My experience at Heavy T.O. in Toronto

There were two stages, East and West.  The Hubby and I were standing at the West stage.  Performing at the West stage were the Cancer Bats, Gojira, In Flames, Trivium, and Slipknot.  On the East stage were Marilyn Manson, Suicidal Tendencies and some other bands.

The concert was held at Downsview Park in Toronto.  The weather was horrible.  It rained the whole day.  Due to the rain, the park was very muddy.  We were ankle deep in mud.  The Hubby and I were right in front of the stage against the guard rails.  We made friends with the security guards and a couple of other people there for the concert.  The first band to go on was the Cancer Bats.  I never heard of the band before but they were surprisingly good.

The second band to play was Gojira.  They were phenomenal.  Gojira sounds the same live as they do on a C.D.  It was my first time seeing them live and I loved it.  I would definitely pay to see them again.  Just in a small venue.

The third band to play was In Flames.  They did a great job at hyping up the crowd.  They sounded amazing live.  It was my first time seeing them live.  I would pay to see them again.  But also in a small venue.  Moshpits formed and people were crowd surfing.  The crowd surfing was pretty bad because everyone’s feet were muddy.  While we were trying to protect ourselves from muddy kicking feet, our hands ended up covered in mud.

The fourth band to play was Trivium.  I have to admit that while the music was great, I was slightly disappointed by the singing.  I expected a little more from Trivium.  They are one of my favorite bands and still are, but I thought that Matt Heafy would sing more like he does on the albums.  I’m still excited about seeing them in New Jersey this month.  The crowd went crazy.  People became very violent and a lot of fights broke out.  There were a lot of people crowd surfing.  To my surprise, a lot of girls were crowd surfing.  By this point, security had a run for their money.  As soon as one person was put down, they had another coming their way.  A few even got hurt.  One took a nasty fall, one got kicked in the head, and one got slapped in the face.  There was also a man bound to a wheelchair who was crowd surfing.  He was picked up three times and security hated every minute of it.  The girls who went over didn’t have it easy either.  As soon as they came down, the guys at the guard rail would try to grope them.  They didn’t seem to mind though.

On the East Stage, Marilyn Manson began performing after Trivium.  15 minutes into his performance, the crowd began chanting Slipknot.  Manson had an hour on the stage.  I can’t imagine how embarrassing it must be to have the stage for another 45 minutes and the crowd is shouting for you to get of the stage.  His performance was even worse than the one at the Paramount in Long Island.  After his performance, Slipknot was scheduled to go on at 9 p.m.  By this point, the park was full of people.  As soon as the curtain went down, people went batshit crazy.  The Hubby and I were crushed.  I have never felt what it was like to suffocate until the moment Slipknot began performing.  I thought that my ribs were going to get crushed and I had difficulty breathing.  About 30 minutes into the performance, we decided to leave.  Slipknot was scheduled to perform for two hours.  They were the main reason I bought the tickets.  It was very disappointing.  But it was either stay and get seriously hurt or leave and hope to see them live in a small venue.

It took 3 people to get me out.  The Hubby and I couldn’t just turn around and walk out of the park.  We had to get pulled out.  The problem was there was no room for any type of movement.  The kid, who must have been no more than 17 years old, and the security guard, helped the Hubby pull me out.  The Hubby and the Kid pushed back to give me room and the security guard picked me up and started to pull me out.  It was all good until the crowd pushed back and my knees got locked in between the Hubby and the guard rail.  I thought my knees were going to snap.  The Hubby had to bend my legs and I was pulled over the guard rail.  I’m 5 feet 4 inches.  The guard rail was almost 4 feet tall.  I lost my shoe in the process, which the Hubby retrieved with much difficulty.  It took us quite a while to leave the park because of all the mud.  Every time we time we took a step, the mud swallowed our feet.

I have learned that going to a metal concert that is held outdoors is not for me or the Hubby.  I much prefer a small venue were the amount of people going to the concert is limited as opposed to the people at the park, which were several thousands.  We were bruised.  It is very hard to enjoy a band’s performance while the crowd is suffocating and crushing you.  By the time we returned back to the hotel, we had to walk through the lobby barefooted to avoid leaving a mud trail through the lobby.  We threw all our clothes, shoes included into the shower and just watched the brown water disappear into the drain.  I even had mud spots in my hair.  I guess that was from the feet sailing in the air.  The next day our shoes were still wet and had to get dried using the blow dryer for 3 hours.  We left early and didn’t return for the second day.  The bands we wanted to see on the second day were Killswitch Engage, Five Finger Death Punch, and System of a Down.  Other bands to perform on the second day were Between the Buried and Me and Cannibal Corpse.

We will be seeing Trivium, Killswitch Engage, and Five Finger Death Punch in New Jersey.  I don’t feel too bad about missing the second day.

Pictures coming soon!