HATEBREED @ Spectrum

By Johnny Suck - Turn Down the Suck - 10/28/2006

Johnny’s History of Seeing Hatebreed: The first time I saw Hatebreed (April 2001, opening for Sepultura) I didn’t care. The second time I saw Hatebreed (January 2002, opening for Slayer) I didn’t care. Then they released Perseverance and I ended up loving it. Now that I cared, I went to see them a third time (June 2002) but they cancelled. They rescheduled and I went (July 2002), but they cancelled again. Then, for whatever reason, I missed them the next time they came to Montreal (September 2003). Years passed, I stopped caring, but for old times' sake I decided to go see them for what was supposed to be their return to Montreal (May 2006), which ended up being cancelled. They came through with System of a Down at Parc Jean-Drapeau not long after (August 2006), but seeing how I still hold a grudge for the 2002 SoaD show at Jean-Drapeau being one of the worst shows I have ever been to, I stayed home. So anyway, the point is that the October 2006 edition of Hatebreed in Montreal was a damn long time coming for me.

Now, the thing about Hatebreed is that they are a perfect example of a band that receives both way too much hype and way too much hate. Exposure to either can seriously skew one’s view of the band and to properly enjoy the music you really have to be able to ignore hype, ignore the hate, and ignore the derision of everybody else in the CJLO Loud Rock division. Only once that’s done can you go in and take the band at face value.

So here I am at the Hatebreed show with all these different factors floating around: there’s the bitterness towards a band that has cancelled the last three times I was supposed to see them; the desire to love the show as much as the kid who listened to Perseverance every single day for an entire summer would have; the ‘yeah I like it, but not that much’ attitude towards their new album; the doubt of whether I even care anymore; the regret of missing Mouth of The Architect over at Café Campus on the same night; and the distortion caused by all of the external hype & hate. But to their credit, Hatebreed were able to come out and cut through, no, make that smash through all that noise and made the show about one thing and one thing only: the music.

Sure it may not be the most intelligent or artistic music around, but it fucking connected. And when you go to a show, that’s really all that matters. Hatebreed managed to connect better than any band in the last two-dozen shows I’ve been too, so we’re talking 70+ bands here. Not too shabby, eh? Hearing those songs from Perserverance really brought out the teenager in me, and man, I used to enjoy shows so much more back in those days! It wasn’t all nostalgia though, the songs from Supremacy and their other albums managed to hold their own as well. So there you have it: if you liked Hatebreed, past or present, it was a good show, and if you don’t like Hatebreed, you weren’t there anyway. My only complaint about the show was that the sound was too loud but without any real oomph. It was like being screamed at whereas it should have been like getting punched in the face.

Speaking of getting hit in the face, the most interesting part of the show happened when I ignored not one, not two, but three important Halloween safety tips: 1) Don’t wear masks that impair your vision. 2) Don’t wear masks that have metal bits on the inside. 3) Don’t head bang in said masks. Violating these three little rules led to some, uh, misfortune. And by misfortune, I mean smashing my face into the back of someone’s head (what the hell was he doing in my banging zone?) and badly bruising and cutting the bridge of my nose. For days later, whenever I would move my nose or something would touch it, I would first wince in pain and then laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole incident.

Highlight: Being the only idiot to show up to a metal/hardcore concert on the 28th of October in a Halloween costume.

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