Bands: The Devil Wears Prada, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, White Chapel, Gwen Stacy
Location: The Canal Club Richmond, Virginia May 1, 2008
This isn’t my typical hardcore show. Usually I’m not one for metalcore and especially southern metalcore for that matter, but I had a blast at this show. So please forgive me that I don’t really know these bands songs or anything. Just pretend this review is from someone who has just discovered the hardcore scene. Anyways, Gwen Stacy was up first. They went right into a breakdown when they got on stage, which whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Fists and round house kicks abounded during their set. Somewhere an invisible clan of ninjas is in great pain. Overall, I was very impressed by their performance then the previous time I had seen them and now I feel inclined to look into their music a little more.
Up next was White Chapel. I wasn’t a big fan of this band. Their ripped off grindcore/metal sound (man Isaac is probably going to kill me for classifying them as that) was extremely monotonous and boring. By the time I had figured out that their first song was over they were done with their set.
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster were up next. I must say I never liked this band because they ushered in the southern metalcore fad, but these guys put on a good live show. Dallas Taylor is insane on stage… no really it’s like the other band members took the straight jacket off of him right before their set. He’d stare down people for a good two minutes making the audience squirm around trying to evade his gaze. Then other times, much to my surprise, he’d rescue crowd surfers who were being thrown on stage. He actually caught one guy in his arms and started singing again with this guy who was about the same size as him craddled in his arms.
The Devil Wears Prada closed out the night. I wasn’t as impressed by them as I was by Gwen Stacy and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, but that could been because I was tired of listening to breakdowns and power chords all night. They did put on a good show and the crowd was really into them. The finished their set with the encore of “Dogs Grow Beards All Over” which I must admit is a very good song.
Probably the best part of the night was talking with the bands afterwards. I gained a lot of respect for the guys in Gwen Stacy after talking to them about their faith and what it was like to be on tour with outspoken non-Christian band. A little later I got to talk to Dallas Taylor and hear what he said on how his faith greatly effects what he does.
Overall, it was a good night of fun and music.
Score: 7 out of 10
