Down with the Sickness!

Last night, Disturbed was in concert at the Murat Egyptian Room in downtown Indianapolis. Having been alerted by my friend Brian the day tickets went on sale back in October, I immediately purchased two tickets for what would quickly become a sold out show. (Usually I am a procrastinator extraordinaire and would have waited to buy tickets, especially since the venue is general admission only - thankfully, I went against my typical nature!)

My boyfriend Brent and I arrived at the Egyptian Room about a half an hour before the show was slated to start, and I was quickly reminded of why I hate going to concerts in the Winter. Leaving our jackets behind in the car, we walked quickly towards the growing line of people waiting to get into the concert, which not only went down the sidewalk, but wrapped around the building as well. We had both decided to wear our gloves, which helped greatly in keeping us somewhat warmer than we would have otherwise been, and thankfully the line moved relatively quickly so before long we were inside. (That's not to say I didn't tell Brent the entire time we were standing in line how much I hated him for making me go to the concert and stand outside in the cold, even though I am the one who purchased the tickets.)

The opening band was The Art of Dying, and I have to say - I was not impressed. (As Brent said afterward, they certainly killed onstage.) They sounded like your typical run of the mill alternative rock band, whatever alternative rock is supposed to mean nowadays. Being from Canada, I would have expected better (after all, modern day hockey did originate in the great province of Quebec) - but alas, it was not to be. Their best song was a cover of the song Them Bones by Alice in Chains, and even that could have been better.

Unfortunately, for the first half of the Disturbed show, I was even less impressed (it was my third time seeing Disturbed in concert, and the show was quickly becoming my least favorite of the three). It sounded like the volume for the vocals was set too high, and lead singer David Draiman's voice kept cracking while he was singing, not to mention he ruined my favorite song, Land of Confusion, by perverting some of the lyrics. After a mere hour of playing, Draiman said thank you and goodnight, and the members of the band walked offstage. Of course, there was still the encore, and when the band returned to the stage and began singing, everything sounded MUCH better. It was almost like we were at a completely different show.

Afterwards, Brent and I were standing off to the side waiting for some of the crowd to disperse when the father of one of my oldest nephew's wrestling teammates came over to say hello. At first, I thought it was just the dad at the concert with his friend, which for some reason I found absolutely hilarious. A couple of minutes later the son came over to say hello though, so naturally I had to jokingly give him grief about being out late on a school night (a sure sign I am getting old).

All in all, I had a great time at the concert, and I will be looking forward to the next time Disturbed returns to Indianapolis!