Congregation of the Damned Tour
Cabooze – Minneapolis, MN
11/19/2010
Marcus and I have been wanting to take a road trip to Minnesota to visit our friend Robby for the past several years. It just so happens that we were able to do it on a weekend that there was an Atreyu concert! Boom. Totally worth the 9 hour drive!!
The History:
Atreyu has been a favorite of mine for a long time. Their albums have all been really solid, and I like the energy that comes through their music. Embarrassingly, another reason I love the band is that their drummer is a primary singer in the band. Since singing and drumming are two passions of mine (even though I’m not a drummer, and I’m a mediocre singer at best), it draws particular interest to this band for me. Their drummer, Brandon Saller, is really quite good at both vocals and drums (more about that later). In addition, I love that the band has incredibly diverse music, and has songs that are very hard and fast hitting, as well as slower, more melodic hard rock songs. It’s refreshing to me when a band can be more than one dimensional, as so many are today. (I like to call that Nickleback syndrome).
Unfortunately, the first several times I saw Atreyu live, they were kind of a disaster. Back in the 2006-2007 timeframe, Atreyu wasn’t very big yet, and mostly played early at festivals on side stages.
They had a solid set list, but for some reason just couldn’t pull of the songs live. A primary problem was that the aforementioned drummer just physically couldn’t keep up with playing the drums and singing at the same time. You can’t really blame the guy….anyone who knows anything about either knows that they are both physically exhausting. In addition, the “vocalist” (who I will refer to from now on as the screamer) was quite mediocre. They just had a very raw, unpolished sound that didnt harmonize at all, and was a disappointing contrast to their albums that came out that were extremely well put together (props to the producer and engineers on their first albums!).
I continued to follow them, even though their live frustrations were sort of a pet peeve of mine, because the albums they came out with were just so freaking good. (Lead Sails Paper Anchor in 2007 and then Congregation of the Damned last year). I caught them again in the summer of 2010 at the Mayhem Festival, headlining the side stage, and was thrilled when they absolutely blew me away. I remember thinking halfway through the show “They figured it out!” It was awesome. Totally different show, completely polished, and sounding great. I remember someone I was with saying “I thought you said Atreyu sucked live? They were awesome!!”
Later I would realize that they did some serious reconfiguring of the vocals, to take some of the burden of the singing off of the drummer, and let the bassist (who has red dreads and is awesome) and lead guitarist sing some more, Brandon focus more on the drums, and the screamer, well, scream. It is a quite creative way to alter the songs to allow them to be successful live. And it worked.
Regardless, I was very excited to get to see them again, in a small venue, where they were headlining and had their own light show and audio set up.
The Venue:
The Cabooze is a small bar on the outer banks of the University of Minnesota. (Its near train tracks….so Caboose + alcohol = caboooooze…..get it?) When I walked in I was annoyed for two reasons. One: We found out that the show started extremely early, and the sets moved very fast, and Atreyu, the headliner, was playing from 8:20-9:30 and then the show was over. Super dumb. Apparently it had something to do with being an All Ages show and the curfew for the kids…..but still dumb. Two: It was a cash only bar, meaning we had to get cash out to buy drinks. Super dumb x 2.
But, as we made our push and settled in, the venue was actually really cool. The bar and stage were in series, meaning the bar was first and on the side of the stage. We found (read: made) a spot at the bar that was pretty freaking close to the stage, at the bar where we could enjoy some delicious PBR’s (on special for $2.50, my stomach was pumped) and still be close to the action. It ended up being a great sounding show as well.
The Show:
As Atreyu came out, I was hoping they would open the show with Bleeding Mascara, as they so often have before. Since that’s my favorite song, I was bummed at first when they came out of the gate with Congregation of the Damned. However, after hearing the title track off their latest album live, I feel like it might sit much better at the opening spot.
As their show went on, they did a great job of mixing in old and new stuff, and I found myself having to think about which album each song was from. That is a testament to their consistency over the years. It was a different type of show than I have seen them play before, as they focused more on their harder music (Lip Gloss and Black and The Crimson). In previous shows, where they were playing opening shows and trying to gain fans and popularity, they played much more of their poppy stuff (like Blow and Falling Down). I love those songs as well, but I feel like Atreyu is a hard metal band at heart (confirmed by the fact that ALL of their early music is very hard), and that’s what they are best at. Now that they were headlining their own show, and they have the fan base to support playing whatever they what, I feel like they reverted back to what they really like playing.
Moving along, Alex, their “vocalist” (who actually is the lyricist and does all the screaming and crowd engagement stuff), was much improved now that his role focused on the screams, and his shirt actually lasted for THREE songs this time! I was impressed by that. In all seriousness, he is a great screamer and band front man, even after factoring in the occasional moment of awkwardness watching him stand there during harmony parts when the drummer and bassist are singing and hes kind of doing nothing.
Speaking of the bassist, I’ve got to give him props for his full-body head bang…it’s quite impressive. Rather than bend at the neck, or even the shoulders, he does a full body waist bang that is quite epic. I’ve seen a lot of head bang in my day, but it’s impressive. Also, two random facts for you: First, the rhythm guitarist looks like my friend Niles. Second, I can’t back this up, but if I had to guess, the average height of the musicians in Atreyu is roughly 5’4″. They are just small people.
Overall, the show was really really good, and I had a great time. Another A performance by Atreyu.
The After Party:
We headed to the attached “Over 21” bar connected to the venue after the show ended at 9:30, and spend a majority of the evening eating popcorn, drinking whiskey with a homeless guy, and playing big buck hunter. Marcus was on fire. I sort of felt bad for the Elk.
Another great concert experience.
Cheers!
“Give till there’s nothing left, value in every breath. You need to realize that Bleeding is a Luxury”