Cannibal Corpse at The Rave - more photos... photo by brian rampacek - staff photographer |
It's the first real day of spring. I even put on shorts. I am dreading the fact that I will have to wear jeans all night. New tattoo, The Rave is kinda dirty, people spill stuff. Infection is a bad thing. At least when it is on my body. I'm also excessively tired, having rolled in from a meeting the night before at around 2 am and had to be to work at 8, let's just say I was wiped. But I was far to excited for a nap. So instead I lounged, worked on stuff for HR669, and stared at the clock. Time passes slowly sometimes.
We arrived at The Rave just before the rain started to fall and that was mighty fine by me. Temps were dropping because of the spring showers, and even though The Rave's lot was packed, we got our favorite parking spot as usual. (For those who attend shows at The Rave, for $10.00 you can park a block away on 23rd street just east of Wisconsin at the Irish Community Center and its fenced and secure.)
Cannibal travels simply. We have covered them a few times and they are a no frills band. No sticky photo passes. So after we get my ticket, its off to call the tour manager. This has happened for every Cannibal show. It's not their fault. They prefer to keep things simple, and like tour managers from the past, Jeremy was a super nice guy and got us handled with security and got us wrist bands. Too bad this was a time where Brian only brought one camera.
Cannibal Corpse at The Rave - more photos... photo by brian rampacek - staff photographer |
I am a huge Cannibal fan from way back. I honestly can't tell you the true number of times I have seen the band perform. I tried to actually count and got a bit foggy around 15. Its part because I see them in twos. This summer we should be seeing them as well. I really TECHNICALLY should find them so very wrong. I am the type of girl who can not only take a punch, but give it back. Honestly a band that historically closes with a song "Striped, Raped and Strangled" should give some offense to me, but I think we metal heads really know to take a joke. Or maybe I just have an amazing sense of humor.
Cranking out with their opener of "The Time To Kill is Now" to a totally packed house. I'm sure there was room to fit a few in, but it was a far better turn out than the last solo show in the basement we saw. Having a new perspective to the show, sitting at the side of the stage, writing my notes on the stage I made an AMAZING discovery. Corpsegrinder's neck is larger than the average man. He has a red wood for a neck. I was TOTALLY fascinated by this for the entire show. He has muscles upon muscles on his neck. It is insane. Of course he does spin his head at approximately 400 miles an hour, but I had never seen or noticed this in any other musician. Another thing that was very visible from the side of the stage was the fact that when the lights went down, George was blowing his nose. I know most people think anyone can sing Death Metal, but unfortunately that is not true. Well I suppose anyone can sound like Cookie Monster having a seizure, but a classic and true death metal band is intelligible in their growling presence. It is more than growls and screams. While I suspect he was sick, honestly it never once interfered with his performance. I also learned that if you vibrate a set list fast enough the black ink falls off temporarily as the set list on the monitor would go solid white. Once again something that totally amused and fascinated me.
Cannibal Corpse at The Rave - more photos... photo by brian rampacek - staff photographer |
But I will skip back to the concert again. Cannibal hit the spectrum of their albums with song going all the way back to the first album
Eaten Back to Life. They have always been really good about remembering to play the old stuff while incorporating the new stuff. "Priest of Sores" was of their new album,
Evisceration Plague which was released earlier this year. As always "Fucked by a Knife" was dedicated to all the women in the crowd. And oddly enough I notice the younger generation of female attendees seem more into the music than the boyfriends they came with. I love to see that! Closing with the old one, two punch of "Hammer Smashed Face" and "Striped, Raped and Strangled" this was a show any old school death metal fiend would love. The entire band had a really relaxed feel to them. Regularly interacting with people against the barrier between songs, they are comfortable in their skin and remember to love the fans. My only real complaint was that once again I was denied hearing "Meat Hook Sodomy" a true classic Cannibal song.
OK ready for the
TRUE plus of both of us standing behind the photo barrier? Easy access exit from Stage Left. We were able to walk right out the loading doors and avoid the crush of the audience. Since I had already hit the merch booth and bought my smashing new purse (ok it is technically a messenger bag, but I shall call it my Cannibal Corpse purse) we were able to leave quickly and run to our truck in the rain. I had planned on going home and straight to bed, but Cannibal has always gotten me hyper. Oh well, I will just be wiped out at the real job and suffer.
I would like to once again thank their tour manager, Jeremy, for helping us get set up for the evening. He made the point to check that we made it back stage to the photo area and made sure we were set for the evening all while getting the stage and band ready. You rock Jeremy!