LAMB OF GOD + Trivium + Machine Head @ Le Medley

By Johnny Suck - Turn Down the Suck - 03/20/2007

A sold-out Medley played host to Lamb of God, Trivium and Machine Head -- Gojira were there too, but nobody cares about them. It's a shame that it was at the Medley; actually it's a shame that all larger metal shows are at the Medley, as it's pretty much the worst venue in the city -- but that's a rant for another day...

Walking in during Machine Head's set, it was surprising to see how much the crowd was into them. It turns out that they haven't been completely forgotten and left behind, as maybe you would have thought. Good for them.

Trivium took the stage after some ridiculously long intro music. I guess no one bothered to tell them that they weren't headlining. Their first song was a straight-up Metallica rip-off, which I guess is better than if they played a straight-up Trivium song. Nastiness aside, I find this band to be completely directionless. They obviously want to be huge, but it seems that they just don't know how to do it. Still, the cheering fans and the horde of Trivium T-shirts indicated that they must be doing something right. One thing that I will give them credit for is their interaction with the audience. The last time I reviewed them, I criticized their Rock Star attitudes. I still stand by that but I will say that at least they are making an effort and they deserve some points for it. Despite my leanings towards the 'shut up and play' school of thought, I realize what they are trying to do and what they are accomplishing. There were certainly some kids who felt a real connection with their favourite band, and ended up having the night of their lives because of it.

My concert-going buddy, a big LoG fan, suggested that Lamb of God is a band that only really needs to be seen once. After you've seen them for the first time, they don't really bring anything new to the table and they don't really do anything that needs to be seen over and over again. Personally, I was looking forward to seeing them more this time than the first time I had seen them, partly because I ended up liking them quite a bit that time and partly because they now have "Redneck" as part of their repertoire, a song that is far better than anything else that they have ever written. Well, "Redneck" ended up being completely butchered and my prior "hey, that was better than I was expecting!" reaction was replaced by "hmmm, yeah, I guess that was on par with last time". So while Lamb of God was solid, they were nothing special. They didn't step up and unlike, say, Trivium, they didn’t even try to step up. Besides Lamb of God's redundancy, some notable tidbits: the way Randy Blythe stalks the stage is very effective, the let's - use - so - much - smoke - that - nobody - will - be - able - to - see - anything technique isn't effective at all, and Randy mistakenly/jokingly calling the crowd Toronto and being met by a sea of boos was hilarious.

Highlight: Sorry, but I'm not going to say. I like to pretend that I have some class. Not much, but some, so I'm going to keep this one to myself

Highlight #2: Nope, I can't tell you this one either, it's not something that can be officially endorsed in a CJLO review.

Highlight #3: Post-show, when people were milling around the coat check area, some kid's mom walks in and tells a security guard that she's here to pick up her son. The guard shouts out over the din, "Billy! Your mom's here!!" Everyone around laughed. Good times.

[This is a motherfuckin' invitation to tune into Turn Down The Suck.]