By Natasha Shepherd
A tour titled “Taste of Chaos” provokes expectations of a night of high-energy performances, particularly when considering that an energy drink (Rockstar) has been putting it on for four years. Tuesday night’s event at the Pearl at the Palms delivered, but the audience didn’t seem to take notice until the end.
While all of the bands put on a decent show, the crowd did little to hide the fact that they were there mainly to see Bullet for My Valentine and Atreyu. For the first two hours there was plenty of room on the floor and little movement. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that high school kids wearing flip flops or white shoes wanted to avoid toe injuries or scuff marks. The older, more tattooed show goers entered the venue later.
To accommodate the eight bands on the roster, the Pearl’s stage was sectioned into two pieces, with the left side consisting of a third of the entire stage. This allowed for smooth set changes since bands could set up on one portion while another band performed on the other.
The crowd's demeanor was somewhat ho-hum as Tragedy of Me, which couldn’t really maintain a consistent level of stamina, and Idiot Pilot were performing, despite Idiot Pilot's danceable electronica beats.
"Taste of Chaos" featured rock and metal bands as part of the JRock Revolution, a once underground movement to unite Japanese artists and fans overseas. The JRock bands looked at home onstage and each brought a different level of energy.
D'espairsRay got people moving with a strong, distinctive sound matched with stage presence and crowd interaction. They seemed a bit more no nonsense than MUCC and The Underneath, with an attitude that was like, “Here’s our loud, fast sound and you can take it and do what you will and we don’t care.”
MUCC walked out barefoot, dressed in a combination of traditional Japanese clothing and street clothes, and put on a nicely choreographed performance. They bowed often and their movements were sometimes slow, almost graceful, while playing fast paced rhythms. The Underneath, clad in black, followed MUCC's performance with aggressive guitars and lots of head banging that didn’t prepare the crowd for the times when singer Taka’s voice soared like he was singing hte national anthem.
When Bullet for My Valentine, the sixth band to perform, it was after 9 p.m. and the floor suddenly was packed, as were most of the seats.
Singer Matt Tuck kept the energy up for the duration of the band’s metal performance. "Tears Don't Fall" had the best reaction from fans and sounded better live than on recording. They also performed songs from their newly released sophomore album, "Scream Aim Fire," which is considerably heavier than their previous album, “The Poison.” Throughout the set, Tuck encouraged crowd surfing and several bleach-blondes obliged. And for the first time there was more than a small pit going, they were all over the place.
Blessthefall kept the crowd going after Bullet for My Valentine. It was hard to tell that the band doesn’t have a lead vocalist because guitarist Eric Lambert can sing well enough, although sometimes a bit shaky, and bassist Jared Warth seems not to lose his breath at all while screaming. Warth also interacted with the crowd like a seasoned professional, flipping off the stage to land on welcoming hands.
While each band before them brought something to the table, the crowd didn’t want to get full from appetizers and were saving room for the main coarse. Dinner was served around 10 p.m. when Atreyu hit the stage.
To ensure that band members were always moving, Atreyu had a steel ramp onstage that went around the drums and lifted into a platform behind them. It was almost hard to keep track of what songs they were playing because the performance was so fluid. Despite having problems with his microphone, Alex Varkatzas didn't seem to miss a note. "Right Side of the Bed" and "Falling Down" got the audience moving but the band got the crowd involved for "Lip Gloss and Black" with everyone screaming "live, love, burn, die."
After over four hours of loud guitars, driving drums and guttural screams, “Taste of Chaos” drained the energy out of everyone.
Photographs by Joanne Vitale