Averatu
Attended a metal gig at the State Theatre in Pretoria of all places, on Thursday evening.
Attendance was pretty low, but I understand it was the first time they've arranged one f these shows, and as usual the bands probably expected the organizers to do all the promo.
'All Forlorn' played first, core is not my style baby, and having seen them twice before, I enjoyed this performance best, probably because their vocalist was missing! I cant stand the metalcore mono-bark vocals. They had good energy, and the drummer has seriously improved a lot since I first saw them in October.
Second was Warthane. I saw them 2 years ago and thought, "dubel K, midel A". They took the stage and I was rather surprised. Correct me if I'm wrong, the only member I recognize from the last show is the vocalist, and in my opinion the change of members has been a serious upgrade, especially the drummer. Their performance was tight and well rehearsed. Their departure from stage was a low point, as they had a bit of a 'bugger you' attitude about them at this point.
The last band was supposed to be Chromium, but for some reason Agro took the stage. As anyone in the metal scene, I've seen them ad-nausium over the years, they're the self proclaimed premier South African metal band, headlining every festival and gig at a dive near you. I remember arguments backstage at a gig at the Don in Vanderbijl in 1998, Agro throwing their toys because they're supposed to play last(1am), then proceeding to spray beer all over everyone's gear (not cool). They seem to have tried every style of metal over the years, which makes their set sound more like a bunch of covers than a coherent set. They too had 2 new members since I last saw them with Ensiferum, not to mention the drummer.
Personally I would love an opportunity to play at this venue, and I would also go back and see bands. The sound was not great, but it was far better than most gigs I've attended of late, including Ensiferum at Cool Runnings. The lighting was really cool, I have seldom seen bands perform like that, and I could only imagine its because of the atmosphere the lights provide. For a show at a acoustically treated theater venue, the sound was seriously sub par, and will need serious attention, but I think this could be the start of something great.
Hammeron
One of the members of Warthane was killed in car crash a few months ago.
As a matter of interest, how many punters can you get into the state theater, and does it have a gallery?
Norman86
The Pretoria State Theatre can easily hold more than 1000 people.
yes, there's a gallery too!
Averatu
It was not at the Main venue, but one of the smaller ones on the side. Could get 500 peeps in there no problem by my estimate.
-Just looked it up, its called the 'RENDEZVOUS THEATRE', (their spelling on the site). The whole thing needs mode promo an better sound engineers, but I hope it takes off.
Averatu
(One of the members of Warthane was killed in car crash a few months ago)
K@k to loose a band member like that!
Jack-Flash-Jr
I'm really surprised at the sound issue though. Do you know if they had a "festival" engineer(s) or the theatre one? Doing sound for metal is a challenge if you don't have experience, as is doing sound at a proper auditorium if you're used to club gigs...
(Bad news on the Warthane loss...)
Malkav
Jack Flash Jr wrote:
Doing sound for metal is a challenge if you don't have experience
Thank You!
Where I work there are lots of old closed minded people who don't seem to understand that what they know about mixing isn't necessarily gonna do metal well, they also seem to believe that even in the case of stuff like metal that vinyl is the "best" medium ???. Also I'm personally of the opinion that no studio in South Africa is capable of getting a decent metal drum sound mic'd up...
Averatu
Judging by the massive morass of mud that was the boooming bottom end, I'd think it would be a festival engineer. Between the kick and floor tom and bass, It was at times hard to tell what was going on, moving higher up nearer mix point was a bit better.
Norman86
Oh yeah, surrounding the advertising of this....
Im not sure when i supposedly subscribed to the State Theatre's mailing list, but they have my email and regualrly send me mail about the various shows etc!
The metal thing was on it ? So there IS advertising from the theatre themselves!!
