Brian Junyor’s Stream

Pedal to the Metal Quick Recap

HELLZAPOPPIN: A Sideshow Revue

They  kicked it off and performed between acts.  Billed as the World’s largest and greatest touring circus sideshow, it “combines the style of the classic era side shows with modern day edginess and finesse.”  The performers in Dallas were:

Zamora The Torture King | Bizarre feats of mind over body from the pioneer of new-sideshow.

Bryce “The Govna” Graves | The man behind Hellzapopin' He shares his nickname with Elvis Presley's manager who got his start in a carnival.

The World Famous Penguin Boy | A true human oddity, young Jason the Penguin Boy love to entertain and show his skills.

Betty Bloomers | She uses the snake like undulations of her mysterious innards to pull a 27" blade deep into her 5'4" body.

It freaked me out.  If the Torture King doesn’t get you, I’d be surprised.  The performers managed to keep it funny, freaky, engaging – and in the case of Ms. Betty Bloomers, sexy. 

Bury Your Dead

[2.5 Stars out of 5]

Low energy from the crowd didn’t help their performance.  The volume seemed “too low” compared to the other bands that performed.

In their defense, they were first act to perform and only about a 1/3 of the audience had showed up at this point. 

The Pedal to the Medal Tour was originally going to be held at the Nokia Theatre in Garland and Black Label Society was scheduled to be on the ticket.  However, BLS frontman Zakk Wylde had to pull out of the tour in late August due to medical reasons.  The change prompted Ticketmaster to offer refunds and I assume the venue switch.  Also – it was a Tuesday night / after a 3 day weekend.  So be prepared for a better performance at a difference venue.

Suicide Silence

[4 Stars out of 5]

Honestly, I didn't really care for Suicide Silence before I saw them perform.  Their style, fluctuations between death growls and high pitched screaming, doesn't usually appeal to me.  However, after seeing them in person, I can say this - they rock.  Fast paced, high energy - still have no idea what vocalist Mitch Lucker was saying, but I liked the way he said it.  I am going to add them to my "look into" pile and download some of their music for review.

Static-X

[6 Stars out of 5] I don’t care if it isn’t possible – it’s my system and I say 6 out of 5.

Fantastic.  They started with "Push It," some dolt threw a beer cup at the stage which prompted vocalist Wayne Static to stop the song and tell the crowd that one more beer at the stage would end their performance.  They started up again, beer at stage, angry words, band storms off, crowd boos, crowd calls for lynching of beer throwers, band rep comes back out asks us if we want Static-X to perform, crowd cheers, asks us if we'll behave ourselves, crowd cheers loudly, band returns, enjoyment ensues.  The worst part, Static-X never did finish "Push It."

Mudvayne

[5 Stars out of 5]

They might have rated a six out of five, their performance was that good.  But I deduct a star for the ridiculous fuzzy suit Chad Gray wore out at the beginning.  I know it’s horribly unfair, but it both distracted me and made me feel ‘somewhat’ nervous.  They did the best job of engaging the crowd and are the reason my vocal cords are a bit sore as of this writing.

The Venue: Palladium Dallas

This was my first trip to the Palladium Ballroom.   After reading the negative reviews on Google & Yahoo, I was prepared to have a bad time.  However, I was pleasantly surprised, it turned out to be the exact opposite of bad.  The staff was friendly, the setup was perfect, the sound was great.  Most of the negative reviews stem from a single event, so I am guessing that it was a fluke.  I plan on going back to see All That Remains [Hard Drive Tour] in October and have no qualms.

Final Note

My attempt to tweet & update my Facebook status failed.  One – we were so close to the front, we we’re at the edge of the Circle Pit, which required participation on my part to fling the ‘circlers’ back out (not conducive to typing status updates)  and Two - The FB app I have to copy my twitter stream to my FB status failed to update in a timely manner. The delayed tweet updating coupled with my picture uploads directly to Facebook created a disjointed timeline – lesson learned.  Also, I am taking my digital camera next time.  Having a phone with a camera is handy, but the image quality is subpar.

I’ll be updating directly to Posterous and having it roll the updates to Twitter, Facebook, and my blog.  I still take photos with my phone for the status updates, but I’ll upload the images from my digital camera to Flickr and write a recap when I return.  All this for the Playing with Fire Festival this weekend in Fort Worth.  Enough of that, but stay tuned.