Sensation Black
So my buddy Mike was lucky enough to go to Sensation Black in Amsterdam this year. He said it was amazing, but the night was marred by a very odd incident.
Taken from a post on metalrage.com
I was there. Rob Gee and Slipknot members started their performance just before the awaited megamix. The result was absolute shit, and after a few minutes, all the people started to booh. Some of them even throw glasses on the stage. People were no longer dancing in the room and everyone started to go angry as the performance continued. It was worse and worse. Then someone got up on the stage to stop the massacre. The fight begin and the videos are quite accurate of what happened. After the fight, the guy who stepped on the stage was applauded by the audience. Then the performance was interrupted and the megamix started.
Some intrepid folks with camera phones got vids of the incident up here:
andAs much as I am sure it sucks for Rob Gee and crew, I kinda have to hand it to the audience for not just taking what they were given. Should someone have gone up and started a fight? That's a big NO from me. However, Mike told me that the crowd was sitting down in protest during their set. Someone told him, "I paid 80 euro to hear hardstyle, not metal!". I can understand wanting to hear what you paid for and having to sit though something that reportedly sounded pretty bad (ie. unintelligible) and didn't seem to fit with the "theme" of the night.
Worse still is the self fellating press release by Rob and Co.:
PRESS RELEASE - AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS ENTERTAINMENT DESK
DATELINE: July 9, 2006 Amsterdam
Rob GEE
Sensation Black
Press Release
Rob GEE and Band attacked by “Fan” who rushed the stage at Sensation Black. FLASHBACKS (for the Band) of the MURDER of “Dimebag” Darrell Abbot (Damageplan and Pantera) in Columbus, Ohio in 2004. GEE and the Band respond accordingly.
Rob GEE and the Band were finishing the last song of their set (at Sensation Black) when a “Fan” climbed up the 20 foot wall of speakers and taunted Rob GEE. GEE and the Band professionally, continued their groundbreaking performance of his unique, cutting edge music (a hybrid mix of many styles of dance and metal combined in a very unique way that is amazingly GEE - inovative and once again just a little bit ahead of it’s time).
Rob said to reporters gathered after his arrest - “THAT’S EXACTLY WHERE WE WANT TO BE, JUST AHEAD OF THE CURVE, SETTING TRENDS, NOT FOLLOWING THEM …THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN JUST “BOOM BOOM BOOM”. SURE, WE HAD SOME OF THAT, YET, WE”VE CREATED MUCH MUCH MORE THAT THE EAR OF THE FREE-MINDED WILL COME TO APPRECIATE” – Rob GEE -
“ID&T and I share the mission of moving the music forward, that’s what makes our choices of music and line ups so exciting. We both take the risks to keep it fresh CAUSE THAT’S WHAT WE DO!!!!!!”
GEE and the Band acted accordingly to protect themselves and everyone on stage. It was just all too recent and fresh a memory for most “Metal” bands and fans, that on December 8, 2004, "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, and 3 others were murdered when a gunman, took to the stage and began shooting during the band's show in Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Rob GEE and The Band “WEREN’T GOING TO LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN”
The crowd received this new sound with mixed feelings, as historically it is when revolutionary new art and sound have been created.
I agree, one person's revolution is another's annoyance and perhaps this is just a case of "wrong place, wrong time". I am sure that there are audiences that would love the metal/techno hybrid (Hell I like it; Ministry, Atari Teenage Riot, Doormouse, etc), but perhaps the single largest Hard Dance event in the world isn't the most receptive audience.
