The Concert: Riverhead, Stolen Babies, Black Light Burns, Combichrist.

In order of events:

After getting slightly lost, Ruben and I found The Avalon and stood outside in the cold for twenty minutes. The people in front of us were smoking [peh!]and I was thinking of telling them to use their lighters to keep us warm. The people behind us were pretty funny. I don't remember what they were talking about, but they were funny.

Then the doors opened just as I was about to become a freeze-bug [Metalocalypse reference]and we went in, where I spent exactly $55 on Stolen Babies merchandise-the full length album and two amazing t-shirts and because I spent that much, I got two free little buttons, a "STOLEN BABIES ON BOARD" caution-sign sticker which will one day be on the windshield of my first car, and two other large stickers, one of which I promised I'd give Ruben.

Then we made our way to the front where the first act, Riverhead, began performing. Their bassist looked like a goth version of the Joker.

But more importantly, Stolen Babies was the next act. I had a clear view of the drum kit and took a picture of the logo stamped on it.

First one out was Gil [the drummer] and he did some test runs on the drums, which I filmed. Ruben informed me that he wanted Gil's brocade suit jacket.

Next out was Rani [bassist and brother of Gil]. Each time one of them would come out I'd squeal.

Ben [keyboards and oil drum] followed.

And then Gil brought out Dominique's Weltmeister accordion and set it down and I took some pictures of it-I could have touched it if I wanted to-it was that close. And then Dominique came out and put on the Weltmeister! I've waited two years to see them. I could have seen them on the Hottest Women in Metal tour but I had to go to a memorial for my grandmother in Washington and missed out on seeing THREE of my favorite female-fronted bands. Sorry, Nanny, but you had been cremated for three months and if it were just postponed a day....and the Dresden Dolls were performing the next day, too, so I was rather pissed the whole journey.

Their set included Spill!, Filistata, Lifeless, Push Button, Tall Tales, Mind Your Eyes. I think I got them all.

Here are the pictures I took:

After their performance when they were clearing away their instruments, Dominique bent down and put her hand out so I and the people around me could touch it and she said that the band would be hanging out in the lobby after Combichrist.

The next band was Black Light Burns and they were all wearing black clothes that reminded me of clothes men wore in the 1800's. Wes Borland [ex Limp Bizkit] was the frontman and he had a handlebar mustache. Anyway, when they were performing, he took off his vest, and then his shirt, and kept dousing himself in water before flinging himself around like he was being electrocuted. Seriously-he was bouncing off the walls. Just check out the pictures on their myspace page to see:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=36794676

Then after the longest wait ever, Combichrist came out. Well, you couldn't really see them come out because of the fog, but they had to come out somewhere...two drummers, one keyboardist, and one vocalist. The drum sets reminded me of industrial versions of the ones they had at Celtic Woman. They put on a superb show. The singer was really into it and everyone would start jumping and he'd be bouncing around. He reminded me of Till Lindmann from Rammstein with his facial expression-the blue eyes that are so light they're almost white, the mohawk, the [fake?]blood dripping down, the creepy-doll-face-conducting-an-invisible-orchestra actions. It was a lot like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8pBe1Zbd3Y Except the female drummer wasn't there.

They did three encore songs, one of which, if it were turned into a radio version, would be called "This__will__you up," haha.

So Ruben and I made our way over to the Stolen Babies merch table and I told them that they did an amazing show and gave them the sketchbook I painted to them and Dominique turned to Gil and Rani and said that she was just talking about how she should have brought a notebook but only had pieces of paper. A practical present. They really liked it-I hoped they would given their love for artists like Gris Grimly, Tim Burton, and Crab Scrambly [who illustrated their album].

Ruben asked Gil where he got his brocade jacket and he replied, "I got it in a porn shop in Seattle." And Dominique confirmed it, haha. I wouldn't think porn shops would sell clothing.

And Jose was there, so I made him take a picture of us with the band. It was a small area and part of it was a step up, so we had to spend a minute arranging ourselves. I've read that Dominique is really tiny, but she was as tall as me. She was wearing heeled boots, so I think she'd be a couple inches shorter at the most, but I was expecting a hobbit, haha. She's so pretty. And her makeup was flawless because her skin was flawless [only girls notice these things!].

Ruben wanted to buy something, so I made a quick pit stop and when I came out, Ruben was chatting with Rani and Rani turned to me and made me sign the sketchbook and promised they'd fill it up and bring it next time they came to SLC. They kept thanking me for the sketchbook and telling me how cool it looked-praise from the Stolen Babies was so very cool. I'm still in awe. They're either in or on their way to Denver right now and then one or two more shows with Combichrist, I believe. So it's not really long enough to be a tour, but I still expect them to fill up the book with many ideas for the new album.

And with ringing ears and no voices left, we made our way home.