Just as my writing focus shifted away from thrifting, I’ve lost some interest in long-form nonfiction narration under the guise of concert reviews. They’ll still happen occasionally. Over the past month, I’ve written little more than thinking up an introduction to a hypothetical Metallica review: “Without exaggeration, I’ve listened to Symphony and Metallica while writing over 50% of the material I’ve uploaded here. Did they disappoint?” So let’s briefly cover this backlogged batch of 5 concert reviews.
Average Rating: ★★★☆☆ [3/5] [53 stars out of a 100 possible star rating]
Adjusted Rating: ★★★★☆ [4/5] [some excellence]
Аркона [Arkona] at Studio Seven
Anthrocene (“Local Opener #1”)
Vigorous energy surpassed average music. Saw again, was less impressed.
Bias: No preconceived notions
Rating: ★★★☆☆ [3/5]
Blood & Thunder (“Local Opener #2”)
3 months later, I recall nothing of this about average band.
Bias: No preconceived notions
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ [2/5]
Graveshadow and Mindmaze
Both were acceptable as filler bands getting the audience hyped.
Biases: No preconceived notions
Rating: ★★★☆☆ [3/5], ★★★☆☆ [3/5]
Sirenia
Nothing memorable or offensive about this decent symphonic metal band.
Bias: No preconceived notions
Rating: ★★★☆☆ [3/5]
Аркона [Arkona]
High energy folk meeting death metal. Slightly uninviting, if uninitiated.
Bias: 3rd awesome concert
Rating: ★★★★☆ [4/5]
Gojira
Only heard them from outside. Audience consensus: not too bad.
Bias: Saw once before
Rating: ★★★☆☆ [3/5]
Avenged Sevenfold
Enjoyed them. Would see them again and heard more music.
Bias: Heard some albums
Rating: ★★★★☆ [4/5]
Mix Master Mike
Terrible-mixed!
Bias: Hip hop’s cool
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ [0/5]
Metallica
5-star potential. Minor slip-ups during “One” and lackluster newer songs.
Bias: Fan for decades
Rating: ★★★★☆ [4/5]
Clutch
Without question the best rock and roll band working today.
Bias: Seen thrice before
Rating: ★★★★★ [5/5]
Primus
Rudimentary jazz with some rock elements. They need tighter songs.
Bias: Dig studio songs
Rating: ★★★☆☆ [3/5]
Dropkick at Wamu
This venue suffers from muffled “cupping the mic” acoustics
Kevin Seconds
Awkward activist ranting bluntly about boring topics between acceptable pop.
Bias: Dislike political singer-songwriters
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ [0/5]
The Selecter
Fun performance, decent music. Their cover songs were too cluttered.
Bias: No preconceived notions
Rating: ★★★☆☆ [3/5]
Dropkick Murphys
Fun punk rock augmented by almost overwhelming visually-stimulating light show.
Bias: Seen once before
Rating: ★★★☆☆ [3/5]
Rancid
No fancy light show. Less catchy. Just raw punk rock.
Bias: Dig some albums
Rating: ★★★☆☆ [3/5]
The encore collaboration, I jokingly called Dropkick Rancids, was fun.
The Drowns
Decent punk rock, just not enough energy to hold attention.
Bias: No preconceived notions
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ [2/5]
The Botherations
Acceptable punk rock, just wasn’t interesting enough either. Needed more.
Bias: No preconceived notions
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ [2/5]
Western Settings
Above that curve. Still about average fun for punk rock.
Bias: No preconceived notions
Rating: ★★★☆☆ [3/5]
Swingin’ Utters
Thought they’d sound more like a cowpunk band. Still good.
Bias: Dig some albums
Rating: ★★★☆☆ [3/5]
I enjoyed this brief reviewing format much more than the usual full narratives of each evening’s festivities. There was too much analysis required for those reviews. Unless a show grabs my attention in a particular way, I’ll continue on with this concert reviewing format, uploading after 20 bands or so?
Swag: Shirts, no CDs…?