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The Smashing Pumpkins Concert Review, Austin, TX 9/27/12

I’m the first to admit that while I’m not what you can consider a true fan of The Smashing Pumpkins, I do really like their first 2 or 3 albums quite a bit. The guys I hung out with quite a bit between 91-95 listened to these albums incessantly, so they became ingrained in my brain. I also really enjoyed the drum work of Jimmy Chamberlin. The guy was a beast of a drummer on those recordings. Too bad he wasn’t with them last night.

Last night marked the sold out opening of the Oceana Tour at Stubb’s in Austin, TX. While none of the original band is still in tact beyond Billy Corgan, they were solid. The sound of that show was pretty quiet compared to most shows I have seen there. But it was crystal clear and really just provided good background music as I was with a group of friends and we could still converse while the band was playing.

The most impressive part of the show was that they played for 2.5 hours with the first hour being their entire new album. Pretty ballsy as most bands just intersperse new songs in with their classics. The low point of the set was his cover of Bowie’s Space Oddity. It just didn’t do it for me.

It was a good time overall even not knowing or caring that much about half of the set. Unfortunately we were near the back of the venue staying close to the bar and I couldn’t get a pics. haha

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Written by The Metal Files

September 28, 2012 at 12:48 pm

Posted in 2012, austin, concert reviews, concerts, smashing pumpkins, stubbs, the metal files

Tagged with 2012, concert reviews, concerts, smashing pumpkins

Tons of upcoming shows…

Lita Ford Acoustic Concert Review, Austin, TX 9/4/12

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Lita Ford is still out there rockin’. Later tonight she’s playing on the outskirts of Austin with Def Leppard and Poison. No way in hell would you catch me at that show. But today at 1PM, she played an acoustic set at Waterloo Records. I first heard about this last week and was hoping I could catch it, but wasn’t quite sure. We happen to eat lunch downtown and were about to ride by the record store. I called a friend that I knew would be there and asked if he’d take me back to work afterwards. “Yes!” I told my boss to pull over and let me out. “See you later!”

I get in and see some good friends (don’t any of us have day jobs? – hahahaha). There were 2 acoustic guitars and 2 mics set up on the stage. Lita comes out with a second guitarist and they go through 4 songs. She talks a little between songs, does a little Q&A and tells some insight about the Runaways and Joan Jett. When she introduced her guitarist, Mitch Perry, my mind started running as I knew that name. The dude played in Talas, Asia, Schenker and some other stuff that we are all familiar with.

After her set, half of the crowd left and the other half of us stayed for the autograph session. I think there were about 100 or so people there. I was near the back of the line and purchased her new CD while waiting to have something to sign. I really wish I had brought the book. Lita’s signature would have been great in it, but a more obscure guy like Mitch Perry would have been great! I love getting the obscure ones as much as the mainstream artists. When it came my turn to shake hands and get my CD signed, I was talking to Mitch about the book and he asked me to send him a link to where he could pick one up. I got to Lita and before she could say anything, I may have stammered a bit and said, “July 1988, The Boathouse, Norfolk, Virginia opening for Yngwie. I was there.” She replied with, “Holy fuck!” Not much more needed to be said. I was 18 at that show. During one song, one of her boobs came out of the corset looking thing that she was wearing. She was mid-solo and just looked down, smiled and shrugged it off and fixed it after the solo. We were all cheering. “Lita’s titty!”

She was really nice and snapped a picture with me. Her voice sounded good and she still looks like “Lita.” No Back In The Cave…that’s my jam.

I’m really glad I went. No question.

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Written by The Metal Files

September 4, 2012 at 6:23 pm

Posted in 1988, 2012, austin, concert reviews, concerts, lita ford, waterloo records

Tagged with 2012, concert reviews, concerts, lita ford

Paco de Lucia Concert Review, Austin, TX 5/2/2012

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I don’t quite know how to review this show. My brain hurts yet I’m extremely relaxed because of the events of last night’s show with Paco de Lucia.

It was because if Al Di Meola that I found out about Paco…and really it was Riot<Di Meola<Paco. The album Friday Night In San Francisco with Di Meola, McLaughlin and de Lucia was my introduction to his playing.

I’ve always heard that after Segovia died, Paco pretty much was deemed the greatest living guitar player. I think that may be true.

I bought tickets for this show 14 months ago and we were 2nd row in the center section. The amazing One World Theatre put on this show and they used The Riverbend Church for the venue since it holds a few thousand people. The place was beautiful and the sound was great. With our tickets we had VIP status which basically just gave us a nice dinner before the show. All this week leading up to this show I’ve been a little giddy. Last night’s show and this weekend’s Arch/Matheos show close some gaps for me for bands to see before I die.

After the dinner and milling around the courtyard we went in and got a nice look at the venue. Really not a bad seat in the place.

The lights finally come down and Paco takes the stage on his own and plays for a while. It was beautiful. Even in his mid-60s the man showed why he has such a high status of a guitarist. He was just phenomenal. After about 10 minutes some of his band mates came out to add some vocals. The vocal stylings sounded very Arabic but were clearly in Spanish. Of course there is that whole invasion of the Moors thing and this sounded like an influence from that. It was quite interesting.

For a few numbers one of the singers did some flamenco styled dancing and it was pretty impressive. His percussionist was great as were the harmonica/keyboardist, the bassplayer and the 2nd guitarist. It was a great combination of musicians and musicianship.

Paco didn’t have a vocal mic and only spoke into his guitar mic to introduce the band. I heard rhythms tonight that I don’t think I have ever heard before. Listening to the music and watching Paco’s leg in the count was pretty mind-numbing. And of course Paco shredded in some spots, but not in the same way you’d see Yngwie or Di Meola do it. It was just f’n awesome and damned near perfect.

Cameras were not allowed during the performance but I managed to catch a shot or 2 when he came out for the encore.

The show looked to be just around 3/4 full, maybe a little less, which is a pity. He doesn’t come to the US very often and he’s not getting any younger. Many thanks to One World Theatre for putting this on!