Archive for the ‘concert’ Category
Yngwie J. Malmsteen Concert Review, June 10, 2017, Houston, TX
Last night I witnessed the over the top guitar playing of Yngwie Malmsteen for the 9th time since 1986. While he is my favorite guitarist, I haven’t liked any of his releases post-Alchemy and his latest one with him on vocals is pretty boring. That being said, I always love seeing him live.
Local (to Houston) band Apocalyptic opened up. They were super tight technical shred thrash that at times reminded me of Agent Steel with a singer that could hit insanely high notes at will. The only real issue I had with them is that the singer wouldn’t shut the fuck up between songs. They could have played one more song with all the time he spent between songs talking about how cool it was to be there or “show me your horns” or “scream for me, Houston” over and over. Less talk, more rock, please. Their main lead player and bassist were also really good.
Of course Yngwie comes on and the wall of Marshalls is lining the back of the stage. For the record, only 2 heads were actually used. They opened with Rising Force and the bassist sang. He sounded good but what irked me to no end was that they only did the first verse then the solo section. What? Most of the show consisted of instrumentals, which was fine. That meant that Yngwie didn’t sing. In Seventh Sign, the keyboardist sang and they did the whole song. Sounded great. Demon Driver and Heaven Tonight were also first verse and solo sections only. To be honest, if you’re gonna cut out sections of songs like that, just do a full night of instrumentals. In the encore, they ended with I’ll See the Light Tonight and, yes, first verse and solo sections only.
Beyond that silliness, Yngwie was awesome and I’m glad I went. His back up band, basically tucked into one corner of the stage, was really good. Of course Yngwie threw a bunch of picks out and only high kicked a few this time. I’m really glad he didn’t sing
The venue, White Oak Music Hall, holds 1200 and I imagine about 600-700 people were there. Hopefully the 10th time I see him won’t be too far in the distant future.
Satan & Night Demon Concert Review, West Hollywood, CA, March 26, 2016
What a weekend! I’m completely wiped out this morning but here goes…
I go see Satan any chance I get. I love Satan! Unfortunately they aren’t doing any Texas dates this year so I took the opportunity to go see them at the famous Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood. Even more, my good friends in Night Demon were playing direct support. It was slated to be a win-win!
I had a super early flight from Austin to LAX and didn’t sleep well the night before. Bummer. Anyhow, I arrived in LA at 830AM Pacific time and there was some sort of weird mix up with the rental car. Let’s just say that I’ll never try and use Payless Rentals again. I ended up at Enterprise having to try and book something on the spot. That’s never easy to do in LA as I’ve found out before. The only available cars that they had were classified as exotics and there were only a few to choose from. They handed me a rate sheet with the car selection and the cheapest one on there was a 2016 white Camaro SS convertible. I gave a bit of a sob story to the guy that was helping me and he gave me some discounts. It was still more than I had planned to pay but whatever. I figured that the weather was nice, I’m in LA for just a short time, I might as well enjoy it as much as I can. So off I went with the top down, the 80s metal cranked up and two suitcases full of Cirith Ungol and Night Demon shirts in the back seat that I was delivering for a friend. I cruised around LA a bit, ate at Pinches Tacos on Santa Monica Blvd then went to the hotel to check in. I was pretty tired and with the long night ahead and the 2 hour time difference, I was going to need all the rest I could get. Unfortunately that rest only lasted about 30-45 minutes. Too much noise around. Oh well. I went to do some exploring and ended up at Amoeba Music. The place is huge and I couldn’t find a thing that appealed to me.
It was getting close to load in time so I called for a Lyft ride and took the aforementioned shirts along with me. Night Demon had just started loading in and a good friend from Mexico was already there so we chatted while the bands worked. Satan hadn’t arrived yet as they had some issues in San Francisco the night before and had to get some things worked out. After Night Demon finished their load in, Jarvis and new Night Demon guitarist, Armand, Sarai and I went over to the Rainbow for dinner. This was my first time back at the Rainbow since Lemmy died. Lemmy died. That’s still not easy to write or think about. The group secured a table and I went to the outside bar to the corner and just spent a moment there in reflection. It was good. Back to the table and Armand and I ordered a Jack and Coke in honor of the man and we ordered a pizza for the group. I love their pizza. As we were eating, Sebastian Bach and his family/a family came in. I just said hello as he walked by and it was returned with a “hey man”. San Antonio Rodney showed up as did Night Demon’s drummer, Dustin, and we hung out for a little longer before heading back to The Whisky.
Once inside we made our way upstairs to the dressing rooms where Sean Taylor, Brian Ross and Steve Ramsey of Satan were hanging out. Sean and I caught up for a bit while Brian and Steve were being interviewed. After their interview, Russ Tippins and Graeme English arrived. I really do love these guys. All class and super kind and all very funny. They were obviously still a bit worn out from the night before and their drive so I went downstairs to meet up with some other friends. Some of the opening acts had already played and locals Resistance were just coming on when we got downstairs. I couldn’t get into them at all although one of the guitarists had some good lead breaks.
Up next was Night Demon. As I mentioned before, Armand was now in the band replacing Brent Woodward. I love Brent. All around solid guy and loved my tacos when he and Night Demon were in town. I’ve known Armand for several years as his old band, New Liberty, played Austin several times during SxSW in 2011 or 2012. Dustin from Night Demon was also in that band and it was through him that I got introduced to Night Demon when my old band played with them in Chicago at Ragnarokkr in 2014. As much as I hated to see Brent gone, I’m elated to see that his replacement was Armand. He’s a killer guitarist. and was also recently in Gygax and I highly recommend their latest album, Critical Hits. Night Demon opened up with Screams in the Night and blasted right into Full Speed Ahead, which is one of my faves. Armand sounded great with them and brings a bit of a different vibe to their live show. They played 7 tracks overall and were right on point as always. I’ll see them again in a couple of weeks in San Antonio and Austin with the mighty Visigoth.
Up next came NWOBHM legends Satan. I can’t say enough about this band on a personal level and on a performance level. The band is practically perfect live and I’d go see them every chance I could. They opened with Siege Mentality, Incantations, The Devil’s Infantry and Twenty Twenty-Five. That’s the same four they opened with the night before but then they changed it up and played Break Free from Court in the Act. That album is so good. All told they played 5 from their great latest album, Atom by Atom, 8 from Life Sentence and 4 from Court in the Act. I’m still utterly amazed at Brian Ross’ vocal abilities. The whole band was awesome and it was especially nice to hear them on a quality PA system. I was a bit surprised that the show didn’t sell out but it was good to see people singing along to Night Demon’s and Satan’s sets.
I ran into Tim Baker from Cirith Ungol. What a nice guy. He gave me some stickers. I saw Robert Garven as well but we didn’t get to speak much as he was on his way out the door. I also got to see my friend from Austin, Allie. Quite the pleasure seeing her again as well.
After the show we headed back to the dressing rooms. The band was packing their stuff as they had an early flight out for their next show in Portland. We said our goodbyes and I told them I’d see them on one of their east coast dates in October. Right before walking out of the dressing room, I was recognized by a girl I had met at the Cathouse Live show at Irvine Meadows last year. She was wearing a killer Toxik shirt, too, so that’s major points with me! It was great making that connection with her again. Said my “see you later” to her, Satan and the Night Demon guys and headed back to the restaurant by the hotel for a late night bite to eat. Service was slow and Rodney bailed. My LA friend, Sabrina, and I stuck it out, ate and she took a ride back to get her car by the Rainbow and I was fading fast. I went back into my room and pretty much passed out as I hadn’t been to sleep, real sleep, in almost 24 hours. Unfortunately I was only able to sleep for about 3 hours as I have a hard time sleeping while the sun is out.
After checking out, I spent some time just driving around LA. Made a quick trip into Venice to see Cameron and Rell. She and I have been friends for a long time from when we both lived in Norfolk. She moved to Austin after me, met Cameron, moved to Venice and then got married. Always great seeing them.
After that I headed up to Studio City to meet with someone whom I’ve loved since first hearing her music…Betsy from Bitch! We had been in contact a few times in the last 15 years or so and I asked her if she had time to meet up as I’d love to get her signature in The Book. She agreed and we met in town for about an hour. It was really awesome to be sitting there with her. We spent about an hour together, she told me some stories about the band, her current drummer showed up, she signed the book, snapped a few fotos with me and then we were both on our separate ways. I can’t thank her enough for that time. She’s pretty damned cool.
I was slated to turn my car in by 5 as I had a 7PM flight home. I got notice that my flight was delayed for 2 hours but went ahead and turned it in as I was getting charged an hourly rate. I couldn’t have asked for a better 2 days of 78 degrees and clear skies to be driving around with the top down, though.
Once at the airport, I just waited it out at Gene and Paul’s “Rock N Brews” for a beer and some tacos that weren’t that good. I tried catching a few z’s on the plane but couldn’t as I couldn’t get comfortable, even with the whole row to myself. I finally got to bed around 230 Central time, extremely tired by extremely pleased with the whole fast weekend in LA. California always sets me right, even with the fakeness and the deplorable traffic. Something in the air for sure. BUT…I’m always ready to get back to Texas.
Abbath, High On Fire, Skeletonwitch & Tribulation Concert Review, March 23, 2016
Quick and easy review for last night’s show.
I was mainly there to see my buddies Tribulation. They only had a 30 minute slot and there crowd really hadn’t rolled in yet. Nevertheless, they played a great set and got a good response.
Skeletonwitch was up next. I’d seen them a time or two before and just like last night they pretty much put me to sleep.
Bring on Matt Pike and High on Fire. I’ve seen them a few times as well, the last time being a bit of a mess as he was dealing with some personal issues. He looked healthy last night and they were enjoyable even though I’m not much of a fan. Good energy from them and the crowd.
Abbath was in Immortal. I’ve not listened to either band for more than 3 minutes at any given time as I don’t really care for black metal that much. That said, I did enjoy it for the spectacle last night. The band was solid and the show at Emo’s was sold out. For last night that meant that the front half of the room was filled as Emo’s had the curtain divider in place.
The best part of the night was hanging out with the Tribulation guys after the show was over. Great dudes and I look forward to seeing them again next month, even though they’re playing with Ghost. :/
Enjoy the fotos below from Erik Bredthaur and NecroBlanca Photography.
Lamb of God, Anthrax, Deafheaven & Power Trip Concert Review, Austin, TX, February 8, 2016
I went to last night’s show solely to see Anthrax and Power Trip. I think Deafheaven and Lamb of God are awful. Boring, really.
Originally I wasn’t going to go then I saw that Anthrax was doing a relatively inexpensive meet and greet and I’ve wanted to meet them and to get them in The Book so I got my ticket and ordered the meet and greet. Shortly after the M&G was announced, a local record store posted that they would be doing an in-store as well and to get anything signed, you had to buy a deck of their playing cards and no photos. Oh well.
Doors were at 4:30PM (wow) and we were told to be there at 3:15PM. Ultimately there were only 4 of us and we got taken to the backstage area where the band came out to say hello, sign stuff and do a few pictures and talk for a few minutes. It was pretty obvious that Scott Ian didn’t want to be there, so I just shook his hand, had him sign The Book, a photo and my Spreading the Disease CD cover. Charlie was checking out The Book, looked up and saw my Loudness patch and said, “I bet Loudness isn’t in here.” I let him know that they were and that I had sigs from 3/4 of the original band. Then he started rambling off other bands, some of them nu-metal shit, and I said that there were no bands after 1991 in here. “Oh, cool. Where do I get one of these?” So I directed him to Amazon blah blah blah. Joey and Frank were extremely nice and super chatty as was their new guitarist, Jon Donais of Shadows Fall. I wish I had recognized him at the moment because I love Of One Blood by Shadows Fall. I mentioned to Joey and Frank that I had first seen them on the Among tour at The Boathouse. Scott heard me and said, “Geez, I remember that dump. We played there a few times.” Three to be exact, but whatever. It was good to meet them and we were all given a deck of the Anthrax cards, a record mat, a band photo to get signed and the M&G laminate. We were also given the opportunity to buy merch on the way out so I got a tour shirt.
Since Power Trip wasn’t going on until 6PM, I went over to Lambert’s for some awesome food and a beer as it was only 430PM when we were led back out of the venue. I’m back at the venue are 530PM and see a bunch of friends and hang out a bit before Power Trip’s set.
I head up to the mezzanine area and sit for a few minutes. I’ve had some back issues lately and I was seated on the back corner of the back row (only four rows in this section) and could get up as needed. I ended up standing for most of the show as it was more comfortable. Power Trip started promptly at 6PM and the crowd was trickling in. I’ve seen them several times and I really enjoy them in a live setting. I think they gained some new fans by then end of their 30 minute set. They were solid as usual.
Deafheaven was up next and I just went back out to the lobby area to hang out with some friends. They bore me to tears.
Anthrax came on right at 745PM opening with Fight ’em Till You Can’t from their Worship Music album, which I really liked. Having Belladonna back in the band has been great, for me at least. They rolled effortlessly through an 8 song set that had 2 songs from their forthcoming album, For All Kings. I liked the 2 new tracks a lot. They played In the End, Caught In a Mosh and Indians as well…and two covers. FUUUUUCK. I mean, I know they’ve always played covers live, but throw us a bone every now and then. On some of the shows where they’ve had a longer set, they’ve included as many as 3 songs from Spreading the Disease. HOLY FUCK I’d lose my mind if I saw Lone Justice live. *sigh* Oh well. Charlie Benante is still ungodly on drums and Frank Bello is basically the Angus Young of the bass. I’ve always loved his playing and his backing vocals are superb. Joey sounded great, too. Jon is a killer guitarist and played Spitz’ parts perfectly as well as his own.
After a short break, Lamb of God comes on. I stayed for the first song and that was enough for me. Never liked their stuff. Bro-metal.
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- Photo by Jerry Milton
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- Photo by Jerry Milton
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- Photo by Jerry Milton
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- Photo by Jerry Milton
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- Photo by Jerry Milton
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- Monkey Boy with Anthrax
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- Photo by Monkey Boy
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- Photo by Monkey Boy
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- Anthrax playing cards
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- I couldn’t get the page flipped quickly enough to have Joey NOT sign this photo
Venom Inc, Necrophagia Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, January 27, 2016
I’m not shy about how I feel about Venom. In general, I can’t care about their classic era. My three favorite albums are Calm Before the Storm, Prime Evil and Temples of Ice. Even knowing that they were playing only one song from the Demolition Man era, I wanted to go. It’s a legendary metal band that I’ve never seen before. Plus I knew I’d get them in The Book.
Before the show, Rodney, his friends and I all had dinner with Venom’s tour manager, John Perez, who was in Rotting Corpse and more importantly for me, Solitude Aeturnus. John’s a good guy all around and I always love seeing him. He and Rodney were trading some pretty incredible stories about Texas metal history.
Opening the show was Hellknife which features fellow ex-Eternal Champion member, Van Darden. As with a few other times, I missed them again. DAMMIT!
San Antonio’s Hod was up next. I’ve seen them a dozen times over the years. Hod is Hod. You know what you’re getting and what you’re not getting. My buddy Jake is playing bass for their live shows these days, so it’s always great seeing that maniac on stage.
Necrophagia was up next. I never liked them but one of my closest friends was always big into them, so I grabbed a shirt for him since he missed the Virginia show. They were solid and Killjoy works the crowd pretty well. Still not a fan, though.
Up next was Venom and the crowd of about 200 packed up closer to the stage. My back has been jacked up for a while, so getting in a crowd that surely was going to be moving around a lot wasn’t appealing, so I hung back and sat at the bar. Killjoy was standing back there next to me and I had him sign The Book.
Venom (Inc), opened with Prime Evil and for the rest of the set they stuck with songs primarily from Black Metal and Welcome to Hell. I didn’t know any of them other than by knowing the titles. Tony Dolan, The Demolition Man, did a fine job fronting and Mantas and Abaddon were as I expected. It was an enjoyable show and when they got to the encore, I knew all of those songs…Black Metal, Welcome to Hell, Countess Bathory and Witching Hour.
After the show, Abaddon came out and signed stuff for everyone. Outside at their tour bus, Tony and Mantas came out and signed stuff. They’re all really nice guys.
Added bonus of getting Louie from Devastation’s signature in the book as well. I love getting the rogue signatures at concerts. Great to see a lot of Austin friends and the Corpus Christi crew hanging out!
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- Louie in The Book!
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- Abaddon in my fave Venom CD
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- Venom in The Book!
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- Killjoy from Necrophagia in The Book! Too bad he signed over the wrong Necrophagia
The Metal Files 
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