I wasn’t planning on going to the show last night. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, because I did. It was more, it was expensive and with a trip down to Des Moines tomorrow, a night off wasn’t going to kill me.
Then a friend decided to not go so he offered up his ticket. Add my FOMO (fear of missing out) and I quickly found myself rushing to the show after dinner.
Thank god I didn’t just sit at home all night just to pig out on frozen pizza and binge watch Grey’s Anatomy (don’t judge me!). Between The Buried and Me were mind numbingly amazing live and it would have been a shame if I had missed it.
Between The Buried and Me is extreme. They are not the heaviest band of all time. They aren’t the most technical band of all time. But they are one of the few bands that is able to find a balance between extremely heavy, very technical and, nothing short of, beautiful music all encompassed into one song. Take that one song times nine (they only played nine songs but their songs are super long and complex) and you have an amazing night of music.
The crowd wasn’t as excited as they should have been. There should have been people all over the place, crowd surfing, moshing, getting rowdy. There was a little pit that broke out but nothing too extraordinary. Honestly, it was a Monday night in Dinkytown with a Monday night crowd. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I think I was expecting more excitement.
Maybe the issue was that the tour package was a bit too bi-polar. Now, don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love bi-polar tours. I love having pop-punk and hardcore bands on the same bill. Those are the shows I live for. That being said, there are certain genres that do not mix. Last night would be an example of two genres that simply do not mesh.
Enslaved is a progressive death/black metal band from Norway. They are definitely talented, don’t get me wrong, but they are not my cup of tea and definitely not what majority of the crowd wanted to hear last night. Which, again, is a shame because they definitely aren’t the worst band ever and hell, they came all the way from Norway but regardless, they didn’t fit the bill and really did bring down the mood.
My personal opinion on this band is not the greatest. I respect them for what they do but I don’t like it. From the get go, I had negative feelings towards the band. They came out to drawn out intro music. I hate this. If you are not a headliner, do not slowly make your way onto stage with a track playing behind you. It makes you seem pretentious and I will hate you right away. My other rule that they broke? The guitarist came out with no shirt on. I ranted on this during my blog about the Cage The Elephant show (Check It Out Here). I know that is such a stupid thing to hate but oh well. It didn’t help that he had leather pants on (apparently this is a new pet peeve of mine?).
Majority of the crowd seemed uninterested and just stood there. Yeah, there were some fans that had their devil horns up and were hollering in between songs, but they were in the minority. The room seemed much more empty during Enslaved’s set compared to when BTBAM took the stage but such is life. BTBAM just has much more of a following than Enslaved and the bands didn’t mesh. BTBAM won.
Not only did they win by the size of the crowd, BTBAM won with the amount of energy and talent. From the second they took the stage, I was completely blown away. Yeah, I had heard of these guys before and knew what they were about but I never really got big into them. I couldn’t tell you names of songs or even albums. I could tell you, however, that these guys are super talented and their music really keeps you on your toes.
I didn’t know many people at the show last night so I stood against the wall towards the front and just took it all in. It’s amazing to be at a show that, although you don’t know much of the music, can make you drift off to another world. It’s not that I was daydreaming, more just that I lost touch with how my day had gone. I forgot that it was Thanksgiving week and I was about to be subjected to far too much family time later this week.
My phone died halfway through the show so I was no longer able to text anyone. It was just me, at a concert, surrounded by people I didn’t know who have been connected by music.
That means last night was perfect.
Line Up:
Venue: Varsity Theater
Average Age of Crowd- 25
Sausage Fest Meter- 15 out of 10
Crowd Surfers- None
Stage Divers- None
Broken Bones/ Injuries- 0
Found In The Pit- Spilled Drinks
“Celebrity Sightings”- D.J. from Buried Above Ground
Overall Score- 7 out of 10
Show on Deck- Hayden James/ Big Wild/ Odesza
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