Archive for the ‘heavy metal’ Category
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.
Pentagram Concert Review, Houston, TX, March 18, 2016
I like traveling out of Austin for shows and seeing Pentagram in another city was surely going to be fun. I first met them in 2010 on the street in Austin and became pals with them over the years since.
I got to Houston around 4PM and a little before the band arrived to load in and sound check. I noticed a line of people at the venue that seemed pretty young, too young to be Pentagram fans in general. There was a show in the main room at Warehouse Live from some mall metal/mall core/emo core band called blessthefall.
When Pentagram arrived, I helped them load in during a heavy rain storm. That was fun(?). Also loading in were Detroit’s Against the Grain and Oakland’s Mondo Drag. Once everything got set up, the band ran through sound check with a couple of Pentagram songs and KISS’ Cold Gin, all with Victor on vocals. After the check, I ran Greg and Victor to Guitar Center to get a fog machine. Let me tell you, the customer service there was total shit. The guy working there just seemed annoyed that we had questions and that he needed to get the ladder to get what the band needed from the top shelf. Sorry that you had to provide customer service in your customer service job, dude. We grabbed a quick dinner across the street and then headed back in the venue.
When we got back, they set the machine up in the dressing room to test it out. Bobby had come in from the bus and was on the couch next to the machine and they blasted him with it twice. His reaction was pretty funny. I guess you had to be there. The band also decided to prank blessthefall as their dressing room was connected by a sealed doorway that had enough of a crack in it to shoot fog into their dressing room. During blessthefall’s last song, they got their room filled with fog. Oddly enough, they got pissed off about it as did the promoter and security guy. What a bunch of pussies.
I missed Against the Grain’s set while we were buying the fog machine. However, I did catch most of Mondo Drag’s set and completely loved it. If I had to classify it, it’s Uriah Heep meets some Yes meets early 70s jazz/fusion. In general I detest the 70s psychedelic revival as most of the bands sound the same to me, offering nothing different than any others. But these guys had a little something different. Maybe just the Heep styled heavy keyboards and cool jazz riffs here and there, but it set them apart from just about all of the other bands I’ve seen that fall in the sub genre. The crowd seemed into it as well.
Pentagram hit the stage with about 150ish in the crowd. It seemed pretty lightly attended overall. I’ve not attended many Houston shows so can’t really gauge what it should have been. They opened up with Death Row and All Your Sins and much of the crowd was singing along. Bobby’s voice sounded great, probably better than any other time I’ve heard them. The band was energetic and extremely tight. New drummer, Peter Campbell, has the perfect combination of keeping perfect time and having feel in his playing. They mixed the setlist up with a lot of classics and 5 from the latest album, Curious Volume. The album is awesome and I highly recommend it. It’s easily in my top 5 Pentagram albums. The crowd went crazy during Forever My Queen. For me Broken Vows and When the Screams Come are two of the major highlights and come from my favorite album of theirs, Day of Reckoning. They played 7 total from Pentagram (aka Relentless). The encore also had Be Forewarned, which was the favorite song by my old pal, Sergio. RIP. It was a great show overall and the Pentagram band and crew are really all great guys. Thanks for the hospitality as always!
After the show, I went back to the dressing room and hung out for a bit. Bobby was worn out and about to fall asleep. He asked me what I thought of the show and I mentioned that I’ve seen 3 classic singers recently who all blew me away. Those being Liebling, Mogg and Meniketti. He perked up when heard Mogg mentioned. Apparently UFO is his favorite band. Based on the conversation we had, his knowledge of the band has few rivals. And I’ll say this, for a guy who’s done the drugs and lived like Bobby has, I’m always impressed that he can get on stage and not miss a lyric ever that I’ve seen. No teleprompter, just incredible memory. It’s quite impressive. Greg mentioned that at rehearsals they’ll start playing a random old Pentagram song and Bobby will come right in and sing it perfectly.
After some quick goodbyes, I headed to my hotel. I was wiped out.
Y&T Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, February 12, 2016
Seeing Y&T last night was pretty much a last minute decision. I had never seen them and there wasn’t much going on last night, so Rodney and I grabbed some quick dinner and got to the show right as the last of the opening acts was finishing. They were horrible, by the way.
I’ve seen and heard enough live stuff in recent years to know that Dave Meniketti still sounds great. I don’t have any real excuses for not seeing them before. Unfortunately Dave is the only original member left in the band, but he’s the most important.
They opened up with Black Tiger and Lipstick and Leather. Dave’s voice sounded a little weak but not bad. Then they went into my favorite Y&T song, Don’t Stop Runnin’. Everything sounded great. Dave is such an incredible guitar player. Midnight In Tokyo gave me chills.
His backing band was super tight and provided some of the best backing vocals I have ever heard. The drummer was flat out badass.
They mixed up the setlist a bit and played two songs from their debut album when they were still called Yesterday and Today. All of the hits were played as well as some deeper cuts.
While the whole band sounded great, the venue, Alamo Music Hall, sounded like shit. I’ve seen two other shows there and the room just sounds awful. I wish it would have been a block away at Kapone’s but oh well.
So far, this was the best show I’ve seen in 2016. Of course I had the book with me and Dave signed it and my CDs after the show. His bassist was in an 80s hair band called Jet Red and he signed it as well.
Great time.
Loudness Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, November 6, 2015
Loudness returned to San Antonio last night touring for the 30th anniversary of Thunder In The East. I’m really surprised by that based on what happened last time and knowing it was the same promoter. Seeing that they had slated 8 openers (again) and I’m pretty sure all were ‘pay to play’, I was worried about the show running late into Loudness’ set again. Lots of people were. While the last opener was playing, they were getting no respect from the crowd. People were yelling “pull the plug!”
Loudness was supposed to be in by 1130PM but it was closer to midnight. Barring anything stupid, they had enough time to play their full set.
They opened with Crazy Nights, Like Hell and Heavy Chains, all three from their most popular album, Thunder In The East. The band sounded and looked great. The crowd was very into it as well. They followed up with the title track of the new album, The Sun Will Rise Again. It sounded great and I bought the CD prior to their set along with a bandanna and tour shirt.
Their set was mixed up pretty well with 2 songs from the new album and everything else from the classic era, including Street Woman from the first album. They also played 2 from my favorite album, Lightning Strikes.
It was a great set and the venue looked about half full, which I find odd from the once metal capital of the USA. For their encore, they re-played Crazy Nights with Riot’s Don Van Stavern on bass and backing vocals. That was fun but it would have been cool to have had them do a different song with him. But oh well. Great night! There were no lowlights to their show.
I did buy the meet and greet to make sure I could get The Book signed. I forgot to bring it with me in 2006 like and idiot. They were all super nice and I wasn’t even too bothered that the new drummer signed the book and my Disillusion CD. I mentioned to Yoshi and Akira about seeing that NC show and Yoshi said he remembered that one and the poor attendance. After snapping a quick foto, I was walking away and said, “Arigato Loudness!” All four of them stopped signing stuff and looked right at me and individually nodded and said, “Arigato!” right back at me. That was pretty cool.
Savage Master Concert Review, Austin, TX, October 22, 2015
After the Rick Springfield/Loverboy/Romantics show, we headed back over to east Austin to the Lost Well to catch my pals in Savage Master. This is the third time I’ve seen them this year, the others being in May at Ragnarokkr and last weekend in Ventura, CA. I enjoy them more and more every time. The crowd was a little smaller than I expected but everyone was rocking out. Maybe 35 people, but they were all into it, including The Lost Well’s staff. That’s great to see that kind of support from a venue. Love Savage Master’s cover of Swords and Tequila as well.
They were out of CDs and 7″ records, which is a good thing and shows that they’re getting some fan support on the road.
Bands are on tight budgets when on the road, so I offered to let them stay at my place. They were happy to stay and I was happy to host them. Great bunch of folks. Looking forward to hearing some new material.
-
- Stacey Savage and Monkey Boy
-
- Savage Master
The Metal Files 
You must be logged in to post a comment.