Disturbed has a hit-and-miss track record when it comes to opening acts with me. 10 Years and Il Nino, pretty good. The Heavils and Corrosion of Conformity were alright, but nothing to get excited about.

Last night's openers were good. Damn good. I didn't expect that after listening to a few of their tracks online. Art of Dying came out and tore shit up. The crowd was really receptive to them, and while there wasn't much in the way of full-blown movement, there was a lot of head bobbing, dancing, and general rowdiness in localized areas. Good times. Even the band said, "we certainly didn't expect this kind of reaction."

Egypt Central came out in a way that didn't impress me. The lead single came up and leaned over the edge of the stage and then stared the crowd down like he was getting ready to start shooting at us or something. But after that they did a really good job ripping. Unfortunately, my second Disturbed show in South Dakota was the same as my first in South Dakota. The crowd was just too freaking nuts. Mostly this Indian guy standing next to me with his girlfriend with him. He would start punching anybody that touched her. And I'm not taking grabbing or anything, just, if your shoulder happened to touch her shoulder, he'd go fucking nuts and start swinging. So, once Egypt Central was done, I made my way back through the crowd. As per usual I felt somebody following me, using my big body as a trailblazer.

I get to the thinned out part of the crowd and turn around to find it's the Indian guy and his girlfriend. What's he say to me? "It's just too crowded up there." What the fuck? Who goes into the third row at a metal show and then complains about being crowded? I eased my way back about halfway to where I had been and waited for the big boys to come out.

David's back to the Hannibal Lecter stage entrance. A "doctor" rolls him out on a two wheel cart, sets him upright, undoes the belt holding him to it, takes off the straight jacket, and then runs away from him. David approaches the mic, laughs maniacally and the drums kick in. They started off with "Perfect Insanity," a track I thought would make a good show opener, but never thought they'd actually use that way. I was a little disappointed in the crowd as it seemed like very few of them knew the tracks off the latest album. It's been out for several months now. But, whatever. It was still a good time.

Metal Moment of the Night: They kicked off "Land of Confusion" with the snare hits and the entire building went insane. For the number of people who bitch about them doing that song, you sure couldn't tell everybody hated it last night. I saw and briefly participated in what was easily the biggest pit I've ever seen. And I saw Metallica back in 92 outdoors. This was crazy compared to that.

It's nice to have seen one band in so many different phases of their career. AFKS is one up on me as he saw them opening for the Misfits way the hell back in a little dive shithole in town that hosted a cattle auction earlier in the day. I didn't get to see this show, but taking what he said about their performance that night, and comparing it to the three performances I've seen, they've really grown up. Hell, even in the performances I've seen they've grown up. The first show I saw with them was the first time they were trying to throw guitar leads into songs, before Ten Thousand Fists came out. The one lead they did at that show was awkward, out of phase with the song in some way, and just not right. The second time I saw them, Danny was nailing leads left and right. Last night, not only was he nailing them, he was getting flashy with it. Switching his hand around to the top of the neck, moving the guitar into different positions, turning into the guitarist every lead players wants to be.

They've begun to develop different intros for songs they play live than what's on the album, and actually interacting more with the crowd even within the music. For instance, "Down with the Sickness," otherwise known as "the wakkakaka song." They do the entire build, the full intro, and right when you're expecting the wakkakaka and the whole band to kick in, silence. David laughs, the crowd boos, David laughs again, the crowd starts screaming for it, "COME ON! STOP TEASING!" David laughs again, and right in the middle of the laugh, "EEEEWAKKAKAKA" and it's on.

I felt like they probably should have played a little longer than they did, but that's mostly because I have a mental checklist of songs I really want to hear live some day that they didn't really touch outside of "Land of Confusion" and "Criminal." The list grows faster than they get checked off, and I'm seeing them at least once every album release now.

Two strikes against last night. There was some weird queuing ideas at the arena. First people there weren't necessarily the first people let in. It was weird. There was the initial, single-file line. They let that line into a new queuing area, where there are four separate lines. All four of those lines are let in at the same time much later. So, depending on how you got yourself set up in the second queuing area, you may get in quick, or much later. I got stuck getting in much later despite the fact I was in line about three and a half hours early. Second: parking.

Getting in was easy enough. But getting out was completely disorganized. It took thirty minutes before I could even get out of my space. Not because people were rude, but because the line out just simply was not moving. At all. Once I finally did get out, it took another thirty minutes to get on the road. Not good. The only traffic control was at the highway, which does no good for all the people in the parking lot trying to make their way out of one small exit.

Something needs to be changed there.

All in all, another good metal night. Recovery is slow, but that's why I had taken today off too.

Come inside
And be afraid
Of this impressive
Mess I've made
If you take a look
Now you will find
Perfect Insanity!