There were two reasons this concert was going to kick ass, and the reason why I was going. 1. I can never get enough of Soulfly live. They're in my top 5 of favorite bands to see live. 2. One of the openers was Chimaira, a local band that just signed to Roadrunner, so watch out for 'em. I had never heard much about them before, probably cause if they're local and not in the Mushroomhead circle of bands I don't have much interest in 'em, except for listening to their cd like twice, which did sound pretty good. Anyway, the previous two times I saw Soulfly, I wasn't able to get very close, so I made sure we got there early enough to get a spot right up front, which we did, right up against the barrier to the right of the stage. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures cause it was so damn rough there was no way in hell I was going to pull my digital camera out. Anyway, on to the show.

The first band up was Flybanger. Yeah, I had no idea who they were either, but damn was I impressed. I later realized I had heard them before, one of their songs, I forget the name of it, gets a little bit of airplay on the radio. I guess I should explain what they sounded like....take Ultraspank, really melodic metal, alot of harmonizing and shit, and lighten it up with a little Creed style rock thrown in and you've got Flybanger. Sadly though, the crowd didn't seem to like them near as much as we did.

Next was Chimaira. When they came out, damn did they get one hell of a reaction...it seemed everyone was there to see them...there was even one guy I was talking to that said he drove all the way from Indiana to see them. Let's see, what do they sound like....basic hardcore metal with a little bit of sampling thrown in. Personally, I didn't think they were that great...not near as good as I thought they would be...but everyone else was going fucking crazy for 'em. And I gotta give the lead singer credit, he sure takes his shows seriously....he damn near went after a security guard for pushing one of the fans out of the way, he made another security guard move out of the way cause he was right in the middle of the stage so he was between the crowd and the lead singer. And he jumped into the crowd at least half a dozen times. Unfortunately though, that's the only thing I give 'em credit for...and sadly, they'll probably make it big. Next.

Hatebreed. Ugh. I saw these guys back on Tattoo The Earth and was not impressed...but that's my general feeling towards hardcore...bleh. The only thing impressive was the pit, and I was right down in front this time so I figured I was in for a beating. Quite frankly, I don't remember shit about their set cause I was off in my own little world....Hatebreed and hardcore in general is just so boring and unoriginal...there's more to music than just being heavy and intense.

Finally, Soulfly. This was my third time seeing them and I still can't get enough of them live. It's just so damn fun and Max is always so into it, his love and enthusiasm for the music spreads throughout the whole room. Being that this was the first time seeing them from the front row, I thought it'd be the best one yet. Unfortunately, it wasn't. It was a very close second though. Now the reasons why. 1. I had a bruise across my chest for a week from being crushed against the barrier during their entire set. I like to enjoy the show, not worrying about trying to breathe. 2. Because of the amount of guest vocalists on alot of the songs, they either can't do them live, or have someone from the other bands do it. Which they did last time I saw them, it was fucking badass. But this time they didn't have anyone from the o. They played Bleed, but just had the bassist, Marcelo do Fred Durst's parts. They did do Territory, but Max just did both his and Tom Araya's parts. And unfortunately, they didn't even do Pain, probably my favorite song of theirs. Although it's not like the concert sucked, they did play all of their best songs...No, Boom, Quilombo, The Prophet, Bleed, Eye For An Eye, Bring It, Back To The Primitive, Fire, etc. They even did a few Sepultura songs, there's nothing like screaming to Roots Bloody Roots at the top of your lungs. I'm still waiting for them to play Jumpdafuckup all the way through...both times now they've played the chorus of it, then broke into Bleed. I think I would blow a load in my pants if Slipknot and Soulfly ever toured together and Corey came out to do his part...ungh. How to rate this one...hmm...Soulfly's performance, a 10, but since two of the first three bands were below average, it's getting a 9.