70,000 TONS OF METAL: DAY ONE RECAP BY METAL MARK!

As we arrived on the 70,000 Tons Of Metal ship, I don't think anyone really knew what to expect from the festival. We all knew we had forty bands to see, so that was enough initiative to get excited. We finally got into our room, threw our shit on the ground, and decided to go tour the ship. This vessel has three stages located in different areas. The main stage, or "Chorus Line Theater", was the nicest indoor venue. It featured a good size floor, and two balconies full of seats for the fans. The club stage, or "Spectrum Lounge", was the small indoor venue, which made for very intimate shows with some of metal's elite musicians. My favorite venue was the open air stage, or "Pool Deck", which was you guessed it, right by a pool! The stage was huge, the sound was awesome, and to see metal heads all around the boat watching each band outside was a very special thing. Alright so know that you know the logistics of the stages, here is my day one report.

The first band I went to see was Arsis at 7pm in the "Spectrum Lounge". Arsis was added late to the tour, but it was a good surprise for me. I love this band, so I was not missing the chance to see them open up the festival. Exodus was playing at the same time, but their schedule allowed me to see them later on in the week. So I grabbed a bucket of beer, some shots, and went to check them out and it was just awesome. Arsis played a killer set, and really started off the festival the right way. It was good to see a great crowd for them, especially since Exodus was playing at the same time.

After Arsis, the legendary Nevermore hit the stage outside by the pool. As everyone ran to the stage, I was the smart one and grabbed another bucket of beer. Watching Nevermore is always great, but to see them on the deck of the ship with ocean mist spraying everywhere and fans packed from rail to rail, this was just out of this world. To make this show more special, I was hanging with Burton C. Bell from Fear Factory during the last half of their set. Yea, I watched Nevermore with one of my idols, and I still can't believe it happened.

Marduk was set to play an hour after Nevermore, so what did we do? You guessed it, we hit up the nearest bar and raised hell. With Pantera blasting on the boat's speakers, how could you not want to drink? So more beers down the throat and we headed to see Marduk bring chaos to the ship, and they did not disappoint. Marduk had a good fan base in front of them, and played a brutal set as the ship swayed back and forth. After this show Blind Gaurdian played an hour and a half set, but I decided to check out the rest of the boat. I have nothing against Blind Gaurdian, but at this point things were getting blurry and I needed to be alive for Fear Factory.

At 12:30am, the show I had been waiting for on the first day was here. One of my all time favorites, Fear Factory, outside on the pool deck, and it was everything I hoped for. I got there early, with a bucket of beer, and grabbed a spot in middle of the front row. The band came out and absolutely destroyed the boat. Fans were flying from left to right, the band sounded better than ever, and it was just a perfect show. I didn't stop banging my head the entire time, which didn't help my state of mind afterwards, but it was well worth it.

After Fear Factory we hit up another bar, and realized that there was not a sober metal fan on the boat. This was when you saw the first people passing out all over the place, people yelling Slayer, and everything else that you would expect. I grabbed one more beer with a friend, and was luckily able to find my room. The trip back to the room was especially fun because I shared an elevator with Paul Bostaph. I was like "Oh hey, your one of my favorite drummers and we are sharing an elevator", he laughed and said "I can't believe I just watched Fear Factory on a ship". I think that was the statement of the whole festival. It's just hard to put into words how special it was to see these bands play on a ship. We were the lucky ones to get on the ship, and the only ones that can say we were on the first 70,000 Tons Of Metal Festival ever.

So there was my day one, the best I can remember. I'm sure other cool stuff happened, but I'm surprised I remembered this much. Fear Factory was definitely my favorite show, but that's just because I love that band so much. Every band I saw was great, but it was definitely time for me to get to bed after Fear Factory. Too many beers, no voice, sore neck, and I couldn't have been happier.

Check out a video recap of Day 1 below! You'll see my hotel room, the ship, how drunk I was, and some live footage. I didn't film Fear Factory because I was in the front row, but I have footage from their second live show in the wrap up. Hailz!

Tags: 70000 Tons Of Metal, Amon Amarth, Bands, Boat, Cruise, Fans, Fear Factory, Florida, Lineup, Metal, More…

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Comment by Metal Mark on February 1, 2011 at 11:40pm: The room was awesome! There were four bed cabins too, but we luckily had a two bed cabin. It was killer!

Comment by ScottishAnarchist on February 1, 2011 at 5:44pm: The room looks better than most hotel rooms, it looks like a caravan room...cosy. I'm so used to camping that the room actually really looks comfy.

Comment by ScottishAnarchist on February 1, 2011 at 5:41pm: The jealousy is overwhelming me, i feel like weeping, its not fair. It sounds so cool, definitely more cool than the time i was standing next Mark Osegueda watching a band. More cooler than the time Devildriver's Jeff Kendrick said my best friend had nice legs, even cooler when one of the other devildriver guitarists said my friend smelt like a stripper and apparently i smelt nice. Yeah it was THAT cool, its perhaps not as cool as me meeting dave mustaine...then again...it sounds really cool.

Comment by ISH on February 1, 2011 at 1:39pm: I agree with Eugene.. You suck Mark!!

Comment by Eugene V. Bakman on February 1, 2011 at 12:27am: I hate you Mark!!! I'm overwhelmed with satanic jealousy.

Please have fun out there for all of us losers who didn't make it there.

Still fucking hate you!

Comment by Matt Green on January 31, 2011 at 11:24pm: I'm the asshole with the broken eyebrow in the video...made it through an amazing Unleashed set (without a vocalist yet they still kicked ass), and Malevolent creation who didn't make it one til 4am lol. This trip was legendary. Impossible to put into words