Oh, mans. I had the best time this Friday.
OK, let me clarify.
I had a tremendously ass time. Then I had a time so metal and awesome that the overall experience was fantastic.
| Q: Hey, Ealasaid, WTF are you talking about? A: Dethklok is the band the cartoon Metalocalypse is about. Metalocalypse is an 11-minute show on adult swim (the Cartoon Network’s late night show). It is awesome. You should check it out. Brendon Small is the co-creator and does most of the guitar work and half the voices on the show. Video clips here (Comedy>Metalocalypse). My favorite clips/videos: Something To Hate Let the Dying Begin We’re Not Professional Apologizers (Mustakrakish Awaken) Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle |
5pm: Arrive in Berkeley. Find the line for the Dethklok show. Get in line. Strike up conversation with gal behind me in line to pass the time.
6pm: Doors to show supposed to open. In reality, nothing happens.
6:30pm: Doors open. Line moves glacially. Announcement that everyone must have their bags searched and pass through a metal detector (meaning, there is only ONE metal detector at the entrance) explains the slowness.
7:15pm: Realize that there is loud music coming from inside the building. Hunt down volunteer and demand to know wtf is going on. Volunteer makes some calls, tells me that …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead has gone on. Dethklok will be the main show, so it’s ok.
8pm: Finally get inside. Watch some kid play GH3 (“The Metal” on Expert) on the stage while roadies set up. Crowd is hostile, as we all want Dethklok, not some kid who can’t even get four stars on the damn song.
Eventually (I didn’t check the time), the big screen stops showing ads and instead shows this:
The crowd goes wild. Brendon Small and the rest of the guys come on and launch into “Briefcase Full of Guts.” The way the show works is this: The stage lights are dark, and the screen shows the music video while the band plays the song. Good stuff.
Even though there was a “no moshing!” announcement made before show, a bunch of folks were moshing like crazy. I managed to avoid most of the resultant domino-effect staggering, yay.
Every two or three songs, they’d show a video — Facebones taking us behind the scenes of the show, or a scene from a mini-episode about the Tribunal’s latest plot to take out the band. Good stuff. While the vid plays, the band takes a break (presumably because Brendon can only channel Nathan Explosion for so long before his throat needs a rest).
It was a blast. I am now officially a huge Brendon Small fangirl. He was really zen on stage, even while he was playing guitar like a maniac and singing his guts out. Awesome.
For the encores, they brought up the stage lights and played without video:
I got two posters: a free one for the tour (left) and one for Dethklok for eight bucks from the merch stand (right). I was sad they were out of tour tshirts. eBay to the rescue, I guess.
After the show I found a volunteer who was guarding what appeared to be a backstage access area and asked about getting Brendon Small’s autograph. She was really unhelpful and kind of pissy, and I was tired, so I decided to bail and go home to sleep rather than loiter around in the hopes of finding him. There’s always conventions or fan letters when it comes to autograph procurement. I mean, the dude has his email addy on his personal website. I bet he replies to fan letters.
The rest of the tour dates are on the website. If there’s one near you and you dig Metalocalypse, you should check it out. And if YOU manage to interact with Brendon Small, you damn well better get me an autograph or the force of my fangirl jealousy just might stop your heart or something equally metal. Yeah.
