Posts Tagged ‘concert review’
REO Speedwagon Concert Review, Austin, TX December 13, 2013
REO is one of those bands that reminds of my middle school years, They were everywhere…radio, MTV, etc. Up until last night I had never seen them before. I can’t say I’m a huge fan because I’m not, but they sure put on one great show last night and I’ve no regrets about going.
I had a spare ticket and asked my friend Rodney (Devastation singer) to come with me. The Wyldz from Australia opened up. We only caught the last song and they were ok. Apparently they’re based here in Austin now.
REO came on and opened with Don’t Let Him Go, Music Man and Take It On The Run all in a row. Kevin Cronin is 62 now and still sounds great. As expected it was generally an older crowd and it looked close to being sold out. As I always say, The Moody Theater is my favorite venue in town. The sound was perfect. I bought 6th row seats and they couldn’t have been much better.
Later in the show, everyone moved up to the stage and I stood right up front during the encore. During Ridin’ The Storm Out, Cronin walks to the edge of the stage and hands me his guitar pick. That was super cool. As we were walking out, the sound guy gave me the setlist. They added in Keep The Fire Burnin’ with just Kevin on acoustic guitar.
It was a great show altogether. If you’re a fan, even just a little, go see this tour!
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- Kevin Cronin’s guitar pick
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- Goodnight!
Elton John Concert Review, Austin, TX October 17, 2013
I’ve gone on and on about how one of my brothers was such a huge influence on me in the ways of hard rock and metal, but he also influenced me in some non-heavy stuff, the main one being Elton John. As a kid I can remember sitting with him listening to the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album as much as we did KISS and Jethro Tull or Sabbath. The music has stayed a part of my life to this day and still listen to Elton quite regularly, sticking mostly to his late 60s/70s stuff.
Elton has been to Austin at least one other time since I have lived here and I am not sure why I missed that show. Bummer. When I saw this show announced, I knew I had to go…and I knew I’d pay a hefty price for it. The show was part of a benefit for the Andy Roddick Foundation and they were only selling show seats for the upper balcony. I logged in on sale day and couldn’t get a ticket anywhere in the theater. It sold out so fast and I’m sure that most went to ticket brokers/scalpers. Not once have I not been able to get a ticket to a show there through normal ticketing. Then again, this was a big show. I ended up getting a 2nd row balcony ticket through StubHub for almost double face value and I didn’t care. This was a show I just had to see.
I got to the venue a little after 9 when they opened the doors for us little people, the ones not in suits and gowns who were there to bid on auction items to benefit the Foundation. They had the balcony curtained off during the auction until the last few minutes of it. People were throwing around 1000s of dollars on items like it was nothing. Good for them.
Andy comes on stage and talks for a minute, plays a 3 minute video about his charity then intros Elton. They hug, he leaves the stage, Elton bows, sits behind the piano and says, “Hello again, Austin!” and goes right into Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me. It was just him and a piano and it was perfect. He followed it up with Your Song, another favorite of mine.
I’ll admit to getting choked up when Goodbye Yellow Brick Road started. Lots of emotions and had me missing my brother once again.
With only having less than 90s minutes to play, his set wasn’t that long but it was a decent cross section of his career. I would have been fine without Circle of Life and would love to have heard Madman Across the Water, Seen That Movie Too, The One, but oh well.
Elton’s voice sounded great. A little deeper but still very powerful. He certainly can’t hit those falsettos nowadays, but hell, he’s 66. His piano playing was immaculate. He’s a master. he played a new song called Home Again from the latest album and it sounded great. It was cool to hear I’m Still Standing. I’ve always liked that one a lot.
Before the show I was sitting with some friends at a bar and we were discussing the biggest bands we had ever seen. Elton would be #2 behind the Stones for me. Metallica probably #3.
I hate that I waited so long to see him live, but will not hesitate to go again.
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- White people!
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- Goodbye, Sir Elton
Iron Maiden & Megadeth Concert Review, Austin, TX 9/10/2013
Last night Iron Maiden made their presence known in Austin the only way they know how…by getting on stage and destroying anything in their path and still being one of the greatest live bands ever.
They played at the Austin360 Amphitheater which is part of the new Circuit of the Americas racetrack on the outskirts of Austin. Megadeth has been the opener for this leg of the tour. What an incredible venue. No real covering over the pit or the seats and gives it a really awesome feel. The setup was really good overall.
I just saw this tour a week ago in Raleigh, NC and knew what to expect. But it didn’t matter. I love the band and would go see them every week if I could. Last week’s show was pretty special mostly because of the non-concert stuff that happened around the concert weekend. Last night’s show was special in its own way as well because again I got to see my favorite band with more of my closest friends.
Automatically when the show got announced I decided to join the Iron Maiden fan club just to get presale tickets. We were only allowed 4 tickets on the presale and I had my 3 spares easily picked out. Don, Pablo and Marco. Three of my closest friends in the area.
We met up at my house to each have a bottle of the Trooper Ale that I had picked up last week. I’m liking the beer a little more each time I have it.
We then took the quick ride to the venue and parked in the premium parking as I had prepaid for a pass. We scooted passed the line of cars and easily parked. We brought some extra Trooper beers with us to have a little parking lot celebration while waiting for my friends Jason and Morgan. Upon their arrival we went in.
I didn’t get an event shirt in Raleigh as they had sold out of my size. I decided to wait in the merch line during Megadeth and got the shirt I wanted. We were able to catch the last few ‘Deth songs and them mulled around the venue talking with other friends. Everybody was there it seemed. Maiden brings everyone out.
Maiden comes out and plays the same set they’ve been riding for the last year plus. I still wish they’d leave out Afraid to Shoot Strangers and Fear of the Dark and bring back Infinite Dreams and Still Life. Jannick Gers was slightly less annoying last night than in last week’s show.
I can’t state enough how great and energetic this band still is. Bruce Bruce sounded awesome and the band still fires off all cylinders. Nicko’s right foot is still that of legend. It was high in the mix last night, too. Guitar solos were still a bit buried as they were last week.
I hope we get to see them again and I’d gladly see them again at this venue. Well done, COTA.
Up the Irons.
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- Pablo, Monkey Boy, Don and Marco…and Trooper Ale
Iron Maiden and Megadeth Concert Review, Raleigh, NC 9/03/2013
Iron Maiden announced a few months back that they were going to add an additional short run of dates to play some cities in the USA that they rarely played, if ever. Opening night of this leg was Raleigh, NC. After discussing with Kelz who lives in Raleigh we decided to set up another “MitchFest”.
What is MitchFest? It’s what Kelz and I call our meet ups to see shows. We’ve done several over the years…Foetus, Sabbat, Loudness and a few others. We tried to get some other friends from our home state of Virginia to come in but not everyone could do it. I joined the Iron Maiden fan club to get presage tix for next week’s Austin show and realized I could get 4 tix for each of the other USA shows. I have Kelz a club code for Megadeth and we got 8 seats all together. The final group was Kelz, his wife and 2 kids, Petey, Wade and Baird. Kelz, Petey and I all met 30+ years ago and have been close since. I was in a band with Wade in the early 90s. Baird is Wade’s nephew who I hadn’t seen since he was a toddler. That kid is all grown up now.
Through Facebook I saw that some other old friends were going to be there and I was pretty excited to be able to see them.
But we’re not done with MitchFest. For what ever reason Kelz and I have called each other bitch monkey for years. That morphed into Mitch Bunkey and ultimately into just Mitch. Hence MitchFest. Got it? While we were walking around looking for the record store, we walked by Mitch’s Tavern. Really? On the way back to Kelz’ house we went by Bunkey’s car wash. No, really. You can’t make this stuff up.
My trip started with flying to Virginia to see my dear Mom and brother and to hopefully catch up with some folks in Virginia that I hadn’t seen since I left in 2006. Success! It was a quick trip but a good one.
I drove from Norfolk to Raleigh on Monday and got to Kelz’ place around 3. We’re in touch pretty regularly so there’s not much to catch up on. We hung out with his wife and kids and went to get some grub. I needed some NC style pork BBQ and got my fill. After some more jibber jabber and a beer or 2, we all crashed out. His kids had school the next morning.
On the day of the show, Petey was driving in from Richmond and Kelz and I went into town to hit a record store or 2 and grab some food. After finding the record store we wanted to see, we were going to head back to the house as Petey was 30 minutes away. Walking out if the store Kelz points across the street and it took me a second to see what he was talking about. Maiden Lane! What a coincidence. So if course we nerd out and take pics. As we’re driving back, see Smallwood Drive. What? Really? For those not in the know, Rod Smallwood has been Iron Maiden’s manager forever. Another weird coincidence.
Petey arrives, we nerd out some more and hang out with Kelz’ family until show time. After a quick bite to eat we get to the venue and meet up with Wade and Baird. We all go in and I run into some old pals that I had known since middle school. I also ran into a guy, Ben, that lived a few miles down the road from me when we were kids. I hadn’t seen him since around 1991. Mid show I ran into Ben Hogg who sang with Beaten Back to Pure, a band that My old band did several gigs with in the early 2000s.
Megadeth hit the stage promptly at 730 and went through their set pretty fluidly. I’ve seen Dave and company a few times in recent years and was neither blown away or bored by the set. Of course I only want to hear songs from the first three albums, but such is life. My main complaint is that their current drummer just isn’t that good. I’m still not sure why Dave keeps him around. I mean seriously, the double bass at the end of peace sells is that that difficult. GET IT RIGHT ALREADY!
After about a 30 minute set change, UFO’s Doctor Doctor starts playing and that’s the cue that Maiden is coming up next. We’re all excited even knowing that the setlist hasn’t changed in 2 years. It’s Maiden. The favorite band of Petey, Kelz and myself. We were there together and that’s what mattered.
Now, the three of us all saw Maiden together for our first time in 1988 so that made this reunion even more special. Maiden hits the stage with Moonchild and run through their set with ease. Bruce was as energetic as ever and the band sounded great. The mix could’ve been better as Dave and Adrian’s solos seemed low in the mix. We were just off of center not far from the soundboard. Steve was low as well. I’m still amazed that Nicko can play like he does. His right foot is just as awesome as it ever was. Adrian’s solo were great but Dave’s seemed a little off. Seems like he’s decided to change some things up over the last few years. Of course Jannick Gers is still in the band much to my dismay. I’ll say it again that I can’t stand that guy. Whatever. Bruce’s vocals were really strong and clear. The only time I saw him struggle was at the scream in the end if Aces High. He knew he couldn’t hit the note and just winged it. No bother. The dude has still got an incredible set of pipes unlike most if my other favorite older singers. Bruce still can do it live. No surprises in the show. It’s the same setlist as before, which is a bit unfortunate. I understand that their set changes are choreographed, but hell, just throw in some odd numbers and not worry about the big corresponding backdrops.
But the show was incredible. Yes, we got to see our favorite band again but all of us being together made the night and the whole trip even better.
I’m seeing the band again in Austin next week with some more great friends and already excited about it.
One thing about the show, and most shows in general these days, is seeing the people who go to these shows and just get obliterated. I saw so many people on the verge of passing out, puking and just acting like utter bumbling idiots. Don’t get me wrong, I like to party and get some beers in me seeing shows, but I also like to remember the show. Especially when spending $100 on a ticket, ya know? Maybe I’m just getting old and curmudgeony. It just doesn’t make sense to me.
Again, whatever. It was awesome and I can’t wait for the next show and the next MitchFest!
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- Welcome to NC.
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- “Vintage” Capricorn USA shirt. This is my now defunct Motorhead tribute band. Kelz still had one of the original shirts.
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- The random Mitch sign
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- Too much of a coincidence on the day of the show
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- Rod Smallwood. What?
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- The random Bunkey sign
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- Wade, Monkey Boy, Danny
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- Funny shirt in front of me
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- Benn Hogg from Beaten Back to Pure/Hour of 13. Our bands did several shows together in the early 2000s
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- Ben(ji). Haven’t seen this guy since about 1990 or 1991. We grew up on neighboring farms.
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- Eye see you.
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- A gift to Kelz’ kids from a random drunk guy. It was for a pre-show meet and greet and unusable for them…but a nice souvenir regardless!
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- From our quiet after party in Kelz’ basement
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- Monkey Boy, Petey, Kelz
Nektar Concert Review, Austin, TX 7/4/2013
Nektar was in town last night at a little place on the east side of Austin called Cheer Up Charlies. Little is the understatement of the century. This place was tiny. 20 people inside and you’re uncomfortable, I kid you not. No matter, they were playing there and I had to see them. And it was FREE! There was a suggested donation at the door and I dropped in $5.
I was introduced to Nektar’s music through Iron Maiden. They covered King of Twilight as the B-side of the Aces High single. Because of that I picked up their albums A Tab In The Ocean and Remember The Future. While not my favorite prog rock stuff from that era, it was enjoyable. And if Maiden liked them, that was good enough for me back in those days.
Prior to the band hitting the stage, I met their current bassist, Lux, and merch guy, Nicky. A friend had conversed with Nicky earlier and discovered that he was in the seminal British punk band UK Subs. An original member even. Weird world, eh?
Any way, Nektar takes the “stage” (read: the floor) and the room was filled with quite a few folks who were there specifically to see them. I was pleasantly surprised by that. The band seemed a little annoyed by the venue and understandably so. It was a Wednesday night in Austin and this show could have been booked easily at a more suitable venue. Again, no matter. They sounded really good. The band features original signer/guitarist and drummer Roy Albrighton and Ron Howden, respectively. The keyboardist was a German named Klaus Henatsch and on bass was Lux Vibratus, an American. He was a fantastic bassist.
I stayed for just under half of the set as there was another show that I had already paid admission to see. Not to mention that it was completely uncomfortable in there. Glad I got to see some legends last night.
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- Nicky Garratt of UK Subs
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- Up close and personal with Nektar
The Metal Files 
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