Týr

I've been listening to Tyr for about 15 years and this was the first time that I got to see them live. I had tickets last March in Detroit, but had my first chemo treatment the week before so couldn't go. My daughter still went and had a great time. This time around my daughter and I got to see the show in Joliet. The two local opening bands were pretty good. The first one had some technical difficulty with their guitarist, but that seems to have been fixed a bit later. The second local opening band - Havron - had more energy and seemed to put on a better show. The drummer reminded me of Animal from the Muppets. The lead singer's vocals could have been mixed a bit louder, but overall they did a really good job. Then there was Aether Realm who was the main opening band. Maybe they are good in the studio, but their sound mix tanked live! It was very muddy. But others in the crowd were getting into them so maybe they are not my cup of tea. Tyr came out during one of their songs with blow up axes, war hammers, and swords and "attacked" Aether Realm. This was quite funny! Then there was Tyr. They put on an amazing show! Crowd participation was high. There was only one song on their playlist that I didn't recognize, but that one was great also! The lead guitarist seemed to come out of his shell around the halfway point. Aether Realm paid Tyr back and attacked them with blow up implements of destruction". I have to say that both bands were able to maintain their stage presence while getting attacked. It was very light hearted!