Posts Tagged ‘concert reviews’
Iron Maiden Concert Review, San Antonio, TX 8/15/12
It was twenty-four years and 5 days ago that I had first seen my favorite band in the whole wide world. That was on the Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour. Last night in San Antonio, Iron Maiden was reliving much of that tour on their Maiden England – North American Tour 2012. This was only my 5th time seeing them, which to me seems sparse seeing that they’re my favorite band and all. After Seventh Son, they didn’t come through my part of Virginia and I didn’t travel for many shows throughout the 90s. Plus Bayley was singing for them through much of that time and I didn’t care. I did miss a chance to see them with friends at Madison Square Garden with DIO and Motorhead. I’ll always regret not going to that one a bit. So be it.
Last night was my third time seeing them since moving to Texas and Maiden has always made it a point to take good care of Texas on their tours. Back on the Beast tour, they played EIGHT different cities here. That’s crazy! And quite awesome.
I bought 8 tickets on the pre-sale as I knew that I could always sell them to friends, which I did. One of those tickets was for my friend, Don. We’ve known each other since about 85, played in our first band together in the 80s, worked together after high school for a bit, acted as the best man in each others’ wedding etc. We have some history obviously. He moved to San Antonio 2 years ago with his company and it’s great that he’s close by again. He actually paid for my ticket as a birthday gift. What a droog! He visited in 2008 to see Maiden with me on the Somewhere Back In Time Tour and we also hung out for a bit at the 1988 show. Fitting that we’d see yet another Maiden show together. Burney and Vanessa rode with me and it was the same four folks sitting together as in the recent Scorpions show. Good times.
After doing some heavy metal parking lot, we decided to all go in, the 8 of us, and see what was going on inside. Fortunately we missed every note of Coheed and Cambria. The first leg of the tour got Alice Cooper and we get this band. Ugh. I got in the t-shirt line to hopefully snag a handful of the Texas only shirts that Maiden always does but they were already sold out. DAMN! Hopefully a friend in Dallas or Houston can hook me up.
I grabbed a Coke and heard UFO’s Doctor Doctor come on and knew that the show was about to start. I shot a quick text to the others to let them know that Maiden was about to hit the stage. They quickly came and we were st our stations waiting for the show.
There were no surprises for the setlist as they’ve been playing the same list this whole tour. They opened with Moonchild and went right into Can I play With Madness. Now, I didn’t like Seventh Son when it came out and to this day I still think it’s a wimpy album, but it was a heck of a lot better than their 90s era. It was good to catch the songs live again. The Prisoner came next and it was the first time I had seen them play that since 1988. It was also the first time I had ever seen them play Phantom of the Opera. They did 2 Minutes which is one of my faves by them and just played a solid set in general.
Adrian and Dave are probably the greatest guitar duo in metal in my opinion. They’ve still got the chops. Steve was spot on and Nicko was mixing it up pretty well. His style has changed a little over the years and I only wish we could actually see him behind his massive kit and not just hear him. Jannick Gers is still a waste of space. Fortunately he seemed a wee bit less animated last night and mostly stayed on his side of the stage. And then there’s Bruce. His live voice has seemingly grown stronger over the years and last night he was on his game for sure. I am still impressed with how strong he is live. He has also changed his singing style over the years.
They went through lots of stage prop and background changes and it was nice seeing some of the old Seventh Son stuff again. There were a few moments where I felt like I was back at the Hampton Coliseum in 1988. Hearing Wasted Years always gets me right in the heart. Steve and Adrian’s backing vocals sounded really good, too. It really makes me long for Another A.S.A.P. from Adrian as I love his voice. That’s not going to happen though.
They were just great overall. If I had to complain about anything (shocking, eh?), it would be The Trooper (always hated that song), Afraid To Shoot Strangers and Fear of The Dark. I couldn’t stand that album and those 2 songs are my least favorites off of it. Oh well. Small price to pay to see my favorite band again, eh?
One observation that I will make is that many of the songs seemed to played slower than normal. Getting old or just trying to control tempo?
When is the next tour already? Let’s go!
Thank you and goodnight!
Cheap Trick Concert Review, Austin, TX 7/29/12
Let’s face facts. I was never really a big Cheap Trick fan although at some point or another I owned their debut album and Dream Police. It’s not that I didn’t like them, to be honest, I think I’ve liked every song I have ever 
heard by them. But for whatever reason I just never got in to them. I believe part of that was due to my brother Robert’s lack of interest in them in 70s and I pretty much drew my musical tastes in those days from what he fed to me. However I do remember myaunts Diane and Debbie liking them but we only saw them once a year when we’d visit Pennsylvania.
I saw Cheap Trick one time before in 1999 at the Hampton Bay Days Festival but I was pretty far back in the crowd and couldn’t really grasp the energy. I also don’t remember the crowd being that excited either. When tickets went on sale for last night’s show at The Moody Theater / ACL Live, I had to get tickets for it. That venue is awesome and has been bringing in some great shows so far.
In the early 2000s, I was playing in a band called The Renegades of Sluts (this is not a typo) and we did She’s Tight and Hello/Goodnight in our set sometimes. Good fun. I’ve always loved She’s Tight and was hoping we’d get to hear it. Perusing recent setlists for Cheap Trick’s Global Warming Tour. Last night was an off night for them while on tour with Aerosmith and they played Dallas the night before.
When I can, I try to buy extra tickets to shows. Sometimes to resell for profit and sometimes just to go ahead and get them on presale when maybe a friend isn’t able to do it at the time. I bought 2 for this show and ended up asking my dear friend Molly to come with me a few weeks ago. Perfect!
We get to the show and the opener is on. I had no interest in seeing them after listening to a few tracks on Youtube earlier in the day. Not my bag at all. We hung around the lounge until they were finished. Signs were posted around the venue stating that Cheap Trick would be on at 9. We went and found our seats and were getting excited for the show. Molly wanted to hear Southern Girls but they ended up not playing it. I did get to hear She’s Tight, though.
The lights go down right at 9 am the band hits the stage opening with Clock Strikes Ten. Zander was wearing a band leader type uniform and hat for most of the show. Nielsen is dressed like he always dresses. I don’t know what Peterssen was dressed like, but it was out there. He had an Elton John thing going for sure. Unfortunately Bun E. Carlos no longer tours with the band, but Rick’s son, Daxx, has been handling the live duties for the last 2 years and did a fine job.
They played a good set and the highlights for me were certainly She’s Tight, Oh Candy, The Flame (always loved this song), I Know What I Want and Borderline. I was a bit surprised as to how many songs I recognized. The great thing about their music is that every song is right around 3 minutes long, old rock and roll style. The Beatles influence on them is overt and it’s a wonder I even like them due my my disdain for the Beatles.
Robin’s voice started a wee bit rough but got stronger and stronger as the night went on. In The Flame, he nailed the high note at the end. I was truly shocked. He still has a lot of power in his singing. While I’ve never looked at Rick as a stellar player, he’s certainly solid and entertaining. He jumps around a lot for a man who is 65. Tom Peterssen apparently invented the 12-string bass and he used a few different ones all night. Of course Rick used about a dozen different guitars and an 8-string bass for one song. The whole band was really good in general.
I did notice from our balcony set that there was a piece of paper taped to the floor in front of Zander’s mic that said “AUSTIN TEXAS”. Rick wasn’t sure where he had played last night as he stated, “Where did we play last night? Atlanta?” Funny. But I guess when you’re touring that much, things get blurry. What a wonderful problem to have, eh?
During Surrender, Rick grabbed the hand of a little kid with a mohawk and yanked him on stage. They handed him a ton of guitar picks and he was tossing them out to the crowd. He also helped to sing the song with Robin and knew all of the words. It was pretty neat thing to see.
After Surrender, they left the stage. After about 2 minutes they came back on and played 3 more songs: Dream Police, Gonna Raise Hell and Goodnight.
It was a great show and hopefully I’ll have another chance to see them again. I also wish I would have taken the opportunities to have seen them more in the 80s and 90s. Such is life.
One thing I thought was weird was that during the main part of the set, security made the people in the floor seats stay at their seats, no one was allowed at the stage at all. They were hardcore about it. If you don’t want people rushing the stage at a rock show, put up a barricade. Easy. I’ve seen them used at this venue before (Megadeth anyone?). After the encore started, everyone rushed the stage and security didn’t try to gain control again. I also noticed that the venue was barely 3/4 full, which I found a bit surprising seeing that the place only holds a few thousand folks. I guess they’re just not that popular here.
Go see them if you get a chance, you won’t be disappointed.
“AUSTIN TEXAS” on the paper in front of the mic
I will be the the flaaaaaame
beauty and the beast
Scorpions/Tesla Concert Review, San Antonio, TX 6/26/12
I had just seen the Scorpions in San Antonio 2 years ago and it will forever be one of the best concerts I have ever seen. You can read about that experience here. And if you care to see which Scorpions shows I have attended, click here.
Last night marked the 5th time since 1991 that I have seen them and per usual, they never disappoint. This show was a continuation of their Final Sting tour and it’s pretty cool that they decided to hit San Antonio twice. A lot of bands owe a great deal of thanks to that City for giving them a break way back when and Scorpions are no exception.
I was less than pleased to see that Tesla was the opener. I never got into them besides Modern Day Cowboy, which is an awesome song.
Thanks to the Internet, I was able to see what the setlists for both bands were going to be as they’ve been pretty consistent for the recent leg of this tour.
Last night, I met up with my friends Don, Burney and Vanessa at the Illusions Theater at the Alamodome. They basically take one end of the Alamodome and convert it to a smaller venue. When Scorps were here 2 years ago, they damn near
Vanessa and Burney
sold out the AT&T center, but I still saw some vacant seats last night. After some brief conversations in the parking lot and a beer (heavy metal parking lot 2012?), we headed inside. The shirts were pretty ugly and quite expensive. I’ll pay that $35 a shirt for Maiden’s Texas only shirts, but not for the Scorps. The bootleg shirts were ok, but I passed on those too.
Tesla hit the stage promptly at 7:30PM and went relatively seamlessly through their set. They stuck to their classics and played them well, but again, I am not a fan. I sat through their entire set. They did Cowboy which was certainly the highlight for me and it was cool hearing Edison’s Medicine again. Not a bad song. Love Song made me want to puke. I’ve always
awful picture
hated that song. I once got kicked out of a band because I refused to play it. Haha. Jeff Keith sounded fine and the band’s backing vocals were top notch. The drums in the mix were awful though. I don’t know what the hell the soundman was doing, but it was awful. They finished up their set and it was time to stretch my legs.
Scorpions came on Right at 9PM at opened with Sting In The Tail. Everyone was standing and the Scorps rocked like they always do. There were no real surprises in the setlist. Recent Euro shows actually got In Trance, but none of the American shows. I would have lost my shit if they had pulled that one out. That setlist was almost exact to 2 years ago with only a few changes. My only complaint about seeing them is the drum solo. While Kottak is a competent player, his drum solo just isn’t my thing even with the comedic video attached to it. But…Klaus, Rudy and Matthias are in their 60s, so I am sure the break does them a world of good.
They played Wind of Change which wasn’t in the set 2 years ago. I could have done without it for sure, only because I’ve heard it way too many times since it came out. But it’s a crowd pleaser and surely has some deep meaning for those guys.
Klaus’ voice seemed a little rough in the first song or two, but it quickly got right and he sounded great for the rest of the night. The whole band sounded great. As always they put on a great show and I really think it’ll be the last chance I’ll have to see them, which is unfortunate.
It was a fun time with good friends and that always makes a show more enjoyable.
This show also got me back on course. You see, I saw the Arch/Matheos show in May 2012 and since then I have had trouble enjoying other live bands. It’s really difficult to explain. That show was so powerful and was the best live music experience I think I have ever had. While it will likely never be topped, I needed a show to get me out of my rut and back into enjoying bands that I like. The Scorpions provided that for me last night. Thankfully.
boom
goodbye San Antonioooooo!
Lionel Richie Concert Review, Austin, TX 3/14/2012, SxSW
Another concert review from the “Not So Metal Files”. My musical tastes are pretty diverse and there’s no doubting that my favorite genre of music is metal. It’s been in my life since the mid-70s and I live for it. But through the years there are other genres and artists that have been on my radar. One of them is Lionel Richie.
Like most, my introduction to his music was via The Commodores in the 70s. While I’ll never be accused of being a fan of funk, I am a fan of a good ballad and The Commodores cornered that market in those days with songs like Easy, Three Times A Lady, Sail On and Still. Lionel decided to go solo and continued the ballads in the 80s with great songs like Truly (my fave of his), Lady (used by Kenny Rogers), Endless Love, Stuck On You, Hello and a slew of others.
A little additional background into my love for Lionel’s music…in junior high (82-84) I was in the school choir. I had quite a nice baritone back in those days, at least Ms. Matthews thought so. In choir, we did a lot of Lionel’s ballads and I really grew quite fond of those tunes.
Enter 2012’s SxSW Music Festival. Earlier this week we learned that Lionel was going to be playing the awesome Moody Theater for the Billboard Magazine showcase. For those that don’t know, SxSW gives people the option to buy a badge or wristband to give you access to all of the official shows as space allows. I’ve never bought one as I generally can get in to most of the shows I want to see. But this one was different. My pals and I got into freakout mode trying to figure out how the hell we could get into the show. We assumed that since there’s an additional 100,000 people in town, the place would have the typical long lines of badgeholders to get in.
It was announced the day before the show that they would releases some tickets to the public the day of the show. As soon as I got off work, I met up with my friend at the bar across the street from the venue. Shockingly to me, there was no one in line at the badge area and only 10 folks in line to buy tickets. WTF? We sat in line from about 6:15PM to 8PM when they finally opened up the box office. $30 a ticket. That’s it! For Lionel! If would have paid $100 with no question. We got our tix and went in.
Have of the balcony area was closed off and the mezzanine level was for special guests only. There were 4 opening groups and we sat through them all.
The first was Wallpaper. A dancy, hip-hop-ish sort of thing with 2 drummers. Not my thing but they were solid and the co-singer/dancer girl was quite cute. I thought I heard someone say she was Sly Stone’s daughter. I don’t know.
Up next was Vintage Trouble. Four dudes dressed 40’s style. Guitar, bass, drums and vocals. It wasn’t my thing but it wasn’t bad. The singer was definitely influenced by James Brown in the way he dressed, moved and sang. If JB was in a rock band, this would be it.
Poliça came on next. Another group with 2 drummers. My friend put it best…”Everything But the Girl mixed with Dido.” That nailed it.
Terius “The-Dream” Nash was next. Hip hop. My switch was off. I wanted to see Lionel. I will say that The-Dream’s drummer was pretty incredible though.
They opened up the mezzanine area to everyone and we bolted down there from the balcony and got some decent seats. The place was still lightly attended. What a shock. But it didn’t matter. I was there, that’s what was important.
After a quick set change, Lionel comes on. A pre-recorded dancy version of Hello opened the show then they went right into Running With The Night. We were in freak out mode. After 2 or three songs, Lionel tells his band to leave the stage as he wanted to do some songs without the band. Lionel is 62 years old. He looked young, he sounded young and I think he made all of us feel younger again. During Dancing On The Ceiling they broke into a little bit of Van Halen’s Jump. Half of the set was Commodores songs.
The show was just plain awesome. The waves of emotion that hit me during certain songs, remembering that time and place when those songs first entered our lives. It was quite special and surely an experience I will never forget. He said there will be an upcoming tour and that he’d be back. I’ll be there!
Kenny Rogers came out and did Lady with him. That was cool. I will say I was a bit disappointed not to hear Truly. I adore that song. He also didn’t do Endless Love or Three Times a Lady. Maybe next time!
For some great pro shot pictures, click here.
What a night!
Radiohead Concert Review, March 6, 2012, Austin City Limits
I’ll go ahead and put it out there that I will never be accused of being a Radiohead fan. After last night’s performance at the Austin City Limits taping, I’m still not a fan.
When Creep hit the airwaves in 1992/3, I really liked it. I also like the song Paranoid Android. Beyond those 2 songs, I’m relatively unfamiliar with their stuff.
I actually tried to get tickets to their performance at the Frank Erwin Center but it sold out quickly. Just a few weeks ago I was presented with the opportunity to see them at their taping for the tv show Austin City Limits. I jumped at the chance to see them in a smaller setting.
Weird going to a show and not knowing anyone but the people I was with and a security guy.
It was truly determined for me last night that they are a band that I don’t mind listening too, mainly as background music, but I’d never want to see them live again.
The performance was solid, even if a bit laid back because it was for tv. They messed one song up halfway through, stopped and restarted it. The magic of tv. Of course I didn’t hear them do Creep and it appears that they haven’t played it live since 2009. It was a very relaxing show. Combine that with the great food from Lambert’s, the margaritas and good folks Mike, Mark and Allies, and I was set up just right for the night.
If I had to give a criticism, it would be that I don’t like seeing bands who don’t really rock trying to rock out. Haha. Also, the double drummer thing always annoys me. Especially when both are practically doing the same thing. I did, however, enjoy seeing some of them being multi-instrumental.
It is also important to note how influential Radiohead is on a lot of the newer droning hipster and indie bands around today.
Click here to view the setlist.
The Metal Files 
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