Trivium performing at a concert in Arizona in 2012.
Photo courtesy of Derrick Austinson (flickr)
Metal fans in New York City rejoiced the return of metal, as today’s three most prominent metal bands performed at Irving Plaza. I was lucky enough to have the money and time to attend this concert, which right out of the gate was insane.
People lined from one block to the next – waiting in line for hours and hours upon end. It was a sea of individuals with black shirts, chains, jeans, long hair, tattoos and great love for the three bands.
Who were these three bands everyone was looking forward to seeing? Trivium, Sabaton and Huntress. The latter two have relatively been rising in their success, as Sabaton’s latest new album hit the top charts in the U.S. while Huntress has slowly been getting recognized for their unique power/heavy metal style. However, Trivium has been one of the most recognized bands of the new millennium since their inception in 1999. They served as the headline of the concert.
Being that it took an hour for the show to start – there was an energy to the venue that oozed ‘sex, drugs & rock’n’roll’ vibes off the open bar and the blood-red painting of the walls, which were splattered with various signatures of a variety of different performers and artists.
First, Huntress paved the concert with a five-song set that just blew everyone’s mind surrounding me. The mood all of the sudden went from wonder to full on excitement and balls-to-the-wall headbanging; it was surprising to see a smattering amount of women at the concert, as well as the men in the audience loving Huntress: their lead singer is female. It made me smile how everyone did not care Huntress had a female lead singer and focused on their performance, which flew fast under 35 minutes. Next up, Sabaton owned the stage and practically the whole audience, as their entrance marked a moment of ‘hellyeah’ amongst audience members.
Their signature epic-power-metal sound was the primary cause for everyone to mosh out in the middle of the venue and start crowd surfing all the way to the stage; although I did not know this band that well, Sabaton instantly became one of my favorite bands that night. Their ability to quickly communicate with the audience and make us laugh in between songs were truly representative of the vibes their presence on stage gave off- a fun and welcoming one. Not only were fans of Sabaton going wild, but also non-fans of them (like myself) were shouting the lyrics to their songs and jumping and headbanging (Sabaton was so amazing they did three encores for the audience).
After their set was finished, I had time to go in the back and go on line to meet the members of Huntress and get my phone signed by all of them; it was a remarkable experience meeting their lead singer, who off-stage is an incredibly loving person who welcomed everyone with a hug.
However, a couple of minutes after attending the meet & greet, Trivium put their intro signifying their soon-awaited presence on the stage. As soon as they began with their song “Strife” I was hooked! Matt Heafy, frontman of Trivium, captured everyone’s attention by interacting with them and encouraging everyone sing along. I was so excited in the music that it enabled me to go head first into the mosh pit and just get slaughtered with punches and shoves by people ten times taller than me. It also marked the first time I was crazy enough to go crowd surfing three times, but the third time had me falling in the middle of the crowd and accidentally kicking a girl in the head.
Overall, with the injuries aside the concert was one of the most successful and astounding experiences I ever had anywhere period and the love everyone had for these bands was contagious.
