#155 - Posted by Matthew on 07 February 2009 at 11:15:04 EST

Last night, I was at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell to see Coheed and Cambria (along with Trivium and Slipknot), and it was a hell of a show.

My seats weren't as good as they were at Metallica a few weeks ago, and the arena was full of either smoke or humidity, so my pictures didn't come out. But wow, what a show.

Trivium came out first, and played about five or six songs split between their new album, Shogun and (in my opinion) their best album, Ascendency. They did a damned fine job of getting things going.

Coheed came next, and my only regret was that the set was too short. They played six songs (which, in terms of their music took up about 45 minutes or so). They played some of their heavier material, like "Welcome Home," "Al the Killer," and "No World For Tomorrow." I don't think you're going to hear songs like "The Light and the Glass" or "Wake Up" at crowd predominately there for Slipknot.

The band had tons of energy, Claudio did his crazy behind-the-head guitar solo antics, and in the last verse of "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3," he growled into the guitar pickups instead of the mic to obtain that "weird voice" sound in the studio version of the song. I thought was a cool touch. I just wish it was longer. They didn't play anything from Second Stage Turbine Blade, nor did they play my favorite song, "The Crowing."

Slipknot came out next. I'm not a Slipknot fan, I don't really know their stuff, but I wanted to get my money's worth and I would've gotten flak from my friends if I left, so I decided to check out a few songs and see how they were. I will say that they put on a great stage show. There's a lot of action on the stage.

They had three percussion guys: one playing a set of drums that would rival Neil Peart's, and two guys off to either side playing massive toms, basses, and occasionally steel barrels (via a baseball bat). All three drummers were on platforms that did crazy stuff, like raise up and down and rotate. During the final song of the encore, the main drummer's platform rose in the air, tilted so the platform was perpendicular to the stage, and then started rotating. WHILE the drummer was drumming. (By the way, I had to use the word perpendicular... I love that word, but so rarely have the opportunity to use it.)

I'm not hugely into their sound, but again, I give props to Slipknot's showmanship...

But back to Coheed. I cannot wait see them again. I have to check them out when they are headlining... Hopefully somewhere closer than Lowell (it's a logistical nightmare to get there on time on a working day). I need to see them play "The Final Cut" live, with all of the 17 extra minutes of guitar solos at the end.