In all honesty, it takes a lot to get me to go to The Rave these days. I’ve made no bones about my distaste for the dilapidated state of the building, the dickish state of the employees and the drunk, annoying state of the primarily underage patrons (Sure, I was once a drunk underage patron at The Rave, but I certainly don’t remember being annoying!).
But every once in a while a band that I truly enjoy will get suckered into playing this bastion of mediocrity (Really, Minus The Bear? Really?), and I, in turn, will get suckered into attending. Saturday’s suckering came at the hands of alternative metal outfit Sevendust, a long-time personal favorite from my younger, angrier days.
Although the band hails from Atlanta, these guys have basically made the road their home for more than a decade. This visit saw Sevendust headlining the HardDrive Live Tour, a collection of metal bands put together by the syndicated radio show of the same name. And though there was nothing too exciting about any of the opening acts, they successfully served their purpose of elevating the collective testosterone level of the crowd to adequate Sevendust levels. For you biologists out there, that’s somewhere between a mixed martial arts match and a good old-fashioned monkey knife fight.
Sevendust wasted no time whipping the primarily sweaty black t-shirted mob into a frenzy with “Splinter” from the band’s most recent album, Cold Day Memory, followed immediately by the electric “Denial.” This healthy mix of new tracks and old favorites continued throughout the set, with the band seamlessly weaving together present and past. Between the antics of drummer Morgan Rose, which included several mid-song games of drumstick catch with the front row, and the captivatingly sincere stage presence of singer Lajon Witherspoon, the crowd response only continued to grow from its already fever pitch over the course of the show.
Sevendust tends to get lumped in with some pretty disposable heavy rock groups because of the band’s aggressive style, but I for one think the band has never really received the musicianship credit it is due. What has always set Sevendust apart from many of its heavy metal brethren is the band’s fearless use of melody and harmony, elements that aren’t exactly required courses at “Metal School.”
These traits were on full display mid-set when guitarist Clint Lowery and Witherspoon took to the stage with nothing more than a single acoustic guitar to play a brilliantly heart-wrenching medley of “Xmas Day” and “Angel’s Son.” This complete juxtaposition of styles can be difficult to pull off, but the band’s earnest passion for its craft shines through regardless of volume level.
And maybe that’s what is so endearing about Sevendust. Watching them perform, you get the sense that the band would put forth the same effort and create the same energy level whether there were 10,000 or 10 people in the crowd. And that alone is worth the price of admission.
Let’s just do it at Turner Hall next time.
