GIANT COMMISSION SALE!!! [link]

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Last night I went to see Dethklok, and it was AMAZING! Best show by a fake band ever!

We got there about an hour early, and got a pretty decent spot in line. The seating chart online had showed there *was* seating, so I wasn't too concerned about getting a spot up front. Security was pretty harsh, more like what I was used to in the 90s, and I had to take my shoes off (thank goodness for zippers on knee-high boots!). Once we were through security, I peeked into the actual theater from the lobby, and saw NOOOO seats. Ack! So, rather than get a tour shirt, I bolted for the front rail and got a pretty great spot... it was way off to the left side, but not so much that my view of the performers was obscured. Unfortunately, a tall amp blocked part of the view of the screen at the back of the stage, so my view of the videos was a bit limited. But still, not bad!

The first band, High on Fire, went on almost immediately. I enjoyed them a lot, and their drummer was really good. Converge was next... the band actually did their own sound checks, and jammed out a little while doing so, and that was pretty fun. Unfortunately, that was probably the best part of their set. They played super-fast thrash-metal with inconsistent beats, which I *really* don't like, and it sounded like the singer was just barking into the microphone with different timing to each song. But, at least their music was fast, so it didn't seem to drag on.

At this point, my feet were freaking *killing* me; I was standing right at the place where two of the front barricades came together, so it was very uneven footing. But Mastodon was next, and I really liked what I'd heard of them before the show, so I was determined to tough it out. It didn't go so well. :S They were really good, but being that I was in agony and I don't know the words to any of their songs, I really couldn't get into it. It was all I could do to make it through their set without falling down. As soon as they were done, I sat my ass on the ground and let my feet rest. It made a *huge* difference. lol, I think I'm just getting too old for this shit.

After I got some rest in, Dethklok took the stage, and they did not disappoint. They opened, of course, with the Metalocalypse theme song, then launched straight into "Bloodlines", off the Dethalbum II, and that set the pace. It was non-stop, and everything they played was fast and heavy. No breaks with slower or even medium-paced songs. The pit was roiling, the crowdsurfers were flying, the energy was just *awesome*. They played a lot of their new stuff, like "Volcano," "Dethsupport," "Burn the Earth," "Black Fire Upon Us," and "The Gears". And they also played a lot from the first album (many of my personal favorites, woot!), like "Hatredcopter", "Awaken", "Birthday Dethday," "Murmaider", "Thunderhorse", and "Go Into the Water." They even played the Duncan Hills Coffee jingle, and for the encore they played "Fansong". It was an amazing set, and the venue was really small and intimate... *That* is the way to see your favorite band. I truly wish more bands would do small-venue tours.

Anyway, there were a good number of comedy bits shown onscreen during the show, but I won't describe them, since you can watch them on the 2nd disc of the deluxe version of Dethalbum II. They also played music videos for each song as they played them onstage, which was awesome, but even with all that it was the *real* musicians who stole the show. I knew they had some real pros playing with the band, so the performance was going to be outstanding. But what shocked the hell out of me was Brendan Small. I mean, how talented can one guy be? Not only does he write the show, and do about half the voices, he is *seriously* good at playing guitar, and he actually sings in the Nathan Explosion voice. I was convinced there was no way he would do that, that he'd use a voice-changer or something, because it's not anything like his normal voice and you could really blow your vocal chords doing that for too long. I figured there was no way he'd risk it, because he does so much voice acting. I thought they might even play to a pre-recorded voice track. But nope, he totally does the singing. I think my favorite part of the show was when they played "Hatredcopter" and he sang the parts of both characters, who sound *completely* different! (Also, on a very weird note, Brendan Small looks *exactly* like our friend Mike, it was eerie!)

I'd have to rank this among the best shows I've ever been to.. and probably the best show I've been to this year (though the only reason I'd rank it higher than Rob Zombie is that our seats were pretty far away at Zombie, and I'm not as into Zombie as I am Dethklok). See them if you get the chance... but don't expect them to look like their cartoon counterparts!

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Christmas Bee Girl update! She is totally finished, and I'm working on the second one. I won't be posting them till after Thanksgiving, though. I hate seeing all the Christmas ads and displays that are already out... stop ignoring Thanksgiving!

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So, only about 6 people actually commented to get featured, so I just picked from some of my friends for the rest of the feature spots. That's pretty sad, people. Thank you to those of you who actually did comment.