Posts Tagged ‘austin’
Manilla Road & Graven Rite Concert Review, Austin, TX, October 25, 2015
It’s been quite a busy few weeks for shows and last night’s show was a last minute decision that I am so glad I made.
I got to Hotel Vegas right as Graven Rite was setting up so went outside for a bit and ran into Mark “The Shark” Shelton, who I had just seen the week prior at Frost and Fire Fest in Ventura, CA. We spoke for a few minutes. Before heading in to see Graven Rite, I ran into Scott from Texas Metal Underground who is one of the coolest dudes around.
I came in on Graven Rite’s third song, Bloodstone Ring. After that they played Twisted Sister’s The Beast and it sounded good. The closed their set with the title track from their debut EP, The Summoner’s Pit. It was good to catch them live.
After a pretty quick stage switch out, Manilla Road comes on and I move right to the front where a couple of my friends were hanging out. My favorite album by Manilla Road is Mystification and they opened with Masque of the Red Death. Trying to keep up with their setlists is interesting because everything is pretty much decided on the spot. “Let’s play this one…” kind of thing. That means the band has to be ready for anything and they were. I was quite surprised to see so many people wearing MR shirts and singing along to their set, especially some of the younger folks I saw there. After headbanging up front for the first 3 or 4 songs, I moved to the back with the old folks. haha. Plus I could hear everything better. The whole band sounded great and watch Mark shred is such a pleasure. Admittedly I don’t know their whole discography but really enjoyed Cage of Mirrors, The Riddle Master and Divine Victim and the others from Mystification.
I was pretty tired after the show, so I said some quick goodbyes to the band and headed home. It was a great night though. As an aside, I saw a lot of younger “metalheads” at this show. A few I’ve seen at other metal shows but most seem to be, in my view, metalheads for the fashion of it. I’d like to see some of these kids in 5 years to see if they stayed “metal” or if they’re just rolling in the trend. And Matt, if you’re reading this, you’re not part of that crowd. You’re one of the truest metalheads I’ve ever known. :)
My neck hurts today.
Soul Asylum and Meat Puppets Concert Review, Austin, TX, October 23, 2015
Not a huge fan of either band but in the early 90s I was working at a mall record store over the holiday season and Soul Asylum’s Grave Dancers Union was a huge hit. After hearing the album nightly, I started to like it, Never got into anything else by them but I do love this particular album. Spying some of the setlists from the current tour, I saw that they were playing much of the album and decided to go.
The Meat Puppets were the opener and I don’t really know much about them beyond having covered their single Backwater in the early 90s. I knew Lake of Fire from Nirvana’s Unplugged concert. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy their set at all. While they’re skilled players, their music does zero for me. Plus they didn’t play the one song I cared about. And yes, I’m totally that guy. haha. They did, however, do a cool cover of Seven Spanish Angels.
Soul Asylum comes on and opens with my favorite song, Somebody To Shove. Dave Pirner sounds great. His voice was strong and his band was tight. They feature Michael Bland on drums who was in Prince’s band for much of the 90s. They guy was awesome, of course. Their set was pretty much as I had seen online and I had a great time. I’d probably go see them again given the right bill.
Savage Master Concert Review, Austin, TX, October 22, 2015
After the Rick Springfield/Loverboy/Romantics show, we headed back over to east Austin to the Lost Well to catch my pals in Savage Master. This is the third time I’ve seen them this year, the others being in May at Ragnarokkr and last weekend in Ventura, CA. I enjoy them more and more every time. The crowd was a little smaller than I expected but everyone was rocking out. Maybe 35 people, but they were all into it, including The Lost Well’s staff. That’s great to see that kind of support from a venue. Love Savage Master’s cover of Swords and Tequila as well.
They were out of CDs and 7″ records, which is a good thing and shows that they’re getting some fan support on the road.
Bands are on tight budgets when on the road, so I offered to let them stay at my place. They were happy to stay and I was happy to host them. Great bunch of folks. Looking forward to hearing some new material.
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- Stacey Savage and Monkey Boy
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- Savage Master
Rick Springfield, Loverboy & Romantics Concert Review, Cedar Park, TX, October 22, 2015
I’ve been really busy with shows lately. It’s wearing me out. It’s wearing my wallet out! This past Thursday brought some big 80s pop rock bands to the Cedar Park Center. Let’s just dog right in.
The Romantics opened up and beyond one song, I never cared for them. Their set was hampered by major sound issues but they plodded through it like pros. Interestingly enough, three of the 4 guys are originals. That’s pretty rare these days. I always thought most of their songs sounded the same. They were solid though. The had a minor hit in the mid-80s with One In A Million and didn’t play it. What? The one song I wanted to hear, of course.
Loverboy came on next. I always liked their radio hits. Friendly safe pop rock, totally 80s. They were the main reason I went. I had never seen them and who doesn’t want to rock out with Mike Reno? Loverboy is also 4/5 original. Sweet. Their set was pretty much what you’d expect except they didn’t play When It’s Over, which is a great song and was a decent hit for them. Reno sounded great and I got to hear the other songs I wanted to hear, especially Turn Me Loose. That song rules.
We only stayed for 4 songs of Springfield’s set as I had another show to see at a different venue. I’ve done Everything For You was played second, so that made me happy. He sounded great, though. That dude is 66 years old. He was all over the stage and of course the girls in the crowd were going googoo over him.
Good time and glad I went.
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- Rick Springfield
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- Loverboy
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- The Romantics
Billy Idol Concert Review, Austin, TX, October 1, 2015
I’m not a huge Billy Idol fan and I don’t think I’ve ever owned any of his albums, but I liked most of the radio hits and what little bit of Generation X stuff I’ve heard over the years. I do like Steve Stevens quite a bit though. His Atomic Playboys album was really good as well as the first Bozzio, Levin, Stevens album.
The setlist was pretty much as expected mixing up the hits, a few Gen X songs and some new stuff. Stevens rocked it. Idol’s voice seemed out of key through much of the set and in some spots it sounded perfect. Too perfect really. I’m pretty sure that some of his vocals were pre-recorded. I’m not the only one who noticed it as others around me were making the same comment.
That being said, I had a good time and he did play Blue Highway, which is one of my faves.
The Metal Files 
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