Archive for the ‘texas’ Category
GBH, Krum Bums, Total Chaos Concert Review, Austin, TX, May 30, 2015
To call me a punk fan would be the overstatement of the decade but there are a few bands in the genre that I’ve always liked including Circle Jerks, Black Flag, JFA, Dead Kennedys, Reagan Youth, some Sex Pistols and GBH…especially GBH. Not sure how I became a fan but it was probably through a roommate I had in the 90s. I’ve always wanted to see them and that last few times they came to town I just happened to be out of town. That changed last night.
Opening the show was L.A.’s Total Chaos. I had heard a lot of people slagging them prior to the show as being generic. They didn’t do anything for me but the crowd seemed to enjoy them. I caught half of their set and went to another bar for a bit. Local punks Krum Bums came on next and I’ve seen them a few times before. They were solid and are definitely a local favorite. I only caught the tail end of their set.
We got back to Red 7 right before GBH went on and I secured my spot with a decent view of the stage and away from the pit. They came on at full power with original singer Colin Abrahall saying, “We are GBH from Birmingham, England” and went right into their set with a newer song (2010) called Unique then went back to the Leather, Bristles, Studs, And Acne album with Race Against Time. GBH still has original guitarist Colin “Jock” Blyth and the whole band was killer. The show was sold out by the time GBH came on and they rolled through their set with only minor banter between songs. I got to hear all of my favorites and they played most of City Baby Attacked By Rats and the Leather album and a few from the follow up, City Baby’s Revenge. They were solid and I had a great time. Glad I finally got to see them live.
Saxon, Armored Saint & Evil United Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, May, 23, 2015
Three things in San Antonio have stood the test of time: Saxon, Armored Saint and Jason McMaster. Let’s just face facts, Saxon’s biggest USA fanbase is in Texas with the majority in the San Antonio area. Last night proved that.
The weather was bad all day but I drove down and arrived at the venue pretty early to meet up Armored Saint/DC4/Odin guitarist, Jeff Duncan, who I hadn’t seen since the Odin reunion show in LA a few years back. We met when his band DC4 was in town for SxSW about 5 years ago. His brother, Shawn, and I have been friends for a few years prior and I helped them out when they were in town. Jeff and Jason met me at the back door of 210 Kapone’s and walked me in. While sound checking Armored Saint, I got to meet John Bush and the Sandoval brothers. I had previously met Joey Vera at the Arch/Matheos show a few years back.
The Saint guys went back to their hotel after signing The Book (thanks, Jeff!) to rest and clean up and Jason and I hung out while some of the local openers were playing on the second stage. The crowd was starting to build around 730 and lots of friends were showing up. Jason’s thrash band, Evil United was scheduled to go on at 8PM. Thanks to Jeff, Jason and Saint’s manager I got an all access pass that was good though the end of the Saint set.
Evil United hit the stage and opened with Dead Can See from their new album, Honored By Fire, followed up by three more from that album. They went back to their self-titled debut for Dawn of Armageddon. The 30ish minute set was capped by a brutal cover of Judas Priest’s Tyrant. The crowd was into the set from the first note to the last. Jason is highly regarded in San Antonio because of his work with Watchtower and Dangerous Toys. He’s consistently flown the metal flag in Texas for 30+ years. Evil United sounded great. Don Van Stavern’s bass was crushing through the mains. I especially like EU’s drummer. That dude is pretty much a badass. The band was tight and the set was too short, but such is life. Jason has a long history with Armored Saint dating back to the early 80s and had remained friends with them since then. It was great seeing them hang out together.
Armored Saint was using EU’s backline so there wasn’t much of a changeover between bands beyond changing cymbals out and switching guitar pedal boards. They hit the stage around 855 with the title track from their new album, Win Hands Down. I like this song a lot and have listened to it several times since the single was released. They totally got the crowd going with March of the Saint and Nervous Man. Bush’s vocals were spot on and Jeff’s backing vocals sounded great. The guitar tandem of Jeff and Phil Sandoval is pretty crushing. The whole band was extremely tight and their setlist spanned every album. Symbol of Salvation is my favorite album and their played Reign of Fire and Last Train Home. The increasingly growing crowd was totally into their 11 song set that closed with Mad House from March of the Saint. Of course Can U Deliver elicited the greatest response. I had never seen Saint before and last night’s show was great. Just what I needed! After their set I went back to Saint’s dressing room for a bit to hang with Jeff and Jason. I didn’t want to be all up in their business as it was pretty humid in there last night and those guys put on an intense set so I knew they were a bit worn out. Bobby Jarzombek was up there and was having a discussion with John Bush about whose Mexican food was better, LA or San Antonio. It was pretty humorous.
Saxon was up next and it’s well known around here that I am not a fan beyond 3 songs or so. I just could never get into Biff’s voice, their lyrics and their riffs. Believe me, I have owned several of their album to no avail. They hit the stage to a seemingly capacity crowd opening with Motorcycle Man. They ran through what most would consider their most popular songs. I watched one song and went back to the room where the second stage was to sit for a while as it was vacant and I sit down. Ran into other friends out there and listened to the remainder of the show from a distance. I heard Dallas 1PM, Princess of the Night and the closers Strong Arm of the Law and Denim and Leather, and that was plenty for me. I was just bored and couldn’t wait for the show to end so that my friends and I could grab a late meal and hang out for a while at one of their houses. Saxon, however, did sound tight and the crowd was completely into it from beginning to end. That will likely be my first and last Saxon show.
Judas Priest Concert Review, Cedar Park, TX, May 14, 2015
Poster art by Billy Perkins
Priest returned to Central Texas last night to conquer the mighty town of…wait. what? Cedar Park? Alright then. Cedar Park! To talk to people in Austin, you’d think Cedar Park was 1000 miles away, and sometimes when dealing with traffic around here, getting to the north side of town to cross over into Cedar Park can be daunting, especially during rush hour. But Priest wasn’t hitting the stage until 930PM, so traffic should not have been and was not an issue. We zoomed right in and got parked. Making it even easier to get in was the fact that the show wasn’t sold out. Not even close. The newer Cedar Park Center (CPC) is a great venue and can hold up to 8,700 for concerts, according to their website. I dare say there were 5,000 in attendance last night. I think several factors led to this. (1) Concert in Cedar Park and no one likes driving up there, (2) Priest just played here in November supporting the same album, (3) GA floor price was $70 and seats were around $50. But I still went even though I had seen the November show.
This was only my second time seeing them with Halford. The show was pretty much the same as the November show with the addition of Hellion/Electric Eye and Painkiller. Painkiller was a way better closer than the snoozefest of Defenders of the Faith. Faulkner seemed a little more controlled as well. He was all over the place in November. Beyond the Realms of Death did give me the same chills it did at the last show.
To be honest I almost didn’t go last night and was going to give my ticket away, but once I got there and ran into everyone, my spirits were kicked up and I was ready to rock out.
Click on the photos to enlarge. Most of mine sucked, so I used a lot of DaveTV by permission.
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- Picture by David Prewitt/DaveTV
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- Picture by David Prewitt/DaveTV
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- The blue dots are seats not sold as of a few hours before the show. The GA floor wasn’t even half filled.
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- Picture by David Prewitt/DaveTV
The Who and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts Concert Review, Austin, TX, April 27, 2015
My brother, Robert (RIP), had one favorite band and that was The Who. While he was the one who got me in to KISS, Alice Cooper, RUSH etc in the 70s, The Who was always top of his list. Through the constant record spinning in the 70s and 80s, I became and remained a fan. Anytime I hear one of their songs, it just punches me in the gut with his memory more so than any of the other bands that he influenced me with. He absolutely loved them and I am pretty sure he never got to see them. I had never seen them before last night either.
Typically when a ticketed show comes to town, I’ll buy 2 as seeing a show with a friend is typically a fun thing to do, but for this show, I wanted to see it alone.
In 10th grade we had to do a book report, written and oral presentation, and I had chosen Full Moon: The Amazing Rock and Roll Life of Keith Moon as a I was a big fan of his frenetic drumming. During the oral presentation, I hung my brother’s Live at Leeds poster behind me and had the tape of that show playing in the background. At the end of the report I quoted one of the last lines in the book which said (paraphrased), “To sum up Keith’s life, he basically upped and fucking died.” Take into consideration that this was a Catholic high school. Ms. Collins, who only lasted on year there, was pretty mousey and was appalled that I had “used such language” and sent me to the principal’s office. I didn’t go. I went to the library and listened to a cassette until the bell rang. The next day I ran into the principal, Sister Ethelreda, in the hall and she immediately had me follow her to her office. I took a pretty good tongue lashing from her about foul language in the classroom etc. I didn’t care. I hated that place and Ms. Collins, who pretty much only spoke to me when she had to for the rest of that year. haha. I ran into her at a mall a few years after high school and spoke to her for a few minutes. I think she was terrified of me.
I’m a pretty big Who fan and prefer their 70s and 80s material more than the 60s stuff. Face Dances, Who’s Next, By Numbers and It’s Hard are my faves.
So here we are at show day. After work I get a ride downtown, grab a happy hour beer then make my way to the venue. I had a pretty decent seat with a side view of the stage, which was perfect as I really wanted to watch their drummer, Zak Starkey. Zak is the son of Ringo Starr, but I couldn’t care less about that and I’m not a Beatles fan at all. BUT…Zak played drums on ASAP’s Silver and Gold album. ASAP stands for Adrian Smith and Project. Yes, THAT Adrian Smith. This is the album he released after leaving Iron Maiden and I think it’s an amazing record from front to back. Great rock album with Adrian on vocals and Zak’s incredible drum work. I highly recommend it.
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts were the openers and while I’m not much of a fan, she put on a really good show and opened with my favorite song of hers, Bad Reputation. She pretty much played everything you’d expect to hear plus a couple of new songs. Her voice sounded great and her band was solid. And before last night, I never noticed how gorgeous her eyes are. Looking at the closeups on the big screen monitors just had me captivated for a bit.
After about a 40 minute set change, The Who come on stage and open with I Can’t Explain and The Seeker. Either before or after the next song, Who Are You, they have to change out one of Pete’s amps. While they’re doing that, he mentions that Jeff Beck was in attendance. He quipped that there was at least one guitar player at the show better than him. It was pretty funny and his delivery was right on. They carried on with their playing through mostly familiar hits sprinkling in a few deeper ones like I’m One, Amazing Journey and Sparks. Eminence Front is one of my fave songs by them and they played it. It was great.
The whole show was great in general. Roger’s and Pete’s voices are still very clear and full of range and I was pleasantly surprised by that. They rolled through 22 songs in about 2 hours and no encore. Impressive for a band of their age. Pino Palladino was on bass. He’s a monster player overall but didn’t do all of The Ox’s runs which I thought was odd. Zak’s drumming was solid. Beastly even. He did a lot of cool stuff but I was surprised and maybe a little let down that he didn’t really do any of Moon’s signature licks. It was most noticeable to me in My Generation. Moon plays a mean shuffle on the ride cymbal in that song but it was nowhere to be found last night. But just getting to finally watch him play was a treat. He did do a few buzz rolls reminiscent of that ASAP album that were awesome.
I’ll admit to getting emotional a few times during the set thinking about my brother. I probably missed him more last night than I have since he died.
Click photos to enlarge.
Krokus Concert Review, Houston, TX, April 24, 2015
My first recollection of hearing Krokus was from buying a tape in the early 80s of their 
1978 album, Pay It In Metal. I’m pretty sure that hearing Screaming In The Night and Bedside Radio on the radio in those years prompted me to buy that tape. Plus it was only $1. That album is quite different than their 80s stuff and doesn’t include Storace. I bought The Blitz when it came out in ’84 and loved it. People slag Midnight Maniac but I think it’s a killer tune. I pretty love all of their 80s stuff but never got to see them back then. I remember in the late 90s or early 2000s that they were scheduled to play Jaxx in Springfield, VA (RIP) but something happened and they never made it over to the USA.
When I saw they were going to do to a small US tour, I knew I had to go. They scheduled dates in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas and I promptly bought tix for Houston and SA.
I got to Houston early in the day to beat the rush hour traffic, checked into my hotel and went to the venue to see if any of the guys were hanging out and to try and get The Book signed. Score. I got to meet Mandy Meier and Chris Von Rohr (only original and founding member) after their sound check. Chris was pretty funny. As he’s signing the book, he just looks up at me and says, “Can you find me a toothpick, please?” He handed the book back to me and I said I would. There were some folks there with stacks of vinyl and CDs and I could see in his face that he was getting punished by a few of those guys, especially this one dude that I have seen at a few Houston shows. The guy just wouldn’t move on after getting his stuff signed. Von Rohr just stopped paying attention to this dude’s inane ramblings. I came back a few minutes later with some toothpicks and handed them to Chris who stood up as the punisher was mid-sentence and said, “THANK YOU! You’re now my new tour manager.” I think it gave him a reason to just get up and diss that dude.
I ran into some friends right before the first band went on and hung with them most of the night. The opening band is touring with Krokus (same US mgmt). They were called The Chimpz and it was some sort of hip hop metal thing. I stayed outside. Horrible. Puerto Rico’s Red Tiger came up next and they were decent. The drummer and one of the guitarists both handled lead vocal duties and I preferred the drummer’s vocals. They’re pretty young and their sound is all over the hard rock/metal map, but I think they can likely dial it in. Love and War was up next and they’ve got a good Houston following. They’re super solid hard rock and the singer has a great vocal range. This was my second or third time seeing them.
Finally around 1130, it was time for Krokus. The show looked about 3/4 full. I was down in front on the rail for most of the set and it was hot down there. They come out and open with Long Stick Goes Boom and go right into their cover of American Woman. Blech. Never liked the original and never got into Krokus’ version. But the band was tight and Marc’s vocals sounded great. They mixed the short set up with some newer and older stuff, completely avoiding The Blitz album. There were a few older gems in there like Winning Man and Easy rocker but I’m still a bit surprised that in your first US show in 25 years, you don’t play Bedside Radio, Our Love, Fire, Midnight Maniac or even some of their other famous covers of Stayed Awake all Night, School’s Out and Ballroom Blitz. Don’t get me wrong, I say avoid covers when you have such a huge back catalog but oh well. They’ve been pretty good about putting albums out every 5 years or so. Lots of lineup changes.
Right after Screaming In The Night, I got out of the pit and listened to the rest of the show on the patio. They had the doors open and I could see and hear everything perfectly. It was hot inside and I needed some air and a cold beverage.
After the show, they did do a quick meet and greet and I got Marc to sign the book. There were a lot of people in line to meet them and I just shook hands, said thanks and moved on.
The show was great. I went to San Antonio to catch them on the second night, but because of their Fiesta traffic, I never made it in.
Click photos to enlarge.
The Metal Files 
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