A "Gigantic Tour" of Metal

Last night I attended the Columbus Gigantour concert. How was it? It rocked.

I met friends beforehand at a local bar to watch the OSU/Penn State football game (GO BUCKS!), which I knew I'd miss the end of since doors opened at 4:30pm and the game started at 3:30pm. I wanted to see one of the opening bands, Into Eternity, so I headed over before my friends did, at about 5:30. By the time I got inside, the fourth band, Overkill, was already playing! How short were those sets?? At least I didn't miss any of the main stage bands.

Arch Enemy played a short but really good set (5 songs), follow by Opeth - the band I was most excited about seeing. Opeth's set was short, too, only allowing for four of their typically long songs, one each from their last four albums: The Grand Conjuration (Ghost Reveries), The Leper Affinity (Blackwater Park), Windowpane (Damnation), and Deliverance (Deliverance). I thought that Mikael Akerfeldt, their singer/guitarist, was particularly funny with his dry humor between songs.

Next up was Lamb of God - definitely a crowd favorite. Their set was longer and they played many songs from their newest album, Sacrament, which they thanked the crowd for helping to debut at #8 on the Billboard charts.

The headliner was metal legend, Megadeth. Dave Mustaine and group rocked the house with a range of their hits, plus a track from their upcoming album.

Bands signed autographs after their sets, but none of the bands were enough of a favorite for me to miss any performances for that. The set changes were quick enough that there was barely time to get a beverage between sets (Bud Light was the only beer choice - blech).

It was a really good show, well worth the $40 ticket price (thanks goes out to Ticketmaster for all of that "convenience" you get for $7.25). I was a little disappointed by the turnout, though. Ticketmaster said general admission was sold out, but it didn't look like it to me - and the stands were even more bare. There are a lot of metalheads in central Ohio - where were they?