The great thing about taking a band like Flyleaf on tour with you is that you get such a diverse crowd coming to your show; or more importantly—lots of girls. And like Motley Crue said, ‘girls go to shows to see the band, guys go to shows to get the girls there to see the band.’
That being said, The Fillmore in Denver was packed last night with an Ozzfest-like diverse crowd. You had everyone from goth girls to frat boys, scene kids and indie kids. They were really mostly there to see Flyleaf, although most of the men won’t admit to that.
This was night-one of the six week co-headlining tour between the South African veterans Seether, and the central Texas newcomers-to-the-mainstream Flyleaf. To say that Flyleaf just came out of nowhere and exploded to be one of the bigger names in rock music is not giving the band their justice. They have earned the title to “support” Seether on this tour, while managing to be accountable for probably 60% of the tickets sold.
The night started off with the New York band, formerly known as Revelation Theory, currently known as Rev Theory. Get it straight. The group was your typical nu-metal revival bar band with a big bar tab, looking kinda dirty and tough, but not too original. They had figured out how to put some hooks into their songs and get a record deal. “Give me a hell, give me a yeah…” from their song “Hell Yeah” got stuck into my head pretty quickly as thousands of beer drinking fans shouted along. This band has a bright future, should they manage to stay on the road getting quality support slots on tours like this.
All the kids were relieved when the lights dimmed for Flyleaf’s opening tape. Girls screamed (like at my first Backstreet Boys concert) as their new idol, Lacey Mosley, took the stage in her 90’s revival goth look.
Flyleaf played their hits early on in the set, not really taking time to talk between songs. Their Guitar Hero hit, “Tina” followed by “Fully Alive” and “Breathe Today” was the highlight of their set.
What I loved most about Flyleaf’s performance was that their live sound was much better than that of the CD. What I liked least was Lacey’s screams/growls that honestly sounded like a dying cat, and were quite unnecessary. However, in the end I was very impressed by the show. They used every trick in the “How to put on a nu-metal show” book, and they did it like pros.
One impressive trick was playing their last song and leaving without a “goodbye” or “thank you” and a whole lot of attitude. I love that.
One thing I don’t understand is this: Flyleaf’s music is nothing original; it’s exactly the same as so many bands people loved to hate in the early 2000’s. Yet, substitute a female singer that everyone isn’t jealous of because she seems larger than life (see Amy Lee of Evanescence) and instantly all these people love them. I’m not knocking on Flyleaf, I’m just pointing out the pink elephant in the room.
And then the veterans came out to show everyone how it’s done. Well, they had the potential, but they really did it half hearted. Seether started out with probably the creepiest intro tape and sequence I have ever seen. I can’t explain it to do its justice, so I won’t even try.
For those of you who have seen Tool live, you know how much more the live videos and animations add to their show. Without the lights and video, it would be pretty dull.
Seether really does the same thing, although they really add in a lot of the creepy horror film videos to make it original. Just like Flyleaf, Seether managed to play their radio hits all in a row as well, including “Driven Under” followed by “Gasoline.”
Then vocalist Shaun Morgan and guitarist Troy McLawhorn played a cute little acoustic version of the duet with his ex, “Broken.” And no, Lacey did not come out and sing Amy Lee’s part, much like I thought (or hoped) she would do to add to the corny factor.
The big hit, “Fine Again,” followed another video interlude about a girl being run over by a train, and 20 minutes later the show was over.
