Posts Tagged ‘concerts’
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!
Steve Martin & Martin Short Review, San Antonio, TX, July 10, 2015
While I like comedy movies, especially older comedies, I’ve never been very fond of watching comedians do standup minus a few exceptions like Eddie Murphy, Mitch Hedberg and Steve Martin. He is my favorite comedian of all time and I love most of his movies. Growing up in the 70s, Steve was everywhere and who didn’t love King Tut?
When I saw that he had teamed up with Martin Short to do a small tour and that they were coming to San Antonio, I had to go. Total bucket list stuff.
Steve comes out after a montage of his and Short’s work on the screen and says, “Thank you for coming to watch me through your cellphones tonight.” Thankfully cellphone use was kept to a minimum. After talking and telling some jokes, Martin Short comes out and it was plain to see that those two are very close friends. They obviously had rehearsed their routine but much of it was ad lib. There were several times that they cracked each other up. Martin did his own set which included some sketch comedy and a musical and it was hilarious. He walked off stage as Steve was coming back on and said, “Top that, mother fucker!” haha.
Steve had his bluegrass band, Steep Canyon Rangers, with him and they played a set. It’s no secret that Steve’s an incredible banjo player and he proved that last night.
Steve and Martin then say that they brought a good friend with them and introduce David Letterman. There was a delay and we all thought they were just pulling a prank…then out walks Letterman. Totally trippy. The three of them are standing there talking and Dave whips out a top ten list about Donald Trump preempting it with, “Trump’s running for president and I quit the entertainment business. I’m the dumbest man on earth.” Or something to that effect. Dave stayed out and told some stories with them for a half hour or so.
It was a wonderful night and I’ve not laughed that hard in a long time. My sides are a little sore this morning.
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
Rolling Stones Concert Review, Arlington, TX, June 6, 2015
Make no bones about, I f’n love The Rolling Stones. I’m not shy about my Stones fanboyness ever. They are as big of a part of my early rock and roll makeup as KISS. I saw them 10 years ago for the first time in Charlottesville, VA where a bomb threat interrupted the show.
The Stones are on their 15 date North American Zip Code Tour and booked a show in Arlington, TX and there was really no way I’d miss it. I was able to score a floor ticket near the back of Cowboys Stadium. Not the best viewing but not bad and a bit cheaper than most floor tickets.
Pablo and I drove up from Austin, grabbed some dinner in Arlington then made our way to our reserved lot. We grabbed some merch and made out way to the floor. He had a seat closer to the front. Grace Potter was the opener and we spent most of her set in the downstairs lounge. My foot has been bothering me lately so getting some sitting time was essential. After her set we just stood in the back of the floor area and people watched for a bit until about ten minutes before the Stones’, then we went to our respective seats.
The stadium roof was open, the lights went down and the Stones hit the stage with Jumpin’ Jack Flash and followed it up with It’s Only Rock and Roll. The crowd was electric and I was loving it. Mick sounded great. No surprise, he was all over the stage the whole night. I had seen previous setlists from the tour and they had been mixing it up a bit. The list remained pretty consistent until just after Moonlight Mile where they played a snippet of All My Exes Live In Texas then rolled into Rocks Off from Exile on Main Street marking the first time they’ve played it on this tour. Honky Tonk Women was next which included band intros. Mick left the stage after and Keith took over for Before They Make Run and Happy. He’s got this childish grin that just cracks me up. His voice sounded pretty good, as good as expected. For as old as he looks, he still retains some teenage boyishness about him. Ronnie and Charlie were both great. Charlie’s unorthodox drumming style is difficult to watch, but he gets it done.
The whole band sounded great, just like I expected them to. Look, The Stones aren’t the tightest band in the world, but they never were. But they’re great. They did a heavy rocking version of Miss You that was just great. The whole show was a blast. Surprisingly, I don’t think it was sold out though. It was close. I hope it’s not the last time I get to see them. I would love to have seen Monkey Man and a handful of others, but I’m not complaining. The Stones truly appear to enjoy playing live even after 50+ years of doing it. I can’t speak highly enough about Mick’s voice. There were some high notes that he hit that just blew me away. I honestly didn’t want the show to end. It was a blast. The 4 hour ride home was rough, but we made it.
Long live The Stones.
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- Pablo and Monkey Boy in front of Jerry World.
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- Enjoying the VIP lounge for a bit…even though we weren’t VIPs
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- Old friends.
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- Please allow me to introduce myself…
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- The smoky goodbye after the fireworks.
GBH, Krum Bums, Total Chaos Concert Review, Austin, TX, May 30, 2015
To call me a punk fan would be the overstatement of the decade but there are a few bands in the genre that I’ve always liked including Circle Jerks, Black Flag, JFA, Dead Kennedys, Reagan Youth, some Sex Pistols and GBH…especially GBH. Not sure how I became a fan but it was probably through a roommate I had in the 90s. I’ve always wanted to see them and that last few times they came to town I just happened to be out of town. That changed last night.
Opening the show was L.A.’s Total Chaos. I had heard a lot of people slagging them prior to the show as being generic. They didn’t do anything for me but the crowd seemed to enjoy them. I caught half of their set and went to another bar for a bit. Local punks Krum Bums came on next and I’ve seen them a few times before. They were solid and are definitely a local favorite. I only caught the tail end of their set.
We got back to Red 7 right before GBH went on and I secured my spot with a decent view of the stage and away from the pit. They came on at full power with original singer Colin Abrahall saying, “We are GBH from Birmingham, England” and went right into their set with a newer song (2010) called Unique then went back to the Leather, Bristles, Studs, And Acne album with Race Against Time. GBH still has original guitarist Colin “Jock” Blyth and the whole band was killer. The show was sold out by the time GBH came on and they rolled through their set with only minor banter between songs. I got to hear all of my favorites and they played most of City Baby Attacked By Rats and the Leather album and a few from the follow up, City Baby’s Revenge. They were solid and I had a great time. Glad I finally got to see them live.
The Metal Files 
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