Arch Enemy
The Troubador
Hollywood, CA
March 5, 2002
By Rodrigo
Arch Enemy.
Playing in Hollywood.
The live debut of Angela Gossow.
What more could you ask for?
A historic event occurred this past Tuesday, March 5th, when a jam-packed Troubador crowd witnessed the first live show of
Arch Enemy with Angela Gossow and Ultimate Metal was there to witness the mayhem.
There were two opening bands on the bill. The first one was
Crematorium. They are a really good local band that I had seen a couple of times and they have always put on a good show and tonight was no exception. The second band was
Taken. They are more of a hardcore band, which is not my cup of tea, and their selection for this bill was a little perplexing. But no matter what bands were playing it was plain and simple that everyone was there to see
Arch Enemy.
They setup a very cool backdrop. It was red with black gravestones. It was very similar to a picture in the booklet (the one where you find the lyrics of "Burning Angel"). Just after 11pm the band soon came down from upstairs and the piano intro to
Wages of Sin was started and just like in the album they immediately went into "Enemy Within" and the place went absolutely nuts! When Angela finally made it on stage it got even crazier; this was going to be one incredible show! Christopher and Michael were absolutely flawless in their twin-guitar attack. It was pure joy watching them spit out lead after lead without the slightest difficulty. Sharlee was an animal on the bass. He interacted a lot with the crowd and we in turn responded with more headbanging. Daniel was a relentless machine on the drums and to me his best part of the night was during "Ravenous"(a fast, intense and furious song) especially during the guitar harmony part after the verses. Finally, what can you say about Angela. She sounded just as good as in the album and maybe even better. She has a very commanding stage presence, moving all over the place, shaking hands with fans and playing around with the boys. She definitely had a lot of fun and her first show with the band went without a glitch.
The band played an awesome set mixing songs from all their releases. The songs they played were "Bury Me An Angel," "Diva Satanica", "Heart Of Darkness," "The Immortal," "Dark Insanity," "Burning Angel," "Pilgrim," "Ravenous," and concluding with "Silverwing". Personally, I prefer the newest material and two songs in particular that were absolutely amazing were "Burning Angel" and "Heart of Darkness". It was really awesome to hear Angela sing the older songs. I have a lot of respect for Johan Liiva and what he did with
Arch Enemy but Angela just adds more ferocity and intensity to the songs improving them dramatically. After they had finished and gone back upstairs, the crowd began chanting "ENEMY, ENEMY, ENEMY!" and the band soon came back down and started their encore with "Dead Bury their Dead" which put the crowd into a frenzy and they finished it all up with "Beast of Man".
This was definitely one of the best shows that I have had the pleasure of watching. It was awesome to get my ass kicked along with the rest of the sold out Troubador crowd by
Arch Enemy. The Japanese fans are in for a definite treat and for those of you who can make it to the New England Metalfest, be sure to not miss the onslaught that is
Arch Enemy.
It was a pleasure to meet all the band members and thank you all for signing my
Wages of Sin booklet!
Thanks to Century Media for the invitation to get to meet the band!
Arch Enemy Website
Arch Enemy Official Bulletin Board
Arch Enemy live = awesomeness
