03.09 Rock Shots

By Mary Ouellette

February brought to town the “All Hope Is Gone” tour – Slipknot’s first ever solo headlining tour. Out in support with them are prog-rockers Coheed & Cambria and metal masters Trivium. On February 6th at the sold out Tsongas Arena, the general admission floor was a scene to behold. Before Trivium had even hit the stage there was a pile of shoes, t-shirts, and other abandoned paraphernalia amassed in the photo pit that had seemingly made its way forward amongst the sea of people. By the looks of it, a lot of concert goers went home with only one shoe! With solid sets from both Trivium and Coheed it wasn’t until Slipknot hit the stage that all hell broke loose. As if summoning an end to the calm before the storm, lead vocalist Corey Taylor stood motionless on his metal pedestal as the red curtain inched up slowly. He took a look out into the audience from beneath his mask and almost as if hypnotizing them with his glare, they were instantaneously under his spell. From that point on, he owned the crowd. Slipknot is undoubtedly one of my favorite live bands to shoot; you really can’t go wrong with nine masked men.

All Hope Is Gone Tour (Slipknot, Coheed & Cambria, Trivium – February 6th, Tsongas Arena – Lowell, MA)

Taking a bit of a musical departure from metal, the 2009 F.Y.E. Presents The Sub City Take Action Tour rolled into its Worcester, MA stop on February 17th at The Palladium. The lineup for this year was Cute is What We Aim For headlining supported by Anarbor, Every Avenue, Meg & Dia, and Breathe Carolina, so concertgoers got a lot of bang for their buck!

Now in its eighth year the annual Take Action tour promotes charitable giving and raises both funds and awareness for non-profit organizations encouraging music fans to get involved. A portion of each ticket is donated to chosen charities, and this year the donations will go to DoSomething.org. DoSomething.org promotes young people getting involved to make a difference, empowering them to “take action”. Along with monetary donations the tour has worked hand in hand with DoSomething.org to put together charity events to coincide with each date in different cities. For more information on the scheduled events please visit DoSomething.org.

Take Action Tour, February 17th, The Palladium – Worcester, MA