The Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach, NH, is typically a very unlikely place to see a decent metal show. Sure, it happens once in a blue moon, but the acts that boast best-of-the-best status are more inclined to roll through other New England Venues, such as the Worcester Palladium and the Webster Theater. Enter Killswitch Engage playing this venue: ripping through NH with a sold-out show and forcing metalheads of all kinds to trek into the sun for the first time in months. A seemingly terrible idea for most of us, but to see KSE, it was well worth it (despite the terrible sunburn and sandy vagina).
Darkest Hour and Miss May I were quite lacklustre the crowd seemed to just “sort of” get into them, as both bands songs tend to get boring and anti-climactic when played live. The obvious was even more blatant while the openers played: We were all there to see KSE. Strictly, KSE.
And, of course, they delivered. An amazing show delivered by an amazing band- If you haven’t seen them with Jesse Leach back in the lineup, do yourself a favor: DO IT. The same in-between-song shenanigans took place, as per usual, with Adam D throwing beach toys out into the crowd, hitting some with a tennis racket and launching them into the arms of crazed fans. The set list was impeccable a perfect mix of old and new, spanning almost ten years of albums. At the end of the night, the floors were sticky with alcohol, our faces were rocked the fuck off, and we had all gotten our hardons for KSE quelled yet again by another amazing performance.
Set List:
The Hell in Me
A Bid Farewell
Fixation on the Darkness
The New Awakening
Life to Lifeless
No End in Sight
Take This Oath
The Arms of Sorrow
Beyond the Flames
This Is Absolution
All We Have
Rose of Sharyn
Numbered Days
Self Revolution
In Due Time
My Curse
The End of Heartache
My Last Serenade
Words and Photos: Karen Jerzyk of Karen Jerzyk Photography