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On meeting Cheap Trick (Concert Review), May 16, 2014, Austin, TX

Tonight was the 4th time I’ve seen Cheap Trick in the last 2 years and the 5th time overall. As always they put on an energetic show and it was a ton of fun.

Earlier this week I took the decision to buy the VIP/meet and greet pass to hopefully get The Book signed. Immediately after paying for it, I received an automated email stating the details and rules of the meet and greet. In bold letters, “NO AUTOGRAPHS” was written halfway down. Wait…what? It was the WHOLE reason I paid for this. I honestly didn’t give a rat’s ass about a photo op. You also get a shirt, VIP laminate, poster and a “special tour gift”, all of which will be mailed. Upon receiving the email, I fired an email back asking for a refund and got denied. I please my case one more time and the rep from the company who puts on the meet and greet said, “just bring the book and see what happens.”

Show day arrives and I get to the venue at the stated time and get in the line with the others. Several folks said, “no autographs, you know” after seeing my bag with the book strapped over my shoulder. “I’ll take my chances.” We’re let inside and reform a line by the backstage door and they let us in 5 at a time. One person at a a time was then let in to stand in front of the band and get a picture taken. I was the 5th in the first group, walked up to the band, pulled out the book and said, “They said no autographs but I’d forgo the photo if you’d sign this book.” Rick asks what the book is and I explain that it’s a book about metal bands but they’re listed and pictured in it as a reference. Robin just smiles and says, “Weird.” Tom says, “Hey, let’s play one of our metal songs tonight!” Rick then asks who said no autographs and I told him the rules in the email. “Well fuck them, they’re not here. Where’s your pen?” I hand him the Sharpie and he signs the Cheap Trick page and Robin and Tom sign their picture. Then Robin says, “Now let’s do this photo, man.” So we did the photo which I assume will be emailed out. It was pretty cool. Before walking away, I asked if they were going to play Southern Girls and Ricck says, “We’re not far enough south for that one.” I love that song and they’ve played it on the recent tours in just about every city but Austin for whatever reason. Rick’s son, Daxx (drums), smiled and looked at me and mouthed. “we’re playing it.” Rick and Tom each hand me a guitar pick and that was it. Out the back door. But SUCCESS! It’s a great addition.

Then the show started. Austin’s own Ume opened and it wasn’t my thing at all. I’d seen them before a while back.

Cheap Trick comes on and just does their thing. They are a well oiled machine that has fun on stage. Their setlist is different every night and that’s great. It keeps things a little loose on tour. They played their hits mixed with other stuff for the hardcore fans as well as a new song from their upcoming album. The Flame always takes me right back to the 80s. Tonight one of the Dixie Chicks did a duet with Robin on it. They’re always a treat and I look forward to the next time I can see them!

: Success!

: Goodnight

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Written by The Metal Files

May 16, 2014 at 11:56 pm

Posted in 2014, austin, cheap trick, concert review, concert reviews, concerts, emo's, emo's east, headbangers, the metal files

Tagged with 2014, austin, Cheap Trick, concert review, concert reviews, concerts, emo's east, may 16, texas

Ghost Concert Review, Austin, TX 05/01/2014

Alice In Chains Concert Review, Austin, TX 04/28/2014

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In 1990 the record store I used to frequent and ultimately worked in for a while gave me an advanced copy of a cassette called Facelift by Alice In Chains. The owner said something to the effect of, “Check out this new metal band and let me know what you think.” I had never heard of them and my buddy and I got in the car and immediately popped it in on our way back home. We heard that voice and just started laughing hysterically. I think we may have gotten all the way through the album once, It was wretched. A week or so later I gave the cassette back to Dave (the owner of the store) and said, “This is awful. These guys will never amount to anything!”

DERP.

Alrighty then. I guess they did OK for themselves. A year later in 1991 I had tickets to see Van Halen on the F.U.C.K. Tour and AIC was the opener. The day of the show I went to the record store to pick up my paycheck and as I am about to leave, I see a tour bus pull up outside. It was AIC. They looked pretty rough…in that I mean like they hadn’t bathed for a while. Layne Staley was on crutches. I stopped them and asked if they were AIC and they were nice enough to speak to me for a few minutes. They asked if I was coming to the show and I said I was. “Do you have tickets already?” “Yes, but a backstage pass would be cool.” “Uh, no. Good luck with that.” Cantrell said that laughingly.

That night they came out and blew Van Halen away. Even if I wasn’t a fan of that album in the least, the band was great live. Shortly after Dirt came out, the band I was in covered Would? and I bought the cassette and enjoyed it. It’s a good album but it’s the only one of theirs that I can stomach to this day.

Flash forward 20+ years and both Layne Stayley and Mike Starr are no longer part of this world. RIP. When the listing for AIC at The Moody Theater comes out, I buy 2 general admission floor tickets more out of curiosity than anything. I almost sold my tickets a few days before the show to go see George Clinton. Glad I kept them.

Last night’s show was sold out but it didn’t feel like it. My friend and I we just off of the corner on stage right with some other friends that I ran into. AIC hits the stage with Them Bones and that new singer pretty much owned the show. He’s a likeable frontman and worked the crowd pretty good. I guess it’s easier when you have a captive audience full of fans, eh? But whatever. The guy could sing (like Layne) and had a good range. He played guitar quite a bit and even had one solo. The harmonies provided by Cantrell are still spot on. I’m sure he feels like the lucky one and/or a survivor since two of his bandmates had died of drugs.

Last night’s set was quite different than what I saw in 1991. AIC is a well-oiled machine nowadays although there was one false start on Last of My Kind. I am not sure who was at fault, the drummer or Cantrell. Seemed that one of the two was confused about which song they were supposed to play. It made for a funny moment as the band joked about it and moved on. They were tight and while I still can’t call myself a fan, I enjoyed their set for the most part. I only knew the “hits” that they played and whatever tracks were on Dirt. A lot of their stuff sounds the same to me and drones on a little too much, but that’s their sound.

I wondered how many people were there that didn’t realize that Layne Stayley was gone. I bet there was at least one! It was also a good show for people watching.

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I guess the sign worked. There were no incidents to report!

What? That’s not Layne Stayley!

Written by The Metal Files

April 29, 2014 at 7:51 am

Posted in 1991, 2014, acl live, alice in chains, austin, concert review, concert reviews, concerts, moody theater, the metal files

Tagged with 2014, acl live, alice in chains, austin, concert review, concert reviews, concerts, moody theater, texas

Elton John Concert Review, Austin, TX October 17, 2013

Iron Maiden and Megadeth Concert Review, Raleigh, NC 9/03/2013

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Iron Maiden announced a few months back that they were going to add an additional short run of dates to play some cities in the USA that they rarely played, if ever. Opening night of this leg was Raleigh, NC. After discussing with Kelz who lives in Raleigh we decided to set up another “MitchFest”.

What is MitchFest? It’s what Kelz and I call our meet ups to see shows. We’ve done several over the years…Foetus, Sabbat, Loudness and a few others. We tried to get some other friends from our home state of Virginia to come in but not everyone could do it. I joined the Iron Maiden fan club to get presage tix for next week’s Austin show and realized I could get 4 tix for each of the other USA shows. I have Kelz a club code for Megadeth and we got 8 seats all together. The final group was Kelz, his wife and 2 kids, Petey, Wade and Baird. Kelz, Petey and I all met 30+ years ago and have been close since. I was in a band with Wade in the early 90s. Baird is Wade’s nephew who I hadn’t seen since he was a toddler. That kid is all grown up now.

Through Facebook I saw that some other old friends were going to be there and I was pretty excited to be able to see them.

But we’re not done with MitchFest. For what ever reason Kelz and I have called each other bitch monkey for years. That morphed into Mitch Bunkey and ultimately into just Mitch. Hence MitchFest. Got it? While we were walking around looking for the record store, we walked by Mitch’s Tavern. Really? On the way back to Kelz’ house we went by Bunkey’s car wash. No, really. You can’t make this stuff up.

My trip started with flying to Virginia to see my dear Mom and brother and to hopefully catch up with some folks in Virginia that I hadn’t seen since I left in 2006. Success! It was a quick trip but a good one.

I drove from Norfolk to Raleigh on Monday and got to Kelz’ place around 3. We’re in touch pretty regularly so there’s not much to catch up on. We hung out with his wife and kids and went to get some grub. I needed some NC style pork BBQ and got my fill. After some more jibber jabber and a beer or 2, we all crashed out. His kids had school the next morning.

On the day of the show, Petey was driving in from Richmond and Kelz and I went into town to hit a record store or 2 and grab some food. After finding the record store we wanted to see, we were going to head back to the house as Petey was 30 minutes away. Walking out if the store Kelz points across the street and it took me a second to see what he was talking about. Maiden Lane! What a coincidence. So if course we nerd out and take pics. As we’re driving back, see Smallwood Drive. What? Really? For those not in the know, Rod Smallwood has been Iron Maiden’s manager forever. Another weird coincidence.

Petey arrives, we nerd out some more and hang out with Kelz’ family until show time. After a quick bite to eat we get to the venue and meet up with Wade and Baird. We all go in and I run into some old pals that I had known since middle school. I also ran into a guy, Ben, that lived a few miles down the road from me when we were kids. I hadn’t seen him since around 1991. Mid show I ran into Ben Hogg who sang with Beaten Back to Pure, a band that My old band did several gigs with in the early 2000s.

Megadeth hit the stage promptly at 730 and went through their set pretty fluidly. I’ve seen Dave and company a few times in recent years and was neither blown away or bored by the set. Of course I only want to hear songs from the first three albums, but such is life. My main complaint is that their current drummer just isn’t that good. I’m still not sure why Dave keeps him around. I mean seriously, the double bass at the end of peace sells is that that difficult. GET IT RIGHT ALREADY!

After about a 30 minute set change, UFO’s Doctor Doctor starts playing and that’s the cue that Maiden is coming up next. We’re all excited even knowing that the setlist hasn’t changed in 2 years. It’s Maiden. The favorite band of Petey, Kelz and myself. We were there together and that’s what mattered.

Now, the three of us all saw Maiden together for our first time in 1988 so that made this reunion even more special. Maiden hits the stage with Moonchild and run through their set with ease. Bruce was as energetic as ever and the band sounded great. The mix could’ve been better as Dave and Adrian’s solos seemed low in the mix. We were just off of center not far from the soundboard. Steve was low as well. I’m still amazed that Nicko can play like he does. His right foot is just as awesome as it ever was. Adrian’s solo were great but Dave’s seemed a little off. Seems like he’s decided to change some things up over the last few years. Of course Jannick Gers is still in the band much to my dismay. I’ll say it again that I can’t stand that guy. Whatever. Bruce’s vocals were really strong and clear. The only time I saw him struggle was at the scream in the end if Aces High. He knew he couldn’t hit the note and just winged it. No bother. The dude has still got an incredible set of pipes unlike most if my other favorite older singers. Bruce still can do it live. No surprises in the show. It’s the same setlist as before, which is a bit unfortunate. I understand that their set changes are choreographed, but hell, just throw in some odd numbers and not worry about the big corresponding backdrops.

But the show was incredible. Yes, we got to see our favorite band again but all of us being together made the night and the whole trip even better.

I’m seeing the band again in Austin next week with some more great friends and already excited about it.

One thing about the show, and most shows in general these days, is seeing the people who go to these shows and just get obliterated. I saw so many people on the verge of passing out, puking and just acting like utter bumbling idiots. Don’t get me wrong, I like to party and get some beers in me seeing shows, but I also like to remember the show. Especially when spending $100 on a ticket, ya know? Maybe I’m just getting old and curmudgeony. It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Again, whatever. It was awesome and I can’t wait for the next show and the next MitchFest!