Lordi Rocked the Orange Peel.

Let me start by taking back everything I said in that last post about the small venue having a negative impact on Lordi's show.

I returned home at nearly 3:00 AM this morning from my trip to see Lordi. I was dead tired, bleary eyed, my neck ached from head-banging, and I had a terrible ringing in my ears because I forgot the earplugs (they make concerts sound better, shut up).

However, something funny had happened to me following the concert: I had no outward symptoms of my normal metal addiction. We didn't listen to any music on the way back. Upon returning home, I didn't listen to any music on my laptop last night or this morning, and I didn't have any desire to carry my mp3 player around with me at all today. This is not normal for me. Eventually my music cravings came back (been listening to Lordi as I typed this update), but it wasn't until later that I figured out what happened. Lordi had temporarily sated my metal hunger. I didn't think that was even possible.

In short, they were AMAZING. It was easily the best concert I've ever been to. Sure they had pyrotechnics at Ozzfest, but we had lawn seats meaning we were about 100 yards away. At the Orange Peel I could see the whites of their eyes. Now, some special effects and costumes don't hold up well to close scrutiny, but I found out that Lordi does not have this problem. When the band came out, they looked incredible. I don't know if they're just tall or if the costumes added some bulk but they had a powerful stage presence. The costumes looked great and they played a killer set. Seeing a band that takes so much care in how they look up so close is something that I'm not going to forget anytime soon.

They even managed to look intimidating when sitting on those little barstools while signing everyone's stuff. Oh yeah, I got me a signed shirt. It fills me with happy metal thoughts. I kinda got one-upped by two of my female friends, though, as they got their chests signed.

Lordi at the Orange Peel

I am going to see Lordi perform tonight in Asheville at the Orange Peel. I don't know how they're going to operate in such a small venue, though.

You see, when I saw them at Ozzfest, they had goodly amount of pyro-maniacal-techno-sorcery on display. Among these were Mr. Lordi's battleaxe which shot small rockets, his spark-spewing buzz saw, Awa's flare shooting umbrella thing, Ox and Amen's spark shooters attached to their guitars, and the flame jets at the front of the stage, whenever they decided things just didn't look crispy enough. But the best thing was Kita's explosive percussion.

In case you haven't been fortunate enough to see this band live, let me explain what that last thing was. In the song Would You Love a Monsterman, you may recall a section where Mr. Lordi says "I say yeah," followed by three drum beats. Now picture seeing the band live and when he sings that line, three rockets shoot from the stage and explode in time with the beat.

It was one of the most metal things I had ever seen, heard, or felt. The pressure waves from the explosions and heat from the flames at a Lordi concert only serve to enhance the overall experience.

Lordi on Squidoo

I have another new lens up today, this one on Lordi.

This one is particularly special to me because I'm going to see them live on Thursday!

Metal thing of the day: DragonForce

DragonForce changed my life. For serious. They were my first real metal band. It started one fateful holiday break about two years ago when a friend gave me Sonic Firestorm as a gift. Truly, few events of such metal proportions have occurred in my life since then. DragonForce inspired me to grow out my hair, start playing the guitar, learn to wield a battleaxe, and grow a pair of wings made of glistening steel blades.

In short, they will make your face explode.

Michael Kiske on Squidoo

I have a new lens on Squidoo about Michael Kiske. Check it out.

Content coming soon.

It will be totally metal.