ConcertsApril 4th, 2010 by Phantasmo IT’S ON!Planets aligned on March 26th and 27th, as Korn kicked off their ‘Assault on the Americas’ 2010 tour. I’m not sure how this all played out, but for a band as big as Korn to emerge from the studio and begin a global tour in little ol’ Anchorage, Alaska is incredible in itself. A ticket was snapped up as soon as they went on sale, and a backstage ‘Meet & Greet’ pass was secured via the Korn website. IT’S ON!!!
7:45 PM. About a dozen Korn fans, including myself, are ushered to the 3rd floor with Korn’s manager Sebastien. First up at the meet-and-greet is new drummer Ray Luzier, who is chatting on his cell phone and looks shockingly like Rob Thomas. I’m at the front of the line and Ray is very friendly and talkative, asking about Alaska and thanking us all for coming while signing CDs and getting his photo taken. Several minutes later, Munky strolls out, cracking jokes and asking me why I’m not at the bar getting drunk like I should be. He signs a few items, snaps a pic with me, and then continues on down to the other fans as he steals my silver Sharpie that I brought along. Oh well. Jonathan Davis walks out a few minutes later with two “handlers” and he does not look very happy. No photos are allowed with Jonathan for some reason and he will sign only one item – kind of a dick move, but whatever. Fieldy, we are told, is “at church” and won’t make it to the meet-and-greet. WTF?!! The meet-and-greet ends and I hit the bar, as instructed by Munky. 9:18 PM. The lights dim and the crowd instantly goes nuts as Korn takes the stage – Fieldy, Munky, new (and incredible) drummer Ray Luzier, touring guitarist Shane Gibson and keyboardist Zac Baird all file out. The recognizable, thunderous bass of ‘4 U’ rattles my heart in my chest. The music builds until Jonathan Davis slowly approaches center stage, quietly singing as Zac and Ray create a swirling, hypnotic trance of music. ‘4 U’ ends and the band launches into the thrashing, pounding ‘Dead Bodies Everywhere’ – one of my favorites that I did NOT expect to hear! From there, the band were all over the discography map, resurrecting rarely played songs (‘Need To’ and ‘Clown’ and ‘Good God’) and, of course, their radio-friendly hits (‘Freak on a Leash’ and ‘Got The Life’). Fieldy started the show out looking like he was just going through the motions, but halfway through the show he was grinning and bouncing around, pounding his bass to ‘Good God’ and ‘Did My Time’ and clearly enjoying the energy of the nearly-5000 strong Anchorage crowd. Munky, complete with tribal face paint, was at his finest, entertaining the screaming fans at his feet, tossing out guitar picks and providing massive background vocals (‘Right Now’ was truly impressive as he was screaming his head off). Apparently a man of few words, singer Jonathan Davis had very little to say throughout the show, saving his banter for the last song with the obligatory “Make some NOISE Anchorage!” while twisting and screaming in his Adidas tracksuit. Sadly missing from the stage setup was Ray Luzier’s custom drum kit (he told me earlier at the meet-and-greet that he was using a loaner for the shows) and Jonathan’s custom H.R. Giger-designed mic stand. I would have loved to see that thing up close, but for some reason he has not used it since 2008. The crowd was energetic and the band reciprocated. Jonathan Davis went absolutely insane during the three encore songs – ‘It’s On!’(a complete surprise since they rarely play it), ‘Blind’ (featuring an echo effect on the “Are you ready?!!” intro that blasted the entire room) and ‘Faget’. The setlist was perfect and I could not have asked for a better mix of old and new songs (though they saved the debut of their new song ‘Oildale’ for the following night’s performance). It was an incredible show, the band was extremely friendly at the meet-and-greet (well, Ray and Munky were…Jonathan was pretty quiet) and it was two nights of amazing metal.
March 26 Setlist: Intro/4 U March 27 Setlist: Intro/4 U February 21st, 2010 by Goblins Screeching Weasel – Streaming Live On 2/26
Stream Screeching Weasel LIVE from Reggie’s Rock Club in Chicago next Friday, February 26, at 7:30PM! Screeching Weasel on around 9:45PM. Tickets $1. Sign up now HERE. February 6th, 2009 by Phantasmo SLIPKNOT – ST. PAUL, MN – 01.23.09
People equaled shit on January 23rd in St. Paul, Minnesota when Slipknot kicked off their US ‘All Hope Is Gone’ tour. I was lucky enough to be in St. Paul that weekend for my godson’s baptism, and what better way to celebrate a christening than watching the Unholy Nine unleash hell upon an arena of 17,000 maggots? My brother-in-law Tim and I made it to the show a little late, so we missed the first band, Trivium. From what I heard, they were damn good and as a Trivium fan, I was a bit disappointed to have missed their set because they played some pretty blistering metal. June 6th, 2006 by Foxopoly 30 Seconds To Mars, 05-27-06 at Ogden TheaterSeldom do opportunities for an Alaskan boy to see some of his favorite bands (any bands for that matter) come to be. Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to see several of them. Smashing Pumpkins (‘96), Metallica (2x!), Hum (‘98), Foo Fighters (‘98) Juliana (‘04). However, finally seeing 30 Seconds To Mars on Saturday night took the cake. What an incredible experience! Denver was originally scheduled to be the second stop of the 30STM’s first ever headlining jaunt AKA the “Forever Night Never Day Tour” way back in March (Academy Awards night). Due to an injury within the band the show was postponed- you could only imagine my disappointment. Fortunately, and only by some stroke of luck, the reschedule date fell during my next Colorado visit and my same tix were to be honored. I’d been to the Ogden Theater last fall, but barely recognized the joint after a recent major remodel. Whereas before it was very hard to get a good view of the band (especially short people) or even find a seat to claim in the balcony, the new layout was slick. The reconstruct now wraps around on both sides and almost overlooks the stage at each end. The balcony bar was close, quick and cheap and I very much enjoyed talking to other folks in line about their experiences so far. Opening bands Broke (Utah), Keating (Tennessee) and Men, Women & Children (NYC) were all EXCELLENT. You will most likely be hearing from all these bands in the near future. I particularly enjoyed Keating and every song of their set. Kind of GlassJaw-like, but with better songs and a better singer. Funny to bring up the GJ comparison because one of the guitar players in noise-funk band, MW&C was actually an ex member of said band.
After a short eternity and one Cure song after another over the PA, the familiar “O Fortuna” intro ushered the band onto the stage. Frontman Jared Leto tossed out red roses to an eager crowd before reaching for Pythagoras, his incredible, but road-worn guitar. It was an absolutely thunderous intro to an experience a long time in the making. I was overcome with excitement and emotion and am pretty sure that I wasn’t the only one in the house harboring these intense feelings. The crowd was ELECTRIC, OVERJOYED and INTO IT. Who knew 1,000+ people could be so ferocious?
30STM aren’t exactly known for long setlists (but it’s their first headlining tour???) and the songs seemed to fly by so quickly, but I enjoyed every second. Jared kept the between-song banter to a minimum and didn’t apologize for the cancellation months prior. He did however comment numerous times on how energized the audience was and dove into the crowd any chance he got. They neglected to play an encore, but Jared did come out for some solo electric performances and requests though he never actually played any of the latter. The band soon returned to finish out the rest of the show with the rarely played “From Yesterday”, “The Fantasy” and the blistering “Attack!” complete with un-named outro riffage (A scrapped song from the ABL sessions I believe). After the show we waited to meet the band out by their bus (Moby Dick) for autographs and pics for which they were more than generous. Most of the crowd had left the venue already so it was easy to just hang out and visit a little bit. What a great way to top off a wonderful evening.
Thank you 30, BROKE, Keating, MW&C, Samuel Adams, Jessie, and the ECHELON for an incredible time. Little thanks to FYE, Virgin or Ogden staff. SETLIST April 12th, 2006 by Foxopoly The Sounds, Morningwood, Action Action 04-01-06The Lizard Lounge – Dallas, TX – Sat., April 1st, 2006
Saturday’s show at The Lizard Lounge was high-energy and incredible. This was my second time seeing Sweden’s best current musical export The Sounds. They were good the first time, but this time around they were on fire. I was worried that the Lounge would be a dump (it’s easy to see why I may have assumed that from their website), but was pleasantly surprised at the overall layout of the joint upon arrival. It doesn’t seem to be so much a live venue and as a club where they give you a trucker cap if you pull up your shirt (think GGW). The stage layout made for a really intimate setting. You could literally walk right up to the bands. Action Action was already mid-set by the time we arrived around 7:30. The balcony hung out right over the dance floor nearly to the stage so we decided to sit up top in the comfy chairs. We had a couple of drinks and watched to crew set up for M-O-M-O-R-M-O-R-N-I-N-G-W-O-O-D and it wasn’t long before they attacked the stage, especially their crazy lead singer Chantal. She was quick to inform the audience that she’d just had some tattoo work done on the back off her neck and to be careful not to touch her there. It sure didn’t seem to slow her down much as she performed calisthenics, headbanged, stripped down audience members and jumped into the crowd repeatedly. They definitely came to party and show the crowd a good time. One thing I noticed is that only two of the members were recognizable from the “Nth Degree” video while the other two appeared to be hired guns (the drummer being an ex-Beastie Boys live member).
I noticed that a few people left after their set and kept asking myself, “what are they thinking??” It took a while for the crew to get the stage set just right, but when the first few bars from Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” kicked in that we were in for a real treat. [This was ironic to me because my very first show ever was Journey in 1984 in Anchorage (their famous last show with all the original members and then Randy (huh?) from American Idol on bass.] The Sounds finally came out and tore into “24 Hours” a bouncy rocker from their excellent new album Dying To Say This To You. They played every song like it was their last and Maja (pronounced Maya) was WAY into it. She dove into the decently sized crowd twice.
The Sounds played a decent length set and things never got stale even for a second. Highlights were definitely encore songs “Seven Days a Week” and “Ego“, but the whole set was fantastic. Do yourself a favor and catch these Swedes live or at least check out their two releases: Living In America and Dying To Say This To You. SETLIST March 11th, 2006 by Foxopoly Charlotte Martin, 03-06-06 at The Walnut Room
Monday’s show at The Walnut Room got off to a quiet start in downtown Denver. I’d never heard of the venue, much less been there. What a great place and a perfect environment for intimate live music! Snagged a table close up, ordered pizza (hand tossed) and a few Sunshine Wheats. Local musician Angie Stevens opened the show and played solo acoustic on her Gibson. She played with a good little fire and I enjoyed all of her songs immensely. Purchased her cd “I’m Okay” after the set. Remember to support local music. Charlotte Martin came out to a warm intro and an oscillating drum/synth rhythm that went on for what seemed like minutes. What I assumed would be an acoustic piano show turned out to be very electric as Mrs. Martin tore into a pulsing cover of “Limits Of Our Love” which then segued into “All Is Full Of Love.” She sat between one piano and two synths (Virus & Korg) positioning and using three different mics seemingly the whole show. One mic ran through her problematic Korg which she shared with the crowd of 50+ was acquired from husband (underrated super-genius Ken Andrews). A hard reset of the unit lead into an energized “Gravel” complete with awesome voice-modulated intro. As a performer Charlotte was confident, sexy, skilled and most importantly funny, if not a tad bit spacey at times (blame it on the altitude Charlotte – that’s what I do). One of the funniest bits was her calling some dude out front and center accusing him of being her ex from a few years back. Apparently the newly Mrs. Andrews has left a trail of ‘em (even average joes) in her wake before her marriage in September 2005 to said genius. She apologized profusely for her inability to play in Denver for the last two years, but seemed to make up for it in her sincerity. After the performance and a pee break Charlotte was back to the merch booth and ready to greet each and every person in line literally with open arms. She had a bunch of cool stuff for sale including her tour only “Darkest Hour EP” and her brand new video “Something Like A DVD” (directed, edited and mixed by Ken Andrews). I snagged the show poster which she signed also (“Charlotte Martin aka. Ken’s wife”). In person she looks very young (early twenties) and is pretty tiny. Set List: Limits Of Our Love (w/ loop) |
