I was going to do this entry the day we got back from Baltimore, but my brothers hogged the computer, and then I was too tired to use it once they were done!

Anyway, ~lzsays, ~IndigoWolfe and I went to a rock concert in Baltimore on Wednesday, and we got back on Thursday morning, having spent the night at our grandparents' house.

The band performing were, Taking Dawn (opening act), Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Lacuna Coil, and the main event, All That Remains.

We were going mainly for Lacuna Coil because they're one of our absolute favorite bands, and this was the first time they were coming anywhere near us on a day other than Sunday! Getting there was a huge hassle, but oh was it ever worth it!

That was honestly the best concert venue I've ever been to. There was this one place in New Jersey called Starland Ballroom which was nice, but during the last hour of the show (Chris Cornell), I thought I was going to suffocate because of the building's poor air circulation. This place, on the other hand, had excellent air movement and being able to breath properly was never a problem. There was this other place all the way out in Springfield, Virginia called Jaxx which was tiny. I remember that show (Therion and Aesma Daeva and three local bands) was about six hours long, and there was absolutely no place to sit. Imagine standing for six hours.

But this place had it all. Breathing room. Multiple levels. And freakin' SEATS.

The seats were at the top in the way back, but not having to kill ourselves was worth being kind of far away from the stage.

On to the show.

The first band, Taking Dawn, sucked. Plain and simple. They were loud and not too original. Though, the main reason why they sucked so much was their lead singer was a complete and utter potty-mouth. At rock concerts, you have to be prepared to hear the 'F-bomb' a couple times. Chris Cornell did it, Therion did it, fact is it happens. But this guy... I counted no more than three sentences without an obscenity. His filthy stage banters made 'foul-mouthed' sound like a compliment. At one point ~lzsays yelled, "Shut up and start playing!" Later, after more obscenity, I bellowed "Is that a mouth, or a malfunctioning toilet on your face?"

Mercifully, they were only on stage for about half an hour. Incidentally, it was the lead singer's birthday, and he managed to announce that without cracking an obscene joke or swearing incessantly. ~IndigoWolfe yelled, "Happy birthday, jackass! You're one year closer to death! Why don't you have some cake and speed the process up?!"

Taking Dawn were quickly forgotten as Maylene and the Sons of Disaster took the stage.

MSD are professing Christians, so they were 100% swear-free. They were LEAGUES better than TD. Every song was catchy, plus their lead singer looked like a younger version of one of the guys in ZZ Top. I'm not familiar with MSD - although I plan on BECOMING - but they still did manage to play a song I recognized! "Step Up (I'm On It)" is the theme song for WWE Bragging Rights, and there were even red and blue lights when they played it!

They left the stage after about 45 minutes/10 songs. HUGE improvement over the previous band.

Then we went down to the stage level so we could stand about 20 feet away from the stage for when Lacuna Coil performed.

Seeing them live is not something that can be described. Not even a performance DVD can do them justice. It's an experience best appreciated in person.

I can say that Cristina is more gorgeous than ever in person. She is 37 years old, but I don't think she even looks 27. If I had to guess her age, without knowing who she is, I would say 'no older than 25.'

Lacuna were on stage for about an hour, and it was incredibly surreal being only 20 feet away from them for that long.

We went back to the seats for All That Remains. From a distance, their lead singer looked like a tiny John Cena. Baseball cap, sleeveless shirt, long shorts, and sneakers. You do the math. Oh, he's also from Massechusetts! Talk about coincidence!

He is versatile as heck. He can go from a low, guttural growl, to a high pitched shriek, to cleanly sung vocals in the same sentence without losing his voice.

Speaking of vocals, their bassist/backup vocalist is a small, attractive, tomboyish woman who - from a distance at least - looked *Bright-Circle's age, but is, in fact, 30. ~lzsays described her as "scary," and I have to say I agree. Any time she got on the mic, she sounded exactly like a panther.

I think most women sound scarier than most men do when they "scream". It could be argued that that vocal style was made for women, just ask Arch Enemy's Angela Gossow, but that's a story for another day.

All That Remains' strongest point are their guitarists. Hardly a song goes by without at least one blazing guitar solo. Even if you don't like "scream" vocals, you gotta love the guitars.

We probably would have taken a few pictures, but the venue didn't allow cameras. BEH!

One thing we were planning for was for the show to go well past midnight, because the last two concerts I attended did. Chris Cornell went for about five hours, not counting the opening act (that's what it felt like, at least). The Therion show went for about six; we actually had to walk out at about 2AM.

We were planning to watch Lacuna Coil, and then watch All That Remains until we were ready to go.

It turned out we got to see all of ATR's performance as well!

This whole show started at around 7:30 and ended around 11:30. That was the best part of this particular concert experience. IT WASN'T. TOO. LONG.

Four hours was a perfectly ample amount of time, and we got to sit for most of it. It was the best day ever!