\jeff{krimmel}

Dark New Day and Seether

Paul, Heather, and I went down to the Disneyland area last night, specifically to the House of Blues, and saw Seether with Crossfade and Dark New Day.

Dark New Day opened and put on one hell of a show. Shortly after their set, Paul and I found out their lead guitarist is formerly of Sevendust and started Dark New Day after his departure. The band’s stuff is very much like Sevendust’s, so if you enjoy one you will certainly enjoy the other. Their song selection played well for a live set in the sense that it was loud and fast, all the time. The vocalist had a lot of energy, traversing the stage a bit during the set, and did a nice job getting the pit crowd into the flow of the show. A great choice for an opening act, who with time will likely move on to headlining such shows.

Crossfade came on next, and they seemed to be an almost universal disappointment. They weren’t bad, per se, it just seemed like their songs didn’t seem to hit. People moved around by far the least during their set, but the band was buoyed by the crowd’s affection for “Cold” and “So Far Away”. Those two songs were really good, which helps to explain why I was disappointed that the other songs seemed to mostly miss. It sounded like they had figured out how to put those two songs together quite well, but the other ones were just riffs and solos thrown together chaotically.

Seether finished the evening, and did they ever put on a show. Wow. Seether comes across much harder live than they do on their albums (most of these bands are like that), because the guitars are much louder in person than they are when recorded. Being last for the evening, they had given a chance for some patrons to consume quite a bit of alcohol, and as a result, there was a three hundred pound battering ram who decided it would be fun to start a mosh pit. Fortunately, no one got hurt, but getting blindsided by him while listening to “Remedy” made for the worst part of the evening for me.

Seether played a fair bit off their debut album, Disclaimer, which elicited quite a bit of singing from the crowd, much more than either of the two opening acts were able to accomplish. “Remedy”, to my knowledge the first single off their more recent “Karma and Effect” album, was the high point of the evening, with many in the front jumping around, banging their hands, throwing what I consider the “Hook ‘em Horns” sign in the air repeatedly.

When we first arrived in the venue, we staked out a spot between the bar level and the pit area. We stood and watched Dark New Day from a short staircase right there. Just as their set ended, Heather led Paul and I down to the pit itself, probably four or five people deep from the front of the stage. The guitars were more intense, the people more lively, and the B.O. more rank. All in all, an excellent show, one that has stricken me with the desire to go out again sooner rather than later.