Alestorm @ Corona, March 20th, 2017

Back at it here again with another concert review! Monday, March 20 welcomed Alestorm at the Corona Theater, and man was I excited to get my pirate mood on. Upon arriving, I checked at the back of the venue hoping to meet the band but, sadly, none of the members were there. 

Once I managed to get inside, I ran for the front as fast as possible and secured my spot and land ho!

The first band that went on was Distoriam—the legendary Distoriam! Walking on with their folk outfits, it was really cool to see them as they were getting all into character. They put on a incredible performance, and interacted a lot with the crowd. They opened up with "Hymn to Mead," their anthem, and everyone was so into it; lots of headbanging and crabcore was going on in the crowds. They were great as openers, and I was super proud of them for making it and playing with Alestorm. Their amount of professionalism and showmanship showed, and Distoriam need to keep on doing what they do on stage at this point because they will go far and do wonderful things in their career. I am proud of Distoriam, one of my favourite local bands, kicking ass and showing how much a local band can do to play a professional show. Good job guys! 

Next up was Aether Realm, who I have noticed changed their style quite a lot recently. They have more of an melodic death metal approach than the Viking-like of their earlier roots. The newest songs I heard were quite good, if I say so myself, and have elements from Soilwork and a little bit of Ensiferum—a bizzare combination, but they managed to our their own spin to it. I really liked how they were full of energy, and the moshpits were a bit rough on this when I was in the front row. Highlight of the set was "Swamp Witch," one of my favorites. 

Then came the main event which was Alestorm. Alestorm has been a band I've been following since their early days, when I was in highschool and they were one of the first bands I got into. I knew Alestorm before they even got popular. (That's right, you heard it here first folks.) Cued in the epic music that goes along with their intro, and it turned into a dubstep intro with a 8-bit theme to it which was hilarious along with an announcer introducing the band. 

Alestorm opened up with "Keelhauled" and immediately, the mosh pit stated. It was a little bit weird to see them open with "Keelhauled;" I thought that they would play it during the middle of the set, but it was a cool opener. Alestorm showed a lot of charisma during their flawless performance throughout the night. Chris interacting with the crowd for a good majority of the time was quite fun, and he was cracking up jokes. I never thought I'd be going super crazy and headbanging the whole entire night, but during "Wenches and Mead," it was the most epic thing ever and that was a highlight of the set. Everyone was going crazy for the song and people were crowd surfing. 

Sadly the show had to come to an end soon. The encore began and they played "1741," which was much more epic and brilliant live compared to the album version. There was a lot more attention put on details in the performance and you could tell that the band members were really enjoying playing it. 

Then came "Captain Morgan's Revenge," the song they always play last. Chris asked the audience to open the pit up for a wall of death and it was the most huge wall of death I've ever seen. It was great to see them play this song because this is also one of my favourites. I've never in my life heard an audience get so into the song and overpower the vocals in a smaller venue like this, but it was a cool moment when everyone was singing the chorus. 

This show was phenomenal, and I'm glad that Alestorm came back despite the visa issues they had in October which could not get them in the country. If I had time to see the same show again, I totally would go. Don't miss out on this!