From: riddley@mho.net (Sammy Rowe)
Subject: International Ballroom Atlanta review 

So we drove to Atlanta from Athens and immediately to the I.B. New 
Melvins, Sabbath, and something else i've forgotten was being played as 
we entered the fine establishment. i had some vinyl with me that i wanted 
to get autographed so a bunch of people were coming up to me and stupidly 
asking "are they selling those over there?" to which i'd snicker snidely.


So Psycotica or whatever came out. heh. well if you've never seen/heard 
them imagine Janes Addiction (whom i hate) crossed with Sisters Of Mercy 
(whom i hate) crossed with Motley Crue (whom i loathe) with Zymat 
Conehead on back-up vocals. Btw if the singer of this band is reading 
this, if my pee-pee was as small as yr's i would wear a skin-tight rubber 
suit. lame posers. NEXT

lights came back up. some etherial synth music ala Orb or Aphex Twin 
played for a while and the stupid crowd would start cheering whenever the 
music would crescendo (sp?) i was standing by the entrance to the 
back-stage area and saw Justin stick his head out for a second then duck 
back in. he was painted white.

the lights went down, and the Aenima cover art splashed on the screens. 
they guys, rather matter-of-factly, walked out on stage. it was as if 
they were walking behind a counter at a 7/11. no waving, nothing.. 
Maynard was painted white down his left side (justin at his left) and 
Blue down his right side (Adam painted blue on his right.) It's very 
possible that i'm reading WAY too much into this, but i think this had to 
do with the whole Devil and Angel on the shoulders thing.... 

they opened with Third Eye. someone else reviewed a show that started 
with Third Eye and said it took too long to get going. i couldn't 
disagree more. it was INCREDIBLE. i can't believe how much it sounded 
like the album. Disclaimer: i'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, 
someone who want's the live show to sound just like the album, BUT Third 
Eye is a song that i thought "how the hell could they re-create this 
live??" so, that's what impressed me. 

then they played Stinkfist and the crowd went wild. have i mentioned that 
i fucking hate (as i'm sure the band does) people who go crazy for the 
single at shows?

they played hooker with a penis, swamp song, H, Pushit, Sober (crowd 
going Nuts) and Prison Sex (again, nuts) Opiate (nuts AGAIN) and "even 
though you don't deserve it" (Maynard) Aenima. 

Maynard wasn't too talkative... he said a few things... 

waited and waited for an autograph tried to get with the "after show" 
people. security booted my ass. All in all it seems like a dream, in that 
i can't recall long sections of it, just frames here and there. A BIG 
FUCK YOU to all of the fucking pricks that go into the pit to grope at 
the girls in there. the two girls i was with had several hard dicks in 
their backs and asses and one almost had her shirt and bra torn off. GROW 
UP LOSERS. Maynard's voice was DEAD NUTS ACCURATE. in fact on one of the 
long scream's he went almost twice as long as the album version. I must 
admit i was worried about seing them live. I have all the singles with 
the live tracks and i must say those tracks don't do them justice. 
Especially Danny. the end of Opiate was INCREDIBLE. he's the best 
membraphonist i've ever heard.

wish i could'a met 'em, but even still it was a dream come true. 

-riddley
Sam Rowe