tour poster

last night we went to see cavalera conspiracy at the house of blues on sunset. the band was formed by the reunited brothers who formed sepultura, max cavalera and igor cavalera. both have since left sepultura. if you know the history of sepultura, well it's a very touchy issue that contradictions arise, blame and lies, and that the brothers have left, each at different points in their careers.

we have seen sepultura live and soulfly live but it was after max left. this was our first time seeing the brothers play together and it was really powerful. when they played the first sepultura song of the night, i got goosebumps. i was never a max fan and i didn't mind when he left but when igor left it was a real blow. personally i think their egos got too big and communication went down the toilet. when igor left, he was going to be a hip-hop type dj. i don't know how you go from being one of the best metal drummers to that, which is why i was disappointed in the guy. to hear that the brothers reunited was great but the album was not so good. i could tell though that the songs could be very heavy live and i was right. it was really cool that they also played a nailbomb song. again, this is a delight for the old school hardcore type sepultura fans. i'm not saying that's me because i'm not the metalhead, but time passes quickly and i've been a listener for 13+ years now. becoming a fan took a maybe a year. i had to break down my stereotypes of metal and open my mind. sepultura opened me up to metal. and this show was the closest i'm ever gonna get to seeing old school sepultura. at the very end, after playing "roots bloody roots", they played a bit of that song really, really fast to get the crowd going wild. it was pretty good. it was like going from 33rpm to 45rpm... or maybe 78rpm!

during the show there were guest appearances of max's kids. first was richie, his step-son. i already knew he sings and it was just ok. sorry kid, you have a long way to go to reach max's level. not that max is the best, but his vocals are powerful and he has good stage presence. the places was really alive and probably the most "metal" of shows i have ever been to. max's son igor also played. i had no idea he played drums and damn if he truly isn't little igor jr. that boy is damn good! but you can probably imagine the pressure of growing up a cavalera kid who wants to play metal or maybe is forced to play metal. i'm not sure. all i know is, that family has the potential to churn out a great metal band of teenagers.

ah, i should mention the opening band. we missed the very first one, incite. it turns out that is richie's band so i guess i am a little curious to see him sing his own songs. perhaps he has more power that way rather than trying to sing alongside max. after that it was bury your dead, throwdown, and dillinger escape plan. the guys from dillinger are nuts. it's one of the few times i've seen a band endanger audience safety. i could tell he wasn't trying to hurt anyone, but someone could have gotten hurt. the staff were all over him to stop him. he was throwing the mic stand and monitors into the audience. he also leaped into the audience and was throwing chairs into the audience. the guitarists were running around, jumping on speakers, flinging their guitars all over the place, etc. i wouldn't be surprised if the guitars have hit the singer before. it was really close. i also saw roy mayorga in the audience. he's been the drummer for soulfly (took a picture with him during their first tour) and a substitute drummer for igor. the reason why soulfly sucked at singing sepultura was because igor wasn't drumming. i don't know if roy got better and i never saw him sub in sepultura, but he just couldn't handle it during the first soulfly tour. i also saw a lady with a baby with those big headphone/earmuff things to protect their hearing. probably it was igor's new wife and kid.

i went to the show wearing a t-shirt and socks from igor's clothing line cavalera wear, which is only sold in brasil. all i wanted was for igor to know i was wearing it, but how? after the show, we were walking back to the car when out popped igor and his daughter right in front of his. this was my chance! "igor! great show! i'm wearing your t-shirt and socks" (i lifted up my jeans to show my sock). "thanks", he replied. that's all i wanted. he knows. i must note that these are the best socks i've ever worn. as a ren type person (that is from ren and stimpy), i am in desperate need of stay put socks and these are them for sure. when i go to brasil, i am stocking up on more of these babies!

i guess the question now is: where do the brothers go from here? is cavalera conspiracy a one-off thing? will they make more albums together? will they fight again? will soulfly continue? now that they're together, will they fight sepultura for the legal name? will igor move back to the usa? maybe some of these questions have been addressed in interviews but i don't follow bands like that anymore. plus, words and actions are two different things.

cavalera conspiracy

setlist:
inflikted
sanctuary
refuse/resist (sepultura)
beneath the remains / inner self (sepultura)
nevertrust
arise / dead embryonic cells (sepultura)
propaganda (sepultura)
wasting away (nailbomb)
terrorize
desperate cry (sepultura)
biotech is godzilla (sepultura)
black ark (with richie cavalera)
(jam)
attitude (sepultura)
ultra-violent
territory (sepultura)
troops of doom (sepultura) (with little igor cavalera)
roots bloody roots (sepultura)