The Metal Files

While I’m a pretty big Priest fan and was fortunate enough to have been introduced to their music by an older brother in the late 70s, I didn’t see them until 1998 on the Jugulator tour. The only times with Halford have been since 2014.  With them getting a lot older and probably not touring much after this current Firepower tour, I figured I’d go one last time and make it count.  I got in on the presale and scored 7^th row center seats which was a good spot.  Ten minutes later I get a message from a friend in Nashville whose close friends with a ticket broker in LA that had front row seats.  I asked how much over face value.  $25 more.  DONE.  I sold my 7^th row seats to a friend and Victor and I were set for front row.

Day of show, we all meet at a friend’s house outside of San Antonio and roll down together to the older and smallish venue Freeman Coliseum. Walking the inner ring we see tons of friends and everyone is excited for the show, which I read this morning ended up selling out.

Opening the show was Black Star Riders which features Scott Gorham from Thin Lizzy. They played a solid set and a second Thin Lizzy song would have been welcome but oh well.  We were stage right and Gorham never left his spot on stage left, but they were good.  Cool seeing Robbie Crane and Damon Johnson again.

How do my friends here in Texas know that I’m not from Texas? When I mention that I’m not a Saxon fan, that’s how.  Texas LOVES Saxon, especially San Antonio thanks to former DJ Joe Anthony who basically gave Saxon their first break in the US.  Saxon started 10 minutes earlier than scheduled to squeeze in a couple of extra songs.  While I only like a handful of Saxon songs, they are a good live band.  In general though, the band never clicked with me.  I enjoyed them enough and they closed with my favorite, Princess of the Night.  Saxon made no bones about how much they love San Antonio and San Antonio showed their love for Saxon.

But I was there for Priest. The last two times I saw them, Rob sounded pretty good but wasn’t very mobile.  Glenn was still playing with them the other two times.  Last night, however, it was Andy Sneap who played in Sabbat (UK), a band I love.  Both he and Faulkner are fine musicians, but there’s no replacing KK and Glenn.  Make no mistake, Faulkner makes his presence known in the band stalking the front of the stage the whole show.  Andy stayed stage left and didn’t move around much but played his ass off.  Ian hung in the back like he’s always done and laid down his solid JP bass lines perfectly.  Scott Travis looked bored, but he has that look in general, always has.  You know what you’re going to get with Scott behind the drums.  Solid player, a bit robotic, mistake free.

And then there was Halford. Tall.  Dressed in silver and black.  Sunglasses.  Trenchcoat.  Gloves.  Hunched over the center stage monitor for the first song, Firepower, from the new album.  Then they went into Running Wild and he started stalking the stage.  He pretty much did that for the rest of the show.  The glasses were off, he was engaging the crowd, had several coat changes, but was really just owning that stage and the crowd at the same time.  They pretty much played the same exact set as they had for the whole tour and then right after Some Heads Are Gonna Roll (one of my all-time faves), Rob starts talking about Joe Anthony and how much San Antonio means to the band.  SA was once the metal capital of the USA and broke so many bands thanks to Mr. Anthony.  And then Rob says, “We’re going to play a song that we haven’t done live in 37 years from the Sad Wings album and we’re doing it just for San Antonio…This is Tyrant!” (paraphrased).  Holy hell.  You could tell the band hadn’t played it in a while as it was way more loose than any other song that night.  Even with Rob missing a vocal cue and Scott botching a drum part, it was pretty phenomenal and I am glad to have witnessed it.  (Fact:  it has only been 35 years since they plast played it live according to setlist.fm).  Overall, Rob sounded better than the other 2 times I had seen JP live.  His voice was just great, especially in Saint in Hell.  Some Heads gave him a little trouble, but that’s a tough song in general.  No complaints at all.  Rob was awesome.  It was also awesome being able to watch Rob sing the fast, multi-lyric parts in Freewheel Burning.  He didn’t “David Lee Roth” them at all!

Priest was pretty much on fire the whole night. The Harley came out for Hell Bent for Leather and they closed the set with Painkiller.  Still not a fan of that song or album. The only noticeable difference in most of the songs throughout the night was that they were played just a tad slow.  Painkiller seemed to crawl but I’m sure it just has to do with them keeping a good pace for Rob to stay in.  No bother.

Then the encore. Glenn had been playing the encore for selected shows throughout the tour and for the recent Texas dates, so no surprise he was there last night for the finale of this leg of the tour.  While it was special to see him, it was also a little heartbreaking.  You could surely see that he was not in great shape, but you could also see that his spirits were high.  Not a lot of moving around for him but he played solidly and nailed his solos.  He played Metal Gods, Breaking the Law and Living After Midnight.  The crowd was ecstatic and Rob stayed near him for much of the encore.  After all, Rob, Glenn and Ian have been playing together longer than many of those reading this have been alive.  Lots of history.  At the very end, the band was throwing picks and sticks to the crowd and Ian tossed one my way.

It was a fantastic night filled with great music and good friends. Long live Priest.

Judas Priest Setlist
Saxon Setlist
Black Star Riders Setlist

I’ve liked Uriah Heep since I was a kid thanks to my older brother Robert’s love for them and really prefer the David Byron era.  We listened to those early records quite a bit and they’re forever ingrained in my musical muscle memory.

I saw them in 1986 at our local city fair called the Suffolk Peanut Fest.  I really just remember it being a very small crowd there, but I was rocking out with my brother and I think that was the only concert we ever went to together.  Unfortunate.

Last night’s show wasn’t promoted very well online and even the venue still had Michael Schenker on the marquee, which was from last week.  At the height of attendance,  there may have been 200 people there but it thinned out.  No bother.  After 3 of the same openers we always see in San Antonio, Uriah Heep came on and flat out blew away the everyone.

The band was incredibly tight, especially the drummer and bassist.  Phenomenal players.  Mick Box’s guitar playing was just fine and long time keyboardist, Phil Lanzon, was perfect.  But the star of the show was Bernie Shaw who’s been in the band since 1989.  Besides being a good frontman, his vocals were stellar.  His range was was incredible and I was quite surprised at the high notes he could hit.  The whole band, minus the drummer, provided great backing vocals.

They primarily stuck to the first 5 or 6 albums, 2 songs from their latest (which were good!) and one from 1998’s Sonic Origami.  I pretty much got everything I needed to hear sans Rainbow Demon.

Just a stellar show overall.

I love Satan!

Now, getting that out of the way, Russ Tippins from the legendary NWOBHM band Satan has a new side project called Tanith which released a few songs recently and announced that they had some upcoming shows in Philly, Cleveland and NYC, so of course I had to check my calendar and book a trip.  This also included coordination with Kelz and Rodney, both friends that I travel with to shows.  After some conversations, Philly and Cleveland (Thursday/Friday respectively) best suited our schedules and the trip was booked.  The NYC show was on Sunday and I didn’t need to miss another day of work and driving all the way back to NYC from Cleveland wasn’t very appealing.

The band released 2 songs on their Bandcamp page from their7″ called Citadel that are quite perfect in my opinion, an opinion you can’t care about I’m sure.  If you’ve seen Satan live or heard Russ’ Electric Band, you know he’s got a great higher-pitched voice.  Tanith’s music has him sharing vocal duties with NYC’s Cindy Maynard who also plays bass.  It’s a perfect pairing.

An early morning departure got me to Philly around 130PM.  Unfortunately the Eagles parade was rescheduled for the same day and after meeting up with Kelz who flew in from Raleigh, we couldn’t get to any of the record stores I wanted to hit, but not without trying first.  Everything was shut down.

Fortunately/Unfortunately, we did find a cheesesteak place just up the street from the hotel.  It was delicious.  We went back to the hotel and crashed for a bit.  I had been up all night and just needed to re-energize a bit.

Awake and refreshed we got up with Rodney who was staying in the same hotel and used Uber to get us to our destination downtown to the Boot and Saddle.  This is the same spot we saw Satan in 2016.  Nice little venue.  The front part bar area was pretty busy with Eagles fans still partying after the parade.  The bar had 90s rock playing the whole time and it was painful.  We hung out near the back with some other friends there until the doors opened.  Once inside, Tanith, BAT and Crazy Bull were getting their merch set up.  I grabbed a Crazy Bull 7″ and a couple of Tanith 7″s, a shirt and a cassette from Shauna, girlfriend of Tanith guitarist Charlie.  She was pretty fucking cool.  Lots of merch got sold as well.  Ryan Waste from BAT was hanging out and it’s always good to catch up with him.

This was an early show overall and Crazy Bull went on a little after 9.  They’re good solid hard rock and played a good set.  It was the bassist’s first show with the band and he seemingly did fine.  Enjoyable and worth catching again when convenient.

Tanith had the middle slot and Kelz and I moved up to the front.  I was pretty excited to see them and love the three songs they’ve released so far.  They opened with Cassini’s Deadly Plunge which is the 3rd song they’ve released online.  Keep in mind this was the band’s first ever show.  They played wonderfully.  Russ’ and Cindy’s vocals mix together perfectly and the whole band was solid, although Charlie’s guitar needed to be a little bit louder.  They double guitar work and the solid drumming rounded their sound out perfectly.  I kept thinking to myself that they reminded me a lot of Wishbone Ash, Uriah Heep and a touch of Satan.  Very British sounding rock.  I was taken aback a bit when they covered Heep’s Lady in Black.  I’ve always loved that one and it was my brother’s favorite Heep song.  Brought back great memories of listening to that album with him and Tanith nailed it perfectly.  They also played a song that Russ said he wrote for Satan and was only played lived a time or 2 in 1982 called The Rock Stands Tall.  It was a killer song and was never studio recorded, although he stated that a live version has popped up online recently.  I haven’t found it yet.  Again, Tanith was great and very gracious to all who attended.  Their drummer, Keith, spent many years in Austin and we had some acquaintances in common.  Nice guy.

BAT was up next and it was notable that Felix wasn’t on drums…but notable only in the visual sense.  Chris Marshall, the (temporary?) replacement was a perfect fit.  Big shoes to fill and he did a great job.  The whole band was solid as always.  They’re a 3 piece band that always sounds bigger.  ‘Twas a good set overall and it’s always a pleasure seeing them live.

Setlists from Philly:
BAT
Tanith
Crazy Bull

After the set was the normal mingling with friends and the bands and another drink or two before heading back to the hotel to crash.  We had planned on leaving at 9AM for the long drive to Cleveland.

Friday morning we did breakfast at the hotel and piled in my rental and drove off to Cleveland.  It was a long trip filled with the normal abuse between friends, metal concert stories, horrible food and tons of laughs.  We stopped at a couple of record stores in Youngstown, OH and didn’t really find anything.  We dropped Rodney off at a friend’s and headed on the final short stretch to our hotel.  I was able to get a 20 minute snooze which was just enough.  I had planned on eating at Maple Grove Tavern as they had food when I was there a couple of months ago for another show.  Things changed for whatever reason and their kitchen wasn’t open.  So a bag of chips, then?  Done.

My friend Teresa Kay from Austin now lives in Cleveland and she came out for the show.  It was great to see her and catch up a bit as well as catching up with some other Cleveland friends at the show.

Vandallus opened the show to a set of 80s style metal.  Enjoyable enough to buy the LP.  They didn’t seem very well-rehearsed though and only played maybe 5 songs.  Oh well.

Vulgar Devils were on next which features Dave Just from Destructor.  They laid down a solid set of upbeat hard rock.

Unfortunately the crowd of about 60 people dwindled down a bit after the local bands finished, but no bother, a good 30 of us stuck around to catch Tanith play their full set.  It was pretty much the same set with the addition Zeppelin’s The Battle of Evermore and an acoustic version of Under the Stars.  It was also pretty much the same awesomeness as the Philly show.  They’re so good and seemingly so well-rehearsed although Cindy said they had only practiced together about 5 times.  Total pros.

Setlists from Cleveland:
Tanith
Vulgar Devils
Vandallus

After some photos, a final drink and some goodbyes, we headed back to the hotel.  Since Kelz and I hadn’t really had dinner, we ordered some late night pizza.  The clerk at the hotel called it “drunk pizza” and “it’s not that good.”  He was right, but it was at least  better than nothing.  There were also some Munchkins donuts, so there’s that.

Saturday morning started with breakfast, showers then heading out around Cleveland to hit some record stores.  Found a few odds and ends but nothing spectacular.  It was cold and gloomy and snowed a sleeted a bit.  I didn’t mind it too much as I knew I didn’t have to stay there.  Off to the airport to drop off the rental, grab some lunch before our respective flights and talk a little more smack before leaving.

It was a worthwhile trip.  Good friends.  Great music.  Be sure to check out Tanith!

mmm…cheesesteak heaven

array of Tanith shirts

Mitches about to down horrible FireMeisters in honor of Brian Ross

Tanith in Philly

King Russ

Tanith in Cleveland

A Separate Reality Records. Cool store in Cleveland

My Tanith purchases

Getting roughed up by Russ in Cleveland

KISS was the first band I ever loved and it all started when one of my brothers brought home Dressed to Kill around 1977.  I was hooked and was into heavier music ever since.  Oddly enough, I’ve never seen any version of Ace live be it with KISS, Frehley’s Comet or solo until last night.  I was pretty stoked and bought tix day of show.  Seems to be happening a lot lately.  A work colleague hit me up about going and said he’d drive, so I was in.  We swung by an grabbed Rodney and off we went to the Vibes Music Center/Rock Box in San Antonio.

The first band we saw was The Graham Bonnet Band who played on the smaller stage inside of the Rock Box side of the combined venue.  I had seen them within the last year but didn’t mind seeing them again.  They laid down a solid set that featured mostly Alcatrazz songs as well as a little Rainbow, MSG, Impellitteri and Graham’s solo material.  He still had Jimmy Waldo on keys from the old Alcatrazz days.  He had a shredder of a guitarist as well who nailed all solos damn near perfectly.  They put on a great set.

Up next on the Vibes Center main stage was LA Guns who I’ve seen several times and every time I see them they kick ass.  This is the second time this year that I’ve seen the reunited Phil/Tracii version and as expected they were killer.  Phil’s voice sounds great and Tracii’s playing was top notch.  Michael Grant go to do a couple of solos as well, which is good because that guy is such a bad ass.  No surprises in their set although it would have been nice to hear Show No Mercy.  No biggie.  They kicked ass.

Enuff z’Nuff was starting on the smaller stage and I went over for a bit.  About 15 years ago, my old band opened for them, Faster Pussycat and Pretty Boy Floyd.  Enuff was really good that night but last night I was rather bored.  Chip is the only left out of that lineup that I played with (RIP Ricky Parent).  I was never a fan although their early 2000s release (Welcome to the Blue Island?) has some really good songs on it.  Chip was known for playing 8 string basses but was only using a 4 string last night.  I asked him after the show about it and he said, “Tough to keep up with an 8 string bass when I don’t have a bass tech to take on tour with me.”  Fair enough.  I mentioned that show that we played with them and he recalled, “That shitty little bar in Va Beach?  Yeah, I remember.”  He gave me a shirt without me asking after we talked about his old drummer who was a really sweet guy.  Again, RIP.

Dokken was up next and I hadn’t seen him live since his solo tour in 1991, which is still one of my favorite concerts of all time.  Last night’s version featured Don, Mick, Ira Black on guitar and Chris McCarvill on bass.  There are enough videos out of of Don singing in the last 10 years to know what to expect.  There are some really horrid shows out there.  Don isn’t young by any stretch so I wasn’t expecting 1988 Dokken vocals.  They opened with Kiss of Death and his voice sounded pretty OK.  They rolled through a total only 7 songs and his voice was hit and miss, but I wasn’t really bothered by it.  He was better than I thought he’d be and the band was really good.

While waiting for Ace to come on I ran into Bonnet’s guitarist, Joey.  We got in a conversation about Yngwie and he mentioned sitting in some rehearsals for Yng’s first album.  Whoa.  That must’ve been massive.  So I asked him if he had played on anything from back in the day and he replied with, “I’ve done a few albums with Jag Panzer.”  My brain clipped and I said, “what’s your last name?”  “Tafolla.”  I mentioned seeing them in Chicago last year and how much they kicked everyone’s ass.  Nice guy.

Time for Ace.  The crowd had thinned a bit after Dokken.  Ace came on played through a barrage of KISS songs and a few solo album songs.  He sounded good when he sang and the whole band was solid but something was missing.  Ace really seemed like he was just going through the motions for one.  While getting a drink, a friend asked what I thought.  They had just finished Parasite and I said, “Everyone in the band is awesome.  Perfect even.  And that’s the problem.”  Parasite had no bounce to it.  That song should be a little frenetic, a touch sloppy even.  But last night it was a bit slow and the drummer, who is obviously a killer player, plays perfectly behind the beat.  In my opinion that just doesn’t work in KISS songs.  Strange Ways had that same quality.  Peter had a swing to his playing and it worked perfectly in KISS.  All that being said, I had a good time and zero regrets about going.  I don’t know that I’d ever go see him again, though.

It was a fun night overall.  Got to see a few friends I hadn’t seen in a while.