Subliminal Verses Tour Conquers Fresno! Shadows Fall, Lamb of God, Slipknot 4/10/05 Selland Arena in Fresno CA
By Mike Vanek
This was a perfect show on a perfect day! I woke up ready for metal! After breakfast I made my way to my friend Zeke’s house and after a quick stop we were on our way. We made it to Fresno in record time so we walked around for a bit while I waited to have an interview with Chris Adler from Lamb of God. I watched the radio show out front for a while then Zeke and I were escorted back stage to talk to Chris. I spent the better part of a half hour talking to Lamb of God’s awesome drummer and I was amazed at how down to earth he was. He humbly answered my questions and made us real comfortable it was defiantly the easiest interview I have ever done I hope you all like it when I type it out. After my time with Chris Adler was done I got my passes and made my way inside.
With my VIP access I was free to roam the arena but I spent a great deal of time back stage where I met someone I always wanted to meet. Growing up I was addicted to the Pantera home videos. If you watch these enough times you will get to know who there crew is, they are all like characters that I grew to know as I grew to love this band. Anyways I was walking around backstage and I saw one of Pantera’s old crew “Bobby Tongs” the guy who did most of the filming for the Pantera video’s this was really cool because I got to meet someone close to my favorite band Tongs is now doing filming for Slipknot and I was more impressed by seeing him then members of Slipknot mask less. The first band was Shadows Fall. There has been quit a buzz about this band in recent months and I was really interested in how they would be live. Shadows Fall came out prepared for war! With a double guitar attack and the monstrous vocals of front man Bryan Ferrell this band is defiantly worth the hype and I believe this band will be around for a while to come. With a tribute to Dimebag Darrell and a blistering set Shadows Fall is a band that I really think people should check out.
Next was the mighty Lamb of God. Lamb of God is a rising star in the metal world and a big reason why is there live performance. When it comes to the live show Lamb of God is the real deal. From start to finish Lamb of God is a mad man on a warpath with a passion for playing ruthless heavy metal. Lamb of God came out on fire with tracks like “Laid to Rest” and “Now You’ve Got Something To Die For” as well as tracks now known as classics like “Ruin”, “11th Hour” and the immortal “Black Label” which just crushed the crowd. Lamb of God is in this writers opinion the next great metal band and they should be considered in the rankings of Slayer, Pantera, and Sepultura and it’s just a matter of time before they are headlining there own area tours.
Next was the immortal Slipknot. Seeing Slipknot is a spectacle to be seen. With nine masked maniacs causing mayhem from start to finish, Slipknot live is a circus side show on acid. Slipknot came out fast as hell with nine different spectacles to look at. Slipknot is one of the biggest bands in the world and there live show proves why. With a set packed with new songs but they snuck in old songs in between. I’m not Slipknot’s biggest fans but I was very impressed with their stage presence and the devices used to raise Joey’s drum set and Clown’s Percussion rig. During Joey’s drum solo his drum set was raised about 20 feet in the air; he was spinning and hung upside down while he blasted away on the drums. Clown’s percussion set up also rose up in the air and he and Sid would hang on it while it was raised in the air. The show aspect of Slipknots performance is always professional and well executed to the point of perfection. During the end of Slipknot’s set Bobby Tongs came over to me and handed me one of Dimebag Darrell’s guitar picks. I was in shock! This was better than the concert I just watched. It was like a dream that I was in the middle of. So now I have a DBD pick given to me by one of Dime’s close friends. This is my most valuable possession and I will never let it go! This was a great concert and I must say it was well worth all the hype that surrounded it although it was advertised that From Autumn to Ashes was supposed to play this show and I was looking forward to seeing this band but oh well.
