Archive for June 2022
Tom Keifer, LA Guns, Faster Pussycat. Cedar Park, TX, June 24, 2022
What a fun night in general. When this tour first got announced, I had no real intentions of seeing this show, mainly because of location, I’m not much of a Cinderella fan and I’ve seen Guns and Pussycat several times. Then Shawn Duncan (Odin/DC4) joined Guns on drums and my decision to attend was made. I’ve been friends with Shawn for a long time and hadn’t seen him in several years.
I got to the venue pretty early to try and hang out with him. He said the bands have been pretty strict on COVID protocols but he’d figure it out. Fortunately was outside when I rolled up and we hung out for a bit and got to catch up. Love that dude.
As we were standing outside their bus, my friend Kurt walked up who is a manager at the venue. I had no idea. We first met at a Drivin’ ‘n Cryin’ show years ago. We also got to catch up, I introduced him to Shawn and we hung out for a bit and drank a beer in the parking lot. He handed me a VIP wristband, too. SWEET!
Shawn needed to get ready for the show and I needed to get to will call for my ticket (Thanks Shawn!). My old friend Robyn was working the guest list table, saw the wristband and just walked me into the venue ahead of the line. Feeling like a true VIP at this point. She showed me around the venue and let me know what access the wristband gave me, which was pretty much side stage view, but that also gave me a spot to sit if needed. It was great to see her, too.
BFF Lisa and her husband Matt get in and we’re all seeing friends all around. I got to see several folks I hadn’t seen in years which was nice.
Pussycat comes on and sound pretty good, maybe better than I have heard in years. The 2 newer guitarists were smashing the backup vocals perfectly. Taime’s voice sounded good, too. Clean living has helped him a lot.
Guns came on and I went to the side stage area so I could watch Shawn play. The whole band sounded great and he’s a perfect fit with them on drums. Tracii is such a great player, too. I’ve always felt he deserved more recognition. Great set overall.
I went back out and found Lisa and Matt. Kurt had hooked me up with another VIP wristband when I told him that she was a huge Cinderella fan. “I got you, no worries.” So off we went to side stage to watch Keifer. He put on a solid set and his backing band was great. The drummer is a beast. Tom’s a talented guy, can seemingly play anything well, but I’ve always hated his voice. I was surprised that he’s been able to maintain that screech so well, though. Lisa really enjoyed the set, so that’s all I cared about.
After the show, said goodbyes to some friends and the 3 of us went to bus area to say goodbye to Shawn. Security tried to give me some guff but we didn’t go anywhere. haha. Shawn came out, I introduced him to Matt and Lisa, gave him a hug and we left.
It was a great night overall. The Haute Spot is a great venue overall. Even tho it was so hot out, the trees, fans and misters kept it comfortable enough.
Max & Iggor Cavalera Review, Austin, TX, June 21, 2022
When I saw that Max and Iggor Cavalera were doing a reboot tour of Beneath the Remains and Arise, I knew I had to go. I was already out of high school when Beneath came out and instantly fell in love with it. I had heard the previous albums and they didn’t do anything for me but I really dig Schizophrenia these days, too. My best friend from my high school went to Brooklyn to see the Beneath tour but I couldn’t afford that kind of trip back in those days, but he did bring me back a tour shirt that my guitarist borrowed and never returned. I didn’t care much for Arise or Chaos AD outside of a few tracks here and there but did finally catch them on the Chaos tour in 1994 and got to hang out with them.
The goal for last night, outside of seeing them do Beneath, was to get Max and Iggor in the book. A few years back I met Paulo and Andreas and got them in there.
The show was packed and I stayed outside through all of the opening bands. None of them appealed to me at all. We went upstairs and got let into the VIP room overlooking the stage and I watched the Beneath portion of the set from there. IT WAS BADASS. It really took me back in time for a bit and it was great to watch Iggor play from up above. He’s got a cool style.
As the Arise set started, I made my way downstairs and took in part of the set then made it back outside. While I like the venue a lot, it’s not comfortable at all when there’s a huge crowd.
I actually got to the venue super early hoping to get The Book signed but with it being so hot out, 100+ degrees, they had already been in and sound checked so I walked to a local establishment and hung out in the AC for a while. After the show, a few of us went to the backstage door and both Max and Iggor came out and said they’d be right back. A few of us waited for over an hour and they never returned. That was a bit of a let down, but those let downs build character. haha. Oh well, maybe someday I’ll finish the Sepultura entry in The Book.
It was a great show and I got to see a lot of friends that I hadn’t seen in a long time.
The Metal Files 
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