Concert Review: Sno-Core 2005 3/6/05 - Page 2

Next up was Future Leaders of the World, and the bad mix problems continued. Again the guitars were up way to high, virtually drowning out the rest of the band, which was probably for the best. This was another band that I knew nothing about, and the live performance did not do much to win me over as a fan. They came across as some sort of mainstreamed nu-metal, mixing pop rock and rap metal into what sounded like a mess. There were a couple of decent guitar riffs, but not much else. The drums and bass were rather generic, what I could hear anyway. The singer,had some sort of variation on the look of Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum, couldn't really sing or rap or scream, so that put a damper on things as well. The one thing that the music did do well was get the crowd going, lots of shoving and thrashing involved.

Now was the time for the crowd to really come alive, the band that received the biggest cheer was about to hit the stage. At 8:00 Crossfade stormed the stage to an absolute roar from the crowd. Finally, the mix was finally on a more even level, I could actually hear all of the instruments. They owned the stage for the forty minutes they played. The most impressive act so far. They had a very good live sound, playing their singles, plus the other tracks off of their debut CD. They do a good job integrating a DJ into their sound, not to mention trading off vocal parts between 3 of the 4 band members. They reached the pinnacle of their performance with the song "Colors," which I believe was their first single. The crowd may have gotten rowdy early, but now they were reacting to the band on stage, singing along and really getting into the music for the first time of the night. Excellent performance, I foresee good things for this band, they have nowhere to go but up.

Last, but not least, the stage was getting set up for Chevelle. One I noticed that seemed a bit odd, was that the drum kit was set up over to my left, stage right, and slightly angled back towards the center of the theater, not a setup I believe I have seen before. They also brought their own lights, there were a number of pillars with lighting fixtures on top. It's been awhile since I've seen a band put on any type of lights show for their set. At 9:00 Chevelle took to the stage, to possibly the single biggest cheer of the night. They proceeded to put on a high energy hour long set. I have one of their CD's, the one with "The Red" on it, so I have heard some of their material before, but could not claim to know a lot about them. What I can attest to is that they have grown a lot since I saw them open for Stone Sour a couple of years ago. They kept the momentum going, playing a great mix of music and just flat out playing their heart out, leaving it all on the stage. The light show was also great, adding another level to an already excellent show.

Article Author: Chris Beaumont

Christopher Beaumont spends much of his time writing about music and movies when he isn't indulging in them. He is always ready to talk about his favorite form of entertainment and offer up recommendations. Follow: Twitter and Tumblr. Visit: Critical Outcast. …

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