Six Feet Under
Forest Hills Lodge
Machesney Park, IL 9/7/04
by Sgt Deth
I had been waiting for months since first hearing that Six Feet
Under would be coming to the Rockford, Illinois area to perform. I was fully
expecting them to cancel or for the local fuzz to keep them away. This
is such a conservative town that believes acts like SFU corrupt
the youth and cause traffic fatalities. Well folks, the show went on, and
to the best of my knowledge there were no traffic accidents associated
with the show. As far as our youth being corrupted, if anyone has
listened to SFU's lyrics, then they would know that they are against
the corruption that society brings us to.
Being the paranoid ("Victim of the Paranoid") person that I am, I
had to insist that the doorman check to see if Six Feet Under will actually
be playing there that night. He yelled over to the manager and the
manager confirmed that SFU was there for sure. Waves of happiness
flowed through my body. Finally I had accepted that I would get the chance to
see the Death Metal God himself: Chris Barnes. All doubt had went away
and I was glad to pay the $18 to get in.
The show really kicked into gear with the bonecrushing assault of
Kaos Rising. These guys are now frequent visitors to our fair city and
they throwdown with maximum destruction every time they play. Then
local heroes Man Made Man took the stage They put on a brutal show as usual.
You could tell they were pumped up about the arrival of Six Feet Under
and Sean told us so before they left the stage. I must add that they
are becoming very polished and are definately ready to move on to bigger
and better things.
Now I was ready for liquid refreshment, i.e. cold beer. I was
informed that I would have to pay $1 to have my I.D. checked and then
the pleasure of being tagged like an animal with a gay colored
wristband. I protested, but like the alcoholic that I am, I proceeded
to pay the $1 to be investigated and tagged. They still charge $4 for a
bottle of beer, so I don't know why the exorbitant prices don't yield
enough profits for them. I have to say that this is not my first
experience with how stingy the management at Forest Hills Lodge can be.
I am very glad they provide a venue here in this area for these cool
shows, but there is such a thing as harrassment and price gouging.
Then on comes New York's Internal Bleeding with another brutal
assault. Their set was short lived, but very intense. The singer looked
like he was having an aneurysm or something. Premonitions of War was
equally intense with another hard hitting singer. It is amazing those
guys can do that day after day, either in practice or on stage. It must
be hell on the throat. (I personally thought Premonitions stole the
show with one of the most intense performances I have ever witnessed!--Dr.
Mality)
Last band before SFU was Misery Signals. These guys had a different
look, kind of a grunge 90's style. They were all real skinny and feeble
looking. At first impression you wouldn't think they would be capable
of entertaining a bunch of drunk death-metalheads. They proved me wrong as
they put on an innovative, growling, death metal show. As you can see
by my picture, the singer was dripping with sweat and really put his all
into it. These guys are obviously very talented professional musicians.
I am just shocked that they chose to play the music that they play. We
need more talent like that in death metal.
After much anticipation, Six Feet Under came out and pounded us all
deep into the ground with a variety of new and old favorites. Some of
the high points were: "Impulse to Disembowel", "Murdered in the
Basement", and "War is Coming"; all my personal favorites. Chris Barnes
had a look in his eye like he meant business. He was there to tear us
apart with his unique high pitched growl/screams. He didn't really say
much in between songs except after he played "Amerika the Brutal", he
made sure we all know to vote against Bush this coming November. I
watched the local fuzz's reactions after some of the political lyrics
were spouted off. I saw shudders, frowns, and even smiles from one
particular cop.
As you can see by the pictures, the whole band were wearing plain
old clothes and there were no fancy gimmicks for the show. It was
invigorating to see such a raw metal band just rely on their talent and
their fans love for the music. They didn't need any fancy lights or
pyrotechnics to get their point across. They didn't need to promote any
company names. They just played their little black hearts out. When it
came time for the encore, Chris said "one more", then he gave us three
more. I think he played over their alotted time a little. You could
tell he really loves his fans.
I would definitely go see SFU again any time I can in the future. It
is death metal like it should be played. Thanks to my wife Kathi for helping me take most of the
pictures in this article.
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