Archive for the ‘texas’ Category
Rick Springfield, Loverboy & Romantics Concert Review, Cedar Park, TX, October 22, 2015
I’ve been really busy with shows lately. It’s wearing me out. It’s wearing my wallet out! This past Thursday brought some big 80s pop rock bands to the Cedar Park Center. Let’s just dog right in.
The Romantics opened up and beyond one song, I never cared for them. Their set was hampered by major sound issues but they plodded through it like pros. Interestingly enough, three of the 4 guys are originals. That’s pretty rare these days. I always thought most of their songs sounded the same. They were solid though. The had a minor hit in the mid-80s with One In A Million and didn’t play it. What? The one song I wanted to hear, of course.
Loverboy came on next. I always liked their radio hits. Friendly safe pop rock, totally 80s. They were the main reason I went. I had never seen them and who doesn’t want to rock out with Mike Reno? Loverboy is also 4/5 original. Sweet. Their set was pretty much what you’d expect except they didn’t play When It’s Over, which is a great song and was a decent hit for them. Reno sounded great and I got to hear the other songs I wanted to hear, especially Turn Me Loose. That song rules.
We only stayed for 4 songs of Springfield’s set as I had another show to see at a different venue. I’ve done Everything For You was played second, so that made me happy. He sounded great, though. That dude is 66 years old. He was all over the stage and of course the girls in the crowd were going googoo over him.
Good time and glad I went.
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- Rick Springfield
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- Loverboy
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- The Romantics
Christopher Cross Concert Review, Austin, TX, September 18, 2015
Two nights in a row of yacht rock? And with the guy who essentially created it? Sure! Probably should hand over my Metalhead Gold Card for a little while, eh? No worries, lots of metal shows coming up!
I’ve been a fan of Christopher Cross since as long as I can remember. Good easy smooth rock. Ride Like the Wind is still such a fantastic song. I took the decision yesterday to see the show and got a seat in the upper balcony of the famed Paramount Theater. I had only seen Cross when he sat in with Michael McDonald a few years ago for Ride Like the Win.
The show opened with Got To Be a Better Way from his new album. Never Be the Same was up next and he spoke a little about TV preachers, which was an intro to another song called Reverend Blowhard from his new album, The Secret Ladder. Is this a 1989 metal show?
He played a mix of old and new songs split between 2 sets. Of course Sailing drew a huge response. I was really stoked to hear Thinking of Laura and Minstrel Gigolo which featured an appearance by Eric Johnson. He mentioned that he and Eric had been best of friends since the 70s and I think it rubbed off on him.
It was a really good show and what I was most amazed by was Cross’ guitar skills. The guy is a bit of a shredder. I was blown away. I’ll really have to go back and revisit his early catalog and give a better listen. And of course his backing band was top notch. His drummer and piano player especially.
Whitesnake and The Dead Daisies Concert Review, Austin, TX, August 9, 2015
The Dead Daisies opened the show and I had not heard of them until right before showtime. They are sort of an all star lineup featuring John Corabi, Marco Mendoza, Dizzy Reed, Richard Fortis, Brian Tichy and Damon Johnson. They came out and got the crowd warmed up pretty easily and were a good fit to open for Whitesnake. Musically I was pretty bored. Too much hand clapping and “Hey!” type rock for me. The crowd seemed into it though and that’s what mattered. They were solid and Corabi’s voice sounded great. They did a quick free meet and greet immediately after their set which was cool. I spoke to Marco for a moment recalling the times I saw him with Thin Lizzy in Virginia and Maryland. He’s got a good memory, “Phil Lynott tattoo on your arm, right?”
I saw Whitesnake for the first time about 10 years ago to the day (August 7, 2005) in Norfolk, VA and they were good. Good enough, anyway. Coverdale, who’s no spring chicken and should not be expected to sound like he did in the 70s and 80s, sounded good. Last night was no different.
They had a taped opening of The Who’s My Generation then went right into Burn by Deep Purple, Slide It In and Love Ain’t No Stranger. Great way to open a show! They played some more Deep Purple songs (this is dubbed the Purple Tour) and some other Whitesnake tracks including Bad Boys from the 1987 S/T album. I was a little surprised that they’re not playing Stormbringer on this tour, but oh well.
The band was super solid and their backing vocals helped Coverdale sound better for sure. He’s got Reb Beach, Joel Hoekstra, Tommy Aldridge, Michael Devin and a keyboard player that I’m too lazy to look up. Both Reb and Joel were tearing it up on guitar and Aldridge bored me to tears like he always has. I could never get into his playing.
The show didn’t sell out, not even close. It was a great time with great friends during and after the show and I’ve got a little rock and roll pneumonia today to show for it!
Sepultura, Destruction, Arsis, Starkill & Headcrusher Concert Review, Austin, TX, June 10, 2015
Early shows on weeknights. I love ’em. Last night’s show was done by 10:30 and that was sweet.
To be honest, I was most excited about last night’s show to see Arsis again. They’re one of my favorites.
Prior to the show I got to meet Sepultura who were really cool. Got Paolo and Andreas in The Book. I’ve got no problem saying that if Beneath the Remains was the only album that they ever recorded, they could have been my favorite thrash band ever. But…
Headcrusher was the local support (originally from Bogota, Colombia) for the show and they played a tight energetic set on a hot stage going on right around 5:25. They crushed it to an unfortunately small crowd. Always a pleasure seeing them, even if I’m not the biggest death metal fan.
Chicago’s melodic death metal band, Starkill, was up next and to be honest, I couldn’t care. I had listened to a few tracks earlier in the day and they just didn’t catch my ear. They were pretty sloppy, too. Maybe the heat was too much. Don’t know. Can’t care.
Arsis came on next and did what they do best…SHRED. They played an intense 7 song set opening with Handbook for the Recently Deceased from their latest album, Unwelcome. Not only do I like their riffs, I really dig the lyrics. Malone writes some pretty cool stuff that goes outside of the “hey look, we love satan” type lyrics in a lot of death metal. Great show, but always too short for my tastes.
Destruction came on next and hit the growing crowd right in the face with Curse the Gods. They were tight but I could tell they were dying from the heat up there. I missed the middle part of their set as I went to the bar next door to sit down for a few minutes. My foot has been bothering me lately as well as my back (getting old!) and I needed a place to sit down for a little bit as Empire Garage doesn’t have seats anywhere. When I came back I caught The Butcher Strikes Back and Bestial Invasion. Shortly after their set, their tour manager invited me and 2 other guys onto their bus to hang out. Schmier and Mike were very welcoming guys. Schmier had made a comment from the stage about the Germany/USA soccer match from earlier in the day and I commiserated with him about it. We then got into a great discussion about Thin Lizzy. Mike is a huge fan. Good dudes. They also signed The Book! Seriously two of the nicest guys, along with their drummer, that I have ever met.
When I left the bus, Sepultura was already on stage. The crowd had filled in quite a bit. They sounded super tight, but I just couldn’t invest much time into them last night. They weren’t playing anything that I really cared to hear, so I went home.
Arsis! :)
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- Sepultura and Monkey Boy
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- Headcrusher
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- Headcrusher
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- Starkill
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- Sepultura merch. Loved that USA tour shirt, didn’t have my size. :(
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- James Malone of Arsis and some fanboy
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- Arsis
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- Arsis
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- Arsis
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- Arsis
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- Destruction
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- Mike from Destruction
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- Schmier from Destruction
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- Destruction and Monkey Boy
Rolling Stones Concert Review, Arlington, TX, June 6, 2015
Make no bones about, I f’n love The Rolling Stones. I’m not shy about my Stones fanboyness ever. They are as big of a part of my early rock and roll makeup as KISS. I saw them 10 years ago for the first time in Charlottesville, VA where a bomb threat interrupted the show.
The Stones are on their 15 date North American Zip Code Tour and booked a show in Arlington, TX and there was really no way I’d miss it. I was able to score a floor ticket near the back of Cowboys Stadium. Not the best viewing but not bad and a bit cheaper than most floor tickets.
Pablo and I drove up from Austin, grabbed some dinner in Arlington then made our way to our reserved lot. We grabbed some merch and made out way to the floor. He had a seat closer to the front. Grace Potter was the opener and we spent most of her set in the downstairs lounge. My foot has been bothering me lately so getting some sitting time was essential. After her set we just stood in the back of the floor area and people watched for a bit until about ten minutes before the Stones’, then we went to our respective seats.
The stadium roof was open, the lights went down and the Stones hit the stage with Jumpin’ Jack Flash and followed it up with It’s Only Rock and Roll. The crowd was electric and I was loving it. Mick sounded great. No surprise, he was all over the stage the whole night. I had seen previous setlists from the tour and they had been mixing it up a bit. The list remained pretty consistent until just after Moonlight Mile where they played a snippet of All My Exes Live In Texas then rolled into Rocks Off from Exile on Main Street marking the first time they’ve played it on this tour. Honky Tonk Women was next which included band intros. Mick left the stage after and Keith took over for Before They Make Run and Happy. He’s got this childish grin that just cracks me up. His voice sounded pretty good, as good as expected. For as old as he looks, he still retains some teenage boyishness about him. Ronnie and Charlie were both great. Charlie’s unorthodox drumming style is difficult to watch, but he gets it done.
The whole band sounded great, just like I expected them to. Look, The Stones aren’t the tightest band in the world, but they never were. But they’re great. They did a heavy rocking version of Miss You that was just great. The whole show was a blast. Surprisingly, I don’t think it was sold out though. It was close. I hope it’s not the last time I get to see them. I would love to have seen Monkey Man and a handful of others, but I’m not complaining. The Stones truly appear to enjoy playing live even after 50+ years of doing it. I can’t speak highly enough about Mick’s voice. There were some high notes that he hit that just blew me away. I honestly didn’t want the show to end. It was a blast. The 4 hour ride home was rough, but we made it.
Long live The Stones.
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- Pablo and Monkey Boy in front of Jerry World.
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- Enjoying the VIP lounge for a bit…even though we weren’t VIPs
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- Old friends.
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- Please allow me to introduce myself…
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- The smoky goodbye after the fireworks.
The Metal Files 
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