Posts Tagged ‘riot’
Joe Lynn Turner & Blackfoot Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, August 20, 2016
I had a ticket and flight booked to see Joe Lynn Turner (JLT) at the Whisky in West Hollywood a couple of months ago and had to cancel the trip. That was a major bummer. That blow got lessened recently when Sean McNabb, bassist for George Lynch, mentioned to me that he was also playing with JLT and that they were playing in San Antonio. Shortly after that Lynch show, the JLT show was announced.
Also announced was Blackfoot as the opener. A quick check to see who was still in the band led me to their website which showed that they had no original members but were still managed by Ricky Medlocke. Alright then. I’ve never been a big fan fan of southern rock although hearing Strikes takes me back to being a kid as one of best friends, Petey, always loved that record.
After some time bouncing around San Antonio record stores, Rodney and I grabbed some dinner then headed to the venue to meet up with Matt who had tickets for another friend, Diego, and me. The weather was complete shit. The show was originally scheduled to be outside rain or shine but the rain was pretty heavy and it was moved inside. Upon walking in, the place was packed, uncomfortably so. I stayed inside for part of Seance’s set then just decided to wait out Blackfoot outside. I could hear them perfectly and they were solid. This new lineup had been together for 4 years. It was weird after seeing them arrive to think that they were Blackfoot. They looked like kids and 2 of the guys in the band were sporting mohawks. Even prior to them finishing their set, I noticed some people leaving making comments about the lineup as they were walking out.
Then it was time for JLT. I was pretty excited since I hadn’t seen him since he sang on Odyssey tour with Yngwie Malmsteen, one of my favorite concerts ever. The band hit the stage to a thinned out crowd opening with the snippet of Over the Rainbow and going right in Death Alley Driver. The band was tight and Joe’s voice sounded great. I Surrender and Power were up next. The crowd was really into it. Unfortunately they were plagued with some technical difficulties throughout the night but they worked through them and completely rocked. Street of Dreams was a highlight as were Stone Cold, Spotlight Kid and Malmsteen’s Rising Force. JLT has Steve Brown from Trixter on guitar and he was pretty damned good, even handled the Yngwie guitar solo pretty well. It was a fun set.
After the show was the meet and greet with Joe. It was inexpensive and I wanted Joe added to The Book. They were letting us in 2 at a time and Matt and I went in together towards the end of the line. Joe was very talkative and inquisitive about the patches on our jackets. He was loving Matt’s Riot patch and mentioned how much he had loved that band since their early days. I mentioned as I was pulling out The Book that I brought Riot’s Privilege of Power CD cover with me. “Whoa, let me see that. I haven’t thought about this one in years.” I mentioned seeing the 1988 Yngwie show at The Boathouse and he said, “I remember that place. A bit of a dump.” Most bands say that. haha. We talked briefly about his time with Yngwie and both agreed that there should have been a second album with him on vocals. While finishing up the signing and photos, I mentioned that he was my favorite singer for Rainbow. I know that is not a popular opinion but whatever. Totally true. I like the Dio era a lot but it’s the JLT era for me any day. He was also quite pleased to see the Odyssey album.
What a great show although I’d prefer not to see another show at this venue.
Riot V Concert Review, Detroit, MI, July 9, 2016
And away I go to Detroit. That was a long drive on minimal sleep. I booked a hotel while I had stopped for breakfast at a truck stop. As soon as I arrived to my hotel in Romulus, MI right by the airport, I took a shower and a quick nap. I had a bunch of things I wanted to do and see that day but was just too wiped out to do them all. The only thing I did do was to see my old friend Nikki. We met in 1999 or 2000, went on a couple of dates and just ended up quickly becoming close friends. We recorded an album together in 2002(?) and had seen each other since about 2004. It was great to see her and her fiancee, laugh about old times and just be around her. She’s always been one of the most positive people I’ve ever known.
From there I went back to the hotel to catch a Lyft ride up to the Token Lounge in Westland, MI. I arrived right when the opener was starting. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and was getting hungry. I noticed a pizza place on the end of the building and as I was leaving to go grab a slice or two, the door guy said, “No re-entry.” I didn’t notice the sign when I had walked in. He said to just phone in the order and they’ll walk it down. I was about to do just that then he said, “Fuck it, there’s no one here yet, just go.” Sweet. The pizza place was called “Krustyzz.” I ordered it to go and took it back to the bar. They had some hightop tables behind the soundboard in an area that was separated by glass. It was nice to sit and eat and not be blasted out. The pizza was greasy but delicious.
The opener was called SixE SixE (Sixe Sixe?). I don’t know. They were pretty awful. Not sure if they were a brand new band or what, but it wasn’t solid at all and the 2 songs I heard sounded like 90s style hard rock. Glad I missed most of their set. Terminus was up next. Unfortunately it wasn’t the Irish band of the same name. These guys were pure new metal and even covered Lamb of God. I almost threw up my pizza. Guitar players were good, though. Heard a few solos that were impressive. There came Acoustic Hell. It was everything you’d think it was with that name. Three acoustic guitars, a guy 50ish yrs old in flip flops and his hat on backwards and a female backup singer. They played stuff like Crazy Train, Screaming in the Night and some other stuff that I couldn’t care about. Luckily my pal Ryan showed up and I hung out with him and his friends on the back patio for the rest of their set. Wulfhook was up next. I neither loved nor hated them at Ragnarokkr and my reaction was the same at this show. I’m not sure what it is that doesn’t quite catch my ear. Singer has a powerful range, the rest of the band is solid and competent, but I’m just not into them. Then…THEN, they did an encore version of Powerslave. Maiden is my favorite band ever and I am picky about hearing cover versions of their music. They played it pretty well then I heard, “When the life givers die.” Not just once, but every time that section was played. WTF. No.
Riot time. Thankfully. They played the same set as the night before, flawlessly. Such a powerful band to watch. The crowd was considerably smaller, though. Maybe a 100 people or so when they took the stage and it cleared out little by little throughout their set. But I enjoyed it just as much.
After the show, the bar didn’t kick anyone out and we got to hang out. It was drummer, Frank Gilchrist’s birthday, so we did a shot of whisky together. I didn’t get to talk to him much at the Chicago show, but we caught up for quite a bit on Saturday. He’s a good dude for sure. I also got some one on one time with Mike Flyntz. I requested Maryanne to get added to the set and he said that it’s the most requested song that they get. I’d also like to hear more from the Mike Demeo era. He was super cool as always and thanked me for making the trip. As I was going over to talk with Donnie, he introduced me to his merch guy. I saw him in Chicago and thought he looked familiar but couldn’t place it. It was Giles Lavery who sang for Warlord for a little while. I was shocked to see him and it was great to finally meet him in person. What a great guy. We talked for a while and had a beer. He mentioned that his main band, Dragonsclaw, had a new album coming out. It was quite a great night. That venue is really cool, too. Medium sized, great staff, great sound. I’d like to visit the area again and hopefully that trip can coincide with a show here.
Sunday morning I just popped into a record store before heading to an airport. I got a Paul Stanley shirt which just has the ’77 solo album cover on it with no lettering. The store was certainly into ICP as their merch was everywhere and even a sign out front stating that they had tickets to the juggalo gathering. Ha.
Twas a great weekend overall getting to see a band that I love in 2 other cities.
Riot V Concert Review, Chicago, IL, July 8, 2016
I like Riot/Riot V. All incarnations. Period. They’ve never released a bad album. Some better than others, but never a bad one.
I ran into their bassist, Donnie Van Stavern, at a RUSH tribute show in San Antonio a few weeks ago and asked him about upcoming shows. He mentioned the Chicago and Detroit shows and I checked my concert calendar and my Southwest account and took the decision to just go. He said he’d hook me up with guestlist for both shows, so that was an added bonus.
I left for Chicago Friday morning on a direct flight, got there, grabbed my rental car and headed straight to the north side of town to pick up Bob, one of the organizers of the Ragnarokkr festival. He graciously offered up his place for the night. We headed first to Metal Haven Grill and I pigged out on their tasty Italian beef and a char polish sausage. It was entirely too much food but it was delicious. You gotta go if you’re ever in Chicago. Their record and CD selection is ever expanding and there is a ton of great original heavy metal artwork on display, mind-numbingly so. From there we went to one of the locations of Reckless Records. I didn’t find anything but it was a cool place. Afterwards we headed back to Bob’s. I changed clothes and off we went to the red line EL train to Reggie’s.
We got in and I saw a couple of folks I knew from the area that I had met at previous Ragnarokkr shows. Crusader was the opening act and they played the whole time I was upstairs at Record Breakers store where I bought a bunch of albums to have shipped back to Texas. Didn’t hear a note of them so I can’t comment. Scars of Armageddon were on next and they were a proggy/power metal/slight hint of nu-metal band with excellent guitar work and a good singer. I’d never buy an album by them but wouldn’t be upset to see them again. Direct support for Riot was a local Judas Priest tribute band called Judas Rising. Pass. I mean, sure, they sounded alright although their singer I think would sound better doing a Di’Anno era Maiden tribute. I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling it at all.
After a quick set change, the lights go down and you hear the taped live version of Narita and then Frank leads in with the drum into to Flight of the Warrior. The crowd of 200+ was into it, singing every word. They then went into Ride Hard, Live Free from the latest album and then Fight or Fall. I was on the stage left side where Van Stavern and Lance Barnewold (filling in for Nick Lee for this mini tour) we located. Lance is Nick’s perfect replacement. Both guys have flawless execution of riffs and solos. They mix the set up with old and new songs. The whole band was great. I also appreciated getting handed the bottle of tequila from Donnie a couple of times. And just let me say this, Todd Michael Hall is one of the best singers in metal out there right now. That guy’s range is phenomenal. He’s really just a freak of nature vocally like Harry Conklin and Mike Soliz. It was great to hear Black Leather and Glittering Steel in the set as well. They did 6 from Thundersteel including my fave, Johnny’s Back.
At the end of their set, Todd announced that they’d com out to the merch booth right after a quick break. Two minutes after that, Reggie’s staff was kicking everyone out. It wasn’t even 1:30 AM yet. So we just hung out on the street with the locals friends and then went around to their back door to shoot the breeze with Donnie, Mike and Lance. During their set, I took a pick of Lance and posted it on NIck’s Facebook page with the words, “Fake Nick is getting it done.” haha.
It was a great show but I was beat so we hopped on the train back to Bob’s. We got delayed at one stop because of some dude raising hell at the stand and not letting the doors close. The guy sitting across from me woke up and said, “Fucking crackies!” A few moments we were on our way.
I got to sleep around 4AM but I didn’t sleep well at all. I was up and ready to go by 745AM, said adios to Bob and was on my almost 5hr drive to Detroit.
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Riot – Immortal Soul Review
I’ve talked about Riot more than once on this site and about how I really love the Thundersteel era over the Fire Down Under era. 
Don’t get me wrong, FDU is a great album and extremely influential, but I prefer the more metal/powermetal version of Riot, partially because of Bobby Jarzombek.
I was fortunate enough to see the Riot reunion show in June of 2009 in San Antonio. It was quite special. They mentioned at that show that a new album would be forthcoming, then I believe Tony Moore left…then came back. Great news!
Once the album buzz started getting posted around the web, it got me excited. I love this band with Moore on vocals. He sounded really good live in 09. I finally got the album via iTunes a while back after hearing a few songs that had been posted around the YouTube and such and liked what I heard.
Upon getting the full version, I gave it several listens, at least 15 now. This is a strong album and well worth owning if you’re a fan of that era of the band’s music. Bobby Jarzombek shows off his amazing skills as expected. That guy is awesome, period. The guitar work is really good, some of the best I’ve ever heard from Reale. I assume that Flyntz is doing some of the solos too, but not 100% sure.
Lyrically it’s what you would expect. They obviously made an effort to make this sound like the followup to Thundersteel and not necessarily the followup to Privilege of Power. The songs are strong and some have their fair amount of lyrical cheese, but it works well. It’s a fun album.
If I had to make a complaint, it would be on the vocals. To my ears there sounds like a lot of fixes to Tony’s vocals. Lots of harmonizer. It does get annoying in spots but generally doesn’t detract from the album as a whole.
Highlight tracks for me would be Still Your Man (which is basically Johnny’s Back pt 2), Riot, Sins of the Father, Fall Before Me, Wings are for angels.
If you don’t have this album yet, get it. 8/10
Race With The Devil On Spanish Highway
Right about the time that Riot released Privilege of Power (which I still love), I was reading the credits in the cassette’s liner notes. Remember cassettes? Anyhoo, I went to the mall record store and looked DiMeola up on their database 
and purchased Elegant Gyspy (on tape). At that time it was a name that I was unfamiliar with as I really wasn’t listening to any jazz/fusion at the time. Mahavishnu Orchestra was really the only band I was familiar with from that genre. I remember popping the tape in my car’s cassette player (1982 Pontiac Trans Am!) and just sitting in the parking lot with my mouth wide open. I was completely blown away. All I could think was “This dude is a badass! Holy shit. Listen to that drummer!”
I had a full time job with VDOT at the time but was also working a few hours a week at a local drum shop, helping the owner build his new store. I brought the tape in one evening and said, “What do you know about Lenny White?” He was already sitting behind a drum set and started playing some of the amazingly fast paradiddles and other licks from this album. Again…mouth wide open. Drew was a fantastic drummer.
I listened to this tape incessantly and even practiced drums to it…as much as my abilities let me anyway. I was no Lenny White.
It’s easily in my top 10-15 albums of all time. Al’s playing on this is so fluid. It’s jazz, it’s a little rock, it’s a little metal, it’s flamenco…it’s everything. The album flows so smoothly from beginning to end. I usually listen to it at least twice every time.
A few years ago (2006?), Patrick (Buzzard) and I got tickets to see DiMeola in downtown Norfolk. We were both pretty excited to see the show as we were both big fans. We parked near the venue a while before the show so we could grab some food and a beer or 2 prior to going in. We had some NY style pizza and a few beers and walked over to the theater. As we got closer I could see that something was taped to the door. “CANCELED” My heart sunk. What a total letdown. We were both pretty annoyed. Apparently Al’s drummer quit that day or something. Damn! So we ended up going back to our neighborhood and barhopped.
Last year it was announced that Return to Forever was reuniting and that their first 2 shows would be in Austin at the Paramount Theater. Doug Morrison and I scored 2nd row center seats on the balcony. $125ea and worth every penny. The view and the sound were perfect. You could hear Al’s footswitch when he changed channels on his amp. Everyone was quiet and attentive while RTF played. It was pretty impressive. It was doubly special for me because I finally got to see Lenny White play drums live.
Of all of Al’s other solo works, I really only liked Land of the Midnight Sun and Casino. The others got a little too modern sounding for me…But Elegant Gypsy is the cream of the crop.
So Mark Reale, if you’re reading this, thanks for turning me on to DiMeola. I owe you bigtime! :)
The Metal Files 
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