It was a frosty Thursday in Omaha, NE when Crowbar and Havok rolled into town. Crowbar was back to play The Lookout Lounge for the second time in only a few months. They consistently fill the place, so obviously no one was upset about their being back so quick. Crowbar is out celebrating 27 years of metal, and Havok is touring their new record that was released officially at midnight of the show. I’d seen Crowbar before, but hadn’t given Havok as much time as I would later come to realize they deserve. Support that night would go to locals Orpheus, Tendead, and Supermoon.
Orpheus started the night off with some badass thrash grind that really got everyone up and moving quickly. I’ve liked these guys for a while now, and they’ve not disappointed. They’re still a young group, but they have a lot of potential if they keep performing like they did this night.
Tendead was next with some stoner doom-type metal. These guys have been playing bigger shows around Omaha for a while now and have honestly never really stuck out to me. They play simple Godsmack-esque material that sounds good enough – it just doesn’t feel very original. The crowd responded well to them, so they’re definitely doing something right; however we remained on different wavelengths.
Supermoon is one of my favorite local acts. Heavy emphasis on the stoner part of stoner doom metal, with a litany of goofy, catchy tracks. Consistently putting on fantastic performances with very solid stage presences, these guys have been taking over the local music scene. By the time they were done in The Lookout, the place was at full capacity and everyone was raring to go for Havok.
The thing about The Lookout Lounge is that it’s not a big venue at all, but they book big bands all the time. And the result is a show with massive amounts of character and intimacy. When The Lookout fills up completely, things get rowdy real quick. By the time Havok hit the stage, the crowd was primed and ready to light the place up. Omaha loves its thrash metal, and when you have some of the best in the country tearing it up on a tiny stage, havoc is unleashed. The show was a great sneak peek at their new record, ‘Conformicide’. If you get a chance to catch Havok live, I highly recommend taking the opportunity. I was pretty blown away by the quality of performance they put on, and the sound was dead on.
Crowbar has a massive presence, so watching it get packed into a single bay, strip mall venue, is pretty insane. Kirk Windstein’s vocals are megalithic all their own, but when you have the power of the full band, it takes on a life of its own. They bounced around their 27-year backlog of songs, choosing all of the classic Crowbar tunes to keep everyone bouncing along. By this point in the night, booze had been flowing pretty heavily and things were going pretty well, but the crushing sound of the band just got to a few different fools who decided to start fights in the middle of the pit. There’s nothing like jamming to Crowbar while some guy gets into a fistfight two feet away from you before getting dragged out by an army of security guys. I always have a lot of fun at these shows and this night was no exception.
All in all, it was a great night with great tunes and even better people. Havok thoroughly impressed me and earned at least one new fan that night. Crowbar always crushes the place, so when they almost literally brought the place down, it wasn’t surprising this time. It’s always a weird night when you pack so much raw talent and power into such a small venue with that much booze, but what’s a good metal show without a little rowdy action?