Spreading Disease Tour - 688 Skatepark. Clearwater, FL

One of my most anticipated shows of the year and I was not let down. How can you go wrong with a line up of Light This City, Nights Like These, Too Pure To Die, All Shall Perish, and Suicide Silence. The best part was that I had never seen any of these bands and didn’t know what to expect.

The show was opened by a local band, Sleeping Alone. They have quite a following in the area but I can’t get into them. They sound like every other metal core band out there with some tough guy hardcore elements thrown in. Boring live too, they all pretty much stand in the same spot the entire set.

Light This City haven’t done a whole of touring yet so it was great to see them so early in their touring career. They came out and the crowd obviously didn’t know too much about them as they seemed pretty stunned that they have a female vocalist. They were great. With a new cd weeks away from dropping they played a few new songs and they were brutal. Great stage presence. Vocalist Laura Nichol was all of the place. Granted it’s a small stage, but she covered every bit of it. Go pick up their new cd “Facing the Thousand”.

Victory Records band Nights Like These were the next band to play. I would not call them stoner metal because they are far too heavy and technical for that, but they are stoners who play metal. They had a good stage presence as well. Not quite as much going on as Light This City, but they were able to get the crowd going.

The odd band on the tour, Too Pure To Die were next. They are an Iowa based, straight edge hardcore band. I really liked them. They were having a lot of fin on stage and got the crowd involved. They are a band that should be bigger than they are. Good stage presence, catchy songs with sing a long. What more could you ask for?

I wnet into the night thinking that Suicide Silence would be the most insane band there. I left the show knowing that I thought wrong. All Shall Perish absolutely destroyed the place. They did so in a short amount of time as well as they had to cut their set short due to the heat in the venue. Besides that it was nuts. The pits were insane. Their new vocalist really knows what it takes to put on a good show. They will be touring for the rest of the year and should be checked out by everyone.

Suicide Silence had to cut their set short as well because of the heat and several members having asthma. In the twenty five minutes or so that they did play they were killer. For a bunch of dudes with asthma they are pretty intense on stage. Not a moment of being still. Everyone was all over the place and the crowd were completely into it. Hopefully they can come back and play a venue that doesn’t get as hot as 688. It really is a tough venue to play