Okay, I might as well say it right here at the beginning. HIM is my favorite band. Their music hits me in a way that noone elses ever has. I've seen them in concert many times over the past few years and have never been disappointed. This time was going to be no different. This was in my home town. I had spent months promoting the Razorblade Romance album here a few years ago and I hadnt seen the guys in a long time, so this concert meant more to me than any other I've ever been to. It was my hometown, most of my friends were there, and it was HIM!!!

First up though was Aiden. Now, I have to admit that i went into thsi show with a negative opinion of this band. I had heard about 10 seconds of one of their songs and just wrote them off as "My Chemical Rip=off" so I wasn't looking forward to it at all.

DAMN WAS I WRONG!!

Aiden puts on one HELL of a live show! Vocalist Wil Francis is the most chaotic and energetic frontman I've seen in a long time. In fact, the whole band really puts on a show for the fans, but Wil is clearly the focal point of the madness. He could leave the stage at any moment and join the crowd, he whips his micropjone around with wreckless abandon...he's just an explosion of energy up there. I wanted to hate these guys, I really did. But they were having such a great time on stage, and that mad eits way down to me. If you've dismissed Aiden in the past like I did, do yourself a favor and check them out if they come near you. Open your mind a little and you might have some fun.

Okay, this is a concert review so I tried to remain objective about HIM, but seriously, this is the best performance that I've ever seen from the guys. Each member was spot on with their performances, and the band had an electricity, just a vibe, that had never been there before. They opened with Soul On Fire, which had been a show closer on previous tours, so you already knew that something special was in store. From there they alternated between songs from their two biggest US hits, Razorblade Romance and Dark Light, while mixing in songs from other releases such as "It's All Tears" and "Buried Alive By Love". The best part of all was the encore, a stunning tribute to Black Sabbath that was such a ballsy move since most of the fans in attendance had probably never heard much Sabbath. That was the point, HIM is able to reach people in a way that no other band can, and they used it to educate their fans about the great music that inspired them. It was a breath-taking finale. HIM is one of those bands that gets stronger as a tour progresses, but this was one of the first shows on this tour...so that means that the band would be AMAZING in the not too distant future (which is why I drove halfway across the country to another show a few weeks later). And YES, that show was even better!