By: J Porter
Photography: CowGirlZen Photography
Currently
out on tour with Slipknot and Marilyn Manson the metalcore/nu
metal band out of Orange, California known as Of Mice & Men
opened up the storm raging evening filled with hard rain, lightening
strikes and huge walls of dust blowing in over the Phoenix Valley and
rooting itself in rage upon the performers event stationed at the
Ak-Chin Pavilion where everyone in attendance knew it was bound to be
an
interesting night for music.
The
arena was packed from the pit, to the seats and up on the
general admittance area affectionately known as,
"the lawn." T-shirts from the merch booths were
flying out so quickly that when a person walked by you one moment
they would have on a regular street type T-shirt and then
upon their next run by you would be wearing Of Mice & Men
T-shirt, then fifteen minutes later they would have on a
Slipknot T-shirt... it was rock n roll fashion runway at its finest
and the merchandise people
were
all to happy to oblige!
Finally,
the audience settled in with their solo cups or cans of adult
beverage, their new merchandise upon their bodies and the lights went
down... with a quick thrust of guitar mania the stage lights lit up
the night and all of the darkness scattered as, "We fear you, now do your thing."
Of Mice & Men
Of Mice & Men careened into their unabashed set of older tunes and only one off their new album, Cold War due out in September. Austin Carlile, lead vocalist, who recently had undergone surgery for his condition- Marfan syndrome- had his leg in a Velcro brace support and seemed rather tired. Of course any type of surgery recuperation takes a while and possibly between traveling and the heat of Arizona he really was just tired. Nonetheless it did not deter he or his fans from delving in immediately to create some much needed Of Mice & Men metal love.
Opening
with, "Public Service Announcement" OMM sprang open the
jubilee of anticipation to their fans and the crowd's appetite
for the evening had begun to be satiated enormously. In
what seemed to be a very short seven track set, OMM raised the crowd
as they played "Bones Exposed" Austin called out to the
pit, "all the way in the back to up here- let's get
those circle pits running!" Performing only one song that night
off their new album, "Pain" and it seemed what Austin
could give... was given. A set all too short but a crowd that packed
in the meaty punch OMM delivered with appreciation.
Marilyn
Manson
It
was time for the man who presents himself to be the
"antichrist" Marilyn Manson stood with his back
to the audience behind a lit curtain with his arms spread eagled and his silhouette of his own mind's projection in
sort of a halfway
effort
came through as he dropped the mic and regained his position again.
The
curtain opened and Manson in full force took command of HIS stage.
In truth if you have never witnessed a presence quite so
domineering in force then you have
not
been to a Manson concert. At 47 years of age Manson still takes those
bits of nuances and creates a monster in a suit exceptionally well as
he opened up his set with Rhianna's song, "Bitch Better Have My
Money." Manson's stage theatrics
some
find a bit overt and stirringly drastic. Yet his
proclamation last night to the audience was, "I'm just
so glad I made it stop raining." Aaaaaa perhaps, or you scared
it into submission.
Either
way Manson fans were given what they came for and in between each
number during his set he took long pauses off side stage, leaving
many fans speculating that he was doing drugs between songs. The
tune, "The Dope Show" escalated the frenzied fans and
carried the evening of Gothic type horror metal in the
layered theatrics clear til the end of the set. Leaching
the blood bath with his final recoil the tune, "The Beautiful
People."
Slipknot
Slipknot
has nefariously slipped the noose around every metal-head
fan and reeled them in unto submission. If you are not a metal-head
after a Slipknot indoctrination then there is not hope for you. This
nine piece sonically charged band who had to reschedule
earlier
this year due to Corey Taylor's surgery, was not about to let a
little lightening, wind, thunder and deluge of rain that left the
crowd drenched, and covered in mud stop them from coming to Phoenix,
AZ. to do what Slipknot does best... play metal.
Screeching
and opening their set of seventeen carefully carved out of your
deepest nightmares with, "The Negative One" and the wet
crowd having waited not only for the rescheduling of the show but a
show almost stopped several times on account weather... elated with
metal madness!
Recently
during an open forum published on Blabbermouth.net Corey relayed that
he was never going to, "play it safe" with regards to
speaking his opinions and how he sees things. A mouthpiece that is open and honest about what they view the world as in a way is
what their fans really relate to when it comes to Slipknot and their
music. Their fans are looking for honesty and they have found through
the music of bands such as Slipknot their own voices in a way are
being heard as well. Like it or not...calling it as he sees it, is a
game changer in an industry that sometimes wants everyone to just
sing nice or say nice things. Truth is... life is not always 'nice.'
And someone needs to call that out.
It
was hard to fathom it has been 17 years since Slipknot first played
in Arizona but here this grotesque masked bunch of what still looks
like Mad Max meets a Steampunk'd derision of Lord of the Rings
Trolls... or something like that. So many of their songs
pierced
the night sky and prevailed over the enormously eager crowd, songs
like: "Skeptic," "Killpop," "The Heretic
Anthem," "Pulse of the Maggots," and ending with "Spit
It Out" it was a massive deluge of a full evening of metal slots
being projected and forged into the
metal
soul. A spectacular ghoulish feast of metal.
Of Mice & Men More Information:
Website: http://ofmiceandmenofficial.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ofmice
Twitter: https://twitter.com/omandm
Marilyn Manson More Information:
Website: www.marilynmanson.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarilynManson
Twitter: https://twitter.com/marilynmanson
Slipknot More Information:
Website: www.slipknot1.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slipknot
Twitter: https://twitter.com/slipknot