Archive for the ‘2016’ Category
The Obsessed & Karma To Burn Concert Review, Austin, TX, June 7, 2016
In general I’m not a big stoner rock/stoner doom fan. I don’t think it’s because I’m not a stoner as I have a lot of friends who love that music but don’t get high. Too much droning and not enough melody for me.
I was on the fence about going last night as I was still tired after the Whitesnake show the night before. The Obsessed’s mgmt offered me a guest list slot so I sucked it up and went downtown.
As I arrived to the venue, Wino and co. were hanging out and I got a chance to speak with him one on one for a few minutes. I showed him The Book and he was surprised by the entry in it. “Where can I get a copy?” I had met him several times before and didn’t realize until yesterday that they were in the book. I should have known that at least based on their inclusion on Metal Massacre VI. Duh. I had him sign his entry and the CD cover. In a rush to leave the house, I had forgotten the first Hidden Hand CD (my favorite Wino project ever) and the last St. Vitus album he was on.
My friends in Crimson Devils opened the show with a solid 30 minute set. Jake and Curtis are fantastic musicians, good dudes and always a pleasure to watch.
There were 2 bands coming up next and I left to go get dinner. By the time I got back, West Virginia’s Karma to Burn was getting ready to start. My memory is a bit hazy but I think I saw them in Virginia in the late 90s, but can’t confirm that. Almost all the way to the end of their first song, the growing crowd was standing at least 5 feet from the stage. I walked right up front to help entice the rest of the crowd to move up and it worked. Their set was solid, heavy and instrumental. Highlight for me was their unrelenting drummer. Although much of their stuff started sounding the same to me after a few songs, that drummer was damn near flawless.
Up next was The Obsessed. Admittedly I’m not familiar with their stuff at all. From what my friend told me, the first 3 songs were all Obsessed songs, then they played a Spirit Caravan song. I’ve seen them before but again, I’m not familiar with the material. After a couple more songs, I went home. I was dog tired. The band was solid and Wino’s guitar playing was good. He looked confident playing it. I will say this, though, and a few others noticed the same thing, Wino looked tentative when he was singing. They’re midway through their tour right now so I don’t know if it’s just my perception or if he’s having some nervousness. The guy is a seasoned veteran so I’m thinking it’s just my perception.
By the time I left, it looked like there were about 70 or so people there, which isn’t bad for a Tuesday night downtown.
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- Crimson Devils
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- Karma to Burn
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- Wino and The Obsessed
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- Wino’s sig in The Book
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- Wino signs Metal Massacre VI
Whitesnake & Whitford-St. Holmes Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, June 6, 2016
Last night was quite a night. I had just seen Whitesnake a year ago in Austin and I’ve never seen Whitford-St. Holmes, only Whitford with Aerosmith several times. Whitesnake is doing a greatest hits tour and I do like them enough to continue seeing them when it’s convenient. When Whitford-St. Holmes was announced as the opener, it made my decision to go even easier. Especially since they added an affordable meet and greet option.
I arrived in San Antonio around 5ish, parked and found a bar to grab a drink and a bite to eat prior to the meet and greet. The tour manager called me told me when/where to meet, which was at the backstage door at 6:30PM. I got to that spot around 6:15 and there were about 7-8 people hanging out that I thought were all part of the meet and greet. Come to find out, none of them were. They were all there to try and meet Coverdale and they all knew each other. Autograph seekers. I asked if they were going to the show and got a resounding “hell no” from all of them. Apparently they all just hang out before shows to see who they can meet. One of the guys, easily 60 years old, got a call and said, “He’s about to pull up in a black SUV.” I asked if they had a spy network and was told “yes.”
As Coverdale got out of the SUV, the security guy tried to usher him in the backstage door and he said, “Give me a minute, let me take care of these people.” As he walked up, he said, “Just one item each, make it your best one and I’ve got to go.” I was last and asked him to sign The Book. “This is different,” he said. I asked for a picture, he obliged. I hit a wrong button and he saw the screen go black and thanks everyone and walked away. No photo. I was a bit bummed to not get that photo but super stoked to get him in The Book. Immediately after that, the autograph seekers all left. One dude walked up after and he was the only other person there for the meet and greet. I was a bit surprised that there weren’t more.
A few moments later the tour manager escorted us through the door and into the basement to the dressing rooms area. He stated that Brad was finishing dinner and to just hang out in the hallway until it was time. No problem. All of a sudden, there’s Coverdale walking by us and the guy next to me asked for a picture. He obliged and I mentioned that the one I tried outside failed. “Well let’s make that right, then.” The dude took a few pics of us and I said, “Thanks, Dave. It’s quite an honor to meet you.” He replied very politely with, “Please call me David, alright? It’s much better than Dave. I don’t like that name.” I apologized, thanked him again and called him Mr. Coverdale. He smiled, shook my hand and said, “Enjoy the show, gents” and walked away. Down the hall I heard one of his roadies call him “DC” and he said, “Why can’t you bloody just call me David?!” haha.
Right after that we were escorted to the Whitford-St. Holmes dressing room. Since there were only two of us, it made things nice and casual. I spoke with Derek for about 10 minutes as we discussed his time in Blood of the Sun and I asked him about the time he spent in The Michael Schenker Group in 1983. You can see some vids of him on rhythm guitar and backing vocals from that ’83 tour. He told me some great stories and asked what I had to sign so I showed him The Book. He was really into that thing and read the entire sections for Nugent and MSG. I got the impression that he and The Nuge weren’t friends nowadays based on some comments he made. I had him sign my Blood of the Sun CD and the two tickets I had, the other being for my friend, Rodney. Derek was a super guy.
Then we switched and I got to talk to Brad for about 10 minutes. Let me tell you, it was almost difficult to say anything as I was just humbled to even be next to that guy. Aerosmith runs deep in my rock and roll history thanks to my brother, Robert. I was a bit miffed that I couldn’t find my Draw the Line CD, my favorite album by them. He, too, was interested in The Book and asked how to find one. I told him about seeing them a few times in the late 80s/early 90s. He was so laid back and extremely friendly. I was really just blown away. He signed The Book and those 2 tickets and then we did some photos.
Derek made it a point to show Brad the MSG section that he was in
They both thanked us and were escorted back out. Reb Beach was standing on the sidewalk and I just shook his hand and said, “Have a great show tonight.” I got him in The Book a couple of years ago in Houston.
I walked around to the front entrance, met up with Rodney, passed off his ticket and in we went. The tour manager found me and handed me the swag bag from the meet and greet which included a copy of the latest album. It has a bonus disc of the first album on it, too. Whitford-St. Holmes came on right at 8PM and they sounded great. Unfortunately they didn’t play anything from their debut album. I was hoping to at least hear Sharpshooter. The played a partial version of Aerosmith’s Last Child with the keyboardist on vocals. That was my brother’s favorite track. Then a partial version of Nugent’s Hey Baby followed by a partial version of Train Kept A-Rollin’. They closed the show with Stranglehold.
After about a 20 minute stage change, Whitesnake came out to Bad Boys and Slide It In. They sounded as good as they sounded last year and the backing vocals helped carry Coverdale throughout the show. They played everything you’d expect them to play on a greatest hits tour. I totally could have done without the guitar and bass solos and especially Tommy Aldridge’s boring ass drum solo. Double bass, double bass, quads, quads, ohhh some triplets, more triplets. Wait, more quads! Look, ma! No sticks. Hands-only solo now! Quads with the hands! Double bass! Wake me when it’s over, please. But overall the band sounded great. It was a fun show. Coverdale is the consummate front man.
I will say that in meeting him, it was quite intense. He exudes so much personality and energy all the while remaining a gentleman.
The “covers” listed in the Whitesnake set were taped intros/outros, not anything performed live.
Holy Grail & Savage Master Concert Review, Austin, TX, May 31, 2016
Savage Master began their tour with Holy Grail last night here in Austin at Dirty Dog. They had just come off of a European tour that included playing the Keep It True Festival.
Last night’s show was an early show with Savage Master going on at 930PM and headliners, Holy Grail, going on shortly after 1030PM. Perfect.
I saw a couple of songs from each of the two openers. I didn’t hate either of them nor did I really get into them.
Savage Master hit the stage with a revamped lineup due to an abrupt exit by their former drummer. Brandon, formerly their bassist, is handling drum duties for the tour and they have a fill-in bassist. They opened the show with 6 songs from their latest album, With Whips and Chains. I hadn’t heard anything from the album prior to the show beyond the title track. Everything sounded really good. The final 4 songs were from their 2014 debut, Mask of the Devil. Overall they sounded good and it’s always nice to hang out with them. Good people. As with their last show in Austin, I let them stay at my place. I like being able to help my friends when they’re out on the road.
Holy Grail was up next and the crowd got to maybe 50 total…MAYBE. Other than the first time I saw them at SxSW several years back, I’ve not really been able to get into them. They just leave me bored. All competent musicians, just nothing that catches my ear. I left after about 3 or 4 songs.
It’s funny how divisive this band seems to be, though. Most of my friends either love them or hate them. There’s really no middle ground.
Go see Savage Master on this tour. Buy some stuff.
Dictators NYC Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, May 29, 2016
Let’s face facts, I’m not really into much punk rock and I’m not into Manowar beyond their first album, Battle Hymns, but The Dictators have 2 folks that are in The Book that I wanted to have added: Handsome Dick Manitoba (HDM) and Ross the Boss. Add to the fact that my pal, Dean Rispler, plays bass for them, I had to see them.
I had a ticket to their Friday show in Austin and sold it because I had forgotten that Chicago was the same night. That show ended early enough and I ended up at the Dictators show anyhow. To be honest, I just wasn’t feeling it Friday. Not sure why. I was pretty tired and left mid-set to go home.
Dean put me on the guestlist for the Sunday show at The Korova in San Antonio and I got there around 930PM. I saw that a few friends were in the bar next door so I stopped in there for a little bit. As it turned out, Ross the Boss was there and I asked if he’d sign The Book. He laughed at the Manowar photo, signed it, gave me a guitar pick and took a picture with me. Super nice guy. I’m glad he didn’t ask me about Manowar. :)
Jeff from The Offenders and I headed back to Korova as Dallas’ Swingin’ Dicks were setting up. I bought a Dictators shirt then went up front to watch the band. Enjoyable set from this heavyish punk band. The bassist had a gorgeous white ’76 Rickenbacker.
With the backline being shared by the Swingin’ Dicks and The Dictators, it was a quick 20 minute or so break between bands and the on came The Dictators.
The crowd may have gotten up to 100 folks, but just barely. The band was solid, very solid. I classify them more as a garage rock band than punk, but I don’t really know. HDM is a character and the whole band gels together perfectly. Dean’s bassplaying is superb. The band is rounded out with JP “Thunderbolt” Patterson on drums and legendary producer, Daniel Rey, on second guitar.
It was quite an enjoyable show overall minus a few drunk shitheads.
After the show, I got to meet Dick and have him sign The Book. I told him that prior to this week I had never listened to the band, but that after seeing them live this weekend, I was now a fan of the live show and looked forward to seeing them again. “Nothing could make me happier than getting a new fan, man. That means a lot.” He signed The Book, I gave Dean a goodbye hug and headed home.
Chicago Concert Review, Austin, TX, May 27, 2016
Last night was the 4th time I’ve seen Chicago since 1991 and the 3rd time since 2012. I’ve loved this band since I was a kid thanks to their heavy radio play and thanks to my Mom being a big fan.
Last night’s show was “an evening with” type show, meaning no opener which was fine with me. My friend, Kitty, ended up going with me and into the Moody Theater we went.
As soon as they hit the stage, I noticed on huge difference in the band. Jason Scheff, the bassist/vocalist who replaced Peter Cetera, was not there. Instead, Jeff Coffey was handling those duties. Apparently Jason had a family emergency and had to back out of the tour. Coffey auditioned for the band a week or so ago and got the job. Impressive.
The band played the set you’d expect with a song from their latest album thrown in. These “geezers” still deliver and it’s impressive how much energy they have. I’ll say this, though. Jeff Coffey was the highlight for me. For as good as Scheff is, Coffey was nailing Cetera’s vocal and bass parts effortlessly. I was really blown away. I’d be ok if he became a permanent member.
As always, the highlight song for me was Hard to Say I’m Sorry/Get Away. Street Player, Call on Me and Another Rainy Day in New York City were also great to hear again.
Even more impressive is that they played 32 songs. 32!
The Metal Files 
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