Ah yes, another Mushroomhead show. This was the annual Halloween show, which I've always heard is a site to see, but this was going to be my first one. Anyway, when we got there we got our spot on the right side of the floor area against the wall. The one thing that sucked about this show was it was supposed to start at 8:00, yet the first band didn't go on till 9:30. There's no fucking reason for that, you either advertise it as starting at 9:30 or you start on time. But anyway, on to that first band.

Which was a local band called Cold Hand of Christ, this was actually my third time seeing them. They kinda sound like Vision of Disorder mixed with a little Fear Factory or Pantera. As soon as the lights went down, the South Park theme song came on, and three of the band members came out dressed as Cartman, Kenny, and Stan. The song stops, and they start playing Chef's "Salty Chocolate Balls" song...and the lead singer comes out dressed up like Chef and sings it while tossing his salty chocolate balls out into the crowd. It was quite a sight I tell ya. And they just released a new album, which I bought at the show, so it was nice to hear some new songs. They played for about 40 minutes then it was time for Runt.

I'd have to say if it wasn't for Mushroomhead, Runt would probably be the major local band here in Cleveland. Well, either them or NDE, but whatever. The fans go fucking psycho for 'em. They're just straight-forward ballsy metal along the lines of Pantera...except with maybe a little rapping mixed in. The only bad thing about their set were the stoned assholes in front of us that thought they were in the pit, but were too chickenshit to go into the pit so they pushed each other around over on the side where people who didn't wanna mosh were standing. I was getting quite pissed and was seriously thinking about going off on their asses, but then someone else told them to calm the fuck down. Fucking idiots. Anyway, Runt kicked ass for about 40 minutes...just like always.

We decided to get out of the floor area, I wanted to watch the band, not get fucked up, because during MRH, the whole floor area gets rowdy as fuck. And besides, I had my new expensive digital camera on me. And since we weren't gonna find any seats, we just grabbed a spot with a nice view along the wall. I've said it in all my other MRH reviews, but my god, when those lights go out and the Muppets theme song comes on, the energy is fucking spine-tingling. And then when the big white curtain drops, the place just fucking explodes and doesn't quit for the next hour. I was just entranced during that time...it seemed like 15 minutes, not an hour..and it always does, that's how much fun it is seeing them live. And they played all their songs that just rip shit up like Born of Desire, Before I Die, and Bwomp...and all the slower, beautiful songs like Never Let It Go, The Final Act, and my personal favorite, Solitaire/Unraveling. And not to mention all the other songs I can't even remember, that's how mesmerized I get when I see them live. During the last two songs, Simpleton and Born of Desire, they had a bunch of scantily clad chicks from backstage and in the crowd come onstage and dance, which was rather interesting....15 girls dancing with 8 band members on a rather small stage....and not to mention the one that stripped..but then they grabbed her off stage dammit. One thing that I love about Mushroomhead shows is the feeling of togetherness in the place...it's not like a concert, it's like it's just one big party...everyone knows each other and there's no fighting or overviolent pits or anything like that...I fucking love it. Anyway, Mushroomhead was simply amazing as usual, and the opening bands ripped shit up. Rating: 10