Gigantour tore through the famed Long Beach Arena last night. The venue, which has hosted a veritable plethora of major metal concerts over the years, provided an able setting for a great evening of thrashing and bashing from Megadeth, In Flames, Children of Bodom, Job for a Cowboy and High on Fire. Here's what went down:

Nerds like metal ... and that's a good thing! Because really, what couldn't be improved by a liberal use of face paint, sword-and-sorcery motifs and hurdy gurdys? The Paganfest tour is proving once and for all that unusual facets of European culture are really popular in the U.S. - and way cooler than anything we have anyway. As Turisas frontman Warlord Nygard pointed out at the fest's SoCal stop on Thursday night, "We expected to have 50 people at every show, and look at all you crazy people!" I was lucky enough to be there to catch all the action. Here are my thoughts on the eye-opening experience ...