Posts Tagged ‘austin’
Christopher Cross Concert Review, Austin, TX, September 18, 2015
Two nights in a row of yacht rock? And with the guy who essentially created it? Sure! Probably should hand over my Metalhead Gold Card for a little while, eh? No worries, lots of metal shows coming up!
I’ve been a fan of Christopher Cross since as long as I can remember. Good easy smooth rock. Ride Like the Wind is still such a fantastic song. I took the decision yesterday to see the show and got a seat in the upper balcony of the famed Paramount Theater. I had only seen Cross when he sat in with Michael McDonald a few years ago for Ride Like the Win.
The show opened with Got To Be a Better Way from his new album. Never Be the Same was up next and he spoke a little about TV preachers, which was an intro to another song called Reverend Blowhard from his new album, The Secret Ladder. Is this a 1989 metal show?
He played a mix of old and new songs split between 2 sets. Of course Sailing drew a huge response. I was really stoked to hear Thinking of Laura and Minstrel Gigolo which featured an appearance by Eric Johnson. He mentioned that he and Eric had been best of friends since the 70s and I think it rubbed off on him.
It was a really good show and what I was most amazed by was Cross’ guitar skills. The guy is a bit of a shredder. I was blown away. I’ll really have to go back and revisit his early catalog and give a better listen. And of course his backing band was top notch. His drummer and piano player especially.
Motorhead, Saxon & Crobot Concert Review, Austin, TX, September 1, 2015
“Heart of a lion fight to the end
Run like the wind
Champions of champions, best in the land, you always win
Don’t fade away, don’t fade away
Run with your dream right to the end
Your spirit flies on eagle’s wings
Never coming down”
– Fallen Heroes by A.S.A.P. (Adrian Smith)
Since last night this verse has been running in my head.
We all know the story by now that Motorhead stopped during their 3rd song, Metropolis, and that was it.
I’ve seen them 7 times in the last 12 years and each has been just a little more depressing than the previous. I noticed in 2003 that his hand was shaking when not holding a jack and coke or playing his guitar. It was more than just the shakes. It looked like Parkinson’s disease to me, not that I can diagnose anything on anyone. Lemmy’s health in recent years has been spoken of often…pacemaker, diabetes, altitude sickness, etc. He has looked awful and in the last 5 years has gotten so skinny and more frail than ever.
There was tension in the air before the came on stage. Anticipation of what was coming next based on recent events with the band in Salt Lake and Denver.
The band hits the stage and Lemmy gingerly walks on stage playing a few notes…”Alright?” The crowd is excited…”We are Motorhead…” Roars from the crowd. “…and we play rock and roll!” He sounded so weak…and old. He’s 69 and looks every bit of it and more.
And then they went in to Damage Case. It was slow. So slow. Lem’s voice was quiet. He was barely playing the chords. Stiff. He looked like he was in pain. They played Stay Clean next. Phil and Mikkey more animated than normal, likely trying to draw attention from the elephant in the room. Both songs were about 20% slower than recorded.
Then Lemmy is announcing Metropolis. He mentions that he’s been sick. Before the second verse started, Lemmy stops playing and says, “I can’t do it” and the band quickly exits the stage.
There were cheers for the band but there was also a hush over the crowd. Chants of “Lemmy” and “We love you” were started. A few minutes later, Lemmy comes out and says, “You are one of the best gigs in America, and I would love to play for you, but I can’t… So please accept my apologies. Next time, all right?” Class act all the way.
Until next time is right, Lem. Hopefully Saturday in Houston.
By the way, Crobot and Saxon also played.
Kansas Concert Review, Austin, TX, August 20, 2015,
The last time I saw Kansas was 2000 in Virginia Beach, VA when they were opening for YES. We had lawn seats at the amphitheater and it was started raining cats and dogs during Kansas’ set. It made the show less enjoyable. When YES came on, they moved us in seats at the back of the covered area as the show was lightly attended. I can’t say I enjoyed the show that much getting soaked like we did.
I got home from work yesterday around 5:30 and felt like I needed to get out and do something. I went to the ShowListAustin website to see if there was anything to spark my interest. The last 2 things on their list for yesterday were Weird Al and Kansas. I’m no big fan of Weird Al so I looked up the Kansas show and there were plenty of tickets available. I ended up in a box section all by myself which was just fine.
I’ve never been to the Long Center before and it was an average sized place with good sound. The venue doesn’t allows bottles, cans or food inside, so they pour your drinks in a cup with a lid and a straw. Seemed odd.
The band started promptly at 8PM with People of the South Wind and then when into Point of Know Return. Let’s be clear, Kansas are not young folks. Neither am I and their fan base surely isn’t young. I was certainly in the top percentage of “younger” folks and I’m 45!
The band sounded great albeit slower than the recordings. No surprise and no problem. The new singer, Ronnie Platt, sounded great taking over after Steve Walsh’s 2014 retirement.
The setlist consisted mainly of songs from “The Best of Kansas” compilation with some additions. Being in the box and not blocking any views, I stood up the whole show.
The highlights for me were Play the Game Tonight, Belexes, People of the South Wind and Hold On. I love that song and it has always elicited an emotional response and last night’s version was no different. Great song. Enjoyable show over all and was over before 9:30 so us older folk can get to bed at a decent hour. haha
Whitesnake and The Dead Daisies Concert Review, Austin, TX, August 9, 2015
The Dead Daisies opened the show and I had not heard of them until right before showtime. They are sort of an all star lineup featuring John Corabi, Marco Mendoza, Dizzy Reed, Richard Fortis, Brian Tichy and Damon Johnson. They came out and got the crowd warmed up pretty easily and were a good fit to open for Whitesnake. Musically I was pretty bored. Too much hand clapping and “Hey!” type rock for me. The crowd seemed into it though and that’s what mattered. They were solid and Corabi’s voice sounded great. They did a quick free meet and greet immediately after their set which was cool. I spoke to Marco for a moment recalling the times I saw him with Thin Lizzy in Virginia and Maryland. He’s got a good memory, “Phil Lynott tattoo on your arm, right?”
I saw Whitesnake for the first time about 10 years ago to the day (August 7, 2005) in Norfolk, VA and they were good. Good enough, anyway. Coverdale, who’s no spring chicken and should not be expected to sound like he did in the 70s and 80s, sounded good. Last night was no different.
They had a taped opening of The Who’s My Generation then went right into Burn by Deep Purple, Slide It In and Love Ain’t No Stranger. Great way to open a show! They played some more Deep Purple songs (this is dubbed the Purple Tour) and some other Whitesnake tracks including Bad Boys from the 1987 S/T album. I was a little surprised that they’re not playing Stormbringer on this tour, but oh well.
The band was super solid and their backing vocals helped Coverdale sound better for sure. He’s got Reb Beach, Joel Hoekstra, Tommy Aldridge, Michael Devin and a keyboard player that I’m too lazy to look up. Both Reb and Joel were tearing it up on guitar and Aldridge bored me to tears like he always has. I could never get into his playing.
The show didn’t sell out, not even close. It was a great time with great friends during and after the show and I’ve got a little rock and roll pneumonia today to show for it!
Sepultura, Destruction, Arsis, Starkill & Headcrusher Concert Review, Austin, TX, June 10, 2015
Early shows on weeknights. I love ’em. Last night’s show was done by 10:30 and that was sweet.
To be honest, I was most excited about last night’s show to see Arsis again. They’re one of my favorites.
Prior to the show I got to meet Sepultura who were really cool. Got Paolo and Andreas in The Book. I’ve got no problem saying that if Beneath the Remains was the only album that they ever recorded, they could have been my favorite thrash band ever. But…
Headcrusher was the local support (originally from Bogota, Colombia) for the show and they played a tight energetic set on a hot stage going on right around 5:25. They crushed it to an unfortunately small crowd. Always a pleasure seeing them, even if I’m not the biggest death metal fan.
Chicago’s melodic death metal band, Starkill, was up next and to be honest, I couldn’t care. I had listened to a few tracks earlier in the day and they just didn’t catch my ear. They were pretty sloppy, too. Maybe the heat was too much. Don’t know. Can’t care.
Arsis came on next and did what they do best…SHRED. They played an intense 7 song set opening with Handbook for the Recently Deceased from their latest album, Unwelcome. Not only do I like their riffs, I really dig the lyrics. Malone writes some pretty cool stuff that goes outside of the “hey look, we love satan” type lyrics in a lot of death metal. Great show, but always too short for my tastes.
Destruction came on next and hit the growing crowd right in the face with Curse the Gods. They were tight but I could tell they were dying from the heat up there. I missed the middle part of their set as I went to the bar next door to sit down for a few minutes. My foot has been bothering me lately as well as my back (getting old!) and I needed a place to sit down for a little bit as Empire Garage doesn’t have seats anywhere. When I came back I caught The Butcher Strikes Back and Bestial Invasion. Shortly after their set, their tour manager invited me and 2 other guys onto their bus to hang out. Schmier and Mike were very welcoming guys. Schmier had made a comment from the stage about the Germany/USA soccer match from earlier in the day and I commiserated with him about it. We then got into a great discussion about Thin Lizzy. Mike is a huge fan. Good dudes. They also signed The Book! Seriously two of the nicest guys, along with their drummer, that I have ever met.
When I left the bus, Sepultura was already on stage. The crowd had filled in quite a bit. They sounded super tight, but I just couldn’t invest much time into them last night. They weren’t playing anything that I really cared to hear, so I went home.
Arsis! :)
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- Sepultura and Monkey Boy
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- Headcrusher
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- Headcrusher
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- Starkill
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- Sepultura merch. Loved that USA tour shirt, didn’t have my size. :(
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- James Malone of Arsis and some fanboy
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- Arsis
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- Arsis
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- Arsis
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- Arsis
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- Destruction
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- Mike from Destruction
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- Schmier from Destruction
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- Destruction and Monkey Boy
The Metal Files 
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