No matter how dark this city gets…

One of my lifelong dreams was fulfilled this weekend. A check has been placed in the box beside one of the items on my figurative list of things to do before I die. I feel that, were I to go to sleep tonight and never wake up again, my life up till now would have been worth it thanks to the events of last Friday and Saturday.

I got to see the Protomen perform both acts of their Megaman-inspired rock opera with my friends Jeremy and Devin. It was glorious, epic, and amazing.

Okay, so I might be delving too far into hyperbole, but it truly was an awesome experience. The band performed at Animation and Gaming Ohio in Cincinnati (yes, another anime convention), running through all of Act I the first day and Act II the second day. Despite a delay caused by problems with their new bus, the Protomen delivered.

As great as the music is by itself, the band puts on an awesome show. To demonstrate the awesomeness, I have provided videos I took during both concerts, along with some description of what happened. The video was taken with my digital camera, so the audio is pretty awful. The video isn’t very steady either, really, what with the jumping and the dancing and the occasional moshing. Still, it portrays the craziness and the excitement of the crowd pretty well.

Quite a few videos and some pictures can be seen after the jump. Click on the “Act I” and “Act II” headings to open YouTube playlists of each concert.

Act I

After the show was delayed until 12:30 a.m., and after the audience was told to wait for an additional hour, expectations were high as we filed into the room. Waiting for us there was Kilroy – wearing his “formal wear” to apologize for the delay:

Protoman, portrayed by lead singer Raul Panther (possibly a stage name), wore a customized red motorbike helmet with a microphone jack in the back, so it could be worn during the songs. They seemed to have some difficulties getting it to work properly at first, but the crowd didn’t care, especially because everyone present was singing his part anyway.

Here is video for the song “Funeral For a Son”:

Unfortunately, I did not get video of the first song, “Hope Rides Alone”. During “Funeral For a Son”, Kilroy – who acted as narrator and instructed the crowd on when to clap and/or pump fists in the air – carried Protoman’s helmet solemnly through the crowd, in the style of a funeral procession, stepping in time with the drum. It was quite an emotional scene, though it is a little hard to tell what is going on from the video. Also, about two and a half minutes into the video, a lone trumpet is played from the opposite side of the room, possibly by band member The Nightwalker (if you haven’t caught on yet, all of the band members have peculiar stage names).

“Unrest in the House of Light”:

I don’t have much to say about this particular song. It rocked. The head of the guy in the cat-ear hat kept blocking my view, as evident by the video. Also, the drummer (who went by Reanimator) is/was awesome.

“The Will of One”:

Note: Video contains at least one expletive shouted by an audience member. The crowd was in full swing at this point. There may or may not have been some moshing, as well. Panther has the helmet on, the fists are in the air, the room is rocking. Reanimator is pounding away at those drums. Oh, and Panther plays the keytar. Awesome.

Toward the end of the song, the audience starts chanting the mantra of Wiley’s guard, leading into…

“Vengeance”:

Moshing is in full swing at this point. We stayed at the edge, watching for any stray shovers. From the video, it looks and sounds like a bunch of loud noise and chaos, which isn’t too far from the truth. Still, it was a powerful performance.

“The Stand (Man or Machine)”:

Panther sings both parts, Megaman and Protoman (I think). This tune is one of the most moving points on the first album, Protoman’s monologue to Megaman, in which he explains to his younger brother that the people will turn away from him just as they turned away from Protoman. The song led into an unintentionally hilarious dialogue between Protoman and Megaman:

Words cannot describe the comedy of this exchange. Protoman (possibly played by Kilroy, though we weren’t sure) had some great one-liners, like “Do you, uh, do you want to continue on with this train wreck?” and “Don’t step on my line ever again,” in response to one of the audience members. Despite the goof-ups and the out-of-character asides – or possibly because of them – the audience ate it up. Also notable is Panther/Megaman’s humorous address to Protoman, in which he states, “I will not fight you,” while comically tapping his Mega Buster against Protoman’s helmet.

“Sons of Fate”:

More moshing. At this point, the audience is ecstatic. The music of the Protomen is made for live performance, and the audience reacted in kind. Keep in mind that at this point, it’s about 2 or 3 in the morning. Whether because of the energy of the band or because of the lack of sleep, or possibly a combination of the two, we seemed capable of anything.

The band followed up with a couple covers of 80′s classic rock. They played “Jailbreak” by Thin Lizzy and another song I don’t recall. They then finished with “Due Vendetta”, the last song on the first album, which completed with Kilroy stating, “GAME OVER.”

We left the convention burnt out, ears ringing, blissed on great music.

Act II

After an afternoon of rejuvenating and studying for final exams, we ventured back to the convention for the second act. I forbade Jeremy and Devin to play either album during the car ride to Cincinnati, so as not to dilute the experience.

This time, the band began with an introduction of each member, delivered by Kilroy:

I missed the first introduction, Gunslinger, the newest member. The (possibly) fabricated background stories of each member were quite amusing, and Kilroy clearly has a knack for the art of monologue. He is seen here in his usual attire, rather than the formal attire of the previous concert. At one point toward the end of the introduction, he miscounts the number of members – totaling ten – and forgets to introduce Turbo Lover/Wily/Neil, with hilarious results.

After the introduction, the band went right into the intermission and “The Good Doctor”:

Some of the songs from this album may be easier to hear in the videos, as they are not as loud and heavy as those of the first album. “The Good Doctor”, for instance, has more of an acoustic, natural sound when compared to the electric and synthetic sounds of tracks like “The Will of One” and “Vengeance”. Note that Kilroy is playing the hammer, banging it against a lead pipe in time with the music. Also, Turbo Lover, playing Wily, was quite energetic in his performance.

“Father of Death”:

This performance was amazing. So much energy ran through the crowd as we stomped and clamped with the drumming of Reanimator. The exchange between Emily (The Gambler) and Wily (Turbo Lover), one of the strongest points in the album, was immaculate.

“The Hounds”:

Oh man. Turbo Lover was all over the place. As you can see from the video, I had a bit of trouble at times keeping up with him. At one point, he climbed up on top of the speakers at the edge of the stage, stretching out over the crowd. Note also a little over two minutes into the video, when he takes out a comb and runs it through his hair. “The Hounds” is by far the funnest song on the album. I just wish I could have gotten a more quality recording of it.

Because of the limited space on my memory card, I was not able to record the whole concert. I missed out on “The State Vs. Thomas Light”, “Give Us the Rope” and “How the World Fell Under Darkness”. The crowd got rather lost on the lyrical cues during “Give Us the Rope”. To their credit, the majority of people in the audience knew the words as well as the band – if not better, as Panther noted toward the end of the concert that he missed a verse in “The State Vs. Doctor Light” and heard the crowd singing the right lines.

“Breaking Out”:

This song has had a place in my heart ever since it was released as a demo, in anticipation of the full album. It has a classic rock feel, complete with epic guitar riffs and background singers. Sir Robert Bakker rocks out on the guitar about four minutes into the video.

I had to skip “Keep Quiet” as my memory card was almost completely full at that point. I did, however, catch a bit of the end, during which Joe (Panther) is confronted by and kills Wily’s robot assassin, later donning its green helmet and riding off to take down the control tower that has enslaved the city:

The helmet sat on the edge of Panther’s keyboard throughout “Light Up the Night” (which I also did not record). He put it on for “The Fall” after singing – possibly not before because the helmet is not equipped to be worn while singing.

I do not have video of “The Fall”, but I did catch about a minute toward the end of “Here Comes the Arm”:

The band followed with a cover of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and ended once again with “Due Vendetta”. Kilroy ran through the audience, made a circuit around the room, and finished with some crowd surfing.

If there is one thing I have learned from the whole experience, it is that the Protomen adore their fans. Never have I seen a band so in touch with their fanbase – a fanbase that follows them around the country, buys them pizza after shows, and builds working toy arm cannons to send to them for use in their shows. They return that dedication with a kindness and devotion of their own.

After the show, we hit the vendor table and bought albums, shirt and posters. We then tracked each of the ten members down for their signatures, which they gave with a smile. I even got a compliment on my attire from Panther (I was wearing dress clothes with suspenders and a fedora at the time, for no particular reason). While we fought for signatures, the fire alarm went off, but Murphy, one of the band members, told us we could stick around the vendor table to get his signature while the regular attendees were escorted out of the building. I got this awesome poster:

Given the fun that I had this past weekend, I would jump at the chance to see them play again. Protomen, if you are reading this, please come back to Ohio soon – and I hope you don’t mind me sharing these poor-quality videos.

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