Okay. Here it is.
First the bands.
Pop Evil
Essentially Alice In Chains lite. Pretty decent, good energy. Might have been better if I'd known more than one of their songs.
Rob Zombie
Interesting show. Rob was a little uneven. His vocals were mushy at times to the point that it was difficult to recognize what he was singing. He did a good job of interacting with the crowd, cursing security, and bounding around the stage. I knew more of his songs, but he lost me on a couple of them too. Definitely loud and intriguing at times.
Disturbed
David Draiman may look like Howie Mandell, but he's got some serious power as a singer. Was impressed with his vocal strength, and the tightness of the sound overall, song for song. Used a lot of fire and lighting, which I liked. Into the Fire was probably the best performance, but the entire show was very polished. Some crowd interaction and he sang some covers. The crowd was probably most energized during a cover of Rage Against the Machine's Killing In the Name.
Now let's talk crowd. It was pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. Well short of half full at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Arena. Probably closer to 1/3. The floor was only about a quarter covered, the first rim was maybe 1/2 to 2/3 full and the cavernous upper levels were almost completely empty. Standing on the stage, they were staring at a completely vacant ring of seats at the back of the arena. Yeah, I get that it was a Tuesday night. I get that school is still in session. But still. Why would a band of any import bother to book a place that can't get itself together for the first Disturbed visit in at least five years, on a tour that reunited the band. It was really sad and distressing.
The crowd skewed significantly older than I would have thought. It also skewed heavily to the morbidly obese. I don't think I've ever seen that many male and female buffalos in one place. None of the guys on the row behind us could fit in the arena seats. They tried to wedge themselves in, but it didn't work.
Grossly stretched spandex, 6X tshirts and cargo shorts galore. It was horrific. Like a lard laden train wreck. There were a few wafers (* looks good from wa-fer off) but really only one or two of those. Ugliest audience I've ever seen.
Most of what wasn't swole like a hog that's been laying dead in the sun for a week fit into two camps:
a) Nerdy losers
b) Meth carnival
There was a guy three rows in front of me who was probably late 20s, early 30s. Long shaggy hair, beard and Marilyn Manson tshirt. He was there with his freaking mom who had to give him money to go get a pretzel and a beer. I started to tell him Bernie won Indiana but I didn't want to see his erection.
And my final comment. Screw anybody who vapes. Take that stinking cloud outside like people who smoke have to. I don't want to smell your fragrance. I'm now firmly on the "ban vaping from public buildings" bus.
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