Pentagram & Heavy Metal Parking Lot 3 Concert Review, Austin, TX, March 19, 2016
foto by Jerry Milton
Day 2 of my weekend with Pentagram took place at The Lost Well in East Austin. This show was held during SxSW and was part of a separate 2-day affair called Heavy Metal Parking Lot. This is the third installment put on by Johnny Galyon and American Icon Records. The day’s featured artists were as follows:
PENTAGRAM 1130
Mondo Drag 1030
Venomous Maximus 930
Sweat Lodge 830
The Blood Royale 745
Tower 7
Sabbath Crow 615
Against the Grain 530
Destroyer of Light 445
Banquet 4
Wrong 315
Greenbeard 230
After driving back from Houston in the morning and sleeping half of the day, I got there a little after 5 missing my friends in Destroyer of Light but got to catch Against the Grain whom I missed the night before. They were killer! Bass player was a total monster. It was a good set overall and I look forward to catching them again. Good friends Sabbath Crow were up next and I caught part of their set before grabbing dinner with Greg from Pentagram and Jeff Lee, who is basically a Pentagram historian and lives in the area. He’s been involved with the band since 1979 and it’s always great to hear his stories. Tower from New York were up next and I enjoyed their set quite a bit. The Blood Royale came next and it was their end of tour show and they blazed through it like madmen. Sweat Lodge was up next and they fall into that category of 70s retro that I just can’t get in to. Their singer’s got a great voice but I just can’t latch on to them at all. Good friends Venomous Maximus were up next and as always got a great response for a great set. Love those dudes. Mondo Drag’s set was comparable to the night before in Houston, which is to say they were great. They got a really good response from the crowd, too.
Pentagram came on next to an over capacity crowd that was jam packed into The Lost Well like sardines in mustard sauce. It was pretty intense. I’ve never seen it so packed in there. I stood in the very back of the venue and really could only see the tops of Victor’s and Greg’s heads. They played the same setlist with the only difference being the encore was played after the last of the main list songs since the band couldn’t leave the stage at all to take a quick break. So they plowed through the encore with the extended massive jam at the end of 20 Buck Spin. It was crazy in there. And it was great. I’m glad everyone got in and that no one got hurt in that packed crowd. Bobby’s voice started a little rough at the beginning of the set, but improved greatly by the time they played Forever My Queen. Once they finished, they quickly exited the stage and went straight to the bus. I got caught up in a few conversations and didn’t get to see them off as they had to get to DFW to catch some flights home. They were backlined so didn’t have any real gear to break down and load up besides the merch. Speaking of which, I didn’t get one of their shirts as they had run out of my size prior to the Houston show. And again, pick up Curious Volume. It’s a great album.
I couldn’t have asked for a much better weekend with a great bunch of guys in Pentagram and the folks at The Lost Well, including all of the friends and staff there. It was a night for the record books for sure.
The Metal Files 
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