Spartan Times

Sully Erna, lead singer of the band Godsmack, put on a stellar performance. Photo by Michael Dillon

Hundreds of people crowded inside the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colo. on Wednesday, Oct. 27. There were people of all shapes and sizes, but they all shared one thing in common: they were there for the concert of a lifetime.

Drowning Pool, Five Finger Death Punch (5FDP) and the legendary Godsmack were the reason these people traveled from all over the state to hear hard rock and metal at its finest.

At 7:30 p.m., Drowning Pool kicked off the show with their song “Sinner.”

Although Drowning Pool is usually an opening band for other bands, they tend to never disappoint a crowd, even when they aren’t the main event.

They played four more songs, which included “Feel Like I Do” and “37 Stitches” before finally ending with their most famous song, “Bodies.” During “Bodies,” Ryan McCombs, lead singer of Drowning Pool, got off stage and went into the crowd to sing the last minute or so of the song. Of the four times I have watched them, this was the first time he’s done that. The crowd was ecstatic and swarmed all over McCombs. The total stage time was around 30 minutes.

“Drowning Pool’s performance was excellent,” Rangely Fire Chief Andy Shaffer said.

“I think Drowning Pool kicked a– ,” CNCC freshman J.C. Chumacero said. “However, I feel they deserved more stage time.”

After about 30 minutes of taking down and setting up equipment, 5FDP then started out their show with “Burn It Down.” 5FDP is a heavy metal band that is known for having very aggressive music, leading to a very aggressive crowd. This was a special concert for Ivan Moody, lead singer of 5FDP, considering that Colorado is where he is originally from. To add to their set, the band had steam blaster machines, strobe lights, and a drum kit that was raised approximately 10 feet off the ground.

In the middle of the show, 5FDP gave their respects to classic rock by playing riffs from Pantera’s “Walk,” Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train,” and Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.” Then they went on to cover the full song from Bad Company’s “Bad Company.”

During their song “Dying Breed,” Moody told the crowd that he wanted them to come up and shake his hand one at a time. In order to do that, crowd members needed to “crowd surf” their way to the front.

“It was crazy watching all those people crowd surf,” Chumacero said. “I have never seen anything like that.”

5FDP ended their show with “The Bleeding,” making it the last of the eight songs they played. The total stage time was around 45 minutes.

After another session of take down and setup, Godsmack’s turn finally arrived. Godsmack is a hard rock band that has been around since the late 90’s, gaining the respect from fans all over the globe for their music and incredible live shows. They started out by showing a video of lead singer Sully Erna’s solo album. The band dropped the video screen, then lit up a giant “orb” that looked like the one on their latest album cover, “The Oracle.” The orb turned around, and on the other side was drummer Shannon Larkin.

Once fully turned, they began playing “Cryin’ Like a B—ch!!” After a few more songs, they played their new instrumental “The Oracle” and later on played their famous drum battle, where Erna and Larkin both play the drums to make somewhat of a tribal sound. Because this was Chumacero’s second time watching Godsmack live, this was also the second time he got to see the drum solo.

“Sully and Shannon on the drums are an insane duo that leave me speechless every time!” Chumacero said.

“I would go back and watch this (drum solo) any day of the week,” Shaffer said.

During this drum battle, Godsmack did 30-second covers of Pantera’s “Walk,” AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” and Black Sabbath’s “Luke’s Wall (War Pigs).”

After the battle, they went on to play more songs. During their song “Whatever,” Sully told the crowd he wanted everyone on the floor to move as much as they possibly could. They did just that.

“Watching the crowd move was crazy,” Chumacero said. “It was like watching the floor just start moving.”

After this song, Godsmack gave their thanks to the crowd and left the stage. After a few more minutes of the crowd cheering wildly for an encore, they came back on to play “Speak” and finally ended everything with “I Stand Alone,” playing a total of 13 songs altogether, and giving them about an hour and 45 minutes of stage time.

“Godsmack was awesome,” Shaffer said.

Chumacero felt the same way.

“Godsmack is a band that is a must-see for any hard rock fan,” he said. “They had no problem stealing the stage again.”

The night overall was an experience of a lifetime for any fan of hard rock or metal. According to Chumacero, concerts by bands like this go to show that “rock will never die.”