AMON AMARTH/ CANNIBAL CORPSE/ OBITUARY

The Honda Center is a nice little hockey stadium, home of the Anaheim [nee Mighty] Ducks, which holds about 18.5k - which was pretty much capacity for this big event. Opening day in 1994 was a concert by Barry Manilow in 1993 - and this was a LONG way from that!

It was rad to see such a big metal crowd turnout in my old stomping grounds [grew up about 10 miles South off Harbor Blvd]. Orange County gets a lot of shit for, well, being not Los Angeles, but having grown up there, I will attest the metal scene was every bit as vital and even harder-edged down there. I mean, over half of the 'big 4' of thrash musicians hail from the area.

And now here I was again; rolling up to the big show with my friends, having driven out about 120 miles, and then the rest of the way in my friend's car, which meant party time on the freeway for me and another fellow traveler - just like the old days! As is usual at big concerts, especially heavy music shows, many other folks on the walk-up from the convenient side-lot seemed to have pre-gamed themselves as well; a lot of scene lifers - which is about right for a lineup like this!

Due to heavy traffic on the I-5[!], we only witnessed about a minute of the set-closer for the opening band, FROZEN SOUL. The place was still filling up, but mostly full - and looked like we were second terrace to the side and back, diagonal to stage right - nobody was standing, but there was a nice round of applause. In fact, it was kind of weird; the whole stadium didn't stand until the headliners. I ended up standing for CANNIBAL CORPSE about halfway through their set, but I digress...

I was actually most excited to see OBITUARY again after many years, because they've always been my favorite long-running-old-school DM stalwarts. OBITUARY, to me, is what it sounds like when you drink a case of beer with your friends and watch gory horror rentals, then write songs about that while drinking more beer at rehearsal the next day. Sure, that's death metal in general - but especially OBITUARY.

So even though there were few people standing in the seating area [the floor was packed the whole night], everyone was rockin' out, as one does at a big rock show, when I realized; many times I'll just solo it to a show, or even if I'm with friends I'll finagle my way down into the pit area, or center stage, or at least by the soundboard - but I was so stoned already when we got there, I just kind of settled in with my friends, banging my head like I do, but sitting, haha!

Anyway, OBITUARYfucking slayed all of it. I mean, I've been following these dudes forever, and knew it couldn't suck and be disappointing - but they. Fucking. Slayed. All of it! [I didn't take many photos because I was just furiously headbanging the whole show - especially OBITUARY [and CANNIBAL CORPSE]. It was rad as fuck.]

By the opening salvo from CANNIBAL CORPSE, the place was PACKED. Now folks were standing here and there up in the seats, so of course my friends and I are too at this point. One of my friends was less-familiar with CC and was basically astounded by Corpsgrinder Fisher's syncopated headbanging prowess, which is always a sight to behold. They were also the most technically proficient band of the lineup too. I mean they are machine tight, with really challenging riffs and rhythms. No wonder all the other bands seemed to be on top of their game too.

And speaking of which, the headliners – AMON AMARTH - Sweden's blackened melo-death Viking metallers made a huge impression on me as well. Only the most casual of fan prior to the show, I'm a proper fan now - though from what I understand the set was kind of a 'choicest cuts' setlist from their lengthy career. Hope they do a live album from this tour, because it could be their “Unleashed In The East”, or “Live After Death”.

Speaking of MAIDEN - I haven't seen a spectacular stage production as cool and heavy as AMON AMARTH's setup since the olden tymes of metal, as with the World Slavery Tour with the giant mummy Eddies. I actually did take a few snapshots for their show because it was so spectacular. Their theme was Vikings, naturally, with costumed sword-fights and dragons.

Killer show \m/