Posted by kingmchris on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 11:18 AM
Adjusting
my favorite brown hat as I clenched the railing only ten feet from the stage I
felt the tension set in my mind. “They better be good”, “They have to be good”,
“What am I going to do if they aren’t good?” My mind was in a fog of confusion.
I didn’t know what to think about my current situation, after Serj’s show
stopping performance the night before I was hyped to see what Scars On
Broadway had to offer. I didn’t watch or listen to any of the Whiskey show
recordings because I wanted to experience all their songs live, for the first
time.
With all this thinking going on up inside my mind I didn’t realize they were
late! It was Six Twenty-Three! Thirteen minutes after Scars was schedule to
start playing. A loud shout from the back of the crowd that went along the lines
of “F**k the sound check!” made me aware of Scar’s pre-madonnaness. The
agony of waiting continued for another full ten minutes, the crowd continued to
grow restless and yell out at the roadies.
I stood their cursing under my breath at the soreness in my calves. Then put
my hand on my friend Paul’s shoulder to tell him something but stopped as the
crowd began to cheer in an uproar of anticipation being settled. John had
appeared standing behind his drum kit. The roadies began clearing the stage and
as if a David Blain magic trick had taken place, one roadie that was leaving
stage magically turned into Daron walking onto stage in less than a second. It
was uncanny!
There he was, decked out in all black from head to toe, even his custom
black/white Nikes (I also own a pair). Not taking even one glance at the crowd
he harnessed on his shiny SG, walked straight to the front of the kick and BOOM!
Their set began! A circle pit formed like the parting of the red sea, Daron and
Franky harmonize their hearts out, John banged the hell out of his crashes and
in my opinion the groovy looking bassist just keep rocking back and fourth like
a groovy bassist such as himself should. “I Like Suicide ” was one hell of a set
opener.
“It’s hot as a motherf**ker out here!” yelled Daron as the crowd’s cheer died
down from the ending of the first song. It was at this point that I noticed
there is a keyboard player! Hair longer than even Daron’s and head banging the
entire time, fit right in with the rest of Scars.
The next few songs were a blur except for one song that had a slow start
interrupted by bursts of distortion charged open C chords. Don’t know what it is
called but it certainly was the most interesting to hear. The whole time I was
focused on Daron’s fingers, noticing his riffs and the oddities about them.
Scar On Broadway’s album is going to have some insane riffs. One that caught
my attention was the beginning to a song apparently called “Stoner Hate”. It is
so dancey, brought a whole different feel to the crowd, they began clapping
their hands instead of moshing. I recorded that entire song [watch the video
down there], so perhaps that is why I remember it so much. The dancey feel was
soon replaced as the middle of the song turning into “Drugs” which everyone in
the front row remembered and new the words too.
The
crowd threw up their hands and head banged to the words only Daron could make
sound creative: “We’re on drugs!” After the drugs interlude the song turned back
into the dancey feeling of the beginning. A purely orgasmic experience is the
only way to justify that song.
“They Say” ended the performance with an anger filled intro from the sweaty,
wild-eyed Daron. “They say it’s all about to end! Well I say f**k it! Let it
end!” screamed Daron. The whole front row was rocking out, the pit towards the
middle of the crowd was in full swing (a full swing of arms flying at people),
and Daron was all over the place. Singing “For we leave in sin, for we will win.
I watch the president - ” then taking a step toward the crowd Daron motioned for
the crowd to continue, but I felt like I was the only one that said “F**k
society!” There was probably more, but I didn’t here anybody else. That was the
only sad moment of the concert. That and when the uproar from the crowd cheering
on Daron, John and the rest of the band died down as they exited the stage.
After John gave out his drum sticks and Daron took his final bow on stage left.
It was over…DAMNIT!
Looking back upon the show I can’t believe Daron still had all this awesome
material. The songs were remarkable, almost as catchy as I had hoped for and
even superior guitar work then I predicted. Scars On Broadway are a breathtaking
live band, Daron and Franky harmonize like angels, angles of metal of course.
Neither of them had bad pitch problems, John was as commanding behind his kit as
ever, and the unknown bassist looked splendid, grooving back and forth like I
mentioned earlier. This thirty minute or so performance was worth every bone
shattering minute I spent waiting.
Scars On Broadway made my weekend. They will make yours as well.
OMG thank you. I am glad somebody was there and took this video. It´s amazing and love the song "They say". Hope I can make it to Arizona. Thank you people:)
I like more System Of a Down that Scars on broadway, a collection of obese. But Daron not lost their energy, fortunately. Anyway all very good and very good review =)
Wow cool video. After listening to They Say and seeing that video it's pretty obvious that SOB is going to have some nice variety. And Daron's voice suits it very nicely, even better than I was expecting. And the new step they took with the guitar is very cool and enjoyable. I love it and it's proof that Daron can pull out smooth, flavorful riffs and not only the heavy, chunky distortion that labeled SOAD.
And ? Look, I respect Daron and John really, but... The drums for They Say are not so difficult... The rhythm is nice, but I can't tell from one song: "Wow, they rock, they're the best band ever !", I want to see the album... I'll have to download it, cause it'll never come here... Poz iz Crne Gore ljudi... SOB je u redu... Na neku foru...
Maybe. But after seeing/hearing some of the other stuff, I'm guessing They Say won't be their best song by any means. Already I'm really enjoying Enemy/Drugs, and the other bits & pieces I've seen & heard from the Whisky & Coachella.
That "instrumental" bit they did at the Whisky had some great John-drumming. And I'm loving this vid here with "Enemy/Drugs" and the little bits & pieces of "World Long Gone" and "Kill Each Other".
July 29th is WAY the hell too far away for me. Hopefully someone will get a total audio/video of the Arizona show? And maybe we'll be treated to some more "leaks" and/or live gigs in the meanwhile?
