The tour hits Atlanta Tuesday, October 16, at Lakewood Amphitheatre. Tickets sold poorly for such a big name band. All lawn tickets were upgraded and the Lawn itself closed because of the lack of people. Lakewood was desolate when Ghost came on, and only half full when Deftones hit the stage. When A7X came on, seats and general admission were full.

 Ghost opened first to kick off the show. Because the band originates from Sweden, they rarely tour in America. According to metalinjection.net, after a restaurant in Chicago featured the “Ghost Burger” (using un-sanctioned communion wafer for a bun) in honor of the band, Catholic churches fumed, claiming the band is “demonic,” causing them to lose popularity among Americans.  They have a few records out, but none have reached success here.

 The following band was Deftones. The performance was not embraced by the crowd, which was mostly A7X fans. They screamed for the Deftones to finish up and for A7X to come on stage. One intoxicated man even went as far as to yell obscenities. Another yelled, “I only have 20 more minutes left to sit through of you!”

The crowd killed the tripped out vibe of the Defontes. The terrible sound system of Lakewood degraded their performance, also. Deftones’ music is characterized by repetitive riffs with the singer screaming/singing into the microphone on top of them. The sound system distorted the sound, and made the singer’s voice sound unpleasant at times. Half the crowd loved them; the other half seemed disinterested. Deftones came on this tour promoting  their latest album, “Koi No Yokan.” In spite of the crowd, they put on a great show.

 Finally, Avenged Sevenfold hit the stage. The entire arena screamed and cheered as they entered the stage and went into the first song. The set list was composed of songs from their album “Nightmare”and their newest one, “Hail to the King.” The “King,”  a large skeleton king resembling Eddie from Iron Maiden, entered the stage through large red doors  when A7X started playing their latest single and title track from their latest album. The phenomenal set lasted till 11 a.m. A small mosh pit broke out half way through the set as fans got more excited. Out of the two bands, Avenged Sevenfold had the most pyro and smoke.

 In the middle of the set, “Fiction” came on and so did everybody’s lighters. “Fiction” is dedicated to the memory of James “The Rev” Sullivan, A7X’s drummer that tragically died on December 28, 2009. It is the last song written by “The Rev” and uses his vocals. The stage went dark and a montage of photos played while fans swayed and lighters dotted the crowd. Every Avenged concert set features “Fiction”and is beloved by fans.

The hour and a half set was quick-paced, the only exception being the 15 minute jam session between the guitarist and the dummer. Out of the 29 concerts I’ve attended and the 60 bands I’ve seen live, I’ve seen Avenged Sevenfold twice. They put on a great show that’s fast paced, loud and provides a great time.