Front Line Assembly · Spahn Ranch · Switchblade Symphony

If you were anywhere near the industrial scene in the late '90s, this was the bill you wanted: Front Line Assembly headlining, Spahn Ranch in the middle, and Switchblade Symphony opening. Three bands, three different shades of dark, and one of the best rooms in Pittsburgh to see any of them.

I was working the night as a stagehand for Elko Productions. Metropol — back when it was still Metropol, in the Strip — had that perfect combination of industrial bones and a sound system that could actually push the kind of low-end these bands needed. Concrete, steel, a stage that had seen everything, and a crowd that always showed up dressed for the occasion.

Switchblade Symphony opened, and they were the right call to set the tone. Tina Root's vocals over those lush, fairytale-gone-wrong arrangements pulled the room in fast. It's the kind of set that people who came for the harder stuff didn't always expect to love, and then did. Quieter on stage than what came after, but that just made the contrast work.

Spahn Ranch kicked the energy up several notches. By '99 they had the live show dialed in — heavier, faster, more aggressive than the records sometimes let on. The floor started moving and didn't really stop.

And then Front Line Assembly. There's a reason Bill Leeb and company have been doing this for decades. The wall of sound they bring through a venue like Metropol was something else — programmed precision married to a live presence that made it feel like a physical event, not just a concert. The crowd gave it all back.

From the load-in side: bills like this were why working at Metropol was the gig you wanted. The room treated bands well, and the crews came through professionally. Some nights you punched in, did the work, and went home. This wasn't one of those nights. This was one of the ones you remembered.

I saw a lot of shows at Metropol over the years. This one earned its spot near the top of the list.