By Kat Renz
It's official: San Francisco is too brutal for the world's most brutal band - or at least, Adult Swim's most brutal band. Or maybe it's the other way around. In any case, I was fully prepared to go forth and die, as promised, to the eagerly awaited, sold-out Dethklok show at the Fillmore. Instead, I went forth and left.
Opening band Soilent Green, who performed as the crowed continued arriving, was awesome: supertight - and frontman Ben Falgoust, who windmill headbanged along, had great energy. It boded well for the night. Then, in the midst of the third or fourth song, a Fillmore employee took the mic, calmly announcing there was a "slight big emergency" and we all had to exit the building - just as we were settling in, getting our cells resonating at the speed of some grinding Louisiana metal. Thankfully I had yet to buy beer.
So, 10 minutes after getting patted down and hand-stamped, we filed out of the building - a herd of bratty sheep. Young boys gave their full cups of beer the college chug and the curious, confused, and complaining fans were, to say the least, vocal at the offense of the inconvenience. Stepping a steel-toed foot into the chilly outside (damn, why did I coat-check my hoodie?!), I knew the sirens, with their reverse Doppler effect, were destined for us. Fire at the Fillmore. How metal is that?
So what the fuck happened? Just a small electrical fire, the cause of which is still under investigation. Little damage was reported, though this fails to factor in the blow to hundreds of excited fans.
Outside, firefighters ascended the roof, while Fillmore employees tied to keep the predominantly calm - yet understandably inquisitive - crowd from stepping back in the building or bugging the people in uniform too much. It was a good chance to notice that only one woman sported an "Explode Me" shirt (the requisite top of a Dethklok groupie), and the pair of buff guys donning black pointed bags over their heads, in honor of Dethklok's protective henchmen.
Eventually, after about 30 minutes of milling about, smoking, and considering various fire scenarios with new friends, we were told the show was canceled. A black swarm of disappointed metalheads massed down Fillmore and Geary while the last sunbeams were still fading.
While a huge bummer, the fire was also totally perfect. There's no way a Dethklok concert could live up to a Dethfan's expectations anyways. The translation of Metalocalypse cartoon music heroes to in-the-flesh onstage mortal normal dudes would inevitably have lost a lot. But the music's good, and you're curious as to how it could be pulled off. So you deal, even though fully aware you will survive the show without getting flattened by the dethkube, scalded to death with coffee poured from the scaffolding, impaled in the pit, or any of the other myriad ways the loyal legions always die.
The fire was tragic, but the night was still young, which meant only one thing: go see Tragedy at the Parkside!
DETHKLOK
Rescheduled tonight, Monday, June 9, 7:30 p.m., $26.50 (All tickets to the original show will be honored; tickets can be refunded at the original place of purchase)
Fillmore
1805 Geary, SF
(415) 346-6000
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