Archive for the ‘the metal files’ Category
Pat Benatar Concert Review, Austin TX 4/13/2013
Pat Benatar and her husband Neil Giraldo have been creating music together for 35 or so years. You Better Run was the 2nd song ever aired on MTV. While I’ve never owned any of her albums, I’ve always enjoyed her music. Neil’s riffs and solos always had good hooks and she has always had a great voice.
Tickets came available a couple of months ago and I decided to go having never seen her before. It made it even better that ACL Live at the Moody Theater was hosting it. I love this venue. Easily the best venue in Austin. Saw some friends in the lobby area while enjoying a beer before the show and then we went our separate ways. I’ve been pretty lucky to get front row balcony for almost every show I’ve seen there.
She opened with All Fired Up and played through her string of hits. It was a short set, only 13 songs, but quite enjoyable. Her voice still sounds amazing. Neil’s playing was spot on and I was surprised at his piano playing skills as well. It was a sold out show and the crowd sang along for the whole show. I was quite surprised that I knew the lyrics to all of her hit songs. All those years in the 80s of radio and MTV apparently had an impact. The bassist and drummer were solid and I got to meet the bassist outside just for a second as we were walking back to the car. The only thing that could have made the show better was if Myron Grombacher was still on drums. That guy was a killer drummer.
In her encore, she closed with Heartbreaker that went into a bit of Ring of Fire then into a snippet of Zeppelin’s Heartbreaker then back to her Heartbreaker.
All in all it was a fun show and I’m glad I went. I’m seeing Chicago Monday and I am all fired up about it (yes, I went there).
Ignitor Mix Tape ’85 Review
My history with Ignitor isn’t that deep as I only picked up on them when Jason McMaster joined the band in 2009ish. That doesn’t detract from the Erika Tandy era at all, I just went backwards with their discography. Ignitor is quality metal, no matter which era you’re listening to.
Ignitor’s latest offering is a download only album of classic covers. It’s a great mix of classic metal covering some of my favorites bands.
McMaster was made to cover all of these bands giving them his unique vocal flair and Ignitor in general stayed pretty true to these songs without taking any real liberties in the music. The Stuart “Batlord” solos are all pretty incredible and the opening solo to Into the Coven gave me chills when I first heard it. He completely nailed the tone. While I admit that I’m not the biggest fan of Exodus’ Bonded By Blood or Exciter’s Violence and Force, these covers are well done. I’m especially impressed with their version of Anthrax’s Deathrider. Fistful of Metal often gets overlooked in Anthrax conversations. The cover of Highway Star has the proper intro like Deep Purple’s original and the heaviness of Metal Church’s version. I’m also a huge fan of Witching Hour. And you gotta love that album cover!
You can stream the album here and I recommend that you buy it from iTunes or Amazon ASAP! Both are under $8!
Quality metal covers from a quality metal band.
“DEATHRIDER” – Anthrax
“FAST AS A SHARK” – Accept
“VIOLENCE AND FORCE” – Exciter
“INTO THE COVEN” – Mercyful Fate
“WITCHING HOUR” – Venom
“HELL BENT FOR LEATHER” – Judas Priest
“A LESSON IN VIOLENCE” – Exodus
“HIGHWAY STAR” – Deep Purple
Yes Concert Review, Austin TX 3/20/2013
March 20, 1964. That’s my middle brother’s birthday. He died just over a year ago but he was a huge Yes fan and subsequently I became one. Yes played the Moody Theater at ACL Live last night and it would have been his 49th birthday. He especially loved Fragile and Close to the Edge and both of those albums are very special to me.
When I saw it announced that Yes was going to play The Yes Album, Close to the Edge and Going for the One in their entirety, I had to go. Especially since it was going to be at the fantastic Moody Theater. It’s my favorite venue in town.
I typically buy 2 tickets to most shows that I want to see, one for me and one to sell to a friend or to offer as a special gift. My friend Chuck is a huge Yes fan and a phenomenal bassist and he was the first I thought of when I scored front row center balcony seats. That’s my favorite spot in the theater. It was Chuck’s first time there and he liked it a lot.
The show started slightly after 8PM and they opened the show with the Close to the Edge album. I hadn’t yet seen/heard the new singer, Jon Davison. Now let me drop back and say that I’ve seen Yes twice before with Jon Anderson…one in 1998 with The Alan Parson Project(!!!) and again in 2000 with Kansas. That show in 1998 was incredible while the 2000 show left me pretty bored.
But last night I was not bored. They came out and nailed it for the most part. The new singer left me not really even noticing or even missing Anderson. Davison has the pipes and he sounded incredible. The band went right into Going for the One, and album of their that I love. I’ll admit that my 3 faves are Drama, Tormato and Going for the One. After getting through GftO, they took a 20 minute intermission.
The closed the set out with The Yes Album. It was great.
I’ll admit to getting a little verklempt during the song Close to the Edge. Memories of my brother flushed through me hard. During several songs throughout the set I got chills, mainly because of the awesomeness of the songs…mainly And You and I and Wondrous Stories.
Sound-wise, I thought the keyboards were a little overbearing and the bass was a little low in the mix. Even though it was a phenomenal show and probably the last time I’ll ever see them, they weren’t perfect. Compared to the previous shows I’ve seen, they’ve collectively lost a step. While Steve Howe is one of my favorite players, he’s always had a bit of a choppy style. Last night he was missing some notes and it even sounded like he missed his cue in a few solos. However, vocally he still sounded great. His acoustic piece, Clap, was pretty awesome. Chris Squire seemed spot on and his vocals were great, too. Finally, Alan White. He wasn’t playing with the power that I had seen before, but he is 63 and still touring, so there’s that. And again, Jon Davison’s vocals were stellar. That dude can flat out sing.
The encore was Roundabout (see below).
If they do end up touring again, I’d certainly go. Glad I got to see them again, for sure.
Hawkwind’s Nik Turner
While I’m not the biggest Hawkwind fan in the world, their albums Doremi Fasol Latido and Space Ritual are pretty massive records. This years SxSW music festival brought Nik Turner in town to pay and he performed Space Ritual. I wasn’t able to make the show but I did see him at the meet and greet the next day at End of An Ear Records. He was a quite a nice and funny guy. I had him sign The Book and snapped a few pictures.
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- Hawkwind’s Nik Turner
Red Lamb Concert Review, Austin TX 3/9/2013
I’ve been an Anthrax fan ever since I found a used copy of Spreading the Disease on cassette at Unicorn Records in 1986. That tape was in regular rotation in my old 66 Nova 4dr and subsequent Ford Ranger for many years. I’ve worn out countless copies. Seen them 6 times since 1987 and they always rocked it live. The John Bush era really never did it for me but the one time I saw them live with him, they were good.
In the last year or so, Dan Spitz, former lead player of Anthrax, has been working on a new project called Red Lamb. I’ve always like Dan’s solos and was happy for a chance to see him play live…and of course to have an opportunity to get the book signed.
I got to the show in north Austin around 10pm and pretty much just hung outside during the opening acts. I just wasn’t interested. I think it was sometime around midnight that Red Lamb hit the stage. I had listened to a song or 2 online and while it’s not my kind of rock, it’s not bad. Dan’s solos make it worth it for sure. Patrick Johansson (Yngwie Malmsteen) had recorded the drums on the album but unfortunately didn’t tour. The touring drummer, Kevan Roy was just fine. His footwork was pretty impressive. Don Chaffin handled the vocals duties and sounded good. Bassist Alan Goldstein (Aghora) was pretty awesome to watch. While not needing to be very busy with this type of music, you could still see moments of the dude’s talent. C’mon, he’s in Aghora! No slouches in that band.
And then there’s Dan. His playing was sharp and his solos were quite awesome, as expected. He certainly seems like a quiet guy, very reserved and I imagine that the heart attack and subsequent triple bypass probably slowed him down a bit. He didn’t speak much and talked about this tour being done to help promote Austism awareness. He mentioned that his twin sons, Brendan and Jaden, both have the condition and that the song Puzzle Box (co-written by Dave Mustaine) was about his family’s daily struggles. I can’t even begin to imagine.
They cut 2 songs from the end of their set. There was plenty of time left. One they finished, Dan promptly got off stage and went straight to the bus. There were only about 20-30 people there. So no meet and greet time. I hung out for a bit after to see if he’d come out and was talking with the bassist. I asked is he could get Dan to sign the book. I had some CD covers in there as well, but told him that the book was most important. He took the stuff on the bus and came out a few minutes later with everything signed. What a champ! Alan was a super nice guy, too. He said, “Dan said thanks a lot for coming and for bringing some stuff to sign.” I’ll take that! I went home right after that…driving through a deluge for 20 miles.
It was a good time. Go see the tour!
My pics suck horribly. The lighting was awful and so is my camera.
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