Christ I was so looking forward to this show...even though if you read my review of the last time I saw them (opening for Rammstein in 99), I didn't think they were all that great, but over the past year or so I've grown to really love Soulfly, and especially with the excitement of their recent new album, which kicks ass, I realized how much they did kick ass back then. So basically, I was damn near pissing my pants waiting for this concert.

We grabbed our seats about a dozen rows back, about 100 feet away from the stage. We had great timing cause not 10 minutes after we sat down, Slaves on Dope came on. I kinda wish they hadn't...talk about not being very good. They sounded alot like Papa Roach, but worse...which is pretty sad when you think about it. It was kinda funny watching him try to get a reaction out of the crowd when only like 50 people in the place actually gave a damn.

Next up was Primer 55. I was kind of looking forward to seeing these guys cause their cd, Introduction to Mayhem, is actually really good. Boy was I disappointed. I didn't even recognize any of the songs, except Loose which is the best song on the cd......and I listen to the damn cd pretty often. There's nothing worse than seeing a band you like live, and then not being able to get into the songs cause you don't even know which fucking song it is. Definitely not a good performance.

Downset was the next band due up. I had never heard them before, but I heard they were actually pretty good. They definitely weren't bad...although they did seem to be the typical new rap-metal type of band....in fact they sounded alot like a combination of the first two bands. The best thing about them was laughing at the bassist's facial expressions...talk about entertainment...by the way, his new name is now Orgasm Guy. Luckily they didn't play very long....though I'm not saying that because they sucked, which they didn't, but just because I couldn't fucking wait for Soulfly.

There was no way in hell I was gonna stay back there in the seats for Soulfly....so we went down to the floor...I needed to fucking get into the music...and boy did I. As soon as they came out, they started the introduction of Back To The Primitive...and it slowly built up till all hell broke loose when the song got into the heavy part...with everyone singing along "BACK TO THE PRIMITIVE! FUCK ALL YOUR POLITICS!" I was in fucking heaven. And it only got better. They played all the songs that rip shit up....Quilombo, No, Bleed, Bring It, Pain, Terrorist, Boom, Fire, Umbabarauma. They even played part of Jumpdafuckup. Max yells "ARE YOU READY TO JUMP DA FUCK UP?!" The crowd goes psycho and they jump into the chorus of Jumpdafuckup, and then immediately went into Bring It. They even played Roots Bloody Roots, a classic Sepultura song....I think I may have shortened the life of my vocal chords by a year or two while screaming "ROOOOTS BLOOODY ROOOOOOTS!" Probably the most amazing part of the night was when they played Umbabarauma, a couple minutes into the song, everybody goes backstage except the drummer who's doing a cool groovy little solo....then all 3 of the band members come back out, along with 2 or 3 other guys (roadies?), all with tribal type drums, and they all go fucking nuts on this drum piece....I was just in awe, it was so damn cool....6 guys up there banging on drums...you wouldn't think it'd have any coherency at all, but it was amazingly tight yet at the same time fast and really heavy. I can't even explain it, it's something you have to see for yourself. You'd think with all the guest vocalists Soulfly tends to have, they wouldn't play those songs live....fuck that, that's what the opening bands are for. J-Sin from Primer came out to do Fred Durst's part in Bleed. The guy from Downset, I forget his name, did Tom Araya's part in Terrorist...very well might I add. And then at the end of the show, they went offstage, but of course the Soulfly chants started and a couple minutes later they came back out for an encore. I was hoping it'd be Eye For An Eye, but hey, what they did do was just as badass. Soulfly, plus two other guys, all in ski masks, came out and broke into...Pain. What an ending to the night, the energy that was going through that place, both onstage and in the crowd was fucking insane. It turns out the other two guys were the guy from Slaves on Dope, doing Grady Avenell's part, and J-Sin from Primer doing Chino's part. After that song was over and they turned on the lights, I had to stop and breathe...I was in shock over how amazing Soulfly was. And not to mention exhausted...both mentally and physically. My body ached all over the next day, and I didn't even go into the pit. I'm tempted to give this show a 10, but since the first 3 bands weren't all that great, it's only getting.... Rating: 9