Cavalera Conspiracy Headlining Tour – REVIEW

Cavalera Conspiracy came rolling through Chicago on May 4th and we had the chance to attend for a review. On this date of their tour, the band rocked The Bottom Lounge with their tourmates, LaZarus A.D. Check out our review and recap of the night after the break.

What a rural area for a venue this nice to be. This is my first time being here since they moved locations. I was impressed with the layout and comfort of the venue. Don’t judge this place by the area that it is in or the outside appearance.

Pummeling into the first song, LaZarus A.D. started off with a feel that brought me back to what metal started off with, fast, in your face and head banging riffs! If was like watching the love child of Pantera and Slayer.

With the stage being back-lined, LaZarus A.D. had only about 1 foot from the edge of the stage, but it didn’t seem to bother them at all! It’s rare to see bands get up on a stage and not have an ego, especially when circumstances like that happen. Their stage presence was magnificent. From interacting with the crowd by giving yelling gestures to the diehards, circle pits, fists pumping and hair spins that wipped the sweat off the fans faces in the front row.

I would have never thought something sounding like this would ever come from Wisconsin, but they proved me wrong. Their musicianship was tight and very impressive. Driving, fast, and creative drums, with blazing solos and melodic but thrashy guitars.

I hope that this review makes sense, because it seemed that everyone around me had decided to start smoking marijuana before Cavalera Conspiracy kicked off, haha. From what started as a room filled with about 50 people turned into about 350 diehard fans. With a heavy presence they came out and the crowd started to immediately show their love for them with a massive circle pit.

Even though the icon, Max Cavalera would randomly stop playing to scream when he felt like it, the crowd didn’t seem to care one bit. If you haven’t followed Max C. through his lengthy time of being a musician and playing in iconic bands such as Sepultura and Soulfly, then I’m not sure if you’d appreciate them as much as this crowd did. The fans were taking pictures, stage diving, singing, pumping their fists and enjoying it thoroughly. Don’t let that scare you away from them because their shows are packed full of energy, heavy riffing, intense solos, fast and tribal drums, moshing and more camouflage than you’ve maybe ever seen at a show! Having Max Cavalera playing in front of me was an honor since he helped shape my musical career and thousands of others.

Information about the tour…
Tour: Cavalera Conspiracy Headlining Tour
Bands: Cavalera Conspiracy (Roadrunner Records) and LaZarus A.D. (Metal Blade Records)
Date: May 4, 2011
Venue: The Bottom Lounge in Chicago, IL