Metal Church -- Mokena, IL -- January 16th, 2007

[es156]

Tour: A Light In The Dark Tour 2007
Headliner: Metal Church
Support: Meliah Rage, Various Local Bands
Venue: The Pearl Room, Mokena, IL
Date: January 16th, 2007
================================


I had not seen Metal Church since 1992 when they opened for Metallica on the second leg of the Black Album tour. So this seemed like a good time to check them out again. Jeremy Saal and I made the 2.5 hour journey to the southwest suburbs of Chicago on what turned out to be a very cold winter night. The venue seemed to have doors open all night so it was not much warmer inside. But our first show of 2007 turned out to be a good one.

Venue Report:
The Pearl Room is a fairly typical club. It is pretty much just a bar and a stage. The floor probably holds around 600 people and the stage is a little smaller than average. The sound was pretty good though, except that the vocals were a little low.

Show Report:
The venue booked three opening acts and then added a fourth the week before the show. So we decided to go a little later than usual to hopefully miss a couple of the openers. As luck would have it, they started the show an hour later than listed and we had to stand through all of the opening bands. I think that this also affected the Metal Church set which was a little shorter than I thought it would be. They played a solid set that was mainly filled with classics. I was a little surprised that they only played four songs from their two most recent releases “A Light In The Dark” and “Weight Of The World.” The stage show itself was fairly basic due to the small stage. But the band was having fun even though the venue and the crowd were both fairly small. What is really amazing is that the band is playing 37 nights in a row before taking a couple of days off in February. It was a great show and the highlights for me were “Badlands,” “Mirror Of Lies” and “Beyond The Black.” I definitely look forward to seeing Metal Church again.


Set List:

01. A Light In The Dark
02. Fake Healer
03. Ton Of Bricks
04. Start The Fire
05. Leave Them Behind
06. Watch The Children Pray
07. Mirror Of Lies
08. The Dark
09. Cradle To Grave
10. Date With Poverty
11. Gods Of Wrath
12. Badlands
13. Beyond The Black
14. Metal Church

15. Highway Star

(1 Hour 30 Minutes)

Lineup:
Vocals: Ronny Munroe
Guitar: Kurdt Vanderhoof
Guitar: Jay Reynolds
Bass: Steve Unger
Drums: Jeff Plate

[JRA]

Cradle To Grave =

[overkiller]

akjhadsfjkshd FUCK! I can't wait!!

No "Method to Your Madness," which is one of my favorite MC tracks, but oh well. That set looks fucking killer. It's awesome that they're only playing the songs from the new album that I like, haha.

[es156]

Originally Posted by overkiller

akjhadsfjkshd FUCK! I can't wait!!

No "Method to Your Madness," which is one of my favorite MC tracks, but oh well. That set looks fucking killer. It's awesome that they're only playing the songs from the new album that I like, haha.

Yeah, it was a great show. I can't really complain about the set list at all.

I am not a guitarist, but I thought Jay Reynolds did an excellent job. And Steve Unger looked a lot like Geezer Butler. It was kind of wild. We were in the front row and he handed us both a pick, which was cool.

[DethMaiden]

I only have the debut, but they played my favorite three songs from it (title track, Gods of Wrath, Beyond the Black). Highway Star must have been an interesting encore too.

[anthraxmosher]

I saw Metal Church 2 years ago on the Weight Of The World tour and they put on an awesome show. I cant wait till February 12 at the Whisky. It will be fuckin killer!!!

[Fe Maiden]

Originally Posted by es156

Tour: A Light In The Dark Tour 2007
Headliner: Metal Church
Support: Meliah Rage, Various Local Bands
Venue: The Pearl Room, Mokena, IL
Date: January 16th, 2007
================================


I had not seen Metal Church since 1992 when they opened for Metallica on the second leg of the Black Album tour. So this seemed like a good time to check them out again. Jeremy Saal and I made the 2.5 hour journey to the southwest suburbs of Chicago on what turned out to be a very cold winter night. The venue seemed to have doors open all night so it was not much warmer inside. But our first show of 2007 turned out to be a good one.

Venue Report:
The Pearl Room is a fairly typical club. It is pretty much just a bar and a stage. The floor probably holds around 600 people and the stage is a little smaller than average. The sound was pretty good though, except that the vocals were a little low.

Show Report:
The venue booked three opening acts and then added a forth the week before the show. So we decided to go a little later than usual to hopefully miss a couple of the openers. As luck would have it, they started the show an hour later than listed and we had to stand through all of the opening bands. I think that this also affected the Metal Church set which was a little shorter than I thought it would be. They played a solid set that was mainly filled with classics. I was a little surprised that they only played four songs from their two most recent releases “A Light In The Dark” and “Weight Of The World.” The stage show itself was fairly basic due to the small stage. But the band was having fun even though the venue and the crowd were both fairly small. What is really amazing is that the band is playing 37 nights in a row before taking a couple of days off in February. It was a great show and the highlights for me were “Badlands,” “Mirror Of Lies” and “Beyond The Black.” I definitely look forward to seeing Metal Church again.


Set List:

1. A Light In The Dark
2. Fake Healer
3. Ton Of Bricks
4. Start The Fire
5. Leave Them Behind
6. Watch The Children Pray
7. Mirror Of Lies
8. The Dark
9. Cradle To Grave
10. Date With Poverty
11. Gods Of Wrath
12. Badlands
13. Beyond The Black
14. Metal Church

15. Highway Star

(1 Hour 30 Minutes)

Lineup:
Vocals: Ronny Munroe
Guitar: Kurdt Vanderhoof
Guitar: Jay Reynolds
Bass: Steve Unger
Drums: Jeff Plate

Yeah, I saw them Jan. 9. Same set. Badlands and Beyond The Black were the songs I was hoping for and got very excited about too!!!!

[jeremysaal]

Nice report! You summed it up perfectly.

The title track from their first album (Metal Church) was my favorite during the show, as you get that cool alternate picking groove throught the song. All of the songs were excellent though, which made the set go too quickly!

Jay Reynolds tore it up! I would go again just to see him play.

[Maiden33]

I just saw them last night, very good show I must say... Really fucking loud though, my ears are still ringing. We got the same set list... They did a free meet and greet at the merch booth after the show, so I bought a Weight of the World poster and had the 4 guys from the album sign it... for Jeff Plate I had 3 Savatage and 3 TSO albums... and the drumstick he handed me. Twas a great night. I'm debating on whether or not I'm writing my own review.

[Fe Maiden]

Originally Posted by jeremysaal

The title track from their first album (Metal Church) was my favorite during the show

Yeah, that sounded good too!