A few weeks ago (5/3/2011) I went to see Protest the Hero at the Blender in NYC courtesy of my lovely girlfriend. She got the tickets for me on my birthday in March…so the fact that I didn’t pay anything for this show just made it that much more awesome! What can I say? I love free shit.
This show marked the second time I’d seen Protest at the same, exact venue. Here’s what I had to say about my first experience seeing PTH if you’re so inclined. I love the Blender because it’s a really intimate venue but there’s also steep, theater style seating with a perfect view for those times when I’m not in the mood to get destroyed in the pit. After weeks of bugging my friends I couldn’t find anyone who could tag along, so I ended up flying solo for the evening. I’m no stranger to going to shows alone so I didn’t really mind; it just sucks I had to waste a ticket :\
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Tesseract and Ultrageist were the openers. Rudely, I got to the show pretty late because I didn’t feel like sitting through all of them. I breifly checked them out prior to the show and just wasn’t feeling it if I’m being quite honest. I did get to see a little bit of Tesseract and all of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster’s set. I didn’t pay much attention to Tesseract but Maylene weren’t half bad; kind of a southern/metal infused style of music. I haven’t really heard too many other bands with this interesting combo so it was actually quite intriguing.
I’ve been so caught up trying to familiarize myself with so many Bonnaroo bands that I didn’t even get a chance to really dive into Protest’s new album, Scurrilous, before the show. I’d listened to the lead-off single, “C’est la Vie” quite a few times and really liked it. Unfortunately, this show snuck up on me super quickly so needless to say I was unprepared. After giving it a few spins I am enjoying the album but I’m still trying to form a solid opinion. I was a little more excited (for lack of a better term) to see Protest my first time around because I was obsessing over the music like it was a drug and I needed my fix. 
Rody and the guys were slaying as usual, so even though a lot of the newer songs sounded the same to me, I still had a great time listening to them. From the first couple of songs I noticed that there was something a little off with Rody. Nothing too monumental to bitch about, but just something a little different. It finally made sense when he admitted that he was having some vocal problems – which was a bit of a bummer for me since I’m a HUGE vocal guy and not many hardcore singers are as versatile and dynamic as Mr. Walker! He seemed to be in good spirits, though, and didn’t let that little issue deter his energy. And, do I even need to comment on the guitar work? If you know Protest the Hero you know that they f*cking RIP. It was a complete eargasm. This show made me realize that I’m not listening to enough technical music lately.
The highlight of the night for me was definitely, “Turn Soonest to the Sea.” My God do I love this song…and live?! :O I didn’t get to see it the first round seeing PTH so this was something extra special for me. I’m a sucker for cheesy gang vocals and this song has some of the best I’ve ever come across. When the crowd joined in for the breakdown it was so epic that it sent massive cold chills up and down my spine.
Even though I wasn’t too familiar with the new songs, they sounded fantastic live as well. I remember the last time I’d seen Protest play some of the more technical passages in their songs they came off just the slightest bit sloppy at times; which is understandable given the damn near impossibility of pulling them off perfectly. This time around I could tell that Protest had definitely improved. They ripped their older songs a new one and the newer songs were just as tight!
As show #2 of 4 of my self-proclaimed concert season ended, I was thoroughly satisfied, way too pumped up, and realized how much I’d missed listening to this band. After I get through these show reviews I want to revisit Scurrilous more thoroughly and maybe give it a review on here. Hopefully, it will have grown on me by then and I’ll be able to praise it just like I did Fortress! 
