Never before have I felt like a hipster or such an old dude. On Oct. 18, I went to a concert at the Oakland Metro Opera House, where my only interest was an opening band, Angelspit. I left before the headliner even finished a single song.
I learned about Angelspit through Pandora, on my station that used Nine Inch Nails as a seed, and my interest has steadily grown for many years now. The band is punk and plays in a very electronic style, so much so that they have a guy on stage with them doing live visuals. His sole job is to sing along, pump up the crowd, and change video clips on a projector.
When I got to the concert, I felt out of place due to a swarm of middle school kids and early high school kids who were interested in the headliners. Luckily, there were others like me, attending to see the opening bands. I was happy that Angelspit played a full set of songs; I had been worried that, as an opener, they were going to play a few songs and be done.
The headliner was a band called Blood on the Dance Floor, who seemed to only appeal to all the young people at the show, as most of the older people like myself left after all opening bands finished.
The opening bands I hadn’t heard before were also really good, especially a band called New Year’s Day.
The tickets were only $14 each and were well worth it, as I got to meet the band at the merchandise table after the show and get a T-Shirt and CD combo for $25. I was also able to get the paperwork that came with the CD signed by the band. Plus, I got to talk to them briefly and found they were all really nice and glad to meet their fans. Amelia Arsenic, the female vocalist even wrote, “Steve rules!” with her autograph after I paid the show a compliment.
Because the amount of energy the band had on stage was really intense, it was an awesome experience. You could just tell this is what they absolutely love to do, and the songs had the crowd jumping as a result. Honestly, it was the best show I’ve seen since Nine Inch Nails played the Warfield in 2005.
They played my favorite song “100 percent” and several tracks off the new album. I left at a reasonable time so that I wasn’t tired for a school night, and was not disappointed. If you’re thinking about seeing a show just for an opener, I’d highly recommend it.
