threw at us.

The following intermission
didn’t offer anything necessarily
significant, but various songs about
America played for fifteen minutes.
Starting with the theme from Team
America (2004), the room burst out
singing and laughing — until “The
Star-Spangled Banner” kicked in. By
“God Bless the USA”, many of us
started throwing up on our arms, with
two or three tables outright booing;
the songs kept coming until sound
check started. If this had happened
after Drive A’s set, we would’ve
probably appreciated the irony.

Just after nine, Las Vegas’ post-
hardcore band Escape the Fate graced
us with their presence. For those who
don’t know, back in 2008, Escape’s
original singer Ronnie Radke was
kicked out of the band following
a prison sentence, and has since
been replaced by Craig Mabbitt. As
with any fan base, the response to
this change continues to be mixed;
personally, even though there’s not
much difference, I prefer Mabbitt.

Escape The Fate was arguably
the opening band everyone had
been waiting for. By the third song
(“10 Miles Wide”), the crowd was
already in full swing. Despite the
catchy emo-pop routine, I won’t deny
that the band’s got something there.
Each of them has a steady grasp on

us to Fever again (“The Last Fight’).
The set was completed appropriately
enough with two tracks from Scream
Aim Fire; “Say Goodnight” and,
much to the crowd’s avail, “Scream
Aim Fire”. As the band made their
way off, the pit began chanting “Bul-
let!” until they returned, playing for
us “Alone” and, finally, “Hand of
Blood” from their 2005 EP.

Although Jason James once again
had to head home for a few shows,
he managed to make it back in time
for the Vancouver stop. Quite frankly,
I’ve rarely seen a band smile so much
while performing; you could tell
the four were having loads of fun.
Unfortunately, much like Escape the

(Pe auth

Thomas. With regards to my little
‘American song’ rant, Tuck put quite
the smile on my face by sporting a
shirt with Toronto’s Cancer Bats logo
on it. As for lead guitarist Michael
Paget, he was strumming away
without a care in the world. If I may
be cheesy for a moment, the licks
were so sweet; I had to see a dentist
the next day (partially true story).

To sum things up, waiting these
last two and a half years to see Bullet
For My Valentine was more than
worth it. Killing two birds with one
“Bullet”, this was also my first time to
the Commodore, and after that night,
I know it won’t be my last. Each of
these four great bands has something

Fate’s set, there were moments were to offer for everyone. From the range
the drums occasionally became lost of variety to the sheer amount of skill,
(electrical issue?), but that failed this was a concert (for the sober) to

to stop the ever-talented Michael remember.

ee §=Reliving the night Bullet For
their mec. cs, even t oug the =
drums ere pin fain, No, My Valentine came to town

sounds suspiciously more masculine
on recorded tracks versus their live
performance. Of course, if I’ve
learned anything in my time, that’s
exactly what we ladies are supposed
to like, isn’t it? Again, amidst where
I stand on the topic, there were many
moments where I found myself and
fellow seated attendees bobbing their
heads along.

Eventually, three hours after
the show had started, the guests of
honour arrived. Leaping from our
tables, the majority of the audience
was now moshing away on the beer-
soaked dance floor. Bullet kicked
things off with two tracks from Fever;
lead single “Your Betrayal” and
title track “Fever”. As if we weren’t
already lively enough, “Waking the
Demon” did exactly that, turning
the entire pit into a mess of crashing
bodies and perfectly synced death
screams. After the intensity of that
performance, things grew somewhat
calmer during “All These Things I
Hate” and furthermore with “Tears
Don’t Fall”. Then, just like that, we
returned to head banging with “Pain
and Pleasure”, followed by lead
singer and rhythm guitarist Matt Tuck
introducing a “really old song” of
theirs (““4 Words”) before returning