Like Bobby Boucher’s mama always said, “Foosball is the Devil!” So instead of sitting home or going to a Super Bowl party, I went to a concert! The first one of the year for me, which is a little late to be honest. I’m not mad…just disappointed in myself. Also, a concert on Super Bowl Sunday is great because it started at 2pm!
First – the venue. It was Tafetta Music Hall in Lowell, MA. Not the greatest place if you ask me. It was small which can be great, but the stage was only a foot higher than the floor (if that) so if you’re not 6 foot tall or taller, or directly in the front, you weren’t seeing much. It’s part of an old mill which is kind of cool, but it’s also an old mill…so it’s old. The doors on this single digit degree day were supposed to open at 1:30pm, but 1:45pm in the FREEZING cold will have to do.
Tulip was a solid band. I didn’t know them or their songs, but they had a good power metal sound with a female singer. She has a clean singing style with no growling, screaming, or what you’d call “dirty vocals.” They did do a metal version of Katy Perry’s Dark Horse so there was at least one song that everyone knew. They said the song after that was titled Disaster and that’s all I can tell you for song titles.
Seven Spires was next and I absolutely loved this band! While I didn’t know a thing about them going into the show, I left a fan. Adrienne Cowan is their female lead singer (and apparently a main song writer according to the ole Google) and she was fantastic. The band Arch Enemy recently parted ways with their singer…they should look to this girl. The versatility was crazy.
Watching her perform was like watching someone with three split personalities sing. She had 3 distinct voices throughout the performance (sometimes a 4th), often with all 3 making an appearance in the same song. Her facial expressions, hand gestures, and movements changed with each voice, and she moved from one to the next with ease. It was something else.
She sang with a deep growl type of singing, then a higher possessed by a poltergeist voice that reminds me of the Cradle of Filth singer, and then a nice clear operatic vocal. She also wove in a bit of a solid rock voice too, like a raspy Lita Ford or something. It was very cool to watch and hear her transitioning from one to the other. I didn’t really know any of their songs going into the show (though knew the style), but I left a fan. I would definitely see them again, and since they’re from Boston, hopefully I’ll get the chance.
Ad Infinitum was the headliner. A Swiss metal band also with a female lead singer. She is mostly clean vocals with a growl here and there for effect. They have a clean sound, solid power-metal guitars, and she’s a great singer. I found them to be a bit on the boring side though. Granted, it was a very small stage so not much to do. But she didn’t have the pizzazz that Adrienne had…so I was pleasantly pleased when she Adrienne joined them for their 9th song, Dead End. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
I won’t rehash the whole setlist as it’s available online elsewhere if you reeeaaallllly want to know. But they opened with Upside Down. The synth songs were prerecorded and not performed live. The stage was just a singer, drummer, bassist, and a single guitar player so there was definitely a lot of prerecorded sounds and effects in use. I guess you do what you gotta do these days. They played Follow Me Down a bit later on which is a cool song and See You in Hell much later on. They brought out the singer from Tulip for The One You’ll Hold On To and that was followed by a song I really like, Marching on Versailles. They ended the set with Regicide which is their newest single. It was a little weird and contained a lot of her prerecorded vocals as well which I didn’t really like all that much.
Once done, they came out for a three song encore which started with Unstoppable. This made my fellow attendee Del happy as that was what he went to hear and see. Live Before You Die and Into the Night closed the night.
Overall, I liked the show. I definitely want to see Seven Spires again and I’d probably go see Ad Infinitum too, but at a different venue. I didn’t love it here. Like I said, it was small which is cool for a crowd, but the stage is too low, and there are no elevated areas to watch from. So, get there early if you can. No one appreciated standing outside for 15 minutes longer than necessary in those temperatures. Lots of angry comments in the line, and some people were even calling the venue to tell them to let us in. It was brutal. But none of that is the fault of the bands, so see them if you can as long as you like power metal!
Leave a Reply