Chevelle Concert Review
Murat Egyptian Room, Indianapolis, IN
February 19th, 2010

Having been a die-hard fan for a greater part of the last decade, I would be kidding myself to pretend that I could write a totally unbiased review of my very first Chevelle concert.  After an unfortunate tardiness to Mayday 2007 in Noblesville (where Chevelle was the first act) caused me to miss the band I had solely bought tickets to see, I was wildly anticipating their revisit to Indianapolis.  So, trying my hardest to put my favoritism aside, I can fairly say that this concert, well, totally rocked.

Chevelle, a band that could be classified as hard rock or modern heavy metal (depending on the music tastes of those you ask), has consistently released albums over the course of the last decade-plus.  They never deviate too far from the sound their fans have come to know and love and never fail to disappoint.  This holds true for their Murat Egyptian Room concert in downtown Indy, devising a phenomenal setlist that kept audiences to, no pun intended, Wonder What’s Next.  

As a rock concert veteran, I have experienced a bevy of shows that strictly adhered to the safe and standard formula: new CD stuff few have heard immediately followed by the some of the older and more popular hits that granted them their initial fame.   This show was not one of them.  If I had to anticipate the songs that would have been played in this show, Chevelle fulfilled every request I could have made but on shuffle.  The lineup was perfectly peppered with their older favorites and fans were able to delight in the explosive intro of “Well Enough Alone”, followed shortly thereafter by the haunting crescendos of “Vitamin R”, as well as a sufficient sample of their newer material. The perfect symbiosis of their early 2000’s classics and the new material from their most recent release “Sci-Fi Crimes”, climaxing at both “The Red” and finally “Jars”, made for an overall epic performance.  Even the encore selections were masterfully chosen for a phenomenal finish to a fantastic show.  The Murat never disappoints as a legitimate concert hall, with the ability to house concerts of popular enough bands but on a more intimate level than a larger venue.  Between the atmosphere, the crowd’s energy, and the outstanding performance, the only thing that could have made this concert better would have been a worthwhile opening act.  Though Sick Puppies left something to be desired, Chevelle most certainly did not.