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Winston Salem, NC
Start time: 6:00 PM

Cradle of Filth, Arch Enemy, Bleeding Through, and Himsa... all in one night. The line for the concert had grown fairly long. Even though we were two hours early, there was still quite a line. That line never did get any shorter. They opened the doors at eight, metal head after metal head piled in waving tickets around trying to get in faster and faster. Since our tickets were purchased online, they put us in the express lane. Each of us lined up to be marked. X's on the back of our hands, showing we were underaged. Everyone piled to the front while the group I was with found a place on higher ground to view from.

The first act played, Himsa. From what I had heard of them before, they were a decent sound. They began, since they weren't well known, they didn't get as much of a cheer as they could have gotten. While their act was decent, it was still a little lacking. After they were finished, Bleeding Through took the stage.

Their act was a step up from Himsa's, but technical difficulties reared their ungly heads. The vocals had suffered through multiple microphone outages off and on. The lead from Himsa came out and finished up the song with him while they worked on the microphones.

After they had finished, Arch Enemy took their time in setting up. Everyone but the lead walked onto the stage. Angela was still absent from view. They opened with a heavy riff, Burning Angel, if I recall correctly. The performance was amazing. They played a few other songs, I forget the order. They closed with Ravenous, which by that time, I was screaming the lyrics with her. A truely amazing show. The loudest band to play as well. Just a great fucking time.

After they had packed up, Cradle of Filth prepared to come out. 30 minutes passed, and they were finished setting up the theatrical aspect of the show. They opened with an announcement from a random man dressed in a black cloak. The entire Ziggy's crew was dressed in black cloaks. The drummer was the first to make an appearance, which sparked the crowds cheers. Then the guitarist strolled out, followed by the keyboardist. The opening track was Satyriasis. As they began playing Dani Filth came out and started screaming his lyrics into the microphone. The banshee howls of his voice turned to a low groan and back again, an amazing combination. They started with the song named of their newest album... Nymphetamine Fix. Followed by a song from their album Midian. Then back to Gilded Cunt for some more heavy filthy noise. The most memorable song was Her Ghost in the Fog. They had two display screens on the sides...displaying clips from the music video... as well as some "subliminal messages". Some of the ones were as follows:
"Support the war"
"Sex"
"Murder"
"Thank God for the suffering"
"ARSE"

There were many more, but I was entranced by the band. Dani Filth had been wearing a fishnet shirt with strange designs in the chest of it. There was a hole at the navel, exposing his belly button. Of course, the band was dress in either all leather, or fishnets. The band also wore makeup in different designs around their eyes and mouths.

During a few of the songs, as they were entering a heavy riff, Dani would go crazy with dancing around. He started flailing his arms about, and then moving them in a disco inferno fashion. I laughed and enjoyed it greatly. Not only can he create awesome music, he has a sense of humor as well. He threw the microphone across the stage, and at the ceiling many times as well. I believe he was enjoying himself as much as we were enjoying him. Between some of the songs, he did a shout out. It went something like this:
"Hello North fucking Carolina! Make some fucking noise! Come on! It's great to be here, all you cubscouts enjoying the show, with your teddy bear pajamas? Fucking cubscouts."

In which he announce the next song. I remember them playing Mannequin (which he dedicated to the ladies.), Gilded Cunt, Her Ghost in the Fog, Tortured Soul Asylum, Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids, The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, Nymphetamine Fix, English Fire, Nemesis, and From the Cradle to Enslave.

They closed with From the Cradle to Enslave. They pulled the whole fake ending thing, then came back and played 3 more songs. The show was simply amazing. Many times Dani threw bottles of water into the crowd. Taking one sip, then throwing them. He shot one all the way from the stage to the merchandise stand. At the end of the show, the guitarist threw their picks into the crowd, and the drummer his sticks. Of course some lucky fans are taking home a little to remember it by.

As for some of the other fans there... many had mohawks, your average long hair metal head, skin heads, all sorts. Then you had the strange and unusual dress of many. Such as: A girl wearing nothing but electrical tape over her nipples, and lots of belts with a skirt. It was really cold that night too, had to be uncomfortable. Then there was the whole smashing over 300 people into a small place. Me and my friends had lots of people touching us... My ass was grabbed too many times to count. :devfearinmotion :was leaned on by the person behind him, and ~asjova had a drum solo performed on his ass by a large man. Quite unpleasant, but nothing could really ruin the mood. Then the guy in front of us smelled badly of BO...but we kept quiet about it. My other friend, Mitch, who came on his own... Kept chewing on my hair... that bastard.

It was really an amazing night. My ears are ringing still, and they were a lot last night. I smelled of smoke badly, and I'm sure I have a fine layer of nicotine in my lungs right now. My neck hurts from headbanging, and my throat is a mess, I really can't talk without sounding like I'm just hitting puberty. But I would do it all again, with no regrets.

The people that made the whole trip possible were:
Myself, for finding out about the concert.
~asjova for helping preorder the tickets and being a great friend.
~fearinmotion for first of all introducing me to the music, and being a great friend.