Review / Photos: Seether at the Worcester Palladium

Who: Poison The Parish Tour: Seether with Shaman’s Harvest and The Dead Deads

Where: The Palladium, Worcester, MA

When: December 1, 2017

Spending a cold December night at a rock concert is always a good idea. It becomes a great idea when the Poison The Parish tour comes to town.

The Dead Deads were the first band on the bill. This actually was my second time seeing the band; the first time I saw them was at Blue Hills Bank Pavilion when they were on tour with Bush and Chevelle. The lineup has changed since then; they did not have a keyboardist this time around, and they had a new guitarist and drummer. I had not kept up with them since that first show, but was curious to see what they would be like this time around.

The Dead Deads wear the X’s around their eyes, which is kind of cool. They had an alien doll wearing an “I’m With The Band” shirt which was hysterical and guitarist Dolly Dead had a box of cereal in front of him on stage the entire set. Their set started off simply, which is exactly how I like it. Immediately, new drummer Johnnie Dead grabbed my attention; she was extremely strong, full of life from the first minute up until the end. I loved hearing her play and she was also a lot of fun to watch. New guitarist Dolly Dead is technically only filling in until they can find a permanent guitarist, but I hope they make him a full member; his guitar work was excellent. Bassist Daisy Dead kept the low end strong and steady with her insane bass work and frontwoman Meta Dead knows how to use her instrument. I really liked The Dead Deads’ instrumentation, but the vocals fell a little short for me as they were too soft for my taste; there were some great growls, which livened it up, but I really wanted the rest of the vocals to have more of a punch. Overall, their set was fun and the guitar solos were amazing.

The Dead Deads get a lot of points from me because I saw every single member at the merch table at one point or another chatting with fans like they were lifelong friends. I now understand why The Dead Corps is so strong; this band really cares about their fans and because of that, they are going to go very far. Even though I wanted something else from the vocals, I would see them live again just because of that connection.

Shaman’s Harvest was the next band up and they were the reason I was at the show. Lead vocalist Nathan Hunt has a beautiful microphone stand. It’s shaped into the head of a goat and is almost as tall as he is; unfortunately, it also blocks your view of him, so do not plan on standing right in front of him. The really neat thing about the stand is that it holds not one, but two microphones: a “regular” microphone and a unidyne (the Elvis microphone). The unidyne gives that really cool effect that you hear on their albums; Shaman’s Harvest is the only band I know of that the lead vocalist switches back and forth between two microphones; they also are one of the few bands who replicate the studio sound as closely as possible on stage. Their set was far too short in my opinion. From the minute the band stepped on stage, you knew the rock stars had arrived. Hunt’s voice is perfectly raspy, gritty around the edges, and he has an impressive range; he knows when to rev it up and go hard, but when it was time soften it a little bit, he did that just as impressively. Each song was overflowing with soul, from their cover of “Dirty Diana” to “The Come Up” to my favorite, “In Chains.” The bass was perfect, the drums were impeccable, and every time there was a guitar solo, I did a happy dance. Every second of their set was fun and I really want to see them live again.

Before Seether came on, Mistress Carrie from WAAF Boston (107.3) came on stage and said a few words to the audience; the show was put on by the local radio channel. I really enjoyed seeing Clint Lowery on stage. He was energetic, did not miss a note, and provided perfect backing vocals. After seeing The Dead Deads and Shaman’s Harvest, though, Seether’s set seemed quiet; it did not have the same intensity that the two previous bands did, which was a shame because Shaun Morgan’s vocals were flawless and the instrumentation was on point; not one band member of Seether played a wrong note. If Seether’s set would have had more of the “oomph factor,” the music would have been even more enjoyable.

The lineup was incredibly strong overall and it was a great concert.

–

Post and photos by Karen Shalev

Did you attend this tour? Comment below.