Archive for the ‘warlock’ Category
Doro Concert Review, Houston, TX, March 8, 2015
First and foremost, I need to get this out of the way…“apology accepted”. Those were the words Doro said to me last night after I apologized for my Butthead moment with her back in 1988. She thought it was very funny actually. It had always been in the back of my mind anytime I’d think of Warlock or her, so I’m glad I finally got to get that off my conscience.
When I saw that Doro was coming to Texas again (last time was 2007 in San Antonio but I couldn’t make it), I got a ticket ASAP. I absolutely love Warlock. The drive to Houston yesterday and the return home today were tough as it was a heavy rain both days.
Upon arrival to my hotel, I was relaxing a bit after a nice hot shower and looking at Instagram and saw that Johnny Dee, Doro’s drummer, ate at the ramen place next to the venue. I was very hungry and this sounded like a good idea on such a cold and rainy night. It was an incredible pork broth, noodle, ground pork, chopped pork, hot sauce, bok choy concoction that set me just right.
After the meal I go to the venue and run into some friends and hung with them for most of the night. There were 4 opening bands, 3 of which were local and one from Santa Cruz called Archer. I missed the first opener and couldn’t really get into the other 2 local bands at all. Archer was a decent 3 piece of heavy rock band that is touring with Doro.
The crowd had thinned out some. It wasn’t packed in there by any stretch but by the time Doro came on, I’m guessing about 150 were still around. The band hits the stage and opens up with I Rule the Ruins and plowed right into Earthshaker Rock. The band sounded awesome and I couldn’t believe how great her voice was. She looked and sounded like it was still 1988 and she is very appreciative of her fans. You could tell how much she loved being up there and seeing familiar faces in the crowd. Some people had traveled from Luxembourg to be there as well as other parts of the USA and Mexico. I love that.
The setlist was filled with songs from all four Warlock albums. It was awesome hearing Out of Control and I freaked when they played Evil from the Fight for Rock 12″. She played a handful of songs from the solo career as well including 2 from her new album, Raise Your Fist In the Air. Hearing Metal Racer just blew me away. They performed the cover of Dio’s Egypt (The Chains Are On) and it was just perfect. I’ve always loved her cover of that.
It was just a wonderful set, which of course I wanted more Warlock songs. Just play all night, ok? After the show I got to spend a little time with Johnny Dee which was cool. I’ve always liked that self-titled Britny Fox album, even though I despise most of that hair band stuff. That riff on Long Way to Love is killer. After talking with Johnny, I was afforded a moment to get on the bus with Doro. It was a cool few minutes. She signed The Book and my Triumph and Agony CD. The tour manager was rushing me off the bus so I didn’t get the other Warlock CDs signed, but he did call me “assman”. I didn’t take but a couple of photos as I really just wanted to stand there and take it all in.
Stay hard, true as steel!
Alice Cooper Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, February 11, 2015
To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who has said, “I don’t like Alice Cooper.” Sure, you may not be into his music, his politics, his religion, but how can you not just like the guy? He’s a class act. Intelligent. Funny. Consummate front man.
I’ve been a fan since as long as I can remember thanks to one of my older brothers. One of my favorite Cooper moments ever was his appearance on the Muppet Show in the 70s. I met Alice last year in Dallas and those few moments talking together will forever be special to me. A few months later I saw him with Motley Crue and it was great. Shortly after that show, it was announced that he was doing a solo tour, an evening with Alice Cooper. I bought tickets for the Austin show as soon as they went on sale and got one for the San Antonio show and scored second row 2 weeks after they had gone on sale, which I thought was odd.
I rolled down to San Antonio right after work and picked up my friend, Rodney, who had a close seat in the section next to mine. I had never been to the Majestic Theatre before but wow, what a beautiful venue.
Alice was scheduled to come on at 8PM but didn’t hit the stage until about 8:15. The lights went down and The Underture started. The open up with Hello, Hooray and roll right into House of Fire and No More Mr. Nice Guy. The crowd was going crazy and I was smiling ear to ear. Alice and the band, as expected, sounded great. He is pretty active on stage, especially for a guy who is 67 years old.
He played most of what I expected to hear. Of course I want to hear songs from From The Inside but he’s been ignoring that album for quite some time. I was a little surprised he didn’t go deeper into the catalog since he was doing the longer set but he decided to play 4 covers which apparently he’s been doing often when he’s headlining.
His band is always top notch and last night was no different. Everyone is extremely talented and are each a show within the show. Drummer Glen Sobel is a beast of a drummer. Veteran guitarist, Ryan Roxie and bassist, Chuck Garric, were positioned on my side for most of the night. Ryan slapped 2 picks in my hand throughout the course of the night. While I started out in the second row, the security girl motioned for me to come right up front and there I was stationed for more than half of the show. I didn’t realize until after the show that guitarist, Tommy Hendriksen, was the bassist for Warlock, who I had seen in 1988. He and third guitarist, Nita Strauss, also handed picks to me during the show. Score!
Alice threw out 2 of his plastic canes, a ton of Cooper dollar bills and some plastic bead necklaces (during Dirty Diamonds). At the end of the show during the School’s Out encore, tissue paper feathers and streamers fell from the ceiling and the crew threw large balloons filled with confetti out on the stage and into the crowd. The ones that got near Alice were pierced with his sword.
It was a great show and I can’t wait to see it again tonight!
Megadeth/Warlock/Sanctuary April 9, 1988
I’ve mentioned this show a few times on this site. It was a pretty important show for me; not just because Megadeth was on the 
bill but it also included Warlock and Sanctuary. Both bands were two of my favorites at the time (and now too!). I was in my senior year of high school and if it wasn’t for playing drums and listening to metal, not sure how things would have turned out. Both of those things kept me grounded and focused…well, as focused as most 18 year olds I guess. Megadeth was supporting So Far…So Good, Warlock supporting Triumph and Agony and Sanctuary supporting Refuge Denied. Oh my!
Check out my 2 previous related posts:
This show was awesome, too bad the openers didn’t play longer. See the setlists below.
Your sudden faith is all in vain…
Spring 1988. I was a senior in high school and one of only 2 metalheads in that school. It was a small private Catholic school in Portsmouth, VA. I really hated that school and 90% of the people in it. My 9th and 10th grade years were pretty fucking brutal. New kid in a school in which most of them had known each other since kindergarten. I had nothing in common with them. I was an outcast. It was probably partially self-imposed.
To cope with all the bullshit that comes with being an awkward teenager, I immersed myself in music even more than I normally did from just being a huge music fan at a young age. Music was my life. Music is my life.
Back to 1988. I remember reading in one of the metal mags about a band coming out called Sanctuary and that their debut was being produced by Dave Mustaine. I was a big Megadeth fan at the time so this sparked my interest even more. I went to the Music Man on Friday night which was a pretty regular routine for me and my friends. We’d get our allowances and go blow it on music.
We put it in and sat silently while riding in my ’66 Nova 4-door. We were blown away. This voice. This high shrill that was cutting through everything. Warrell Dane. Who? Exactly.
We all got super excited when we found out that they were coming in concert as the opener for Megadeth and Warlock. We were right up front for the whole show. Dane hit every note perfectly. All 3 bands were great that night. Of course the majority of the crowd was there to see Megadeth, but I was mostly there for Sanctuary and Warlock. I got blown away.
This is one album that I wish would get remastered. It sounds like Peace Sells (Megadeth), which is to say that it’s very muddy, the drums sounds like shit and I think there may be a bass guitar in there somewhere. Their follow-up disc sounded much better. So please…someone re-release this with a remix/remaster!
Die For My Sins is definitely my favorite song. The whole album is badass except for their version of White Rabbit. I detested the original and this version. After getting to know Warrell Dane several years later, it made sense why he loved the song so much. I still think it sucks.
Poor production and one silly cover song aside, this album gets a 9/10. With it coming out in 1988 in the height of the pretty boy LA metal scene, it stands heads and tails above most other albums from that year.
The Metal Files 
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