FeliciaEvita: Yes It Was, A Little Disturbed

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Yes It Was, A Little Disturbed

Play it again. “Down With the Sickness” was Disturbed's encore number for their concert at USANA Amphitheater in Salt Lake City. The rhythm was undulating, and the lyrics were drowned out by the guitars and drums, which was fine because they were definitely too colorful for me. The crowd didn't stop … jumping, dancing, fists in the air.

Get up, come on get down with the sickness

Open up your hate, and let it flow into me
Get up, come on get down with the sickness
***

Madness is the gift, that has been given to me

I learned there's a “clean version” of the lyrics. I'm sort of surprised but overjoyed because the original version was a string of profanity. In Utah, we have clean versions of many artistic works such as movies and song lyrics. It makes you wonder what we'd do with Michelangelo's David. Maybe he'd end up wearing a pair of biking shorts and a t-shirt. But this was not a Utah-based cleansing company. In any case, I am unaware of whether the band played the "clean" version at the concert.

Like so many music groups, Disturbed paid tribute to American troops at war.

The crowd of mostly teens and 20-somethings took to their feet enthusiastically with every number. Disturbed pushed the envelope with their repertoire of songs such as “Asylum,” “Stricken,” and “Stupify.” Shock value in visual art, literature, and theater is something humanity has experienced for centuries. In music, it's a relatively new feature to test the audience with lyrics that accentuate base and dark themes. And if nothing else, based on the crowd reaction, Disturbed got passing grades for their appearance in Utah. {still wondering if the horses were dancing in the countryside to the non-stop beat}