It was good, Skolnick was awesome but the house sound system was bad unless you dare venture into the pit and this 50 something ain't about to do that and the Wall of Death too!
I gotta tell you guys about Derek Kerswell, the drummer for Unearth who opened for Testament. I have 2 daughters, 17 year old guitarist and a 15 year old drummer and the 3 of us along with around a dozen or so local musicians and Sam Ash employees all went together to the show. After Unearth played, they came to the back of the hall, meet & greet, sign autographs, sell T shirts/cds and just generally interact with the fans. One of the guys with us is a huge Unearth fan so he took my 2 daughters back so the 3 of them could meet the band. As they did, one of the other band members kidded him about having 2 girlfriends at which everyone chuckled but then Chris told them these 2 girls were very good musicians. Of course, Unearth asked what they played and when Derek heard my 15 year old drums, he thought that was so cool especially when he learned she also played in a jazz ensemble. At that point he looked up at all the people around and told them he had something to do and would be back in a couple of minutes. He then told my daughter not to move and he'd be right back.
Derek ran backstage, removed a tom head from his drum kick, he and everyone in the band signed it, he gave her the head along with several pairs of sticks and even gave her some practice ideas. He also gave her his email, etc. and told her anytime she had a question or needed help to pop him an email. He was an absolute prince. I met him as well and thanked him for his kindness and he just thought it was great that my girls were doing music and wanted to encourage that as much as he could.
The guys from Unearth and especially Derek were just awesome and super people! Check em' out if you get a chance!
wikipedia article on Derek
