be prepared for a long story hahaha

Driving to the venue took a long time and i thought we were going the wrong way because we were out in the middle of nowhere for a while. we finally saw a large building in the distance and figured it must be the venue... it was. why an amphitheater is out in the middle of nowhere like that, i don't know but it was. when we got there, we thought parking and getting in would take an extremely long time, but we were parked and inside in about 5 minutes. the security there wasn't strict at all. they just patted you down super quick and sent you in. i totally could've worn my tripp pants (>.<)

After we were in, we walked around a little to check stuff out and then we just chilled on a grass hill by the Rockstar stage. there was a guy doing a mic check for it and he was yelling "check one two HEY YEEEAAAHHH!!!!" in some sort of half way there metal growls. it was hilarious! soon, it was about time for Hellyeah to perform so we made our way over to the Jagermeister stage to see them. i wanted to see them, but the friends i was with didn't know who they were so they didn't really care if they saw them or not. about two or three songs later, i saw them kinda getting into the music and they said they wanted to stay for a few more songs because they liked it. that made me happy.

when Hellyeah was just about done with their set, we made our way over to the Rockstar stage to see Halestorm. on the way, we stopped and got shirts. i barely had enough money to get one. i gave the lady 2 dollars in coins. it was like 6 quarters and 5 dimes and she looked at me like "you've got to be kidding me". i wanted my friggin' shirt so i didn't care haha. right when we got to the Rockstar stage and found our seats, the girl from Halestorm started singing and she was AMAZING!!! after she did her solo, the rest of the band came on and they were pretty good and i think i'll check them out further.

after Halestorm was Stone Sour. i knew a few songs they played and i sang/screamed along. we were into it, but not standing or going super crazy. we (especially me) had to save our energy and i don't think my friends really knew who they were (which i thought was crazy). at one point, Corey asked the crowd who had the album Come Whatever May. i was the only person in my immediate area who yelled. i thought a lot of people would, but no. i kinda felt like a dumbass, but whatever. i wanted Stone Sour to know i had the album and i loved it. they were pretty badass and i'm totally getting their new album Audio Secrecy.

Avenged Sevenfold was next. i had my sister's camera and i took video of their intro and of "Nightmare". at this point, we were all standing. two of my friends were mainly there for them, while me and another friend were there for Disturbed. during Avenged Sevenfold's performance, i started getting really into it. i was screaming the songs i knew and during "Unholy Confessions" i metal growled the parts that were metal growled. they had a banner up for Jimmy (The Rev.) and they played "So Far Away". during that song, the whole crowd had up their sell phones, lighters, whatever light they had in honor of Jimmy. it was definately one of the best moments of the entire night.

finally the moment i had been waiting for had arrived... DISTURBED!!! the instant the lights went out, i stood up and started filming. i got "Remnants" and "Asylum" and it looks really good considering the fact that i'm short and there were taller people in front of me haha. i got David running onto the stage. i also got all of the video intro and Dan playing too. Those were things i really wanted to get so i was damn happy. i will admit, filming it was a bitch, but it looks awesome haha. anyways, i gave Disturbed everything i had. i screamed every song and got super into it. there was a song where i had no idea what it was. i don't know if it was because it was excited or what, but i could not figure out what it was until David started singing. i found this to be odd because i can recognize every song by them and on this one, i totally drew a blank. i tried jumping during "Fear", but i kept running into the seats. i was scared i'd somehow fall over them and get hurt so i stopped haha. during "Land of Confusion", David said "there's too many men and not enough pussy". i saw that coming and screamed it but busted up laughing right after. i looked over at my friend and the look on his face was like "wtf?!". it was awesome. i filmed the solo for "Stricken" because it's one of my favorite guitar solos and Dan is my favorite guitarist. it was going to be a perfect vid and then this kid knocked into me right when Dan was about to finish and i hit the shutter button a few seconds before it ended :'( i saw the most epic sight during "Ten Thousand Fists". everytime David said "ten thousand fists in the air" the whole crowd would raise their fists. that was frickin' AWESOME!!! Disturbed had a badass set. they played "Prayer", "Liberate", and "Stupify" which are some of my favorite songs. songs i wished they played are "The Animal", "The Night", "The Infection", and "Serpentine", but i understand they had a small time frame and they did an amazing job with the time they had. it was the best hour of my life by far.

when we were heading back to the car, i saw people selling Disturbed shirts for $10 and that upset me because i had no more money :( getting out of the parking lot was sort of a hassle, but we got out quicker than i expected and passed Hellyeah's tour bus right when we got out. we stopped at a gas station to get gas and snacks and we saw their tour bus again. the only downer about the whole thing was i got contact high from all the people smoking weed there. i don't do stuff like that so it was my first time being high. i didn't like the feeling much and what's worse was that i felt it the entire next day. the night was still awesome though. it was my first time ever seeing Stone Sour, Avenged Sevenfold and Disturbed. it was the best night of my life with Disturbed being the highlight of that night, and i will forever remember the night i was struck by the sight of Ten Thousand Fists in the air.

kenji666 wrote:
during "Land of Confusion", David said "there's too many men and not enough pussy". i saw that coming and screamed it but busted up laughing right after.

Oh God, I busted up laughing just reading that! I can just imagine him with a smirk on his face while he said that.
Ah, gotta love David when he's a little smart-ass. xD

Sounds like you had a good time! Awsome!!

hell yeah i did. i can't wait to see them again

City: Vancouver, BC
Venue: Pacific Coliseum
Date: Sept 26th
Review:

I'll start by saying my ears are ringing, my throat hurts, I'm exhausted, can hardly see and that it was all worth it.

I didn't get to hear much of New Medicine but I managed to catch Little Sister, Race You to the Bottom and Laid.

Hail the Villain played competently for such a young band, even gaining a good sized mosh pit (though I'd have liked to hear them play Evil Has a Name). They got the warmest reception for Take Back the Fear, of course. They also revealed a new drummer, which was confusing (I'm not sure what happened to the other one; maybe he got kicked out).

Airbourne gets a big fat zero for not being there.

Hellyeah quite easily had the leanest set of the lot. They pulled together an explosive collection of hits in a short time without missing a beat; squeezing that many "HELLYEAH!!!" moments in such a short time drove the crowd absolutely insane, and set the night up well (getting to hear Vinnie Paul for the first time was a plus for me). After this I have a new respect for Chad Grey's screaming abilities (he would even overtake the instruments through much of the set)

Halestorm started with Lzzy filling the stadium with her powerful voice. She surprised me with how much effort she seemed to be putting into it, reminding me why hungry, new bands sound so good (I'd even go so far as to say her vocal strength was the second best after David). I came there expecting the love Joe Hottinger's soloing (which I did), but Arejay Hale's drumming surprised me with its animal-like fury and humor (like giant, arm-length sticks and tearing off a cymbal-stand to use as a stick), even getting the whole band to play a rapid-fire trash-can drum solo with him on the kit (he was easily proved himself as one of the best drummers at the show, right up their with Vinnie Paul, Mike Portnoy and Mike Wengren). Overall they earned that crowd (the only setback was not being able to hear Innocence).

After the rock-n-roll prowess of Lzzy's voice, Corey Taylor's singing almost sounded weak by comparison (I could barely hear him at times, and if I didn't know the words I wouldn't have at all). Stone Sour's set was made up mainly of new songs while Corey advertised Audio Secrecy (which was annoying for me since I already own it). Made of Scars was a crowd favorite all the way until Through Glass, which easily got the most lighters of any performance that night (though the festival lacked any other ballads aside from Familiar Taste of Poison). Overall their best work was 30/30-150, though the lack of Get Inside was a let down.

I'd like to say that this is now my second time hearing Mike Portnoy play (the first was when Dream Theater opened for Maiden, where he impressed me).

A7X were somewhat late, but their performance absolutely killed. Nearly all the shirts that didn't say Disturbed were of them, and the crowd's reaction reflected this. I didn't get to see as much of their set since by this point was ready to pass out from lack of food or water. I'd have to say their soloing likely received some of the most horn salutes of the entire show (M. Shadows' scream managed to easily fill the stadium). What woke me up was their riveting performance of God Hates Us. Finally they ended with Unholy Confessions and Almost Easy (unfortunately they never played Bat Country). By this point most people filed out of the pit from sheer exhaustion after their aggressive set. I stayed to not loose my spot for the titan coming up next.

Despite how good the others were, I was of course here for Disturbed. Naturally David used his usual crowd interactions ("Are you ready to use some dirty language with me?", "Let me see your motherfucking fists in the air"), which wasn't a problem since I immediately knew what to do for every song (I was also expecting the "Not enough pussy!" part). Interestingly the largest mosh pit of the set came from Stupify (though AWTD got a good reaction; Mike's drumming in that song was nearly his best of the set). They didn't play the Sickness medley, but I wasn't crushed over it (because they jumped straight to Ten Thousand Fists, which I'd heard for the first time; hearing David's operatic opening was easily one the highlights of the night). I pretty much screamed like hell for DWTS, which was hard since I'd been singing the entire set word for word (this included the "No, Mommy!" part). Overall, the concentration of greatest hits performed so well made this the best performance of the night.

Score board:
New Medicine: worthwhile show based on what I could hear (listening to their songs on their Myspace helped greatly).
Hail the Villain: They were an excellent opener and probably sold a good number of CDs for this one.
Hellyeah: They got their message across loud and clear, and it was heard infectiously. I look forward to seeing them again (and maybe some Mudvayne as well). Ranked third best in my book.
Halestorm: I'd rank it as the second best of the night. They brought the kind of rock that shouldn't have won over such a crowd but did anyway.
Stone Sour: An imbalanced collection of new songs brought this one down, but I don't regret seeing them. Their music was dramatic enough to warrant some fist-pumping.
Avenged Sevenfold: Even if I wasn't their biggest fan in the pit, I could see that they deserved my respect. They clearly pour their heart into these shows.
Disturbed: Stellar setlist, clean sound, perfect playing/screaming and Donegan and Moyer's crowd interaction elevated this one to the best of the fest. Draiman's growl were some of the loudest of any of the bands.

Peace out and stay Down with the Sickness