Posts Tagged ‘heavy metal’
KISS Review, Raleigh, NC, May 17, 2022
This is a story about many things, but mostly of friends, KISS and how small of a world we live in.
Let’s just start with me being a huge fan of 70s KISS. I’ve told the story often about how my older brother Robert (RIP) stole a copy of Dressed To Kill from Montgomery Ward when I was a kid and that got me hooked on KISS immediately. Forever thankful that my brother was a thief I guess. Haha. I do prefer the 70s and some of the 80s stuff, but mainly the makeup era for sure.
But let’s get on with this story. I play poker…A LOT…and a couple of weeks prior to this show I was playing at a friend’s house where we play about every other month with fellow friends in our industry as well as some other friends of Steve’s (the host). That night a friend of a friend came to play and was seated next to me. He is in his early 60s and we got to talking about music and we connected pretty quickly. He tells me that he manages Earth Wind and Fire, Smokey Robinson and works with Doc McGhee (KISS). I tell him about how big of a KISS fan I am and show him some info about “The Book” and how much I’d love to get those guys in there. “I can make that happen.” Oh? He gives me his card and says to contact him over the weekend and he would see what he could do for the upcoming Raleigh show. He left mid-poker game to take care of some band business and that was that.
The next morning I send him a text with my contact info and he said he’d get back to me. I didn’t book my flight yet because you never know how real stuff like this is. I didn’t hear back from him until the following Wednesday and he said, “You’re all set up. I couldn’t get the meet and greet as it was filled up and still very limited, but I have you +1 and you’re gonna love your seats.” WHAAAAAAT? Sweet! I thanked him about 20 times then went and booked my flight. My best friend Chris lives in Raleigh so he was going to be my +1, mainly because he was available and I needed a place to sleep while I was there, not because I wanted to see him again so soon after Hell’s Heroes. Ha.
So I get to Raleigh on Monday afternoon and we go and grab dinner and a couple drinks before heading to his place. We get there, hang out with his wife and then crash out.
We get up Tuesday and he’s got to get his boys ready for school and work and I also had work to do, so we took care of business as we needed to and then got ready to head to the Walnut Creek Amphitheater for the show. We hit a record store, found nothing of interest and went across the street to a little bar and grabbed dinner and a couple of drinks and made our way through the show traffic to get parked. I was a little nervous since I didn’t have tickets in hand that maybe we didn’t get hooked up so I went to will call and gave her my ID and she handed me an envelope. Whew. We were prepared to buy cheap seats just in case we didn’t get tix. I opened the envelope and I saw that we were in section 2, row N. Ooooooh, those sound close.
Once inside, we bought an overpriced drink and meet up with some friends for a bit. After that we go to our seats and WHOA…we’re close. We’re dead center in the front section and only about 10-12 rows back. I was shocked to be honest. These are not cheap seats, especially at a KISS show.
As we’re sitting down, I have a woman and her kid next to me and we get into a conversation. She was in visiting from Corpus Christi, TX and I tell her I was in from Austin. Come to find out, she got hooked up through the same guy I did. Her best friend is this guy’s neighbor and her friend got them hooked up for the show. Oddly enough, I know her friend as well. Her daughter is 11 or 12 and is a massive KISS fan. I sent a message to the guy and their picture and he was ecstatic that we had connected. What a small world! Just a crazy connection.
So there we were, all anticipating KISS hitting the stage. Chris isn’t a fan, but that was only because he didn’t get that exposure in his younger years like many of us did, but he was also looking forward to seeing it live. And then boom, the curtain drops and there they are opening with Detroit Rock City and I got an instant boost of energy. They rolled through the same set that they have been playing for a while but it was a solid list overall minus Say Yeah and Psycho Circus. Of course I would have loved more from Rock and Roll Over but oh well. They were solid and both Gene and Paul’s voices sounded good. There was only one spot in one song that I think Paul used something canned, but the rest of the night sounded natural to my ears. The show was absolutely fun and I had only seen KISS one other time and that was within the last 10 years. One of the things I loved the most was watching Jeanette’s kid have such a great time seeing her favorite band. KISS knows how to put on a show. Towards the end they dropped large KISS balloons and I caught one to give to her kid. She was excited about it. I had such a great time and getting to see my best friend enjoy a band he wasn’t all that into and meeting new friends made it a wonderful night all around.
The show ends and as we’re walking out covered in confetti and Jeanette mentioned that she was going to try and get an Uber to get back to their hotel. I told her she’d likely be waiting forever and that we could give her a ride. So we get back to Chris’ vehicle, throw the large balloon in the back and head to their hotel. Quick hugs and goodbyes at the hotel and we were off to find a late night snack and drink. We found it, but it wasn’t that great. Whatever. Back to the house and we crashed out pretty quickly.
The next morning, we both do some work, catch his wife up on how the show went and the “small world” story. Once we both got caught up on work, I packed and showered and we headed off to hit a BBQ restaurant to get my belly filled with some eastern NC style pork BBQ since I can’t get that style here in Texas. Off to the airport from there. I had a connection through Atlanta and ran into a poker buddy there who was headed back to Austin.
What a great time. No matter that KISS is still Gene, Paul and “those other guys”, they still kill it live. They’re obviously not young guys anymore but can still put on as good of a show as anyone.
KISS FOREVER. And a million thanks to Mike for the hookup.
Queensryche & Armored Saint Concert Review, San Antonio, November 22, 2016
I’ve been working in Houston during the week lately and have missed some shows that I wanted to see lately as I cross paths with the bands while traveling between Austin and Houston. Missing Diamond Head hurt a little. Even though I’m not a huge fan, I have always wanted to see them live. Such is life.
I picked up tix for Leanne, Rodney and myself and headed to Alamo City Music Hall. I don’t like this venue at all. The sound is horrible and stage lighting for the bands just sucks, but they get quality shows so that’ll keep me coming back. As we arrived I got in touch with Armored Saint guitarist, Jeff Duncan, who I’ve known for some years. We hung outside at their bus for a little while while the opening band played. Great dude, killer guitarist.
We caught the last few songs of Midnight Eternal. They were listenable keyboard-heavy metal. After a quick set change, Saint came out an executed their short set flawlessly. Bush’s voice was squarely in tact and the whole band was on fire. I just wish the sound in that place wasn’t so shitty. I really like Saint’s latest album, Win Hands Down, and they opened with that track. They mixed the set up from some of the other shows so we didn’t get Last Train Home or Nervous Man, two of my favorites, but it didn’t detract from their performance.
Queensryche was up next and I hadn’t seen them with Todd yet. Overall I’m not a huge fan of anything of theirs post-Rage for Order. I know I’m in the metal minority when I say I don’t care much for Operation Mindcrime. While the band played perfectly and Todd sounded absolutely amazing, we were both pretty bored and left during their 4th song. I did get to hear Best I Can, which I do like a lot. Again, sound is such a huge issue with this place.
Looked like about 400ish people were there which is a good showing for a Tuesday night.
Satan and Cauldron Concert Review, Philadelphia, PA, October 22, 2016
Another road trip? Sure, why not? This fall has been very busy concert-wise. Kelz and I started making plans for seeing Satan on this east coast jaunt several months ago when we first caught wind of the tour. Once I got the dates, Philadelphia and Richmond made the most sense and I booked my trip.
I flew into Raleigh Friday night after work and we left for Philly Saturday morning. It was a fun drive up as expected. Talking trash and eating Utz Red Hot Chips. I can’t find them in Texas and they’re my favorite. We made a quick stop in VA for a pork BBQ sandwich and continued our way north to PA. Delaware has great roads. Best I’ve ever seen.
We finally got to our hotel around 5:30PM or so and for whatever reason our room wasn’t ready? They gave us a different type of room than what we asked for and I didn’t have to spoon up with Kelz, so that was a plus. ha.
I called Lyft to get us over to either Pat’s or Geno’s for a cheesesteak before the show. Our driver couldn’t figure out how to get into the hotel entrance. She was pretty much the worst driver ever. Couldn’t follow the navigation properly, didn’t wear her seatbelt and was generally just an idiot. Once we finally got to the cheesesteak places, lines were around the block so we took the decision to just walk over to the venue, Boot & Saddle, and grab something there. As we turned the corner, Sean and Steve were getting a few things from the trailer and we spoke to them briefly as Graeme showed up. He needed some wine so they went to a liquor store to take care of business. We went inside and grabbed 2 seats at the bar and ordered some food. Perogis and a corn dog it is!
Ran into some friends there and as we were finishing up dinner, Brian Ross from Satan walks by and I said, “Hey Brian, how’s it going?” He was surprised to see us and hung out with us for quite a while. The venue door was open during Horrendous’ set and I didn’t care. We just stayed where we were and hung with Brian and Russ and whoever else came up. Brian was telling us of his favorite drink, equal parts Jagermeister and Fireball, dubbed The Firemeister. It sounded gross but we did a round of them anyhow. It was gross. I hate Jager. I also got a full download on Brian’s Alive Cooper tribute band that he does. He was showing us photos of his stage show. It’s a full on reproduction of Alice’s live show. I’m planning on attending the show in Newcastle in 2017. With only a few songs left of Cauldron, who we also only heard through the venue door from the bar, Brian scooted off to get his make up for the show. As people shuffled out of the gig for drinks or whatever, we shuffled in to secure spots near the stage.
Satan hit the stage and opened with Trial By Fire and Blades of Steel. The small room was packed and the band was slightly cramped on the small stage. Not a lot of room for moving around for a 5pc band. They sounded great as always. Brian’s voice was brilliant. If you have ever seen them live, you know how good they are. Still amazed that a band that has only been rejuvenated in recent years can still bring it about as hard as any newer band. As expected, the set was a good mix of all three of the Ross-era studio albums.
After the show we go back into the bar area and hang out with friends and the Satan guys came right out after to take photos with fans (like us) and sign stuff. A couple more of those gross Firemeisters were had and neither Kelz nor myself were feeling much pain. haha. It was starting to get late and we were both hungry and needed to soak up the buzz a bit, so we got some Chinese food to go from the place next to the venue and got a quick Lyft ride back to the hotel. This guy was a much better driver. Back at the hotel, were were just eating and laughing and having a grand time. Then the fade hit. We needed to get to sleep so we could head south to Richmond for Sunday’s show.
Quite a wonderful night. Met some great people. If there was anything negative to say about the evening it would be that the dude standing in front of me for the Satan set had body odor that smelled like a litter box. That sucked.
Grim Reaper Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, October 15, 2016
Steve Grimmett and company are on tour with their new album Walking in the Shadows. I had just seen them the previous Sunday in Ventura, CA at Frost and Fire II. Apparently they had some gear stolen from them at their hotel which totally sucks but as their song says, “The Show Must Go On,” right?
On my way down to SA, I stopped at Fitzgerald’s to meet Rigor Mortis and have their 3 remaining members sign The Book. Great guys and I’ll be seeing them in Austin soon. Their guitarist, Casey Orr who used to be in GWAR, had some prints of some of his paintings for sale and I picked up a few of those. My pal who sings for the rebooted Syrus also bought me the large Lemmy print. Thanks!
I arrived just as San Antonio locals Byfist were going on. I had seen them before and while I’m not a fan, I’m happy to see them with by pal Stony on bass. Great guy, great bassist and sounded great with them on bass and backing vocals. Killstorm was up next and didn’t do anything for me.
By the time Grim Reaper hit the stage, there may have been 50 people there at best. They had just played in SA in April so maybe that had something to do with the low attendance. Didn’t matter, I was there and wanted to see them again.
They played the same set from Frost and Fire and it was solid. The band is tight and Steve’s voice sounds great. I picked up the new CD after the show and had the guys sign it. When I got to Steve, he gave me a hug and thanked me for coming down to see them again. Good dude. Go see the tour if you can.
Frost and Fire II Concert Review, Ventura, CA, October 7, 8 & 9, 2016
Last year I attended the one day Frost and Fire Fest and had a wonderful time. It was a foregone conclusion after that weekend that the mighty Cirith Ungol would be playing this year’s fest. It was announced several months ago that this year would be a 3 day fest with days 1 and 3 at the Bombay Bar and Grill again and day 2 at the Majestic Ventura Theater. I bought 4 sets of tickets automatically as I knew Kelz, Rodney would be interested and obviously I’d be able to hold the other set for someone. So flights and accommodations got booked and it was just a long countdown until the actual time to go. Ultimately I had to sell the 4th set as one friend who wanted to go had some other issues to take care of. Our friend JT/Petey was slated to come as well, but unfortunately life happens. He was severely missed but we’ll see him in Richmond in a few weeks for Satan.
Our 3 flights all arrived at LAX around the same time, we grouped up and took the rental car to Ventura. Upon arrival and checking into the Clocktower Hotel, we ran into the guys from Midnight. Their main man, Jamie, is a huge Steelers fan so we chatted about that briefly. Rodney peeled off with them and Kelz and I hit the Saloon BBQ for some tri tip beef, a shot and some beers. We had been up since super early to catch our flights so we went back to the hotel for a quick nap.
Doors were at 5PM and we got there right around that time to get in line, get our tix for Friday and Sunday and go in the venue. Having attended FF previously and the last 3 Ragnarokkr Fests, I knew quite a few people there. Fans traveled from all over the world to attend and that was great seeing many of them. Ran into Jerry Hartman from Lethal and his lovely wife, Sue. He gave me a CD of his latest project (pictured below). Can’t wait to listen to it. Tim, Robert and Jim from Ungol were hanging out as well and I got Jim to sign The Book.
Here’s the Day 1 band rundown:
Livin Alive – Watched a little bit of them but nothing caught my ear
Seax – Had seen them a time or 2 before and enjoyed them much more this time
Vanlade – Watched a couple of songs but couldn’t get too interested. Solid though.
Salvacion – Listened to them from the patio while hanging with some friends. All great guys but just can’t get into them
Resistance – Missed their whole set
Widow – Only heard them from the patio
Midnight Chaser – Delivered another solid set comparable to their Ragnarokkr show. Highly recommended
Blade Killer – Always delivers! I caught most of their set inside then the last couple from the patio
Thrust – Solid performance. Met Ron and had him sign The Book. Super nice guy
Slough Feg – Enjoyably odd band to watch
Omen – Got to catch up with Wittig before their set to get my stuff signed since we didn’t get time at their Austin show. They delivered a great set to a packed back room and I finally got to hear Teeth of the Hydra.
By the end of Omen’s set, I was starting to feel the drag from the travel and 2 hour time difference. Totally worth it. Hung out with some friends for a bit before they emptied the venue and people watched for a bit before heading back to the hotel. Also had some incredible Al Pastor tacos from the truck outside. The mom in the truck was cooking up a huge pan of red chili peppers for blending and it was mesmerizing to watch.
Saturday morning. A little tired and some back issues. Getting older sucks. Kelz and I grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and then headed out for a bit to do some record shopping. We started at Salzer’s Records which I had been to the year prior. I picked up MSG’s Assault Attack in VG+ condition for a good price. We then went to American Pie Records. That is an experience. Their owner, Dennis, is quite the character. He has a ton of stuff in there, too much to have gone through in a day but I did find 2 KISS records to add to my collection. From there we went to Grady’s Records in downtown Ventura. Small metal section but I found some good rock pieces that I had been looking for. From there back to the hotel for a 30 minute or so nap. It helped. We then walked over to the Majestic Ventura Theater for Day 2.
The theater had a no ins or outs policy so we had to decide if we wanted to try and survive whatever food they served inside or grab a bite nearby and miss an early band or 2. We chose to go in and ultimately the food was palatable. Beer prices were steep. $8 for PBR draft? $10 for premium beer? Not that I planned on drinking a lot, but that kept it to a bare minimum. It is a nice big venue with several tiers for viewing. It was great running in Attacker’s Mike Sabatini outside and Steel Prophet’s Steve Kachinsky. Awesome dudes. Upon entry I jumped right in the merch line for Ungol. I got a shirt and blinked on getting the limited edition Paradise Lost reissue LP. When I went back for it, they were all gone. 
Day 2 band rundown:
Spellcaster – They rocked it although it was a really short set. Great seeing them again.
Axxion – I had seen Axxion in Chicago in 2014 at Ragnarokkr. I think they were a little better this year, stage costume selection notwithstanding. See pic below.
Visigoth – Do I really even need to say anything about them? Aside from them being the nicest dudes, they are great live and Jake Rogers is the best frontman in metal right now.
High Spirits – This band seems to be a love em or hate em band. I personally love them. Great hooks, solid vocals, positive energy. It’s happy rock for sure. They were great as always and look forward to seeing them on tour in 2017. I bought a shirt, LP and 7: from the new album, Motivator.
Night Demon – This is Jarvis’ fest and fitting that Night Demon is on the bill. They laid down a solid set including a new song, Stranger in the Room.
White Wizzard – At first I thought they were a weird choice for the fest but after seeing them play all of their High Speed GTO EP with James Paul Luna (Holy Grail) on vocals, my mind was changed. Solid set even though I was never really a fan. They played Hollywood Tease by Girl and I couldn’t place who wrote it until after their set. Thanks for clarifying, Rodney.
Mindless Sinner – Probably the biggest surprise of the fest for me. I had listened to them in the past but still wasn’t huge on them. Their set was great. They were absolutely great.
Midnight – While never owning anything they’ve ever done, I always enjoy seeing them live. Super energetic show with some good tongue in cheek lyrics. Saturday’s set was on par with previous viewings.
Cirith Ungol – A band that I’ve always liked, but never loved. They were fringe. They are fringe. When they were announced to do the meet and greet last year, I revisited the catalog and grew a new appreciation for them. By the time they were coming on, we went to the upper balcony and sat. My knees, back and feet were killing me and this was perfect viewing. They opened with Join the Legion from Paradise Lost and went right into I’m Alive from Frost and Fire. They pretty much played everything one would expect to hear at a Cirith Ungol show except for maybe Death of the Sun. I was absolutely blown away by Tim Baker’s voice. He still sounded like it was the early 80s. Mind-fucking-blown. The whole band was great. Garven’s enormous drumset with Paiste cymbals and gong looked and sounded fantastic. Jim Barraza handled most of the leads with ease and Greg Lindstrom handled the rhythm and some leads beautifully. Jarvis handled the bass lines perfectly and added some great backing vocals. It was really just a perfect set by them and I couldn’t be happier.
After the show, everyone was ushered out of the venue and just hung around the sidewalk. Everyone was in high spirits (pun intended) and I got to see a few folks that had come in just for that day’s show. I was pretty elated but also dog tired and went back to the hotel. Kelz went across the street to this tiny venue for an after party show with Hessian and Alchemy (MX). I went back to the room and fell right asleep…happily.
Sunday morning…worn the hell out. Woke up with only about 5 hours of sleep. Went down and had breakfast with Rodney and Midnight. Most of that discussion was about the Steelers. Perfect! Back to the room to clean up. Kelz went down and had breakfast while I did some packing and such. Luckily I ran into the Mindless Sinner guys in the lobby and got them to sign The Book. Doors were at 10AM at Bombay. We stopped in there for a minute to check out the merch and I picked up a few things. From there we went to Jockomo Records where I found a few more classic rock pieces. Ashbury wasn’t scheduled until 4:15 so we decided to grab lunch and ate some extremely bland Indian food. The garlic naan was great, though. Afterwards it was back to the hotel for a recharge nap. NAPS!
Back to Bombay where I finally got to talk to their owner, Diego. We have a mutual friend in common who used to play there a lot but now lives in Austin. It was way more relaxed on Sunday. He bought me a shot. Sweet! The crowd started flowing
in common who used to play there a lot but now lives in Austin. It was way more relaxed on Sunday. He bought me a shot. Sweet! The crowd started flowing in for Ashbury’s set.
Day 3 band rundown:
Ashbury – This band just seems to set me right. I think it’s a combination of the demeanor of Rob and Randy Davis. These guys are so laid back and peaceful. They played a 2 hour set consisting of 8 songs from Endless Skies, 3 songs from Something Funny’s Going On, 5 covers (3 from Jethro Tull, 1 from BOC and 1 from The Who), and two new songs, Out of the Blue and Mean Guitar (Rock and Roll Star). They were great. They’re always great. I love seeing how many metalheads love them as well. They didn’t hang out much after their set, though. That was too bad.
Black Death Resurrected – I watched a little bit from the back of the room but just wasn’t that interested.
Grim Reaper – Steve and company laid down a solid 17 song set which included several from their new album, Walking in the Shadows. His current lineup is solid and his voice sounded great. I’ll see them again this weekend in San Antonio.
After the goodbyes to friends in the club and on the street, we headed over to Dargon’s Irish Pub for a quick bite before heading back to the hotel. We had to be up at 430AM to drive back to LAX to catch our flights.
I’ve done 3 Ragnarokkr fests, 2 Frost and Fire fests and 1 ProgPower and this past weekend tops them all for the overall experience. The location is perfect because of everything there is to see and do within walking distance in Ventura, the lineup was superb and just the overall feel of the event from the patrons to the organizers. No fest is perfect, but this is as close to perfect as I have been to so far. I can’t wait for FFIII!
Extra special thanks to Jarvis Leatherby (Night Demon/Cirith Ungol), the Night Demon guys, Cheryl and the whole FF crew for making this a success by obviously working their asses off on this. Also to Oliver Weisenheimer for his generosity and for being so fucking cool. It’s always great seeing the Visigoth guys as well. Great bunch of dudes.
To see the setlists played, click here.
The Metal Files 
You must be logged in to post a comment.