Concert Review: Apocalyptica drowns beneath drums at the Boardwalk

The chance to hear heavy metal classics played on acoustic cellos (and played by four beautiful Finnish men) doesn't come every day. And if you enjoy head banging and a great beat, you'll love the experience of seeing the band Apocalyptica live. But if you go to a concert to - oh, I don't know... hear the music - stay home when Apocalyptica comes to your town.

Playing some tunes from its newest CD, "Worlds Collide," at Sacramento's Boardwalk, the metal cello band Apocalyptica drowned beneath its own drummer Sunday night.

The draw of Apocalyptica for me has always been about listening to the breathtaking melodies that pour heartbreak and depth into songs previously made with the powerful, distorted mashup of notes and noise called heavy metal. Call me a biased string player, but the legendary rockers Metallica themselves could not play their own songs as passionately or beautifully as Apocalyptica plays them; the cellos of Apocalyptica breathe new warmth into cold ballads, even distorted and bepedaled and foisted about the stage with head banging as the instruments are.

But it occurs to me that in a heavy metal concert experience, warm and fuzzy ballads are not the optimal crowd-pleaser. The drums were there to infuse energy into the music, which they did, by taking it over.

The concert did have a beautiful moment, though: the standing-only crowd at the Boardwalk all chimed in for the chorus of "Nothing Else Matters" with a ghostly sort of fervor that made it clear the song had deep meaning for everyone there. In the dark room it was as if the cellos had woken the dead and given them a reason to sway in dance (and forgo head banging for the moment).

Can you head bang and play masterfully at the same time? I shudder to ask how often Apocalyptica members must re-string their bows, and how much weight they lift to be able to haul their wooden boxes acrobatically about on stage. There's no doubt the band is extremely talented and passionate about what they do. Seeing that gorgeous metal style and physical prowess on stage was glorious!

I only wish I could have heard them, too.

In the Band:
Eicca Toppinen – Cello
Paavo Lötjönen – Cello

Perttu Kivilaakso – Cello

Mikko Sirén – Drums

More about Apocalyptica:

Official Site

Their MySpace

Apocalyptica on the Wikipedia

New Album on Amazon: "Worlds Collide"

When she's not writing, Lacey Waymire can be heard occasionally eking out tunes on her violin or singing for fun. The first song she practiced on her electric violin was Apocalyptica's arrangement of "Nothing Else Matters."

Musical Jokes: April 1, 2008

I mentioned in the last post that Regina Carter played "musical jokes" onstage. Well, yesterday brought on some fun music-themed April Fool's Day jokes:

• NPR's Bryce Cobhab-Dowling reviews a new orchestral piece by sub-minimalist Simon Fluegel entitled "B Flat." Who knew one note could contain such stunning social commentary?

(If you enjoyed that, you should consider checking out "Wizard People, Dear Reader" - an alternate soundtrack to the original Harry Potter movie. Its crips, clear sound is "like a piano made of frozen Windex.")

• All of YouTube's featured videos linked to this video by Rick Astley - thus, YouTube Rickroll'd everyone.

(The history behind rickrolling, if you don't know it, is here.)

• Electronic Dance blogger Sase Antic, who writes DeeJay Blog, announced it was acquired by Google for $1.25 million.

• World of Warcraft makers Blizzard announced a new playable hero class: The Bard, clearly modeled after the Guitar Hero game series. Check out the hilarious screen shots, including an action shot of a gamer shredding riffs on a QWERTY keyboard.
  

If you noticed any other musical jokes yesterday, please post a link!