The “20 Years down & dirty” tour hit Tempe Arizona at the Marquee Theater on Friday November 3rd. This was an incredibly special tour for many reasons. The diverse line up consisted of Uncured, Lost Society, Carach Angren & Children of Bodom. COB is currently celebrating the 20th year anniversary of their first album ‘Something Wild.’ All the bands were incredibly different and brought a wide range of fans from all kind of styles. It was a great turn out for the 3rd show of this tour.
The night kicked off with Uncured. Considering I have never seen them before I was pleasantly surprised by the boys. As soon as they hit the stage the guy started off strong and captivated the crowds attention. With heavy rifts and vocals they were definitely a sight to see. The guys did an awesome job getting the crowd hyped for what was to be an amazing night of metal.
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Hailing all the way from Finland for their first USA tour ever we had up next Lost Society. I as well as many fans at the show were very excited to see the guys in action for the first time. You could feel the energy crank up as soon as the guys hit the stage. The adrenaline, excitement & intense energy of the band was unreal. The guys were pumped and ready to show the crowd what they were made of. Samy, Arttu & Mirko did not stay still on the stage at all. The guys ran around head banging really rallying up the crowd while Ossi kept the beat in the back. Their thrash attitude & energy really created an incredible atmosphere in the room. The guys are rather a newer band but they are very talented & great at what they do. They played several songs from all 3 of their albums which made it a kick ass set list. Its safe to say they blew everyone’s expectations with their performance and we can only hope they come back soon.
It was now Carach Angren‘s turn to hit the stage and you could see all the their fans out in the crowd inching their way closer to the front. I have seen the guys play smaller venues several times but this was the first time they have played a larger vicinity. The band is incredibly unique with their horror black theme metal music style they have going on which really makes for a great stage show. Something that caught my eye was Ardek’s keyboard stand that rose up and down during the set. The stand was covered in a black sheet with a scary mask that was a pretty cool prop to their set. Seregor was dressed in vinyl from head to toe. From his boots, his jacket and his pants the ring leader of the band is quite the showman. During each of his songs he would change his appearance by wearing a mask, a crown and really commit to his stage persona. Their set list was short but sweet including “The Carriage Wheel Murder, When Crows Tick on Windows, Pitch Black Box” & a few more.
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Last but not least it was time for Children of Bodom to play. As always the guys were killer and their set list included lots of old material that the fans were really happy about. After all these years their performance is still consistent and always enjoyable to see. From all the keyboard & beer drinking from Janne & guitar solos from Alexi that looked so effortlessly played the crowd went wild. The fans went crazy for several of the tracks but the best ones of the night were “Needled 24/7, Lake of Bodom, Every time I die & Towards Dead End.” I have lost count how many times I have seen COB live now but every time they never disappoint.
Over all the “20 Years down & dirty tour’ was phenomenal. The different genres that each band consisted of made it a wide range of style and taste for everyone to enjoy. The best part of all was the massive amount of energy that radiated from each of the bands. Definitely a show to go see.