No Fear Tour at the House of Blues in Anaheim

Cedarpines Park, California -- I had the privilege over the weekend of getting tickets to the last show in the No Fear tour. The featured bands were Black Tide, Bleeding Through, and Bullet for my Valentine. The concert took place at the House of Blues in Anaheim which is in Downtown Disney.

I had never attended a show at this venue before so I was unsure of what to expect. This is a small venue but, not at all a mediocre one. After reading the online reviews of the House of Blues I had high expectations of the concert.

We arrived at the House of Blues at 6:30 when the doors were supposed to open. There were two lines of people to get in. One of the lines was for the people who had only bought tickets to the show. The other line was actually for people who had tickets but had eaten dinner at the restaurant or bought merchandise from the House of Blues. The line of people who bought something got to go in first.

If I had known that I could get in first I would have gone early for dinner. The House of Blues is all general admission so getting there extra early or being able to get in first can be an important factor. The staff was very efficient when it came to getting people into the House of Blues quickly.

I would give a rough estimate of 500 to 700 people at this particular show, which by the way was sold out. This may seem like a large number for a place like the House of Blues but with the two levels and many bars to accommodate everyone it worked out well. On the lower level there were a total of two bars and one beer stand. There are full bars on either side of the stage and a girl selling beer, soda and nachos on the way to the restrooms.

Upstairs is the balcony area which is smaller by far but also has a full bar and separate restrooms from downstairs. There are stools upstairs and the VIP section which sometimes you can purchase more expensive tickets for. For this particular concert the VIP section was reserved for the guests of the bands.

The lower level, where I chose to watch the show from was decently comfortable. The area directly in front of the good sized stage is sunk in so that you are not struggling to look over the heads of everyone the entire time. Anyone who has been to a general admission concert would automatically appreciate the planning in the floor scheme. There was no bad place to watch the show from.

The first band up was Black Tide. I had never heard anything about this band but, the crowd went crazy when they appeared on stage. There are four members of the band, which to my surprise range in age from 15 to 18 years old. I have to admit I was doubtful of Black Tide's talent upon seeing their little faces for the first time. I have time and time again been disappointed in young bands.

I know a lot of you are saying "You have never heard of Black Tide, where have you been?" Well honestly, I am a mother of two who doesn't get out much, that is where I have been. But, don't fret I am now a believer. It didn't take long to convince me that Black Tide has it together.

Half way through the first song I was impressed. Black Tide is one of the best bands I have heard in a long time. Their knowledge of music and stage present was first rate all the way. Every member of Black Tide is extremely talented.

I love to see that bands are so influenced by the old metal bands that I grew up with such as Metallica, Pantera, and Megadeath. To put it bluntly, I had to buy their CD before I left the House of Blues because I wanted to be sure that I could listen to more of their music.

The second band to play was Bleeding Through which again, I had never heard of. The style of music is hard to decipher honestly. Bleeding Through borders through their entire set on Thrash Metal and Hard Rock. Their overall style can change from song to song.

The singer of Bleeding Through has a wonderfully hyper stage present which gets the crowd amped before the first song has ended. The rest of Bleeding Through does a wonderful job of backing up and adding to his energy. Even though this is not my preferred style of music, I did enjoy the overall show Bleeding Through put together.

Being a local band Bleeding Through was very excited to be playing to their home crowd which also added to the overall performance. The energy of Bleeding Through was nothing short of contagious. They even have a female keyboard player that personifies metal. This woman would make any teenage boy want to join a band.

Of course Bullet for my Valentine was the headlining act. Bullet for my Valentine has become my favorite band currently. I have been impressed since first hearing them at how well put together their music is. Talent of this level is just hard to find anymore.

The crowd was in absolute chaos before Bullet even came on stage. This mood continued, in a good way, throughout the entire set. I have seen many live clips of this band and was very anxious to see if Bullet could live up to the hype.

Bullet for my Valentine put on one of the best performances I have seen to date. There really weren't any frills or pyrotechnics, just straight up music. Bullet managed to play every song I wanted to hear from their current album and their first album. It isn't very often that you get that kind of satisfaction from a band in one concert.

Every member of the band was full of life and energy that is hard to match. The singer played lead to almost every song which is always impressing. What was more impressing was the use of dually solos. It is a rare occasion that a band has the talent to pull this off anymore. Bullet for my Valentine did it though with ease.

I would recommend any one of these three bands to people to see. They were all equally satisfying. Their styles mixed well together as a whole. This talent mixed with the atmosphere of the House of Blues made for a wonderful show.

If you ever see that one of your favorite bands is playing here I would say it is the least disappointing place I have been to in a very long time. My only problem with the entire experience was the heat. I thought they could have turned up the AC a bit but, hey what do you expect when you get a lot of sweaty humans crammed in a room.