Hellyeah w/ Soil and Malice In Wonderland
Barrymore Theatre (Madison, WI), May 27th, 2007

      I went to this show not really knowing how good it was going to be. Hellyeah on tour after only releasing one album? My first time seeing Soil with their new singer (AJ)? Not knowing who the opening band was? Thanks to Sage, who is helping promote the tour, I managed to get in on Soil’s guest list and was able to check it all out without having to buy a ticket (I love perks).
      When I walked into the Barrymore Theatre I had a good feeling that the night was going to go well. They had Spotted Cow beer on tap! Woo hoo! An excellent beginning to an excellent night. And since I didn’t have to pay for the ticket, I had more money for beer!
      As I sat down and the Spotted Cow began to flow down my throat and through my veins, I soon found out that the opening band for the night was Malice In Wonderland (locals from Madison). Sweet deal. I have seen their name around quite a bit but had never gotten the chance to check them out. This was my chance. Unfortunately, the guy running sound that night kinda fucked up the mic levels a bit because during most of the songs the vocals were a mess. With a bit of a struggle, I was able to comprehend the overall sound that Malice was going for though. After their set was done, I knew that I really liked their music, and their stage performance was awesome, but I needed to check them out more to complete my opinion. I recently surfed over to www.myspace.com/miwonderland and checked out their tracks there. I will definitely go see them live again because the vocals are awesome, very powerful, and what they do with the overlapping vocals is cool. Just imagine yourself walking down the street, getting jumped, and then having your guts ripped out. Yeah, it’s something like that. Go check them out. It’s some good hardcore metal death sound.
      Intermisson, time for more Spotted Cow.
      Soil took the stage. I have seen them live a couple times before and knew I was in for a treat. I am always skeptical when a band gets a new vocalist. I imagine it’s tough trying to take over the vocalist spot though when such a great vocal sound for the band has already been established. I have been a fan of Soil since I got to review their EP, “El Chupacabra” (1998). But, with a slightly different vocal style, AJ Cavalier took over the vocalist abilities quite well (both live and on Soil’s latest album, “True Self”). Soil played a nice mix of older songs and new stuff to keep things diverse. It’s always great to hear some of the older songs again. The night continued to flow on with Soil kicking ass on the stage and proving to the crowd why they are still around after forming the band 10 years ago.
Intermission again, time for more Spotted Cow (New Glarus Brewing Company should pay me for this product placement, ha ha).
      Hellyeah! With only one album under their belt, Hellyeah took over the stage and sent half the crowd flocking to the front. People were getting turned away and sent back to their seats because the front pit area was so packed, nobody else could fit up there. I have never seen that happen at the Barrymore before. Several “holy shit”s came out of my mouth throughout the performance as I watched people exiting the pit barely able to catch their breath from the nonstop herding and uncontrollable movement going on about a dozen rows in front of me. As Hellyeah blasted through the tracks on their album and a cover of Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy” (Hellyeah named their version of the song “Stone Cold Wasted”), the pumped-up energy channeled throughout the venue carried on. The band continued to captivate us as we watched a group of musicians who played so well together, it was as if the band had been around for years and this music was simply meant to be. With the rumors of a 2nd album to be recorded either later this year or early next year, I look forward to more music from Chad Gray – Vocals (Mudvayne), Greg Tribbett – Guitar (Mudvayne), Tom Maxwell – Guitar (Nothingface), Bob Zilla – Bass (Damageplan), and Vinnie Paul Abbott – Drums (Pantera, Damageplan).  I am sure even better things are yet to come.

Hellyeah - www.myspace.com/hellyeah
Soil - www.myspace.com/soil 
Malice In Wonderland - www.myspace.com/miwonderland