Last night I went to the Blender Theater at Gramercy for a concert that ended up being a fucking joke. I got there as Divine Heresy was playing and I liked their sound and energy. But, when Terror came on…fuck that shit. Lame, immature, self-absorbed bullshit. They had some good moments, but the whole mentality of their music and personality is like being at an all-ages hardcore show when I was fifteen. I’ve moved on from that lame “Oh I’m so downtrodden, such an underdog. Everything’s a struggle” shit, why can’t they? They’re just as old as I am.

Mainly, I came for Kataklysm. I’d really liked their album, “In the Arms of Devastation“. I figured it would be some super crazy shit, but I have to say I was disappointed. In one sense, they played pretty much all the songs I wanted to hear and played them well, but the sound was flat. It kind of seemed liked they were air-guitaring over their music being piped through speakers - which they totally weren’t, but that’s what I mean by flat sounding. The other thing was their presence, or lack of. They’re kind of boring. Their albums have some really killer riffs and I’d hoped they’d really put some fucking intensity into them, since they were playing live, but they didn’t. They just kinda did their thing. They’re a great band, but I think I’ll pass on seeing them live again.

Before I get to Chimaira, let’s talk about the crowd at the show, the venue and the security that works there. Most everyone there were all right by me. I paid for a ticket, so what I want to do is stand there, drink my overpriced beer and see a fucking performance. I don’t want to be bothered by some over-dramatic douchebags and I certainly don’t want to bother anyone else.

In the crowd though, were an unhealthy amount of shitheads, with three or four total fucking retarded assholes. I don’t mind moshpits. Personally, I think they’re weak and retarded, but whatever…to each is own. As long as nobody bumps into me, tips my beer, knocks my camera or makes me move from my hard-earned spot up front, near the band. Follow those few rules and I don’t give a flying shit what the fuck you do. You wanna prance around like a poser, flinging your fists, letting everyone know what pseudo-homoerotic-alpha-male retard you are…hey, knock yourself out. You go, girl!

But, no. Some people just couldn’t fucking keep it together. They had to let everyone know just how big and hardcore their balls really were. I saw asswipes throwing themselves into groups of people watching the show, swinging fists and basically committing assault. I saw people catch errant punches to the face as they walked from point A to B. I had people throwing themselves into me and at one point I was spending more time dousing idiots with my beer than drinking it. I saw two big fights and at one point when I went down to the men’s room to take a leak, some guy was in there, bleeding all over the sinks from a gash in his head, received from some random asshole he never even got a look at.

And where was security in this? Pretty much every venue I’ve been to in New York has a fucking clue that if you let dicks behave that way, someone gets hurt and someone ends up suing the club. All it takes is for some teenager’s mom to see her kid come home with a busted nose for no good reason. I saw so many clear-cut cases of assault last night it was ridiculous. Security hardly made an effort. A couple times, when some dip-fuck really crossed the line, they escorted him out, but five minutes later, the dude would be back, causing more trouble. It was pathetic.

So Chimaira…How were they? I’ve no fucking idea. As they were getting on stage, a fire alarm went off. I don’t know the circumstances of why it did, but the band left the stage amid chants of “Bullshit…Bullshit!!!” and “This Place Sucks!!!“. One member came out and told the crowd that the fire dept. wouldn’t let them play until things were sorted out. At that point, I decided to just fuck it and leave. I’m not waiting around for a club to get it’s shit together after an evening of proof that they totally don’t.

Anyway, I took a bunch of photos. You can see them here.

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