Bree!

Dudes. Nine bands every day on the Taste of Chaos tour? I don't have that kind of attention span!

When I got to the venue, I was busy trying to get some interviews (mission accomplished only in Blessthefall's case – check out what they had to say about Ronnie Radke and more right here), chugging the free Rockstar energy drinks, hanging with Mendoza, or demanding that Evan entertain me (he working the Ernie Ball guitar booth thingie): Despairsray, Idiot Pilot, MUCC and The Underneath.

Here are the bands I watched: Bullet for My Valetine, Blessthefall, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold.  The whole lot are talented, just not quite my cup of tea, musically. Bullet for My Valentine are from the U.K., and although they look pretty hard-rock-badass, their accents are adorable.

Blessthefall are charming but holy sh--, they move fast, and a lot. That makes them energetic but not exactly photogenic. During their last song, Jared Warth jumped into the crowd – earlier, when I was interviewing him and his bandmate Eric Lambert, he mentioned how once when he did that, the crowd pulled off his shirt and his belt. He said something else afterward, but I was daydreaming about stripping William Beckett in a similar fashion at Warped this summer.

Atreyu are a band I could definitely get into. I got some video of them playing their single "Falling Down" (don't miss their fans' hilarious homemade video) and overall was impressed by their ability to get the audience SUPER pumped. Mendoza said during the time he's been on the tour, they've really grown on him as well. Aww.

And then there was Avenged Sevenfold. I didn't know one song, but I was f---ing ENTERTAINED, yo! The pyrotechnics, the sharply dressed bandmembers. ... OK, and I swear they practice posing pre-show. How did their photos come out SO much better than anyone else's? Yeah, those boys know what it takes to look good onstage.

Linkage:
Bullet for My Valentine gallery
Blessthefall gallery
Atreyu gallery
Avenged Sevenfold gallery