Chesterfield, Missouri received a diverse lineup of artists at The Factory with a range covering genres of all types. Upon entering the venue and getting ready for the first act, it appeared that there weren’t as many people as I thought would be attending tonight. This could’ve been seen as a negative experience like the thought of maybe booking this at a smaller venue, but it seemed like the artists took advantage of the crowd being close and made intimate experiences that they will remember.
Zero 9:36 was the one I was most excited about as I’ve seen him before and love his work. Something about his style and delivery on stage scratches something in my brain, and I was happy to come back to some new songs I hadn’t seen before. Right off the bat, it was apparent between all three members on stage that something was wrong. Pushing through the technical difficulties, they finished The End with Zero jumping down onto the barricade directly in front of the crowd. After walking around a bit, it was revealed that all their in-ears, which enables all of them to hear what is being played, were not working, and that’s why Zero jumped down was to just hear himself from the speakers pointed towards the crowd. Zero read a kid’s sign and joked around some to kill the time while the crew were frantically trying to see if they could fix the problem. It turned out one piece of hardware was done for which was causing all the problems. Even with all of these technical difficulties, they were still able to play their set, and they killed it despite what they were going through on stage.
The Hu was next, which was one I hadn’t seen yet and had heard all the hype about. Immediately, I felt like I was teleported to a different universe. With the specific Mongolian-style throat singing and the numerous instruments not typically seen at a rock concert, it was quite an experience that had me in a trance the whole time. I may not have understood a single word that was being said, but it had my attention. I also hadn’t listened to any music beforehand, so I didn’t know any songs except for their cover of Through The Never by Metallica and was pleasantly surprised with how fresh it sounded musically.
Asking Alexandria is another one I only knew a few songs before this show, so my experience came from an unbiased and open mind. The Violence and Alone Again started their performance with big open hits, leaving room for their guitarists to swing their instruments around the beat and for vocalists Danny’s voice to shine through. One thing I was shocked about throughout their set was how clean Danny’s voice is since I hadn’t really heard much of their music. The rest of the set felt like a bounce back and forth between the more musically heavier songs and the current style the band has found themselves in; both were equally as good and serve their purposes, so I felt like it played in their favor winning a crowd over this way. I left the show feeling impressed with their set and a desire to actually give their music a chance. That’s what I love about concerts the most; I came into that venue to see one band, and I left with two more bands to listen to and follow. There’s so much out there that there’s always something new to check out, and I’m glad I did with this show.