Concert Review: Powerglove – July 23, 2012 – Atlanta, GA

Powerglove
Monday, July 23, 2012
Atlanta, GA
The Drunken Unicorn

Powerglove has been on the road as part of some sort of “Nerdcore” tour featuring rappers MC Chris and Richie Branson.  When I first heard this I was so confused.  How does Powerglove fit on a bill sandwiched between two nerd acts rapping about Nintendo games, Star Wars, and discontinued anime shows?  Well, the answer, surprisingly, is really well.  The audience, made of 90% white people dressed in full on Star Trek costumes, dorky “inside joke” t-shirts, and just full on dork regalia were obviously there to see MC Chris.  Leave it to Powerglove to take the stage, command their presence, and show them who the true reigning kings of dork metal are.  I mean, can you get much dorkier than donning over-sized spiked shoulder pads while doing power metal renditions of video game songs and cartoon theme songs?

Powerglove took to the stage before a sold out house that looked both mesmerized and extremely curious.  Bassist Nick Avila addressed the crowd by saying, “Atlanta!  We’re Powerglove and we’re here to fuck with your childhood” before launching into “Mario Minor” which right away drew a huge roar of approval from the crowd.  Song after song Powerglove just seemed to blow everyone’s mind and in all honesty, this really seemed like the perfect audience for them.  The crowd in general seemed to just “get it” as the band delivered some facemelting versions of themes from “Storm Eagle” (featuring a chant of “Fuck that bird!”) and “X-Men.”  Avila summoned the crowd to be “Warriors for Metal Combat” as the band tossed out inflatable swords before crushing everyone with “Mortal Kombat for the Mortal Man.”  There’s something really fucking entertaining about seeing a mosh pit of people beating each other with inflatable weapons as this band just crushes everyone.  I loved seeing this audience so connected with Powerglove.  The thing with Powerglove is that they’re so fucking good that they can totally connect with the prog metal crowd just because of their playing ability and at the same time connect with this “nerdcore” crowd because they get the content and overall concept.

Powerglove took complete ownership of the night with a sing-along of “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” from Pokemon which had everyone in the crowd (except me pretty much) singing the song word for word along with the band as they shredded through it.  Closing the night out, Avila stepped to the mic and said, “Atlanta.  Are you ready to play fucking Tetris?” which drew yet another huge roar from the horde of dorks.  The band launched into their psychotic power metal version of the Russian theme which had people joining arms and kicking up their feet in what looked like a spastic Russian jig.  Do Russians jig?  Anyways…  The song drew to a close and the crowd roared with approval as Powerglove left the stage and a wake of melted, smiling faces behind them.

Powerglove is a band that never disappoints me and I always look forward to seeing them live.  It’s a fun, interactive experience that my inner dork completely embraces and loves.  You don’t have to be a gamer, anime aficionado, or an RPG player to get them.  If like really well played instrumental progressive metal with a fun, quirky twist this is the band for you.  Sometimes metal music can get so overly serious and even drab at times so Powerglove is a great breath of fresh air.  They are a vacation away from the seriousness and sometimes smug face of heavy metal.  Powerglove is changing the face of metal as we know it; even if they’re doing so by putting a pair of taped up horn rimmed glasses on it.

SETLIST
Mario Minor, Storm Eagle, Metal Kombat for the Mortal Man, X-Men, Omnishred (We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Sword), Zelda Medley, The Decisive Battle, Gotta Catch ‘Em All, Tetris

For more on Powerglove, head over to: http://www.vgmetal.com/

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