Filter at The Roxy, August 26, 2010

Industrial rockers Filter jumpstarted the Sunset Strip Music Festival weekend with serious charge and electricity, rocking The Roxy hard on Thursday, August 26.

Not much rock has been deserving of the title “Hard Rock” lately. Hell, even the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas has Britney Spears’ tour costume up. Nope, no rhinestones and pop at The Roxy on Thursday, just screaming, thundering rock, dressed head to toe in black – from Richard Patrick’s sweaty, short black hair down to his all black chucks.

They kicked off their set with “The Take” from Anthems from the Damned, followed by “The Inevitable Relapse,” the first single from their new album, The Trouble with Angels. Frontman Richard Patrick was feeding off the sheer energy of the show, impassioned, almost possessed. His signature crouching down and screaming, and spitting and throwing water, riled the overheated crowd on anthems like “Welcome to the Fold” and “American Cliche.” Truly, an awesome frontman.

Review continues below.

Some special LA guests were in the house… LA-based electronic duo The Crystal Method was in the crowd, as Filter performed the song “(Can’t You) Trip Like I Do,” on which the two groups collaborated on for the Spawn soundtrack back in 1997.

The best special guest sighting of the night, though, was Richard Patrick’s brother, Robert Patrick. AKA T-1000, the shape-shifting liquid metal assassin from Terminator 2. Not only was the T-1000 in attendance, he was GETTING THE MOSH PIT GOING. Turns out T-1000 is a fan friendly dude, supporting his bro with crowd hype and taking pics with folks as they left the venue, ears ringing.

Richard Patrick yelled, “Thank you, big brother!” before blasting into more chugging, ear-shattering songs from Title of Record and Short Bus. He grabbed cell phones and cameras from the crowd to take shots and videos for fans while on stage. A perfect fit for their two biggest singles “Take a Picture” and “Hey Man Nice Shot,” which they held until the end of their three-song encore.

At the end of the show, the whole band took a bow like a theater performance and – seriously – started throwing fruit out into the crowd. A banana. An orange. Richard Patrick was chomping an apple as they gave a final wave to the sweat-soaked crowd.

It is so good to know that hard rock is still alive and nut-kicking on the Sunset Strip — healthy and nourished from its five servings of fruits and vegetables.