Katatonia

Before I move on to Katatonia, I want to talk about the opening acts a little bit... Stolen Babies put on a pretty good show to start things up, i'm not really into their sort of avant-garde, "oingo boingo" metal/punk style, but it was unique and worth experiencing once at least. Paradise Lost then came on and really cranked things up. Even though there was a problem hearing Nick Holmes the whole time because of his flu (and maybe his microphone might not have worked properly at the time), they put on a great performance, I was banging my head the whole time, even for the songs I don't know as well. Then we get to Katatonia... Katatonia put on a spectacular show on Saturday! They played many of my favorite songs in their discography, along with some of the big highlights from their most recent album they were touring in support of (Dead End Kings). The introduction they played to Dead Letters, which ends when Jonas calls for the "City of Angels" sent shivers down my spine, and got me even more excited to hear their performance. I was banging my head hard (my neck is a little sore now, but so worth it) and singing along word for word to almost every song they played. I was in awe of just how stunning this performance was as I was banging my head, many of the songs sound even better live than in the studio. Certainly one of the best nights of my life. And I have nothing to say about the Devin Townsend performance because I left after Katatonia was done with their show. I personally never cared for his work (I'm sure he's great at what he does, his style is just not for me) and I wanted to get back home before I got too exhausted to drive back for an hour or so. So yeah, that's all I have to say.

The only reason I came to this show was because of Paradise Lost who are one of my favorite bands and I have been a fan since Gothic. Their set was short for a band of this status, the sound guy did a poor job, and they deserved much more than this. It was a treat to finally see them once again, but you know... Katatonia and Devin could've easily cut one song from their sets to give Paradise Lost and their fans a much deserved longer set. Stolen Babies did a great job as the opener and Katatonia and Devin blew away my expectations. Especially Devin Townsend who I had no idea was this great of a live performer.

Katatonia put on an unforgettable show on saturday! They played about half of the songs from Dead End Kings (Hypnone, The Racing Heart, Lethean, Dead Letters, Buildings) and many of their other classics such as My Twin, Deadhouse, and Teargas. The Stolen Babies show was pretty good, and the Paradise Lost show was even better, but Katatonia's performance simply made this night unbelievable! Quite simply one of the best nights I ever had in my life. The sound is much better here than the last venue I went to (Verizon Amphitheater in Irvine), but I still brought earplugs since it's still a bit hard on the ears (even though I sometimes just took them off anyway during Katatonia's performance since I was so into the performance). I didn't stay for Devin Townsend personally, I live about an hour away and I didn't want to be too exhausted driving back (plus I never really cared for his music personally, I was there mostly for Katatonia). This is a very nice, sophisticated looking venue, I would definitely come back here again whenever a band I love is performing. Overall, I had the time of my life. Hail Katatonia! \\m/

Katatonia was great!!!! They didn't play alot of the growl songs which was good cause i'm not really into that. Also the opening band Orphaned Land was really good, I recommend checking then out. They are from Israel and sang a few songs in Hebrew that I didn't understand, but the music was so good you don't even care about the words.

Great show with a great band. Highly recommended to all!

I had high hopes for this tour. I had seen Katatonia once before when they played over in the netherlands when I was vacationing there. That was during the Great Cold Distance tour. The setlist there which I brought back with me, had a somewhat decent mix from all their albums. I believe Katatonia did 6 songs off Night is the New Day, at least 4 maybe 5 off Great Cold Distance, 3 off of Viva Emptiness, only the song teargas off Last fair deal gone down, nothing off Tonights Decision and Saw You Drown from Discouraged Ones. I'll admit to liking Discouraged ones/tonights decision era katatonia the most so I was displeased by their set. I got the vip ticket and was glad to meet the band, but I wasn't overly excited after that set. In closing, i'd say that a band really doesn't need to play that many new songs with such an amazing back catalog of material to play from. Orphaned Land was interesting to watch, wouldn't buy their music but was entertained. Swallow the sun was boring, I was hoping to like this band, was maybe thinking they would be like My Dying Bride.