Converge -- Chicago, IL -- May 30th, 2011

[jd091]

Venue: Reggies Rock Club
Bands: Converge, Trap Them, Burning Love, Eunuchs

Absolutely great show! It was probably the most packed I've seen Reggies, probably very close to sold out. Eunuchs were a really solid local punk/grind band. They set the mood pretty well. Burning Love was another punk-ish/grind (I guess) band. They had a pretty crazy singer, he got down into the crowd multiple times and pushed us around to try and get a pit going! It eventually worked. I like that tactic more than the singer saying, "Lets get a mosh pit!" If you really want one, get down there and start one yourself, dammit.

Trap Them were absolutely AWESOME live. I hope these guys get more and more attention and tours, because they were fucking great. A huge surprise for me; I didn't know quite what to expect from them. They just got on stage, and the singer put his leg up on the rail, and just stared us down with this evil fucking look, unlike any band I've seen before. The guitars and bass were droning, and the drums just slowly builded up for about a solid 2 minutes, getting louder and louder, with the singer not moving or flinching in his stare. Eventually, everyone was moshing before the first song even started! From there on out, they got an absolutely great crowd response. They even told us this was one of the best crowds they've had, ever. The singer was super humble and nice, also. They made me a huge, huge fan after their performance!

And, of course, the mighty Converge. What can I say? They were fucking flawless. Kurt was going insane on guitar, and Jacob was sweating like a madman. Completely legendary; you can tell that they've been doing this for years.

My only gripe, which was a rather large one, was that the venue, Reggie's, doesn't allow crowdsurfing or stagediving, and enforce it harshly. There were about 4 huge bouncers standing around the outside of the pit and stage, who would swoop in and carry off any dude who tried to jump up on someone's head. I mean, seriously? Really? This is Converge, man. Converge. I wish they would have played at the Bottom Lounge instead; that venue is basically the wild, wild west when it comes to stage antics. I also saw some bouncers and the bartender kick out a couple kids who were drinking beers in the crowd that didn't have ID's. Overall... I like Reggies as a venue, but their security really turned me off last night.

Anyway, Converge were spot on, yadda yadda yadda. Jacob was super nice to the crowd, and you could tell they really appreciated all the reception they got. He said they're all old men and are stupid as shit to keep touring, but its just too much fun. And of course, the pits were incredibly intense. I thought it was a lot of fun, but I can see how people say "Converge fans try to kill each other in pits". I think I got a little overly-violent myself... There's just something about Converge's music that makes me want to go crazy, unlike other metal bands. Its just pure, unadulterated energy in musical form.

I also picked up a pretty awesome Converge shirt that has a wolf pattern on the front that looks like Insanity Wolf! And a sweet limited poster of the event. AND FWI FOR ANYONE SEEING THEM THE REST OF THIS TOUR: They marked down all their shirts to $10 after tonight, so pick them up! All the designs are absolutely killer.

Setlists (Thanks to Statutory-Mike, its the same as the New York sets):

Trap Them
Fucking Viva
Angles Anonymous In Transit
Damage Prose
Insomniawesome
Every Walk A Quarantine
Evictionaries
Saintpeelers (video I took of it)
Manic In the Grips
The Facts
Guignol Serene
Sordid Eearnings
Mission Convincers

Converge
Concubine
Dark Horse
Heartache
Hellbound
Lonewolves
Runaway (new Song from their split 7" with Dropdead)
The High Cost of Playing God
Reap What You Sow
Cutter
Worms Will Feed
On My Shield
Axe To Fall
Damages
First Light
Eagles Become Vultures
The Broken Vow
-----------
Last Light

[larvtard]

Wow, what a horrible venue for a show like this. No crowdsurfing/stagediving at Converge? Can't fathom it.

Converge was the first band I ever moshed to. I fell down immediately

[bt11763]

wish this didn't sell out for me, i'm jealous they played worms will feed

and i would never, EVER go to a venue like that.

[mankvill]

I'LL
TAKE
MY
JD091
TO
THE
GRAVE

[jd091]

Originally Posted by mankvill

I'LL
TAKE
MY
JD091
TO
THE
GRAVE

I don't know whether to be offended or take it as a compliment... I'll assume the latter!

Like I said, I just wish the venue could have been better for Converge, since it was one of the most spot-on band performances I've ever seen.

[jd091]

Originally Posted by loganarchy

Converge was the first band I ever moshed to. I fell down immediately

Haha man, I can remember my first mosh like yesterday... I had finally convinced my religious parents to let me go to my first "real" show in high school with my friends... Behemoth! My mom would have shat her pants if she knew what they looked like on stage. One of the local Cleveland bands, Befallen, got a pit going, and my instinct was like, "OH FUCK YES I'VE WAITED YEARS FOR THIS", and after about 2 seconds I ended up on the ground with a sprained ankle. It ended up being one of the greatest nights of my life, and one of the most memorable concerts I've been to because of that.

Shit, I can only imagine if Converge was the first pit I ever got in... I would have had much worse than a sprained ankle.

[dcmetal108]

Never been to Reggie's yet but I have been to Bottomlounge and can agree on how every metal show should be there. It really is the no holds bar venue. Perfect venue and one of my favorites.

[DethMaiden]

Reggie's is infinitely superior to the Bottom Lounge in sound and atmosphere and construction blueprints. Granted I've never seen a mosh-type band at Reggie's, but too much frustrates me about the Bottom Lounge to say it's better than Reggie's in any way.

[GarageMetal468]

Yeah that's the one downside about Reggies, no crowd surfing or stage diving is lame. I've seen Municipal Waste and D.R.I. there and people do it anyway but they all get kicked out. Hell when I saw Pestilence there, the guy from Vital Remains was pulling people on stage as usual and everyone up there got kicked out until Warbringer came on.

I do remember for the free Magrudergrind show, security got their asses kicked! There had to be at least 30 people stage diving at the end of their set!

Bottom Lounge would be a great venue for a show like this, but the only thing I hate about there is that if you're under 21 you can't leave and come back.

Anyway this sounded like a fun show! I'm not too big of a fan of Converge myself but their live shows are crazy. I've seen Trap Them before as well and they do put on a great show as well!

And another thing, are you in Chicago just for school and you go back to Ohio over the summer?

[larvtard]

Originally Posted by jd091

Haha man, I can remember my first mosh like yesterday... I had finally convinced my religious parents to let me go to my first "real" show in high school with my friends... Behemoth! My mom would have shat her pants if she knew what they looked like on stage. One of the local Cleveland bands, Befallen, got a pit going, and my instinct was like, "OH FUCK YES I'VE WAITED YEARS FOR THIS", and after about 2 seconds I ended up on the ground with a sprained ankle. It ended up being one of the greatest nights of my life, and one of the most memorable concerts I've been to because of that.

Shit, I can only imagine if Converge was the first pit I ever got in... I would have had much worse than a sprained ankle.

Haha, well it was at the Mastodon/Dethklok show so there was like 2 people actually in the pit.