First off, I took some pictures during this concert...you can see 'em in the pics section. As you can tell, I was pretty damn close....and I was by myself, cause my friend decided to dick me over and leave me with an extra ticket so I paid double for this concert...but at least I didn't have to worry about going where someone else wanted to and I didn't...fuck no, I was gonna get up in there and mix shit up.

The first band up was Dope...who damn near no one had heard of. The first thing that came to mind when they started was damn they remind me of real early NIN. They had the raw metal/industrial sound going, and the lead singer looked alot like Trent did back in the day. At first I was kind of disappointed....but as they kept playing, the crowd was getting more into it and they just kept getting stronger and stronger. I even got a little moshing going, which I usually reserve for later in the show...can't be wasting my energy on the openers now can I? Anyway, they played the norm for an opener..about 30 minutes....and I was damn impressed.

Next was Static-X...I was so fucking pumped up to see these guys. They've got such a unique sound and it's great to jump off the walls to. They came out and played damn near their whole album...the few they didn't play were the slower ones. Gotta keep the crowd fucking into it. And that's one thing I noticed about them...there's no time to rest...after they finish one song, it's into the next....it's like bam bam bam coming at you...and you better not be in the pit area if you're not ready to get shoved around or else you're gonna get fucking trampled. I even got quite fucked up myself...there was this huge dude...like 6"6" 350 pounds jumping around not too far from me....and he eventually works his way over towards me, and as I'm facing towards the stage, not looking to my side...he shoves me and i go flying through some people, get the corner of a railing in the ribs, then fall backwards down some steps...god that hurt. But I'm not letting a cracked rib or two stop me from having a good time...fuck no...so I got back in there and ended up spraining an ankle and getting a couple elbows to the eye. But it was all worth it. I'd give anything to see Static-X again.

And lastly...Fear Factory. What can I say....they put on a typical, badass Fear Factory show. 5 or 6 songs from Obsolete, 4 or 5 from Demanufacture, and 2 from Soul of a New Machine...including Martyr which is one of the most moshable, intense, let-it-all-out-even-if-you-do-hurt-someone-or-yourself songs ever. It seems whenever I see them the opener steals the show. System of a Down stole it back in March and now Static-X steals it. Don't get me wrong, Fear Factory was awesome as hell. If Static-X was a 10, FF was a 9.5. And the only reason it isn't a 10 is because the crowd isn't as hyper because Static-X wore 'em out. Because I was worn out as well and battered to hell, I just stayed away from the pit, took some pictures and enjoyed the rest of the show. Rating: 10