Schottenstein Center @ Columbus, OH - 11/9/08

The theme of this leg of the tour seemed to be a mixture of wait, wait, wait and freeze your butt off (and often times a combination of both).

My first show was Columbus, which somehow ended up being much colder than a typical November day. If I remember correctly, it was spitting rain and flurrying while we were waiting in the MetClub early entry line (which was surprisingly long considering that we got there shortly after lunchtime). Jeff, Jimbo, Joie and I all ventured up from my place after meeting up in Blacksburg the morning of the show. We met up with Super Ron and friends (not to be confused with the Super Friends) shortly after getting in line.

Picture from MetOnTour.com

I'll just get it out of the way right now. Sitting through The Sword was incredibly boring (every show) for me. Columbus had Down as the second opener, which consisted of Phil beating himself up repeatedly with his microphone and ranting incoherently. The set at this show was REALLY solid, and the Columbus crowd was surprisingly into it. Every other show I've been to in Columbus has featured some weak crowd participation, but not this time around.

Picture from MetOnTour.com

The Good: strong set, good crowd
The Bad: watching Phil beat his head in with a microphone
The Ugly: drinking 7 Red Bulls while driving 5 hours back after the show (Kids, don't try this at home.)