Asking Alexandria/Motionless in White/The Suit at The Hub in Fargo 08/06/13

When I was in high school, it was Slipknot shirts. By the end, it was Disturbed. While I was in college, Avenged Sevenfold was in. The great thing about metal/rock fans is you usually don't have to ask what we love. We wear it. That's how I knew I had to see Asking Alexandria for myself because at some point between my college years and now, they took over without my knowing it. I have to confess that I wasn't eagerly anticipating this, as I haven't liked the metal act of the moment in quite a while, but an obsessed friend and my usual lack of willpower combined with curiousity meant the decision was made. Unfortunately, the band I was most interested in seeing, original opener Upon a Burning Body, was unable to make the show. This seemed to disappoint some, but I can't lie, I was looking forward to getting back to the hotel and putting my feet up. I truly am an old soul.

I started regretting my attendance roughly half a song into local opener The Suit's set. I, even hours removed from the event now, still don't know what kind of music The Suit were attempting to play, but it was grating. Actually, grating doesn't do it justice. It was as though pop punk and metalcore both had relations with their sisters and then those inbred children watched Caligula. The crowd, perhaps unsurprisingly given their local roots, seemed quite into it, but all I could do was watch in dismay and horror. When you're screaming lyrics about dancing all night in your best 'core bellow, the degree to which you have fallen off the path to victory should be obvious. Unfortunately, it apparently isn't to The Suit.

The Asking Alexandria obsessed friend, whose human name is Lindsey, I mentioned in the introduction warned me ahead of time that I might not enjoy Motionless in White. After The Suit broke me I was honestly afraid I might lose my mind. To their credit, MIW were at least heavy, the kind of music I'd expected to hear. The problem is that they still weren't particularly good. For one thing, I found it a bit hard to look past how hard the vocalist was trying to ape Marilyn Manson (and not good Marilyn Manson either. Mechanical Animals this was not, this was perhaps Eat Me, Drink Me at best) and how the bassist was both apparently working to resemble Rob Zombie but had worn a Helter Skelter jacket in some kind of attempt to instead make us believe he wanted to look just like Charles Manson. This genre's obsession with serial killers is something I've grown out of, but that's a discussion for another day. For another, the sound was godawful. The vocalist was barely audible, the closest we got to lyrics we could hear were the screams of the keyboard player. The guitar playing sounded like a cross between malfunctioning car parts and static. The one instrumental point I will give them is their drummer's use of double bass was impressive. Unfortunately, this wasn't a drum clinic, this was a live set, and an unimpressive one at that. Two strikes, was my evening going to be a complete waste?

No. Thank the Lord. Asking Alexandria lived up to their reputation and then some. I was a bit put off by the electronic elements that I'd heard in their early work but mercifully the live show was mostly free of those trappings. Instead, it was fairly straight forward metalcore played by five guys who know how to put on a show and work a crowd. It had been a rough evening for security at the barricade already, I've never seen so many crowd surfers, but after Asking Alexandria's vocalist started asking people to surf up to the front they were coming in waves of four or five at a time. Said vocalist then jumped down to the floor, hopped up onto the barricade and leaned out into the crowd, an action which appeared to prompt fits and possibly tears from the already stressed security guards. Thankfully the sea of grabby hands was parted and he returned to the stage, but at what mental cost? I'd heard that Asking Alexandria were fairly hard partiers, but it goes beyond the standard mischief, these guys seem physically incapable of giving a damn, and you know? More power to them. It's a hell of a show, and they can actually play while, I'm guessing based on past stories anyways, obliterated. I see the appeal, and I'll even follow. I'm a fan of the "in" band. Who would've thought? Maybe Ghost will live up to their buzz and I can both be in on the ground floor of the next thing while at the same time becoming that hipster who knew who they were from the moment Opus Eponymous hit shelves.

Oh God, I hope not.