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I got to the show right at 7, with a tired brain (due to working an 11 hour day) and an empty stomach (a dinner of gummy worms and candy corn that I found weren't cutting it). I was hoping that the pizza joint next to the Palladium owuld be waiting to edibly please me, but the place was out of business.
The Fully Down were playinga s I made my way downstairs. This was my first taste of them,a nd I was actually looking forward to checking them out. They played melodic pop rock that was by the numbers but decently catchy at the same time. Due to them being a melodic band on a tour full of heavy bands, the crowd wasn't all that into them, which was made abundantly clear when nobody clapped for them at one point. I liked them, even though three guitarists weren't necessary.
Misery Signals were pretty damn good. They split their set between old songs and new songs. I really enjoyed their melodicly epic hardcore songs, and was especially impressed during the parts where the musicians just went nuts during the instrumental parts. Their set was made even cooler when I kept walking by a guy who looked just like Silent Bob.
Fear Before the March of Flames, who are very into their stage presence and make good use of three guitarists (one also plays keyboards), opened with a new song that reminded me a lot of The Rise. Having not heard the album yet, I was sold on it pretty quickly. Watching them play made it quite evident that they've grown a lot in the past couple years; all for the better. They were truly something special to watch, and it was nice hearing their new songs outshine their older ones.
Between the Buried and Me were unsurprisingly really good, but the wear and tear of being out of the house at 5:30 a.m. was starting to take its toll on me. I was fighting sleep during most of their set, and gave in to the sandman during their last two (three) songs ("Bicycle Race," "Coulrophobia," and "Anablephobia"), as I could unconsciously hear the music. I was pretty excited to hear them play "Backwards Marathon," and watching these guys rip their instruments a new asshole live is always fun.
The fact that I couldn't control my basic need to sleep had me debating whether or not I should stay to see Norma Jean. The ride from Worcester to Providence is close to an hour, and driving whle fighting sleep fucking sucks (and is quite dangerous), for lack of better words. I decided to tough it out for at least a couple songs, as I like Norma Jean and was quite intrigued by the video screen/banner backdrop that they were sporting.
Norma Jean put a lot of thought and effort into their live performance. Not only did they go absolutely nuts onstage, they also had a hell of a light show going on, as well as the quick cutting and neatly edited old time looking videos that they showed. At times, it seemed like the audio was secondary to the visuals happening on stage, bu thte music instead served as a wonderful and fitting soundtrack to everything else that was going on.
They were super tight and incredibly loud, actually waking me up a little until the need for sleep came crashing down on me like a comfortable bed full of pillows. I stayed as long as I could (about half their set), but I left known that the outcome of falling asleep on the ride home would override the enjoyment of the second half of their set.
Written by: RF