Gruesome Twosome 10.07.10

It wasn’t quite Halloween yet though you wouldn’t have known it from the inside of the Family Arena on October 7th. The two greatest shock-rockers of all time  took to the stage in front of “the smallest crowd of the tour” according to Rob Zombie.

Opening up for the show would be Slipknot/Rob Zombie drummer Joey Jordison and the Murderdolls. The band, lead by Wednesday 13, did their absolute best to warm up a crowd that was still not liqueured-up enough to fully engage in the otherwise very entertaining opening performance.

Alice Cooper took to the stage next and would show the other acts the true meaning of shock-rock with his “Theater of Death”. I can only imagine what it was like to see Cooper in his prime as even now he fully engulfs the stage with his presence. His backing band does an incredible job of keeping up and still interacting with  crowd while making sure Cooper was in the spotlight.

Alice Cooper brought the old-school but Rob Zombie brought the old (White Zombie classics) and many tracks from his newest effort Hellbilly Deluxe 2.

Coming out like a metal version of the Flaming Lips Zombie quickly coated the floor with a thick layer of confetti that would later be topped with an immense amount of what were seemingly feathers.

Blackdiamondskye Ft. Alice in Chains 10.01.10

If ever there was a packaged concert designed to leave all attendees nearly mute from sore throats and ringing ears the following day it is surely Blackdiamondskye. The many fans arriving slightly late to the Alice in Chains/Deftones/Mastodon aural attack arrived directly into the wall of progressive sludge metal that is the men from Atlanta’s Mastodon. Though the band did not let up for a moment during it’s short 8-song set, it seemed all together that the crowd became quite unresponsive by mid-set and didn’t catch back up with the band’s intensity until closer “Blood and Thunder”.

As the Deftones approached the stage not 20 minutes after the departure of the previous band, many more had decided to join in the fun as Chino Moreno & co. lit up everyone with their blend of old and new ranging from 1995′s “7 Words” to 2010′s “You’ve Seen the Butcher”. Since their last show at the Pageant in 07′ the band have been through events that have seen many bands fold under. Bass player Chi Cheng remains in a semi-conscious state following a car wreck nearly two years ago. Through  the love of many OneLoveForChi.com has raised nearly $12,000 dollars this year, with a goal of $500,000. In the meantime, long time friend of the band Sergio Vega aptly fills in and is even featured live during “My Own Summer (Shove It)”.

With another quick changeover (by the way, what an incredibly well organized stage setup) Alice in Chains simultaneously reminded fans of the new with an intro featuring artwork from 2009s’ Black Gives Way to Blue, and paid tribute to the old coming out to “Them Bones”. Most noticeable early on were overbearing sound issues that would leave it difficult to enjoy the many early tracks off of 92s’ Dirt. Either by loss of hearing or a change to less intense tracks, the sound seemed to clear up before recent hit’s “Check My Brain” and Your Decision”.

The setlist featured multiple cuts from all of the bands four main LP’s and never focused on the same one for too long. The one exception was “A Looking in View” off of BGWTB, the over seven minute long track got the standing crowd thinking about those seats that had been long ignored from the moment the lights went out, however as soon as the opening riffs of new single “Lesson Learned” attention quickly returned to Jerry Cantrell’s haunting vocal delivery. Cantrell and William Duvall would trade and share the five mics placed around the stage, and perfectly recreated the sounds of “Grind” and possibly improved the biggest sing-alongs of the night “Rooster” and “Man in the Box”.

The problem with a tour featuring the lords of progressive, alternative/nu-metal, and grunge rock respectively is that there were three entirely different types of crowd in the same space. This became very clear throughout the night as crowd members drunkenly let those around them be aware that “The Deftones should be the ones headlining” or “Mastodon is better than both of those bands!” Though as each respective band took the stage only one thing was apparent, all of these bands came 100% prepared to prove themselves more than worthy of the stage and everyone’s attention.

Muse – 3.15.10 Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN

Few bands put on a more bombastic arena show than Muse. The rest of the world has been well aware of this for years, now North America is catching on as to why. For “The Resistance Tour 2010” the band has brought along every arena tool in the big book of rock history including a mind blowing amount of lasers, skyscraper like rising platforms, led screens, and the most important part… big arena-worthy rock songs.

Before they would get their chance to light up Bridgestone Arena however, L.A. based Silversun Pickups brought a good mix of fuzz-filled rock. When lead singer Brian Aubert wasn’t busy playing intense 90s-esque songs like recent single, “Substitiution” or 2006 breakthrough “Lazy Eye”, he filled the rest of the 45 minute set entertaining the crowd with his excitable style of humor, which saw him begging the crowd not to look the Muse lead singer, Matt Bellamy, in the eyes. Later in the set he sported a stylish pair of AC/DC style flashing devil horns that he had borrowed from a fan in the front row.

Nothing, however, was more of a test of patience than watching Bellamy’s unique Manson guitar’s brought to the stage for sound check as they flashed behind the curtain surrounding the ominous skyscrapers. Nearly 45 minutes passed between sets before the lights when down and Muse arrived onstage to alternative rock hit “Uprising”. It was at this point that the arena lost it. As the words “They will not control us / we will be victorious” flashed across the towers, there was a palpable sense of a literal uprising of the spirits of everyone in attendance.

The band did choose, however, not to stick with material off The Resistance, as only three songs into the set the band would kick into “New Born” off of 2001’s Origin of Symmetry. Slowly being lowered to the stage as lasers covered nearly everyone in the crowd (literally!) few noticed the bands new location until Bellamy did a knee slide to the front of the stage playing the songs opening riff.

Rock star moves were the usual more than a rarity on the night as the band were in usual top-form. Bassist Chris Wolstenholme only stopped head banging for occasional back-up vocals as well as a harmonica solo. Joining Wolstenholme for an extended mid-set duet, was drummer Dominic Howard who did an amazing job of keeping the beat during the hour and forty minute set. Though the band have a very set song list on this tour, they do a good job of making it feel fresh and slightly improvised with several extended solos and jam sessions.

Following the incredible main-set ender in “Plug In Baby,” which featured confetti-eyeball balloons and knee slides galore, the band returned for a three song encore. The first of these was “Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1” from The Resistance which, despite it’s epic sound, was the only song the band could play from the three part symphony due to lack of a full orchestra. The band chose instead to end with the last song on 2006’s Blackholes and Revelations, “Knights of Cydonia.” The song maybe the band’s ending song for a long time as, though it’s possible, it’s hard to imagine the band coming out with a better ending moment than the entire crowd shouting, “No one’s going to take me alive!”.

The band is rumored to be planning a fall 2010 North American tour, which would seem plausible considering they are only playing 24 dates on the first tour in support of The Resistance. If they do come back for round two, you will be missing the top arena rock tour of 2010 by not attending

AFI turns up the love, down the dispair in St. Louis (11/4)

Almost as if to tell their Hot Topic loving fanbase to suck it, Davey Havok, the lead singer of AFI, has faded away from the makeup and turned up the screams. On a cool Wednesday night in St. Louis, MO, the band showed up looking more like the early to mid-thirties rockers they are, and much less like the mostly younger crowd they drew in.

The band’s vociferous fanbase, however, was not to be deterred, as they sang along with every word and bounced to many of the band’s songs (both new and old). Though older tracks “6 to 8″ and “Ny-Quil” had the crowd in its greatest frenzy, new songs off Crash Love, the band’s recently released LP, brought a good amount of dancing to the stage and crowd (despite being much weaker sounding tracks in the bands deep catalog). The four-piece’s songs have begun to sound less like dark dreary sorrow and more like the kind of love you’re not supposed to make music about.

Unfortunately, while these newer tracks were certainly fun, they just didn’t pack the immense bass lines of Hunter Burgan or the scorching guitar parts of Jade Puget. Drummer Adam Carson seemed almost pushed to the sidelines in exchange for computerized beats and pop break downs.

Early in the set, tracks off of Sing the Sorrow, the band’s platinum breakout, got everyone in the spirit with a rendition of “Girl’s Not Grey” and hardcore dancer anthem “The Leaving Song, Pt. 2″. Havok emerged looking more like a younger Perry Farrell and less like one of the girls from The Craft (as he has in the past). Overall, however, the crowd’s heavy momentum would push the band through the fairly short set (coming in at just over an hour long).

But, in the end, the real showcase of the night turned out to be openers, Gallows. It was quite a shock to walk into the mostly filled 2,000 person capacity Pageant, and see a band playing with no lead singer in sight (though one could obviously hear someone talking as well as singing). With a little bit of investigation, however, it could be discovered that the lead singer, Englishman Frank Carter, was directly in the middle of a frantic circle pit that encompassed most of the floor.

The band ran through songs featured on 2009’s Grey Britain, and did a suitable job filling the heavy slot AFI normally carries on the bill. The Brit punks sang songs for “the druggies, rehabbing druggies, and straight edge kids,” stating that it didn’t matter except that they were all enjoying themselves in the moment of the night. Carter also spent a fair amount of time promoting himself as a casanova, handing a broken microphone off to a woman he had chosen out of the crowd, as well as helping a specific gentleman by promoting anal sex.

All in all, the show provided many entertaining moments. If you get the chance, check out Gallows and leave the sorrow of old AFI to the albums themselves.

Setlist:
Torch Song
Girl’s Not Grey
The Leaving Song, Pt. 2
Too Shy to Scream
Ever and a Day
Kill Caustic
End Transmission
Ny-Quil
Beautiful Thieves
Dancing Through Sunday
Cold Hands
The Leaving Song
On the Arrow
Death of Seasonz
Medicate
Love Like Winter

Encore:
6 to 8
Miss Murder
Silver and Cold

The Mars Volta get sick in Memphis (10/19)

Few bands on this earth are capable of putting on a show on par withThe Mars Volta. No matter how you look at the band’s elongated jams and nonsensical lyrics, they do put 110% into their show, and that’s precisely what they did at Minglewood Hall in Memphis, TN last night. On a Monday, no less.

Despite a nagging sickness, an ailment that lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala made clearly evident of early in the night (noting that he would be expelling “large amounts of bodily fluids” and a promise that a few in the front row might be going home with more than their concert tickets), the lead singer leaped, danced, and hit notes higher than previously recorded on the band’s five albums. It almost begged the question, “How do I get this sickness?”

With a few nights off, due to their recent cancellation in Cincinnati, the rest of the band didn’t miss a beat — at least for a Volta show. Drummer Thomas Pridgen hit the drums so hard that he frequently floated over his drum seat, while Omar Rodriguez-Lopez soloed like a dazed madman, forcing Bixler-Zavala to frequently look at him, and then back out to the crowd, as if to say, “Are you guys seeing this shit!”

Naturally, fans new and old would be pleased, and the band treated both alike, running through several tracks off ofDeloused in the Comatorium all the way through to this year’s, Octahedron.  Opener “Inertiatic ESP” sounded pristine, highlighting every performer that brought it to life. “Goliath” took off next, sounding as large and ominous as its title. Drummer Pridgen furiously beat away at the drums with forceful fills and a beat that couldn’t be stopped. He’s worth the price of admission alone. “Eunuch Provocateur” showed off the skills of bass player Juan Alderete, who is frequently overshadowed by band mates.

Latin freak-out “Ilyena” shook several in the crowd out of their glazed stupor, thanks to keyboardist Isaiah “Ikey” Owens pounding and intoxicating rhythms, rocking out as hard as a keyboard player can. Though it’s exciting to hear live, it’s time for Frances the Mute single “The Widow” to go… for good. Taking a short break before the song, Bixler-Zavala came out and hit every note, but it pales in comparison to the rest of the set, coming off rather stale and without the intense passion that any other song carries. Luckily, hard rocking “Wax Simulcra”, though short, gave the band one last chance to prove that they probably could have kept going for another hour or two.

The short hour-and-a-half setlist did however leave several in the crowd wondering what happened to the band that used to play marathon two and a half to three hour sets without a pause. Though there are few bands that could please a Mars Volta crowd (Portugal. The Man perhaps?), for $35 dollars, it may be time for someone else to step in — at least, as long as the band intends on playing a shorter set. Still, it’s one intense event. No, few left the small club grumbling; however, faces were melted, souls were shaken, and grossly… many bodily fluids were drained. It just all seemed less a journey and moreover a short, quick trip.

Girl Talk walks the talk

Girl Talk’s Greg Gillis is an omnipresent musical being. He exists in no set decade and no good musician is safe from his all knowing eye.

This mash up master not only had a great 2008, with his album, Feed the Animals, aka, 24th best album of the year, according to Rolling Stone, he also began 2009 in party guru fashion, with a sold out show at the Pageant in St. Louis, MO on January 8th.

It should be said that it was no small feat to sell out a show at the 2,300 max capacity Pageant in a fairly weak concert selling city like St. Louis on this night. Under 10 miles away, Lil Wayne, T-Pain, and the Gym Class Heroes were hogging all media attention and advertising in town at the St. Louis University campus.

With all that being said, Gillis brought the party, and for one-fourth of the price, the crowd jumped up and down and danced to samples of Wayne’s songs, as he played right down the street.

All great acts need a great lead in, and maybe sometimes, someone to make them look better. On this night, Gillis would have both. Opening act, Chicago rapper, Hollywood Holt, took to the stage with absolute tornado of noise and furious physicality.

The rapper, backed up by former M.I.A. DJ, Million $ Mano, came out and got the crowd jumping, swaying, and at the end, physically keeping him from hitting the ground as he jumped into the mass of bodies. Having recently been anointed next big thing by Kanye West, Holt stood up and delivered on the promise.

Next up was fellow Pittsburgh rap duo, Grand Buffet. Though the group tried their best to please the crowd, few in the horde were going for it. It got ugly quick. As soon as the duo walked on stage, an icy chill wafted over the crowd that had been red hot minutes earlier. Vulgarities, along with middle fingers were thrown casually.

The duo quickly let it get to them, often addressing us. As if the awkward chit chat about politicians eating babies, and how they felt about microwaves wasn’t enough, the group couldn’t get past the boo-birds in the crowd, and try to please those having a good time.

I’m sorry guys, just because Gillis thought you were good enough to be on the tour doesn’t mean you walk in with our respect, you have to earn it. The fairly short and awkward set left the crowd more excited than ever to see the main attraction.

It’s amazing that in such an extremely short amount of time Girl Talk has gained the popularity to go from playing several hundred capacity clubs, to the large 2,300 capacity Pageant. With major planning and assistance from the security crew the crowd quickly made its way on stage and a usual show was forming.

There is truly no way to describe a Girl Talk crowd. It is as eclectic and seemingly random as Gillis’s music. However just a little taste would on this night include, LOTS of spandex on teenagers, animal masks, guys wearing dresses and entirely green attire, and last but not least, Gillis himself wearing sweatpants.

The dance party went on for an hour and a half, and just like the music, not one person quit moving, jumping, or partying. No matter your taste in music, believe me you will hear something you can tap a toe to, a Girl Talk show is an entirely unique experience that is not to be missed whether in a small club, or festival

More pictures coming later today!

Update 2009

Just wanted to stop in and let you all know how quickly things are moving for me right now. As you can see on the side I have several shows coming up, as well as an interview with a member of Seether sometime before the end of the month. I will also be writing concert reviews for consequenceofsound.net which is an absolutely amazing music site that kepps track of every major music festival as well as occasionally doing concert reviews, music reviews and news. I am very excited about this, and hope things only continue to grow from there! SO check back for upcoming show reviews and pictures!

edit: thought I would add that I have also recently added Tyler Rendleman’s interview with Rise Against guitarist Zach Blair, up on the reviews tab at the top!

Top 25 Songs of the Year

So out of pure boredom, and not that anyone cares, but here’s my skewed and offbase opinion on what was not good, but great in the last 12 months.

25.  To Build A Mountain – The Matches – If you don’t listen to this band you should check them out, not only are they great musicians/artists, but they actual are this good live, if not better.

24. Spaceman – The Killers – Wasn’t a fan of this album in general, but this song brings possibly the nuttiest musician to date cough cough, Brandon Flowers, cough cough, to the the forefront of what he should keep doing!

23. Echoplex – Nine Inch Nails – Not only was this song released absolutely free of charge as a thank you from Trent, it’s also better than almost all the music that came out this year. So let’s go over that again, 1. FREE! 2. Amazing!

22. Great Expectations – The Gaslight Anthem – Springsteen meets Rise Against. I look forward to watching this band taking off.

21. The Kelly Affair- Be Your Own Pet – It’s truely saddening to see a band with legitimate skills and talent disband, while so many awful bands manage to stick around. However, I am pleased that they managed to push out a great record with this powerful, party song.

20. Beautiful – 10 Years – This is one alternative band that may forever get stuck around bands like Seether, Breaking Benjamin, and the like, and there’s noting wrong with that, but they deserve to break out of that mold, and this song is a great example.

19. Come All You Weary – Thrice – Oddly enough in going through so many genre’s Thrice seem their most at home without one. I personally love lead singer Dustin Kensrue’s acoustic material, so that combined with the rest of the band made this song great.

18. Why Do You Let Me Stay Here – She & Him – I would gladly take Zooey off her shelf any day, and M. Ward adds his own touch to make for a great combination of her candy cane sweet vocals and his musical genius.

17. Love is Noise – The Verve – It’s awkward sounding, and don’t give up too soon. Richard Ashcroft kicks in to show that he is still one of the best vocalists out of the British Invasion of the 90s’.

16. Carolina Drama – The Raconteurs – Drama is the key word here, Jack White could sing about anything and make it interesting, but this southern murder tale is sweet listening.

15. Gamma Ray – Beck – This song sounds like it jumped off a melting Antarctic beach party.

14. The Day That Never Come – Metallica – This song is epic Metallica, that’s never a bad thing.

13. Better – Guns N’ Roses – This album was not worth the wait, but this song highlights that Axl still has the vocal ability to make a song cuts to the core of something that I can’t quite figure out.

12. I’ve Seen Enough – Cold War Kids – The new album from this SoCo band is a much denser listen, but absolutely worth it, and this one starts off slow but quickly kicks in with the bands quirky take on blues and indie music.

11. Northern Downpour – Panic at the Disco – Beatles meet Fall Out Boy, makes for an intriguing sound, and one that I can’t stop listening to.

10.  Mykonos – Fleet Foxes- Gorgeous synchronized vocal’s make this band unique, and really act as a musical instrument over the guitar part.

9. Love Lockdown – Kanye West – Best drum part of the year by anyone, though i’m not all that into rap, this song is irresistably depressing.

8. Lost! – Coldplay – I couldn’t help it, I wanted to, but I just can’t this song has one of the best beats of the year by an alternative band.

7. Sex on Fire – Kings of Leon – Not the most deep song lyrically, but sometimes things need to be said simply, and with a great simple guitar part, this song is all about straightforward rocking, in and out of bed.

6. Kids – MGMT – Best new band, easily. This song, like all of their other songs are completely different than anything anyone else is trying to do right now.

5.Pork and Beans – Weezer – Classic Weezer, with nonsensical lyrics about standing against the norm and kicking ass while doing it.

4.Goliath – The Mars Volta – Thomas Pridgen, the Mars Volta’s new drummer, impressed me, possibly, more than any other musician this year.

3. G.L.O.W. – Smashing Pumpkins – Billy Corgan is back and taking no prisoners. New bassist Ginger Reyes kicks in with a bass solo that shakes the floors of what you thought the Pumpkins were becoming, and simply destroys it.

2. Strange Times – Black Keys – Foot pounding catchy, this song, and album made my year. It is one of the most powerful songs of the year musically.

1. Grapefire Vines – Death Cab For Cutie – This track is absolutely beautiful, melodic, and you can’t help but get sucked in to the lyrics. The fact that the song end’s with a incomplete thought makes it all the better and more appropriate for a song about California fires.

Update 12.08.08

I just added The Smashing Pumpkins review as well as the Mudvayne review to the concert review page, that is the officail version that was printed in the paper, as well as Tyler Rendleman’s review of the Rise Against show which is a great read as well.

No shows really coming up in the near future, but I wil be sure to update as soon as their are, as well as some cd review over the school break.

8 years later, back in St. Louis

For the past two years, I couldn’t help but wonder aloud why Billy Corgan had brought the Smashing Pumpkins back to be ridiculed, and insulted.
The band released Zeitgeist in 2007 and left fans feeling the same way. It’s not that the CD was awful, just that it wasn’t that good, and it certainly wasn’t a reunion featuring fan favorites James Iha and D’Arcy Wretzky.
Billy Corgan has often been accused of just bringing the band back for a quick cash grab before leaving again. I, however am back on the Pumpkins ship.
After their return to St. Louis on November 26th, all my faith in Billy, and whoever he chooses to put around him, has been restored.
The band was of course fashionably late, coming on stage around fifteen minutes after scheduled start time,  to the roaring guitar strums of one of the better songs off of Zeitgeist, “Tarantula”.
Jimmy Chamberlin’s drumming immediately showed it’s as strong as ever, and he continues to be the only stabilizing feature of the Pumpkins, and Billy Corgan’s other musical half.
New bass player Ginger Reyes then dove into one of the heaviest Pumpkins bass lines in a very long time on new single, “G.L.O.W.” The song is a driving force that distinctively proves that Corgan is as capable as ever as a hit producing front man.
“Siva” came next featuring the first of many “jam” moments of the night, almost as a reminder in case anyone had forgotten that Corgan still knows how to play a blistering guitar solo.
The hits seemingly were on a never ending  streak, continuing with “Eye” and “Tonight, Tonight”, but this was the groups first return to St. Louis since the reunion two years ago, and eight years since their last visit overall, so maybe he was trying to make up for the absence.

Many dates on the “20th Anniversary Tour” have received less than glowing reviews, as Corgan often seems perturbed with the crowd as he goes off on a twenty minute cover of Pink Floyds “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”, which goes over less than swimmingly with fans hoping for actual Pumpkins songs.
As it turned out, that song would end this show as well to the usual reaction, but not before a set list full of classics, which even featured Corgan pulling out an acoustic guitar for his cover of “Landslide” originally performed by Fleetwood Mac.
The band covered over two and a half hours, which was actually cut a little bit shorter than other dates on the tour due to Corgan having a persisting cold.
Corgan seemed in great spirits, maybe it was the cold medicine, even at one point  telling the crowd a story about how he wrote “Disarm” underneath the arch at 6 a.m. one morning, though of course that wasn’t true.
At the end of though show, though some were disillusioned by the Floyd cover song, it was clear that the Smashing Pumpkins seem to back on the right track.
With thundering new songs like “As Rome Burns”, mostly instrumental “Superchrist” and “G.L.O.W.”, as well as a astounding lineup that seems to be growing well together, here’s hoping the next CD will hopefully continue the good feelings everyone left with after the show.