Archive for the ‘san antonio’ Category
Billy Joel Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, December 9, 2016
Seems like it’s been forever since I’ve posted a review. I’ve been busy working out of town and haven’t been able to see as much in the last 2 months.
I had never seen Billy Joel before but have loved him since I was a kid, especially The Stranger album. Great one from front to back. I was surprised whe I read up on his current band lineup that he has both Chuck Burgi and David Rosenthal playing drums and keyboards, respectively. They were both on my favorite Rainbow album, Bent Out of Shape. I sent a message to Chuck a week before the show to see if maybe we could meet and have him sign my Rainbow stuff, but never heard back. Worth a shot, eh?
We had seats behind the stage and while we had a great view of Billy, I could only see Chuck’s cymbals, which was a bummer. He sounded great though. The entire band was great and especially Billy’s vocals. I didn’t expect him to hit some of the notes he hit and to still sing so clearly.
He was pretty jovial with the crowd and in three spots, the crowd would get to decide on which song would be played next. He’d offer up 2 songs and the one with the loudest applause got played. He also played a bunch of snippets of Texas artists like ZZ Top, Buddy Holly and Janis Joplin. They also did Highway to Hell with one of the roadies on vocals and Billy played rhythm guitar. He played it in a couple of songs.
Overall the show was great and highlights were all 5 songs from The Stranger (unfortunately he didn’t play the title track), Sometimes a Fantasy which I hadn’t though about in 20 years, Vienna, Miami 2017, and The Ballad of Billy the Kid.
Queensryche & Armored Saint Concert Review, San Antonio, November 22, 2016
I’ve been working in Houston during the week lately and have missed some shows that I wanted to see lately as I cross paths with the bands while traveling between Austin and Houston. Missing Diamond Head hurt a little. Even though I’m not a huge fan, I have always wanted to see them live. Such is life.
I picked up tix for Leanne, Rodney and myself and headed to Alamo City Music Hall. I don’t like this venue at all. The sound is horrible and stage lighting for the bands just sucks, but they get quality shows so that’ll keep me coming back. As we arrived I got in touch with Armored Saint guitarist, Jeff Duncan, who I’ve known for some years. We hung outside at their bus for a little while while the opening band played. Great dude, killer guitarist.
We caught the last few songs of Midnight Eternal. They were listenable keyboard-heavy metal. After a quick set change, Saint came out an executed their short set flawlessly. Bush’s voice was squarely in tact and the whole band was on fire. I just wish the sound in that place wasn’t so shitty. I really like Saint’s latest album, Win Hands Down, and they opened with that track. They mixed the set up from some of the other shows so we didn’t get Last Train Home or Nervous Man, two of my favorites, but it didn’t detract from their performance.
Queensryche was up next and I hadn’t seen them with Todd yet. Overall I’m not a huge fan of anything of theirs post-Rage for Order. I know I’m in the metal minority when I say I don’t care much for Operation Mindcrime. While the band played perfectly and Todd sounded absolutely amazing, we were both pretty bored and left during their 4th song. I did get to hear Best I Can, which I do like a lot. Again, sound is such a huge issue with this place.
Looked like about 400ish people were there which is a good showing for a Tuesday night.
Grim Reaper Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, October 15, 2016
Steve Grimmett and company are on tour with their new album Walking in the Shadows. I had just seen them the previous Sunday in Ventura, CA at Frost and Fire II. Apparently they had some gear stolen from them at their hotel which totally sucks but as their song says, “The Show Must Go On,” right?
On my way down to SA, I stopped at Fitzgerald’s to meet Rigor Mortis and have their 3 remaining members sign The Book. Great guys and I’ll be seeing them in Austin soon. Their guitarist, Casey Orr who used to be in GWAR, had some prints of some of his paintings for sale and I picked up a few of those. My pal who sings for the rebooted Syrus also bought me the large Lemmy print. Thanks!
I arrived just as San Antonio locals Byfist were going on. I had seen them before and while I’m not a fan, I’m happy to see them with by pal Stony on bass. Great guy, great bassist and sounded great with them on bass and backing vocals. Killstorm was up next and didn’t do anything for me.
By the time Grim Reaper hit the stage, there may have been 50 people there at best. They had just played in SA in April so maybe that had something to do with the low attendance. Didn’t matter, I was there and wanted to see them again.
They played the same set from Frost and Fire and it was solid. The band is tight and Steve’s voice sounds great. I picked up the new CD after the show and had the guys sign it. When I got to Steve, he gave me a hug and thanked me for coming down to see them again. Good dude. Go see the tour if you can.
Riot V Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, October 1, 2016
Riot V (Riot) is doing a short string of Texas dates in warmup to their Japan show with Rick Ventura performing all of Fire Down Under. Last night was San Antonio’s turn and what a great show it was…as always. There was yet another slight band member change for these shows. Nick Lee and Lance Barnewold (Nick’s usual replacement) both had prior commitments and couldn’t do this show. Riot tapped SA local Joey Villalobos to back up Mike Flyntz and he did a fine job.
Riot opened with a taped segment of Flashbacks from FDU then went into Narita as they always do. They played 5 more songs that have been a part of their set in the last couple of years then brought out guitarist Rick Ventura to play FDU with Flyntz and the band. It was quite a treat to see him again and to hear that whole album live. Such an influential album and Mark Reale influenced a lot of guitarists. After FDU, they kept Rick on stage for Tokyo Rose, Rock City and Road Racin’ and for a cover of Saxon’s Denim and Leather which featured Saxon’s Nigel Glockler on drums. Pretty cool. Last night proved once again that Todd Michael Hall is one of the best singers in metal.
Rick left the stage and Joey came back on for 5 more songs and that was it. It was a great 2 hour set as always and was good to be there with good friends.
Joe Lynn Turner & Blackfoot Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, August 20, 2016
I had a ticket and flight booked to see Joe Lynn Turner (JLT) at the Whisky in West Hollywood a couple of months ago and had to cancel the trip. That was a major bummer. That blow got lessened recently when Sean McNabb, bassist for George Lynch, mentioned to me that he was also playing with JLT and that they were playing in San Antonio. Shortly after that Lynch show, the JLT show was announced.
Also announced was Blackfoot as the opener. A quick check to see who was still in the band led me to their website which showed that they had no original members but were still managed by Ricky Medlocke. Alright then. I’ve never been a big fan fan of southern rock although hearing Strikes takes me back to being a kid as one of best friends, Petey, always loved that record.
After some time bouncing around San Antonio record stores, Rodney and I grabbed some dinner then headed to the venue to meet up with Matt who had tickets for another friend, Diego, and me. The weather was complete shit. The show was originally scheduled to be outside rain or shine but the rain was pretty heavy and it was moved inside. Upon walking in, the place was packed, uncomfortably so. I stayed inside for part of Seance’s set then just decided to wait out Blackfoot outside. I could hear them perfectly and they were solid. This new lineup had been together for 4 years. It was weird after seeing them arrive to think that they were Blackfoot. They looked like kids and 2 of the guys in the band were sporting mohawks. Even prior to them finishing their set, I noticed some people leaving making comments about the lineup as they were walking out.
Then it was time for JLT. I was pretty excited since I hadn’t seen him since he sang on Odyssey tour with Yngwie Malmsteen, one of my favorite concerts ever. The band hit the stage to a thinned out crowd opening with the snippet of Over the Rainbow and going right in Death Alley Driver. The band was tight and Joe’s voice sounded great. I Surrender and Power were up next. The crowd was really into it. Unfortunately they were plagued with some technical difficulties throughout the night but they worked through them and completely rocked. Street of Dreams was a highlight as were Stone Cold, Spotlight Kid and Malmsteen’s Rising Force. JLT has Steve Brown from Trixter on guitar and he was pretty damned good, even handled the Yngwie guitar solo pretty well. It was a fun set.
After the show was the meet and greet with Joe. It was inexpensive and I wanted Joe added to The Book. They were letting us in 2 at a time and Matt and I went in together towards the end of the line. Joe was very talkative and inquisitive about the patches on our jackets. He was loving Matt’s Riot patch and mentioned how much he had loved that band since their early days. I mentioned as I was pulling out The Book that I brought Riot’s Privilege of Power CD cover with me. “Whoa, let me see that. I haven’t thought about this one in years.” I mentioned seeing the 1988 Yngwie show at The Boathouse and he said, “I remember that place. A bit of a dump.” Most bands say that. haha. We talked briefly about his time with Yngwie and both agreed that there should have been a second album with him on vocals. While finishing up the signing and photos, I mentioned that he was my favorite singer for Rainbow. I know that is not a popular opinion but whatever. Totally true. I like the Dio era a lot but it’s the JLT era for me any day. He was also quite pleased to see the Odyssey album.
What a great show although I’d prefer not to see another show at this venue.
The Metal Files 
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