Alright, I went to this show last night and here's my story:
Before
My friend picked me up around 4:00pm and drove me to the train station. I waited there untill 4:40pm when the train came, 7 minutes late, and got on-board. I was hoping to have a little cash left over after this trip, and had asked to borrow my dad's monthly train pass so I wouldn't have to but my own ticket. As it turns out however, I grabbed last month's one not realizing that it isn't October anymore. I got to Chicago a little over an hour later, around 5:50pm and took a taxi to the House of Blues about a mile or so away from the station. I was lucky enough to meet up with some people I knew in line, and was able to step in with them. Even with this little shortcut, I still didn't get in to the building untill at least 6:45pm when Amon Amarth was just finishing up :angry:.
Amon Amarth
I couldn't believe that Amon Amarth was playing first, especially before Trivium! Amon Amarth is easily one of the greatest Death Metal bands, with the exception of their last CD, and is the band that for me in to Death Metal. I only caught one song from them, but I'm glad that it happened to be "Death in Fire" which was the first song of theirs that I had ever heard. That one song was amazing though, and I jumped in the mosh pit a little when I wasn't headbanging or singing along.
Trivium
Well, I came here not thinking very fondly of Trivium, especially after they made me miss Amon Amarth, and my expectations weren't let down at all. Trivium was just absolutely horrible (sorry to you Trivium fans out there)! They sound just like your typical mallcore/scremo band, and not anything like Death Metal at all. I just kinda stood around for most of the time, trying to enjoy the fact that I was at a concert even if I didn't enjoy the music.
Children of Bodom
Well, of course Bodom was awesome, they're Bodom. Their entrance to the stage was quite funny, fitting their personality, and their part of the concert was completely filled with energy. After playing a couple of recent songs first, the crowd loudened greatly while Bodom played a few classics, such as "Bodom After Midnight" and "Needled 24/7" and a very hot drum solo. After about two-thirds way through their preformance, Alexi said that they were about to play their last song. I can't quite remember what it was, but they walked backstage afterwards. After a couple minutes Alexi started playing a guitar solo and just kinda jamming, followed by another 4 or 5 songs. Overall it was a great show, with an extremely energetic crowd, and a very tough mosh pit.
After
After Bodom finished, I rushed out of the building to find a taxi and catch my train. A seemingly homeless black guy helped me find a cab, practially running out in the middle of the street (at 10:30pm, so there wasn't a lot of traffic). I knew he was going to beg me for some money after I got a cab, but I couldn't really just walk away so I let him get one for me and then told him I didn't have anything I could give him. I managed to arrive at the train station on time, bought my ticket, and took the train back to Naperville. From that point I had a very uneventful hour and a half walk home from the train station, which I followed up by falling asleep immediately.
Misc. Stuff
Short Girl: Ok, there was this really short girl (I'd say about 4'8") standing right in front of me for a good part of the Bodom show. Her friend was next to her, but the two of them were completely surrounded by 6-7 muscular men, myself included, all of which were a good half a foot taller than this girl. It wasn't a problem, as they were really into the music, but once in awhile the short one just start flipping out and pushing/punching everybody around here while her friend kinda laughed. I looked at a couple of the other guy's faces and we just kinda chuckled at the sight of that. Needless to say she couldn't make any of us budge.
Puke: There was fair-sized puddle of puke on the floor off to the side a little, but few people seemed to notice as there were more than a couple standing in the middle of it.
Asses: Well I don't crowd surf, but there were plenty of people who did and I managed to grab the asses of a few hot girls :D.
Moshing: Bodom and Amon Amarth both had amazing mosh pits (I wasn't in the Trivium one). Everybody in the pit actually knew how to mosh, and there weren't any damn punks trying to "hardcore dance" and flail their arms about punching everybody. I wasn't moshing for nearly the whole time, as everybody was a lot larger and stronger than me, but I did get my fair share in.
