Posts Tagged ‘concert’
Judas Priest Concert Review, Austin, TX, November 7, 2014
The shows just keep coming. I’m tired but musically satisfied and it’s always completely worth it. Priest is an odd beast for me. Been a fan since the 70s and prefer that era much more than the 80s to now stuff. When Rob’s voice started leaning towards screeching for vengeance instead of the clean falsettos of the 80s, I was turned off. I first saw Priest in 1998 with Tim Owens on vocals. Blech. Didn’t like his albums or his Anselmo like stage presence, but the band sounded great.
Flash forward to 2008 and I went to the Priest/Heaven & Hell/Motorhead/Testament show but left before JP came on. I had seen footage of Rob from that tour and it was awful. Immobile, hunched over, a slave to his teleprompter, much like when I saw Halford (solo) in NYC. I didn’t want to see how much the mighty had fallen so I left. I sort of regret it but oh well.
Flash forward again to 2014 and Fun Fun Fun Fest announced that Priest and King Diamond would be headliners on their black stage. I wasn’t going to miss Rob this time. I got to the venue around 7PM and the line to get in was about 3hrs. I did a little hocus pocus and only waited about 15 minutes to get my will call wristband. Hung with some friends until Priest went on and then we rocked out. They opened with Dragonaut from the new album. I’m not a fan of the newer stuff as stated previously but it sounded fine. Then right into Metal Gods, Devil’s Child and Victim of Changes. Overall Rob sounded pretty good. He avoided the notes he knew he couldn’t hit. Some of them he got pretty good when he tried like in Victim. There were some instances where he did try and failed, but whatever. It was what it was…a great metal show.
They played 4 tracks from the new album. A decent mix of the older stuff. Of course my setlist would have been totally different. Richie Faulkner is sort of the star of the show now. He’s out front most of the time and handles all of KK’s old leads just fine. He’s good. The band was very solid as expected. Hard not to be when you have the human drum machine Scott Travis keeping time for you. Beyond The Realms of Death was the highlight for me.
So many childhood memories listening to that one as a kid. It was a fun show but when it ended all I really cared about was going home and going to bed. I went downtown for one beer and could barely drink it. Pure exhaustion. Today I rest up for King Diamond tonight!
Firefall Concert Review, Austin, TX, July 25, 2014
I’ve been a Firefall fan since the 70s. AM Gold from Mom’s car radio or in the house. I love a lot of this 70s rock and obviously Firefall is no exception. I’ve never seen them although I’ve had plenty of opportunities over the years. It needs to be stated that Strange Way is one of my favorite songs ever. The simple keyboard part in the chorus just makes that song intense for me.
Last night’s show was at the One World Theatre on the outskirts of Austin. It’s a small venue (400ish?), all seated and not a bad seat in there. It’s a non-profit venue and I love seeing shows there, although they are always a bit more expensive. I didn’t make the decision to go last night until just a few hours before the show started. After doing some quick research of the band members, I saw that their bassist, Mark Andes, was in Heart during the 80s, and Spirit and Canned Heat in the 70s. I looked him up in The Book and he’s listed with Randy California, so that solidified my decision to go to the show.
The band hits the stage and I was a curious as to how they’d sound vocally with all of them being in their 60s. That curiosity was quickly satisfied. Those dudes can still sing. Non-original guitarist/singer, Steven Weinmeister, nailed the high vocal singing duties. He’s been in the band since 93. Original members Jock Bartley, David Muse and Mark Andes all sounded great vocally and Jock’s guitar solos were killer. Solid drummer, Sandy Ficca, has been in the band since 85. The band just nails it.
I was happy to finally hear Strange Way live, but also Cinderella and Mexico. They told cool stories about playing Austin in the 70s as well as playing on Austin City Limits. I had a huge smile on my face the whole show, albeit it was a short set. At the end, they said to hang out and they’d meet everyone afterwards. Everyone came out except for David Muse. I did speak to him at the stage right after. That guy is a killer saxophonist and flutist. Sitting in on percussion with Firefall was One World Theatre executive director, Hartt Stearns. That was obviously not his first time playing percussion and was quite impressive.
After the show I met Mark Andes and as usual I get, “What book is this?” and “Why am I listed in here?” haha. I showed him the Randy California page and he smiled and said, “Wow, that was a long time ago.” He signed the book, we spoke for a minute about his years with Heart and I moved on. The rest of the band was sitting at a table signing autographs and taking pics and I had the rest of them, sans Muse, sign my ticket. Cool dudes and they were all in good spirits.
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- My view from the 10th row
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- Firewall
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- Mark Andes with Randy California
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- One World Theater
Maybe you’ll get a replacement, there’s plenty like me to be found…
Today I am ecstatic. I just learned that Elton John is coming to Austin @ The Frank Erwin Center on April 10, 2010. Tickets are $45-$125, 
which is pretty cheap all things considered. I’m definitely going. Sure, it’s a greatest hits tour, but many of those hits came from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road which has been a lifelong favorite of mine and I’m sure to hear several from that record. Like seeing Iron Maiden the first time, I’m sure this will be a memorable show.
As I have stated before, my older brother Robert was a big influence on me musically when I was a kid. he got me into KISS, Alice Cooper, RUSH, Judas Priest, Uriah Heep and yes, Elton John. Similar to what I wrote about in the Alice Cooper blog a while back, this album takes me back to far simpler times. Either living in Camelot (yes, that was the name of our neighborhood) or on the farm, this album was listened to a lot by my brother and me. It always takes me back to those good times. It still amazes me how music can connect like that. Even siting here just thinking about the intro to Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding I have goosebumps and am even getting a little choked up. How un-metal of me! But facts are facts. Music gets me emotional…or rather I get myself emotional to music. However one wants to look at it.
His collaborations with Bernie Taupin have been phenomenal. On top of that, Elton is a great performer. Flamboyant, funny, talented.
Seeing Elton live will close my concert circle a little more…you know…that list of bands that you always wanted to see but never got to. Elton is one of them. What’s even nicer is that I’ll be able to walk to the show…5 blocks!
Concert Review – Hirax – Austin, TX – 08/29/09
It was 1986 and Metal Blade Records was practically the greatest metal label on the scene. They consistently released 
great compilations like the Metal Massacre and Best of Metal Blade series. Best of Metal Blade Volume 1 (1986) included Call Of The Gods by Hirax. I always loved that song but for no logical reason whatsoever did I never check them out any further. I also liked Bombs of Death from Metal Massacre 6. There’s really no explanation as to why I didn’t follow through on these guys, and after last night I feel like I missed out on some additional great metal in the last 23 years.
So about a month or so ago I read in the local show listings that Hirax was coming to Red 7. Even though I was not even remotely familiar with any of their material beyond the 2 aforementioned songs, I definitely wanted to see this show. Through the years I’ve always seen Hirax playing the Euro festivals and have read interviews with Katon W. DePena and have always respected his attitude about music. The guys has proudly been flying the flag of metal since day 1.
So I get to the club a little early to get MM6 and Best of Metal Blade 1 signed as well as my copy of “Headbangers: Worldwide Megabook of Heavy Metal” (Mark Hale, 1993). I know the club owner pretty well and he let me go in to the green room to meet Katon and the band. I was looking forward to this for a few reasons. One to meet Katon, who really is a true metal legend. The other reason was to meet Glenn Rogers, former guitar player of Deliverance. I dug those guys back in the day. When I went into the room, Katon was in there with his lovely wife, his bassist and guitarist Lance and Steve Harrison and some other guy that I didn’t know. Glenn was out and about with a friend so I would catch up with him later.
Katon invited me over and we talked for a bit just about music and such and Katon asked about my book. As he’s flipping through it reading about his band and tons of other obscure bands that are listed in the book. He signed it and my 2 CD covers and said, “Is DRI in here? The guy beside me if Felix from DRI.” Felix thought they wouldn’t be in there but I knew they were. Much to everyone’s pleasure, there was even a picture of band during the era that Felix was in it (85-90). I hung out for a bit and asked Katon if he ever had any interactions with Billy Milano, which he had. So I asked if he wanted to walk over to the club that Billy works in to say hello. We popped over there for a bit and they shook hands and caught up for a few minutes then I took them over to another club so Katon could catch up with an old friend who unfortunately wasn’t there at the time. Back to Red 7. It was great seeing the respect this guy was getting from people in the club, some of who came from Houston and I think a few from Mexico to see this show.
I really expected a much larger crowd, especially with this being on a Saturday. Typically the San Antonio crew would come up for a show like this but I only saw a few folks from that crowd there. The Sword was playing up the street for the 2nd night in a row and I can’t imagine they stole much of the crowd from this show. The club booked 4 grindcore bands to open up which I thought was a bad pairing. I didn’t go in to check out the other bands as I’m not really a fan of the grind stuff in general. While the grind bands were playing I got to talk to Glenn Rogers who let me know that Deliverance was going to do one more album with the original lineup sans the drummer.
But then it was time for Hirax. It was already around 1 or 1:10 AM but the crowd had increased. I’m guessing there were about 90 people in there. Cover charge was $15. Well worth it for me. Hirax kicked in and just kicked ass. Katon is a great frontman, reminds me a lot of Jason McMaster. Knows to to work a crowd and keep them interested during guitar tunings and such.
I have to say that I was truly blown away and really felt a bit guilty about not having checked them out deeper. But there’s no time like the present, right? Their set was cut short due to time restraints and I must say I was a little let down that Call of the Gods wasn’t on the set at all. But it didn’t matter, they were great and I hope they make their way back to Austin again.
Setlist as I remember it:
- El Dia De Los Muertos
- 100,000 Strong
- Blind Faith
- New Age of Terror
- Chaos and Brutality
- Hate, Fear and Power
- Broken Neck
- Bombs of Death
- El Diablo Negro
- Walk With Death
- Mouth Sewn Shut?
I am not so sure about the ones after El Diablo Negro.
Katon W. De Pena (Hirax), fat dude (me), Felix Griffin (DRI)
The Metal Files 
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