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Archive for the ‘Spiritbox’ Category

Spiritbox / After the Burial / Intervals (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, May 2, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in After the Burial, Intervals, Philadelphia, PA, Spiritbox, Theatre of Living Arts on May 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 2, 2023] Spiritbox / After the Burial / Intervals

Spiritbox opened for Ghost on their last tour. I was really impressed by them, mostly because singer Courtney LaPlante has a beautiful delicate voice and then can, on a dime, scream with the best of them.  I don’t necessarily like screamed/growled lyrics, but I love a singer with great range.

They have a broad range of sounds in the band too, with industrial and electronic elements quite prominent.

When we saw them, some fans had travelled a pretty long distance to see just them.

I’d have enjoyed this show but it was sold out even before I heard about it.

After the Burial are a progressive metal band, with a lot of emphasis on the metal.  They have a very growly vocalist, which kind of ruins the impressive intricacies in their music.

Intervals is an instrumental progressive metal band. I prefer my progressive metal to be instrumental because I don’t really like the direction metal vocalists have gone.  Intervals might be a little too perfect, though, being really precise instead of having a good feel.  But I’ve only listened to two songs by them.

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Ghost: Imperatour (Cure Insurance Arena, Trenton, NJ, September 9, 2022)

Posted in Bruce Springsteen, Cure Insurance Arena, Ghost, Mastodon, Set in New Jersey!, Spiritbox, Trenton, NJ on September 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 9, 2019] Ghost 

This was my third time seeing Ghost.  In four years!  They never fail to put on a spectacular show.

Each time I’ve taken C. with me and these last two he brought his friend with him.  This time, though, the boys sat in the seats straight back but on a slight rise (they had a great view) and I went to the floor to get as close to the action I could.  The usually toss stuff out to the audience after the show, but I was not in the right place.

There were tons of people in full cosplay, and they looked amazing.

It took a while for Ghost to come out.  They have a huge stage change up, so it’s understandable.  I happened to run into someone I knew there and his son (Hi Gary) which was crazy (although not really as he has seen Ghost like 6 times).

They play taped music as the band sets up.  It’s usually a kind of Gregorian chant.  Soon the stage was revealed in all of its multi-tiered, stained-glass glory.  The music segued into a tape of “Imperium” before the Nameless Ghouls ran out on stage followed soon after by Papa. (more…)

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Mastodon (Cure Insurance Arena, Trenton, NJ, September 9, 2022) [GHOST]

Posted in Cure Insurance Arena, Ghost, Mastodon, Set in New Jersey!, Spiritbox, Trenton, NJ on September 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 9, 2019] Mastodon

This was my third time seeing Mastodon.  I have enjoyed them each time but I didn’t think I’d be seeing them again.  So it was a treat that they opened for Ghost.

I hadn’t really listened to their new album that much, so I didn’t really know what to expect.  Plus, in an opening slot, they wouldn’t get that many songs.  And I see that each show has their sets getting shorter and shorter.

The biggest surprise was the addition of a keyboard player.  Joao Noguiera stood on the same riser as the drums and had a lot of hair and a top hat (yes, like Slash).  He added a lot of atmospherics and sounds while the other guys were tuning.  But Mastodon is such a force, I’m not sure he was needed.

So they played five songs from the new album.  And then six songs that I’d seen them play before.  Most of those they’ve played at each show.

There were great visuals behind them–a huge screen showing videos.

“Pain with an Anchor” was sung by drummer Brann Dailor, who has the most melodic delivery of the band.  He and singer Troy Sanders share a lot of lead vocal duties on the new album.  And I love Dailor’s colorful drum set.  (more…)

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Spiritbox (Cure Insurance Arena, Trenton, NJ, September 9, 2022) [GHOST]

Posted in Cure Insurance Arena, Ghost, Mastodon, Set in New Jersey!, Spiritbox, Trenton, NJ on September 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 9, 2019] Spiritbox

We arrived pretty early for this show.  Early enough to get merch before the first band went on.

My son and his friend had seats (straight back and a few rows up–they said the view was perfect), but I wanted standing room on the floor.  And just as I walked down the steps to the floor, the lights went dark and I walked pretty close to the stage.

Then Spiritbox came out.  I didn’t know them at all.  But their story is

Spiritbox is a Canadian heavy metal band from Victoria, British Columbia. Husband and wife duo guitarist Mike Stringer and vocalist Courtney LaPlante established Spiritbox in 2017. The band’s full lineup comprises LaPlante, Stringer and drummer Zev Rose; former As I Lay Dying bassist Josh Gilbert currently performs live with the band.

The band plays pretty loud and abrasive guitars, but there’s all kinds of electronic effects and interesting quiet/loud elements going on.  Courtney LaPlante can growl/ scream very impressively, but she also has a pretty singing voice, adding even more to the diversity.

It’s like they combined some of the best elements of various new heavy metal sounds into a composite that sounds familiar but unique at the same time. (more…)

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