Posts Tagged ‘austin’
Colin Hay Concert Review 03/01/2011
This was my second time seeing Colin Hay doing his solo acoustic show and it was great. You can read about past experiences with Colin and men At Work here.
The show was at the One World Theatre. This place is one of the best places to see a band that I have ever been to. It’s small (maybe 250 seats) and acoustically perfect. It’s in the Texas Hill Country and it’s got a gorgeous setting.
Opening the show was a guy named Chris Trapper (His Wikipedia page here). He wasn’t bad at all. Apparently he wrote a song on the Autumn Rush soundtrack. He had a few good jokes, played about 6 or 7 songs and was gone.
Colin comes on stage to a standing ovation, straps on his Maton acoustic, tunes it and goes right into Men At Work’s Down Under. After this song he starts his joking and storytelling. He hadn’t gotten to the second song yet and says, “Maybe we’ll get 4 or 5 songs in tonight.” If you’ve seen him before, you know he likes to talk, a lot. It’s part of his show and he’s really an interesting guy.
He ended up playing 9 songs, a few of which I don’t think I had heard before. Of the 9, three were men At work songs: Down Under, Who Can It Be Now?, and Overkill. I saw that he had added Blue For You to a few shows last year and I really hoped we would have heard that one last night, but no dice. Didn’t matter. He sounded great. His voice is still strong and he’s a really good guitar player as well.
During the closer, Overkill, he used a memory man pedal to record the main riff of the song during the song and actually got to play the guitar solo. He didn’t do that last time and it was pretty cool. I love that song.
After the show, he did a meet and greet. Lots of people there buying his new CD which was just released that day. Lots of folks had Men At Work stuff. One girl was wearing a vintage Cargo Tour shirt, which was pretty cool. I got through the line, just shook his hand, told him it was a great show and that I had seen him a few times before. I mentioned the solo show in 2009 and Men At Work in 1999. We snapped a quick photo and I was on my merry way. He looked pretty tired, but he was smiling.
If you get a chance to see this tour, do it.
Setlist (only songs 1,2,3 and 9 are in proper order):
- Down Under
- Wayfaring Sons
- Who Can It Be Now?
- Prison Time
- Beautiful World
- I just don’t think I’ll ever get over you
- Waiting for my real life to begin
- Maggie
- Overkill
2011.
This year is already shaping up to be a great one for seeing music. As I queefed about a few days ago, SxSW has some cool stuff to see this year, but there’s so much more.
On my plate between now and May:
- Colin Hay (Men At Work)
- Al Dimeola
- Destruction/Heathen
- Motorhead
- Heart (maybe)
Not to mention the local acts that I enjoy seeing on a regular basis as well. Mixed in all that will be my main band with Doug Morrison and hopefully we can get the Capricorn USA (the Motorhead tribute) going again. I’m sure there will be some stuff this summer in San Antonio that I’ll want to attend and am always game for going back to Virginia to see something cool at Jaxx that may not be playing around here.
Triptykon – Austin, TX 10-29-10
My history with Celtic Frost goes back to about 1986 as noted here. I am a fan. While Monotheist is probably my least favorite album, it’s not bad. A year or so ago Tom G. announced that Celtic Frost was done and he had a new project called Triptykon…which uses the Frost script in one their logos. Tom seems to have some deep seeded issues with carrying on as Frost.
No matter.
Triptykon was announced to play Emo’s and I was in. I mean c’mon. It’s Tom G! I bought the meet and greet pass mainly to get his signature in the book.
Per my normal routine I walk to the venue early and happen to catch Tom G. walking the streets. I talked to him for just a few moments and headed over to the venue. The pre-sale on this show was 60. SIXTY! I was able to get in early via a friend who worked there and got to catch the soundcheck. They did Usurper and for whatever reason, Tom was smiling and laughing the whole time. This was the last show on the tour as they canceled the Houston show. It is my understanding that the tour attendance had been pretty light. Last night’s show had Triptykon playing before the headliner. The tour included Yakuza (Chicago) and 1349 (Norway) on the bill. Local band Mammoth Grinder opened but I missed them.
At the end of soundcheck Tom G was asked if he needed more monitor. Tom G responded with, “I can hear myself enough. Doesn’t matter, we’re just playing Austin.” Ouch! C’mon Tom G! Show a little love!
Tom G signs the book.
After soundcheck I hung outside talking with a few friends before the quick meet and greet. Only 7 people (including me) bought the pass for it. Two guys drove up from Monterrey, Mexico for this. That was cool. They brought each member of the band some gifts from Mexico which mainly consisted of tequila. Very cool. I had Tom G sign the book which got the usual reaction from bands…”What the hell is this?” He read through the Celtic Frost section and signed it. We all snapped a few pictures and that was it.
I left there to drop the book off back at the house and went to a bar for a beer. I missed Mammoth Grinder and caught most of Yakuza’s set. Not my cup of tea at all. Sort of avant-garde metal with lots of saxophone. Their slower mellower stuff was alright as background music but they aren’t something that I would want to listen to regularly.
Triptykon cam on next and I was glad to see the place fill up a little. There may have been 150 people there but I think that’s pushing it. They opened up with Frost’s Procreation of the Wicked. This band is tuned
Eyes as black as his soul! Tom G!
down a bit and it’s weird hearing this song in a lower key. Overall they were good, solid. Tom G is no guitar wizard by any stretch of the imagination, but he does write good riffs. The Triptykon stuff sounds like where the music from Monotheist left off. Slow, plodding, dark. I enjoyed the show quite a bit, though. How many more times are we going to see Tom G in the states, ya know? They also plays Circle of the Tyrants and Usurper with the singer for 1349 handling vocal duties.
I was tired and didn’t stick around for 1349. I’m really not that big of a black metal fan. I saw what I wanted to see.
Setlist:
- Crucifixus (Intro)
- Procreation of the Wicked
- Goetia
- Circle of the Tyrants
- Abyss Within My Soul
- The Usurper
- Synagoga Satanae
- The Prolonging
- Winter (I think they did this)
Ugh!
(all images clickable)
Love the H. R. Giger guitar!
My shitty vids from the show. The lighting was terrible.
Billy Cobham – Concert Review – Austin, TX – October 13, 2010
I hate printable tickets!
Sometime in the mid-80s, I think, a friend of mine turned me on to some jazz stuff and the one band that stuck with me was Mahavishnu Orchestra. Their album Birds of Fire remains the greatest jazz/fusion album I
have ever heard. Part of the reason, a big part really, was because of the drummer, Billy Cobham. He was a very musical drummer and I loved his work on his first solo album, Spectrum and the Miles Davis albums Bitches Brew and Live-Evil. He’s just a man-beast of a drummer in his chops, but he plays such a light fluid style.
That Mahavishnu album is very special to me. When I was still drumming (84-2000), I used to practice along with Birds of Fire quite often. No, I wasn’t able to play a lot of the stuff he was doing on there, but I tried my damnedest to play along and keep up. It was good practice.
When I saw that he was playing at the One World Theatre here in Austin, I had to go. I was able to score second row seats on the center aisle. Doug Morrison came along. I’d never been to this place but Doug mentioned several times how small and awesome it is. He was right. You almost feel like you’re in your own house watching a band with perfect acoustics. The place is pretty awesome. The sound was great.
Billy’s band consists of all foreigners, including Billy. I never knew he was Panamanian. The whole band was just great and one would expect no less. But then there’s Billy. I’ve never seen such a big drummer with such a soft style. He proved all night that power drumming has absolutely nothing to do with how hard one hits. He was so fluid and solid. He did hit harder for accent in spots, but it wasn’t his main thing. It was quite awesome to watch how he was conducting things from behind the kit. Normally he’d play with his eyes closed, but when they were opened, it was usually to give someone a cue as to what was coming next. In one spot he looked over to the bassist and guitar player and just said, “four” and they just nodded and smiled. Some of the stuff they played really had that early 70s Mahavishnu feel to it.
He is so musical of a drummer and it really took me back to my playing days. It made me miss it badly. Not that I was even remotely a jazz/fusion style drummer, but I did try to be a little musical about it instead of just keeping the beat. Both Doug and I sat there in awe. For 64 years old, he is still incredibly awesome.
After the show Billy was doing an autograph signing and I didn’t bring anything as I didn’t expect him to come out and hang out. I did have him sign my ticket and he was gracious enough to do a photo with me. They didn’t allow cameras during the show so I have no photos of the band. Pity. But I do have the awesome shot below!
If this tour comes anywhere near you and you even remotely like jazz/fusion, you will not be disappointed. Just go! I’m even more excited about seeing John McLaughlin, Colin Hay and Al Dimeola there in the coming months.
Billy Cobham and yours truly. I'm obviously more excited than he is.
Not Your Older Brother’s Buzzov*en
Kings Head Inn in Norfolk, VA was legendary for us locals. So many great bands rolled through there. Many times we had no idea who was playing, we’d just show up and hang out and deal with the bands that were on bill, whether we liked them or not. That’s how I first saw Buzzov*en live. My guess is that it was around 1992/1993 as that was the time I started hanging around Norfolk a bit more. I guess I saw them 5 or 6 times with the last show being in 95 or 96. The memory isn’t as great as I would like it to be.
One of the main things I remember is how violent their shows were. not necessarily because of the crowd, but the band themselves, especially lead-man Kirk Fisher. I don’t think I ever saw a show of theirs where he didn’t end up bloody. Were they the greatest band on the planet? Not by a long shot, but they were highly entertaining.
Flashforward to this past Saturday night, October 2, 2010, and it was a bit of a different Buzzov*en than I was used to seeing back in the olden days. Other than Dixie Dave Collins from Weedeater on bass, they were pretty subdued. Dave moved around quite a bit but it really did seem like the younger years of hard living and violent touring may have calmed them down a bit.
Soundwise they were good and right on par to how I remembered them. Oddly enough I never owned any of their albums and still can’t name one song, but they were still entertaining.
If I could complain about anything it would be the $18 cover and the lack of attendance. The door price turned several people away and I was almost one of them, but I sucked it up and went in. I doubt there were more than 120 people there. Pity. These guys are pretty legendary as far as sludge metal goes and you’d think that EYEHATEGOD’s fans in Austin would have come out.
It was good to see them again though. now I just need to catch Weedeater when they roll through again.
There were 3 opening acts: Mala Suerte, Honky and Dixie Witch. They all seemed to fit well with the vibe of the evening and all 3 bands sounded great.
Gary Rosas of Mala Suerte
Jeff from Honky
One of the Dixie Witch bass drums. The band is actually too ugly to photograph. (kidding guys!)
Kirk from Buzzov*en
Dixie Dave and Buzzov*en
The Metal Files 
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