Review & photos by Rachel Jablonski
Opening day of Music As A Weapon tour 2009 – you could feel the excitement in the air. A massive crowd appeared at McElroy Ballroom in Waterloo, IA to see Chimaira, Lacuna Coil, Killswitch Engage, and Disturbed. In addition, fans were able to see an array of second stage bands just outside of the venue, free of charge, including After The Burial, Born Of Osiris, Crooked X, and Spineshank.
Spineshank
- This was Spineshank’s second show in five years; mostly played songs from Height of Callousness.
Chimaira
- Tons of energy in performance.
- Crowd was really into it; many in the audience were singing along with every song.
- Played two new tracks off their upcoming album called The Infection – the first single, “Secrets of the Dead”, and the first song to be made into a video from the album, “Destroy And Dominate".
- Ended the set with the song “Pure Hatred” off of The Impossibility Of Reason.
Lacuna Coil
- Mesh of male and female vocals works extremely well; neither vocal overpowered the other in the live setting and sounded great.
- Didn’t play any songs from albums earlier than Comalies which is unfortunate because Unleashed Memories and In a Reverie have some great tracks.
- “Spellbound”, the first single off of the new album called Shallow Life, was played live for the first time ever.
- Ended the set with “Our Truth” off of Karmacode.
Killswitch Engage
- Great set, great liveliness.
- Played a good variety of songs: “Bid Farewell”, “Fixation on the Darkness”, “Westfield Virus”, “Rose of Sharyn”, “This is Absolution”, “Arms of Sorrow”, “My Last Serenade”, “My Curse”, “The End of Heartache”, and “Holy Diver”.