take them out, so I was proud other people were doing my work for me. When I did go in the pit it was a blast though, and it was irresistible during songs like "Sequoia Throne" and "Bloodmeat."The band also played many songs off of their Kezia including "No Stars Over Bethlehem" and my personal favorite "Turn Soonest to the Sea." That song was the highlight of the show with everybody singing along to it, I'm glad to have experienced it. Overall Protest the Hero absolutely killed it and were full of energy, and it was totally worth sitting through the three other bands to see them. If you have a chance, check them out live immediately!
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