Well, yesterday, I had a slight misunderstanding with my friends and ended going to the correct show on the wrong day. Around 6:00 PM I started heading down to the mouse house for my first encounter with Static-X since ALL of the members left the band, for presumably greener pastures. Well at least Tony Campos has since he is the primary bassist for both Prong, Ministry, and Soulfly while retaining his rightful spot as the lead singer of Asesino.
I had seen several pictures of the opening bands and I was really unsure of how much or if I would like to listen to any of them. The opening bands were Davey Suicide, Gemini Syndrome, and 9 Electric. I think Prong was originally slated to be on the show, but they ended up not being a part of the lineup.
I don’t really have too much to say on the opening bands so I’ll just go through it pretty quick. Davey Suicide was the first on the list of the night. They weren’t too bad. They kind of look and sound like a modern day Dope. They were fairly entertaining, but they didn’t work the crowd over too well. Gemini Syndrom was up next. Their lead singer definitely had a distinct look. Kind of like an albino with a huge beard and a poofy shirt. These guys were a tad on the boring side, for me at least. Snoozer!! You can’t please everybody though.
9 Electric turned out to be a pretty damn good band. Wayne always has a knack for picking great opening bands. These guys really remind me of Static-X circa 1999, though I didn’t see them live until 2001. They worked the crowd very well. Their songs were incredibly catchy and they had some interesting images projected onto the backdrop behind them. I would definitely pay some bucks to see these guys headline.
And now for the Main Event. Static-X with the Static and minus the X. To say that I didn’t enjoy myself would be a lie. I was singing along to all my old favorites. He even opened the show up with a song I haven’t seen them do for several years, Wisconsin Death Trip. The song lineup was fairly similar to how it was most every time I’d seen them. Here is a rough estimate of the songs they did play, in no particular order:
- Wisconsin Death Trip
- Bled For Days
- Push It
- Dirt House
- The Only
- This is Not
- I’m With Stupid
- Love Dump
- Get to the Gone
- Black and White
- Cold
- Cannibal
- Just in Case
- Destroyer
- Stingwray
- Assassins of Youth
Wow. I guess I was able to find the names of all the songs that were played. Now on to more of the critical issues I had. As some of my friends know, I’ve been staunchly against this type of reform and pretty much against Wayne Static in general. It seems to me that he pushed everybody else out and when He couldn’t do the job on his own, he decided to use the name as a bit of leverage. I’ve seen them EASILY sell out the House of Blues in Anaheim, Hollywood, and Vegas, as well as the Key Club and the Roxy in Hollywood and The Observatory/The Galaxy Theater in Santa Ana. This wasn’t the case as I had plenty of arm room and nobody standing behind me on the upper level at the House of Blues Anaheim.
About the performance, Wayne was spot on like he usually is. His quality was never in question. They had a new guy on bass and backup vocals that was doing an OK job at simulating Tony. Tony just can’t be replicated though. The guy on lead guitar was not too bad either. The problem I had was with How they interacted together. It didn’t really seem like they had any chemistry together like the old guys did. And it didn’t seem like their heart was all in it. Its very understandable though because they didn’t write any of the music or didn’t have a hand in the creative process at all. So I really can’t blame these guys for looking like glamourized session workers. Other than that and the fact that Terra was on stage wayyy too often, it was a fairly good show. And I think I’ll go see them on the next run.
I have some pictures that I’ll try to add as soon as I can find a way of getting them off my phone. And check out some of the concerts that are in your neck of the woods on the concert calendar page Here.
