Posts Tagged ‘night demon’
Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive Concert Review, Cleveland, OH, December 2, 2017
A great weekend was had in Cleveland. I booked my trip last minute (Nov 30!) on Allegiant Air, flew up on Dec 1 and came home on Dec 4. Allegiant only flies to/from Cleveland on Mondays and Fridays, so I went by the subtle urging of my buddy Steve. I wanted to go anyway because a lot of bands I liked were playing, notably Night Demon who were to record a live album.
The relatively quick and painless flight landed in Cleveland and Steve and I got our respective rental cars and parted ways for a bit. I went straight out to start record shopping and found some cool stuff pretty quickly. After a few hours of shopping I headed to our hotel and got settled in. We grabbed some dinner then headed over to a club called Maple Grove to watch an Iron Maiden tribute band. This was the pre-party to the Saturday concert. Now, Maiden is my favorite band of all time and I am hyper-critical about their cover/tribute bands. Maiden isn’t that easy to cover, especially vocally, bass-ically and drum-ically(?). This band, who I have forgotten their name, pretty much nailed it on guitars and bass. The singer was OK. The drummer is what killed them for me. Nicko isn’t that easy to cover, Clive neither for that matter, but there are certain licks that have to be there and many weren’t. The worst part is that HE USED DOUBLE BASS. Just NO. NOPE. NO! Fake it until you make it, but don’t use double bass when playing Maiden. I ended up in the downstairs bar just hanging with Night Demon and some other new pals more most of the set. Had a great time over all.
Saturday morning I got up early and headed around the outskirts of Cleveland to do some record shopping. Cuyahoga Falls, Akron, Kent and a few other little towns. Found some great stuff deals and LPs. Then back to the hotel. Was hoping to grab a quick nap before the evening’s festivities but it didn’t happen. Quick dinner with Steve then off to the famed Beachland Ballroom for this food drive benefit show. I donated cash and went on it. Had some other friends there who traveled in for the show as well. The show was split between two stages in two different rooms. I didn’t really catch any of the bands in the smaller room except when visiting the bar for a drink. That was such a slow pain in the ass that I just didn’t really drink hardly at all, which was fine.
In the main room I ran into Athenar from Midnight and hung with him for a bit. Pittsburgh’s Lady Beast took the stage and delivered a quality set, much better than when I saw them in Chicago a few years ago. I think I was in a different mindframe at the Chicago show because I was about to play with my ex-band that day. No matter, they rocked it and I bought their new album.
Shok Paris was up next. I had never seen them but like stuff from all 3 albums, especially Steel and Starlight. The singer was having a little trouble in the first 2 songs then his voice kicked in. They were damn good, too. Glad to finally see them.
I was tipped off that Jeff Hatrix from Purgatory (my favorite Auburn Records band) was there. I spotted him between bands and made a quick introduction. Super nice guy. He said the unreleased second album was in the works to come out. Sweet! He ended up in Mushroomhead, which I can’t care about. :)
Breaker was next and it was their original lineup, which was a big deal. By this point, the venue was at capacity, stuffy and uncomfortable. I ended up behind Night Demon’s merch table for the set just to have some space. Breaker was great! Hometown heroes. Everyone in the band nailed it. Singer sounded great.
After Breaker, a small portion of the crowd left, which made the room just a tad more comfortable. Night Demon was up and they have a really big Cleveland following thanks to the legendary Bill Peters (Auburn Records) playing them on his 30+ year long radio metal show. ND’s merch guy had to go run lights so I handled merch during their set. Night Demon is a well-oiled machine and this show proved it even more. They moved through their set, which as mentioned before was being recorded for an upcoming live album. They rolled through 24 songs! It was killer and I got to hear a few songs that rarely get to see them do live. This was also my 14th time seeing them. Love those guys, as a band and as people.
Sunday was a little more record shopping, then off to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Night Demon. Bill Peters graciously had some VIP passes waiting for us and we had a few drinks and milled around the Hall. Pretty cool place as far as being a music museum. After that, Steve and Night Demon went to dinner and I headed to Chagrin Falls to see an old dear friend that I’ve known since 1991 and hadn’t seen since 2000ish. I met her and hew new husband for dinner and spent a couple of hours with them. It was quite refreshing and so good to see her. Afterwards I went to Athenar’s den of evil and listened to Detente demos and just hung out for a few hours. That was fun. Back to the hotel.
Monday morning meant a couple more record stops then back to the airport for the flight home. I slept half the way. We were back here early enough in the day that I was able to run some errands and such.
The benefit show brought in record amounts of food and cash donation for the food bank. That was great news. This was a great trip overall. Met lots of great people, found some great records, and spent quality time with some great friends.
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.
Night Demon & Visigoth Concert Review, Austin, TX, April 12, 2016
Round 2 of the Night Demon and Visigoth tour takes us to Austin’s Beerland. At the request of Beerland’s booking manager, I was asked to find some opening acts for this show. That proved to be a little more difficult than I had anticipated but my friends in Think Lizzy, a local Thin Lizzy tribute, stepped up and were the only local presence for the show. Both Night Demon and Visigoth are huge Lizzy fans and were excited to have the tribute as an opener.
Think Lizzy hit the stage and played their good mix of Lizzy classics. The band is really good and the singer is from Dublin and does a great job vocally and on bass. Armand John Lizzy from Night Demon plays in a Lizzy tribute back in Ventura and got up and played Emerald with the band. It was pretty sweet. Somewhere mid-set, Steve asked me to join them for Motorhead’s Ace of Spades. He asked me if I’d do it a few days before the show and I said it’s not Thin Lizzy but apparently they’ve had it in their set for a while. Since I occasionally do a Motorhead tribute in Austin, he wanted me up there so it happened. I strapped on his Ibanez bass on and we went into a pretty loose but good version. The crowd seemed to like it.
Visigoth was up next and everyone was looking a lot healthier. The energy in their show was a lot better than the San Antonio show from the night before. I think it helped that they had a good opening act and that there was a better crowd. The played the same set as the night before with Demon’s The Spell added in. For the folks there who weren’t familiar with Visigoth I think they gained some new fans.
Night Demon’s set was also the same from the night before and like Visigoth, the energy was up. The crowd was into it and the majority of the folks in the venue stayed near the front and rocked out. Night Demon has gained a many fans in Austin since they first came here with Raven. The band was so solid and as I’ve stated before, the addition of Armand adds a new vibe to the band’s live show.
There were a lot more folks in attendance and I think both bands have a lot of new fans.
By the end of the show I was pretty wiped out. This was my third show in a row this week and I flying out at 6AM to Denver to see Iron Maiden. I decided to just stay up the whole night with the bands back at my house before heading to the airport.
It was great having both bands stay with me and I’m glad I was able to help them out. They’re always welcome. Also, they stayed at my place until Thursday while I was away and took great care of the house and my cat, Taco. In the group show below, right as Andrew was taking the picture, Taco had jumped into a paper bag. It was a perfect candid moment where instead of trying to be super tough metalheads, we were just cracking up over my silly cat.
Night Demon & Visigoth Concert Review,San Antonio, TX, April 11, 2016
This is a busy week for shows and I’m a little further behind in my reviews, so trying to catch them all up today.
Night Demon and Visigoth have teamed up for a North American tour and booked some Texas dates. Per usual when Night Demon is in town, I put them up at my place and Visigoth got shared space as well. I didn’t originally plan on hitting the San Antonio show but last minute decided to drive down to Korova for the show. On the way there I was notified that it would be an early show since the venue neglected to find an opening band. Typically in San Antonio, these shows would have a handful of openers.
Rodney, Leanne and I enjoyed a great dinner at The Palm before heading over to Korova. When we walked in, the place was practically dead. The show was in the basement and I don’t think more than 25 total people were there. Didn’t help that it was a Monday night, but still, that’s pretty week. At least if there were some local openers, it would have likely provided some additional promotion.
The singer and bassist for Visigoth have been pretty sick with some sort of flu-ish type bug but once hitting the stage, Jake put on a powerful vocal performance to the tiny crowd. This was only the second date with the touring lineup as the main drummer and lead players for Visigoth were unable to make the tour. While not perfect, they put on a great show all things considered and the few of us that were there were into it. The sound in the basement was pretty awful, too, but they made do. Of their short set, Iron Brotherhood is my favorite.
Night Demon came on and played like there was a packed crowd. They’re already touring veterans and didn’t let up just because no one was there. They opened with Ritual and their version of Riot’s Road Racin’. Want to make friends in San Antonio? Play a Riot song. The band was tight and played all of their 2015 release Curse of the Damned and 4 tracks from their debut EP. Solid set.
After the show I needed to get back home and try to get some sleep as I was going to do this all over again at the Austin show.
Bryan Adams Concert Review, Cedar Park, TX, April 10, 2016
I’ve got Night Demon and Visigoth staying with me for a few days while they’re between shows on their current North American tour. Night Demon stay with me regularly and even have a key to my house. Solid dudes. Their singer and I took the decision yesterday afternoon that we were going to go see Bryan Adams. I was already planning on going and he was down for it.
The show was at the new-ish Cedar Park Center northwest of Austin and this was my second time seeing Bryan since 2012. It was scheduled to start at 8PM with no opening act. I had noticed that there were plenty of seats left when buying our tickets and we opted for the loge area at the back of this small arena. Easy seating and close to the bar. Bryan took the stage at 815PM and I imagine that they were holding out for some additional people to get in to fill the place up a bit. There were some sections that were cordoned off in the back as well. No matter, on with the show.
He opened up with Do What Ya Gotta Do from his latest effort, Get Up. It was followed up with Can’t Stop This Thing We Started from 1991’s Waking Up the Neighbours. He didn’t waste time getting to any of his hits with Run to You, Heaven and It’s Only Love and Kids Wanna Rock coming right after in the next handful of songs.
He played everything you would have expected to hear including 5 from his new album. His band was great and the lead guitarist and drummer have been with him for 30+ years. Their sound was phenomenal. The mix in the venue was perfect and the guitar tones were great. Four vintage Marshall half stacks on the back line.
Right before the encore, my friend and security manager for the venue sent a message and moved us up to the section beside the stage. Sweet upgrade to catch a closer view of the band. Thanks, Steve (aka Dave, Mike, Tom, John etc)!
Overall the show was fantastic. If I had one disappointment, it would be that he didn’t play One Night Love Affair, which is my favorite song of his. He didn’t play it at the 2012 show either. Oh well.
The Metal Files 
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