Loud heavy metal echoed off the sides of the Salt Lake City Library as the Total Liberation Tour 2004 wound its way into the city Thursday.

The tour, a collection of issue-oriented speakers and musicians, provided a gathering place for vegetarians, vegans, straight-edge and animal rights activists in the area. The tour started in New York City and is scheduled to end in Seattle, Wash. on July 25.

Jakob Nyberg, a local activist, helped organize the tour's arrival in Salt Lake City. He said the tour provides a forum for people to discuss issues and ideas affecting the world today.

"It's getting people out," Nyberg said. "Bringing people together and talking about the issues."

In addition to the tour itself, several local groups took advantage of the tour's arrival and set up shop near the concert area. Some of these groups included the Utah Animal Rights Coalition (a group promoting animal ethics and vegan lifestyles), the Ralph Nader campaign and others.

Although originally scheduled to start at 2 p.m., technical difficulties and other factors pushed the start time to around 4 in the afternoon. At that time, attendance at the concert swelled to about 150 college and high-school-aged students.

The first band, a vegan/straight-edge group from northern California called "Gathering," sent the crowd into hysterics with their loud music and aggressive lyrics. Consisting of 4 members (two guitarists, one drummer and a female vocalist), the group soon whipped the crowd into a frenzy of dance moves and shouting, as the group sang songs dedicated to animal, human and earth liberation.

However, not everyone at the scene was as excited by the group's message. One elderly man, heading into the library, surveyed the scene for a few minutes before commenting on the situation.

"I think she's demonized," he said, gesturing towards the vocalist screaming into a microphone millimeters from her lips. "Along with the rest of them," he added, watching the dancers in the crowd.

After the first few bands the speaker, introducing himself only as Evan, spoke on the need to return to a primitive lifestyle and abandon civilization in order to experience true freedom and wildness.

The festivities and speakers were scheduled to continue until 9 p.m. In addition, guests were asked to donate to support the tour and the groups performing there.

Candice Johnson, 20, from Salt Lake City, was one of the people viewing the tour. She said she came because she is an animal rights activist and planned on staying for the whole presentation.

"It's good, I like it," she said. "Especially the bands."
Copyright Brigham Young University 15 Jul 2004