By now, everyone knows that Blackened Fest, the monstrous tour featuring Mayhem that had been plagued by problems from the start (Marduk), fell apart in Denver a few days back. If you're interested, you can read various accounts of what transpired
here and
here. Undoubtedly, all sorts of finger pointing between bands, booking agencies, promoters and so on, has been going on. Ultimately, though, music is a business. We, as fans, are consumers of a product and bands that monkey around with their customer base and take us for granted do so at their own peril, regardless of status (GM? Chrysler? Good riddance).
As D.R.I. put it...
Give My Taxes BackAt any rate, Mayhem decided to honor their committments as headliner for the remaining shows after everyone else dropped off the tour. Stories immediately started to circulate that Nachtmystium, Lair of the Minotaur, and Yakuza had jumped on board to open for Mayhem for the band's appearance at the House of Blues in Chicago. Yes, as you can guess, Skull was immediately much more enthused about this show than with the original lineup of decidely non-black metal bands. So, the questions for Skull to answer for us are:
1) Did Mayhem even show up?
2) Did Mayhem have any merch for sale?
3) Would Nachtmystium et al honor their pledge to appear as support?
and...
4) Did Skull fall asleep in his car before the show?
So, without further delay, here's Skull's review...
Date: 6/11/09
Bands: Mayhem, Yakuza, ?, and ?
Venue: HOB, Chicago
"I heard the news yesterday that the Blackenedfest had disintegrated and that Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation, and Withered were no longer on the bill. This fact, on top of knowing that Marduk still hadn’t even reached the U.S., left me wondering how tonight’s show would be pulled off. As far as I knew, Lair of the Minotaur was still on tap and that Nachtmystium and Yakuza had been added to the bill. I was looking forward to seeing Lair of the Minotaur and was totally stoked to see Nachmystium. I have not seen them since the release of "Assassins..." and was dying to see that awesome new material translated into a live setting. I was curious though if Blake Judd’s leg had healed enough since they had to bail on the spring tour with The Haunted because of his accident. Either way, I was looking forward to the show because my old friend Pat (Editor: 15 years plus, Dude) is in town and would be joining me.
I picked up Pat and we headed to HOB and the smoldering ash remains of Blackenedfest. I wasn’t actually sure when the show would start since the lineup had changed, but, luckily, we got there about 15 minutes before the show started. I snatched up a Mayhem shirt (Editor: OK, that's answered), and then Pat and I sat in the bar area, ordered a drink, and were thoroughly confused as to what happened next.
The show opened with trio playing mediocre doom. Who were they? The Hell if I knew. They never bothered identifying themselves. The 30-minute set wasn’t all that great but I had definitely seen worse. After the set, there were mumblings from the crowd and someone even addressed everyone in the bar area and asked if anyone knew who had just played. No one replied.
I hit the bathroom and noticed that the buzz in there was about who the Hell had just played and which bands had now been added to the bill. I returned to the table and the second band started up. They were a 5 piece with John Belushi on vocals and a lady playing a violin to boot. I’m all for folk instruments being used in metal when used appropriately, but in this instance it was purely a gimmick. The singer mentioned their name a couple times but I couldn’t understand him. I did hear him say that they were from Aurora (asphinctersayswhat?)...
...and that they were playing a show at some dive in town. This was obviously the biggest gig they had ever played. Too bad they sucked rocks and probably played for free in exchange for the exposure.
After another quick changeover the curtain rose to the sight of a long haired dude wetting a reed on a saxophone. Oh God, what now? This must be Chicago’s Yakuza. The quartet played a set of mild to heavy jazzcore incorporating not just a saxophone, but what looked to be an oboe or a clarinet as well. The lead singer switched back and forth between these wind instruments from song to song. I know these guys have had some critical acclaim but I just wasn’t impressed and was now getting somewhat annoyed. I took comfort in the fact that Lair of the Minotaur and Nachtmystium still had their sets ahead.
During the break I ordered us some food thinking we would be there for a while yet. The lights dimmed, the curtain rose, and I was shocked to see Mayhem appear through the fog and rip into their set. As much as I had looked forward to seeing them, I couldn’t help my initial disappointment at the absence of two of my favorite local bands from the bill. After all, it was fucking eight o’clock and the headliner was taking the stage already? I had so looked forward to Nachtmystium. Mayhem were great and seemed unaffected (even unaware) of the shambles their tour had become. I guess this is called professionalism. Atilla’s voice was as raw and throaty as ever and, except for the fact that we couldn’t see Hellhammer behind his kit at all, the guys really put on a great show. The crowd went wild, quickly forgetting about the wool that had just been pulled over their eyes. The headbanging was fierce and pits opened up intermittently. I am not a fan of stage props unless used properly and felt Attila’s swinging and playing with a noose during the set was unnecessary, but was amused when he sang into the ear of the severed pig’s head on stage. It was very King Diamond-ish. All in all, their set was killer and I left pretty satisfied with them. But, I was utterly disgusted by how things had shaped up and how the show was haphazardly thrown together; losing the two support bands that would’ve really saved the day...
Special thanks to my twin sister Mary for giving me tickets to this show for my birthday."
Well, there you have it. Somewhat of a travesty, I would argue (anyone know, or care, who the openers were?). Personally, I have my doubts as to whether Marduk will fulfill their pledge to make up the lost dates, but I may be wrong. Skull's t-shirt haul for the show was the same as mine from my attendance, but he did send me a Krallice shirt from his attendance at that show awhile back...
