Black Label Society: Not All Great Bands Avoid Syracuse

                It is impossible to explain my excitement when one of my favorite bands of all time, Black Label Society, led by guitar messiah Zakk Wylde, announced not only were they touring, but coming to Syracuse, a scant fifteen minute jaunt down route 81.  My lovely fiancée purchased tickets for me as a Christmas gift, and wound up accompanying me when my brother, the original recipient of the other ticket, was unable due to the fact that the concert date was moved and his work schedule could not do the same.  It’s odd that Black Label Society even made it to Syracuse, as many bands just refuse to come here (with good reason, Syracuse is awful).  When Motley Crue came around for their farewell tour, Alice Cooper opened for them on nearly all of the dates except Syracuse.  Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper were set to play Syracuse a couple years ago but backed out at the last minute and went to Buffalo instead.  Syracuse is like that girl that everyone knows has herpes that only the desperate guys will fuck.  Black Label Society is not desperate though, they could play anywhere else (and they have!) so the fact that they stopped by the Salt City made me one happy camper.

                First things first, the venue, the F-Shed, was a roomy place.  A decent concert venue if you didn’t factor in the fact that the sound system was atrocious.  This may be one of the worst sounding concerts in terms of the technical aspect of the show that I have ever been to.  Somehow, someway, it didn’t interfere with Black Label as much as the two opening bands, but shit, it was terrible.  It would have to be a great band and a decent ticket price for me to even consider visiting the F-Shed again.

                The first band, Butcher Babies was beyond bad, in my opinion.  I am not a fan of scream-metal bands, especially ones fronted by women, so my judgment is naturally going to be colored in this respect, but my goodness, they were bad.  Unintelligible, loud for loud’s sake.  Hell, any time there are two singers in a band, I get nervous.  With Butcher Babies it was for good reason.  Hatebreed was a bit more intelligible, but still loud and screamy, and just not my cup of tea.  I am glad they had a relatively short set as they were not at all what I was there to see.

                Now, the headliner, Black Label Society, did exactly what they do every time.  They came out and just tore the roof off the place from the very beginning.  Zakk was at his absolute best, despite a grueling tour schedule, and the rest of the band was just awesome.  I hate to say it, because it’s hard to see Black Label without him, but I didn’t even miss Nick Catanese as his replacement, Dario Lorina stepped in and killed it.  Though I will say, next to Zakk, Dario looks emaciated and it makes for a funny side by side image. 

                The music was superb, with Zakk mixing it up, with a little from nearly every album (though I don’t remember much from Order of the Black which is a shame).  Zakk even played piano for “In This River” while Lorina tickled the ivories for “Angel of Mercy”.  It was a solid a night of music as I can remember seeing in a long time, even with the auditory headaches of the F-Shed.  If you have the opportunity, I cannot recommend a show any more highly than Black Label Society.  This may be one of the best concerts you ever go to, seriously.  

The Eat @ Shrimpy's 2014 Year in Review

We'll get back to the AC/DC discography review shortly, but first, the annual "year in review!"

I have combed through my reviews this year to bring you a best of list.  If you neglected my recommendation the first time*, follow the links to re-read the reviews and make some post-New Year’s purchases.  If I neglected something, or you think I ranked one too low, please let me know in the comments, we’ll start a dialogue.

Please note, that this was a pretty lean year in terms of spending as legal bills were a major hassle, so the lists may not be as extensive as in years past.  I invite you to help me flesh out those lists with some of your own favorites.

*Where I have failed to provide a previous review there will be a small blurb as to why I included that particular thing.

Concerts:

1.  Clutch

That's it, one concert last year.  Jeez.  Luckily next year starts with a bang as Black Label Society is coming to Syracuse in January!

CD’s:

1.   Black Label Society: Catacombs of the Black Vatican
2.  Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band: Goin' Home
2.  Dio: This is Your Life
4.  Black Stone Cherry: Magic Mountain
5. Slash: World on Fire

Comic Series:

I read no new comics this year (I know, it's a shame).  I did pick up a few trades though, and in no particular order, my recommendations are Invincible, The Goon, Chew, Atomic Robo.

Seriously, those four books are awesome, go pick them up!

Video Games:

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - 3DS

2.  Mario Kart 8
3.  Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (Review coming soon!)
4.  Pikmin 3
5. Diablo III

So what are your favorites? 

Clutch at the Westcott, Year Two

                Clutch came back to town on Thursday night, so what else was I going to do?  Brandon and I headed over, and despite trying our best to be late, were right on time.  The first band we saw was called Elephant Mountain, a local Syracuse band that was actually quite good.  They had a heavy Southern Rock feeling to them, a metal Skynrd if you will, and really seemed to be having a good time on stage, enjoying the opportunity provided to them.  I would honestly see them again, and for way longer than the twenty minutes they were given here as the opener.  If you like good music in general, and especially if you’re a fan of supporting the small, local bands, I would definitely suggest finding their music on Amazon or itunes.  They even have a song dedicated to firefighters, which tickled Brandon’s fancy, being a firefighter himself, and made him a fan right away. He purchased their most recent album and after listening to it a couple times, they are really good!  They aren't the good live band but loses that magic in the studio kind of band.  Elephant Mountain brings it no matter where they are.  I plan on seeing a lot more Elephant Mountain shows in the future.

                The next band up was American Sharks.  Ho-Lee-Fuck they were terrible.  Their opening song stole the riff from “Blitzkrieg Bop” and did nothing good with it, while their second song borrowed quite liberally from Black Sabbath (“Children of the Grave” if I remember correctly) and also failed to do anything good with it.  Brandon made it through one song before leaving, and I made it through one and a half.  We stepped outside and hung out for the rest of their set, and seeing the line of people exiting the theater during that set, we weren’t the only ones that disliked their “music”.  Seriously, I’ve seen shitty cover bands with more talent than those three jokers.  The fact that Clutch picked them to travel the country as their opener makes me wonder what the fuck they were thinking.  Was a monkey with a cowbell too expensive?

                Anyway, after an extended wait (seriously, the stage was set by 940 and we were waiting until at least ten for Clutch to come on) the moment was at hand.  All of the energy and polish that I’ve come to expect from Clutch was on full display.  Neil Fallon was at his manic best, bouncing around on stage, all hand gestures and gyrations, while the band were a perfect balance of standing completely still (seriously, Mick Mars looks at these guys and wonders if they’re alive) while still injecting energy on the stage with their playing.  The technical prowess of this band is second to none, it is seriously a joy to watch the artistic mastery of these guys on their instruments.  The set itself ran for around 90 minutes, with the highlight being that they mixed it up from last year.  There were a few holdovers from that show (“Electric Worry” to close things out, as well as “Earth Rocker “ and “Cyborg Bette” from the Earth Rocker album) but a good portion of the other songs were tunes I had yet to hear live, the highlights being “DC Sound Attack” ( a personal favorite) and “The Elephant Riders”. 

                While I was not a huge fan of the long wait for Clutch to take the stage, once they got there they did not disappoint.  I have a feeling that next year if they come back I won’t make the same mistake of getting there even close to on time (unless Elephant Mountain is playing).  I would suggest going to a Clutch show if you can, the energy that they have up on the stage is unparalleled.  For those of you in Central New York, check out Elephant Mountain as well, you won’t be disappointed.

Worshipping at the Altar of Pearl Jam

                I have been going to concerts for a loooooong time.  We are talking a nearly twenty year obsession with live music, and yet I have never, in all my life, witnessed a concert that doubled as a religious experience.  That is the only thing that I can call seeing Pearl Jam in concert.  It was not a concert, or at least it was not just a concert.  While I have seen large crowds at concerts before, I have never seen this many fans that were all laser focused on the show at hand.  I would assume a lot of it has to do with the infrequent touring schedule of the band (they have not been to Buffalo in three years) but regardless, for two and a half hours, Pearl Jam captivated nearly a full stadium of 18,000-plus people with their performance.

                This was the second stop on Pearl Jam’s North American tour, and you could tell in some spots, especially with their new music (from Lightning Bolt - in stores today) as it wasn’t as crisp as you would expect seasoned veterans to perform.  There was even a point where they stopped the show (shortly into “My Father’s Son” because vocalist Eddie Vedder was not in synch with the rest of the band.  They restarted and had no more issues, but throughout the performance Eddie was having trouble with his ear-bud.  It didn’t affect his enthusiasm or his performance, but you could see him getting frustrated as the night wore on.  There were even instances throughout the night where he brought the band together and had a pow-wow on stage and it was strange to see.  From checking message boards and conversations about the concert Vedder was apparently changing the setlist around a little, at first to save his voice, and then for reasons unknown to me.  At times it looked like he was yelling at the other members of the band, but it was hard to determine from where I was sitting, and what looks like yelling to me could have been simply because he was trying to communicate over 18,000 rabid fans. 

                Even with everything not going exactly as planned for the band, they didn’t let that stop them from putting on one of the best concerts I have ever seen.  From new songs (of which they played nine of the twelve new songs from Lightning Bolt – an ambitious setlist considering the album had yet to be released), to the old staples that everyone came to see, they had the crowd enthralled.  Many people, like the know-it-all guy behind my girlfriend and I, had seen the band before and were already indoctrinated into the universal church of Pearl Jam.  We, on the other hand, had waited a good twenty years to see Eddie and the boys take the stage and were not disappointed.  Did we wish they had played more of their older stuff?  Sure.  But that’s the price you pay when the first three albums in a band’s catalog are three of the best albums of all time.  Every fan of the band has their favorite album or song, and the band did a great job of trying to accommodate those people by playing at least one song from nearly every album in their catalog (including a lot from No Code, much more than I anticipated).  This is the best thing about Pearl Jam.  Sure, they’ll play their staples, and on a tour like this they’ll probably play much of their new album, but they will vary the setlist from show to show, so even if you follow them from city to city, you will never hear the same concert twice.

 

                Grunge music kind of gets a bad rap for being all angsty with heavy, chunky guitars.  What many people don’t always see is the incredible guitar players that came out of that generation.  It’s often hard to believe compared to the hair metal generation that preceded it which spawned the likes of Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhodes and Zakk Wylde, but grunge guitarists like Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam’s own Mike McCready can still pull off some amazing guitar work amongst the heavy grunge sound (and at this point, it would be hard to even classify Pearl Jam as Grunge, or really any label aside from "rock band").  Even though I know Pearl Jam's music and I’ve been a fan since I was young, I never really realized how exceptional of a guitar player Mike McCready really is.  Not just in a technical precision kind of way (which, believe me, he excels at) but in a pure energy kind of way.  McCready kept the concert moving at times when a lesser guitar player left to their own devices may falter.  He stood at the front of the stage and gave everything he had on every song, and showed just how adept he is at his chosen instrument.  This is not to take anything away from the rest of the band as this is one of the best bands in history.  They are all on the same page musically and they all approach shows the same way, to give it everything they have from start to finish and leave the audience satisfied.  

               There were a few reasons to not be too happy with the performance on Saturday night, from the new-music heavy setlist to the oddity that was the interaction between Eddie and the band, to the fact that the concert started an hour later than its posted time, yet, when all was said and done, and the band took the stage, my girlfriend and I were able to look at each other and see in each other’s eyes the joy of seeing one of our favorite bands after so long (not to mention when they turned to the back of the stage and played "Elderly Woman...", I've never seen her eyes light up that much).

 

                If you have even a passing interest in Pearl Jam, a “hey, I liked Ten back in the early nineties” kind of appreciation for the band, you owe it to yourself to go.  Don’t think twice about ticket prices (which, I know, is hard to do in this day and age) as this is the best show you will ever see, regardless of how much you had to pay for tickets, or parking (screw you $20 parking garage).  If you’ve never been, go, if you have, go again…I know I will. 

Kid Rock Packs the house at SPAC and has no problem telling you how much you paid for your ticket.

                I will readily admit, I purchased tickets to the Kid Rock show for the express purpose of seeing ZZ Top.  Seriously, how could you go wrong with a $25 ticket to see the boys from Texas up here in New York?  I have heard that Kid Rock puts on a good show, and I had no problem going to see him, however the main driving force was definitely seeing ZZ Top live.

                The funny thing is that I almost didn’t make it.  I was pretty sick that entire day (from eating shrimp most likely, and if you don’t see the irony in that I can’t help you), and more than once I thought about saying to hell with it and not going.  I was on vacation all of last week (if you can count moving and getting settled as much of a vacation) and part of me didn’t want to break that up with a long trip to Saratoga.  My girlfriend is not the staunchest Kid Rock supporter either, so I knew she wouldn’t be too upset over missing out on the show.  However, a package of crackers and Gatorade from the gas station settled my stomach enough to make the trip.  The drive was nice enough (and it should have been considering the New York State Thruway is a toll road), but as we got to the park, I could tell that the place was packed.  We waited in line in our car for a good forty minutes to get to a parking lot that was full, and we were then directed to drive and turn around, parking in a lot across the street.  This is something that we could have done, literally, forty minutes before if we knew that the lot was full with the help of a sign or something besides the archaic system of “sit in line and have someone walk up to your car and tell you after forty minutes of stop and go traffic”.  This was bad form by SPAC and not the last time they will have dropped the ball before the evening is done.

                Because it took us so long to get parked and to our seats, we completely missed Uncle Kracker (which brought a tear to the eye of absolutely no one).  We sat down after passing the ten dollar grilled cheese stand and the twelve dollar beer vendors (thanks for keeping everything so inexpensive Kid Rock!).  The minute these concert tickets went on sale a few months ago (March or April I believe) I purchased my tickets.  They were all the same price so I didn’t even have to choose a seat, and despite the fact that I purchased them at 10am as soon as they were available, we were pretty much as far away as we could be in the seated portion of the venue.  The seats were not terrible, and the fact that we didn’t have to stand amongst the masses was a godsend, but it makes me wonder how those people with the better seats were able to obtain those even though I logged in as soon as the tickets went online.  Something was fishy but as long as the show was good it would be alright.

                We missed Uncle Kracker and luckily for us, about ten to fifteen minutes after we sat down, ZZ Top made their way to the stage.  I’m not really sure what I was expecting from a couple guys in their 60s, but they were pretty bland.  I had one hope in terms of music, that they played “Waitin’ for the bus” from the Tres Hombres album.  They accomplished that by the second song of their forty minute set and filled the rest of the time with their standard hits collection.  I was impressed to hear “Pincushion” from their 1994 album Antenna but beyond that it was the standard fare.  It wasn’t bad, mind you, I was just not as blown away by the band as I wanted to be.  If there was more time, it’s possible that they may have gotten into their catalog a bit more, and been a bit more engaging with the crowd, but the short set really hindered them in that regard.

                ZZ Top finished their short set and Kid Rock was up next.  What we got was an ingenious invention that I have never seen utilized at a concert before, a countdown clock.  It notified the crowd exactly how much time they had left before Kid Rock was going to take the stage.  I have been to a lot of concerts in my time and this is the first time that I have been informed of an act’s upcoming performance down to the minute.  Sure, nowadays I can probably find out an approximate time when a band is going to take the stage, but to be at the venue and have them say that Kid Rock will be arriving in “fifteen minutes” is a new and welcome addition. 

                While I understand why it was done, having Jim Beam and Harley Davidson as sponsors of the concert (in order to keep the ticket prices low – a point that Kid Rock had no problem reiterating throughout the night) included blatant product placement and even a commercial between what I would assume was the initial set and the encore, seemed a bit strange.   I have a feeling this seemed so out of place because I have never been to a show that was that blatantly commercial, but if it will keep other concerts at a more manageable price in the future, I would be more than happy to sit through any and all advertisements they want to throw my way.

                Kid Rock’s set itself delivered on all of the hype that I had previously heard about it.  It was a high-energy show that kept everyone up and dancing along throughout the set.  One thing that really surprised me was the amount of time Kid Rock spent on all of his older, more rap-influenced work.  As someone that has his old CDs but prefers his newer stuff, it was a bit disappointing that he decided to stay so attached to his first three albums.  He did mix it up a bit with a selection off of each one of his other records, but really stuck to the rap-influence for the majority of the performance, and even the later work that he chose to showcase in the live set tended to be the heavier stuff in the same vein as his Devil Without a Cause album. 

                A few songs in, Kid Rock mentioned that he was in the middle of fighting the flu so he asked our forgiveness if the performance suffered (it didn’t) and made mention of the fact that when he was charging as little as he was for the tour, he was assuming all of the risk associated with the show (this was the first of many mentions of the ticket price).  He may have tried to reach a bit with his voice at times, overcompensating for the illness, but it wasn’t really anything that hurt the performance a great deal.  If he stumbled at all, it wasn’t apparent, and he was backed up by the Twisted Brown Trucker Band that may be one of the best backing bands I have ever seen.  The setup of the stage itself was very “American Bandstand”-esqe and had an old-school feel to it that I enjoyed.  The actual musical ability of the band was great as well.  They didn’t miss a beat from the heavier stuff to the random break of “Celebrate” or “Born Free” with a more country/southern rock feel, easily transitioning between the two and being, in my opinion, the standout of the show. 

                Some negatives:

                The people, and the way they were handled.  It’s pretty apparent that SPAC is ill-equipped to handle the size crowd that Kid Rock generated on Wednesday night.  The best way (and possibly the only way) to exit the venue is over a bridge (and not a very wide one, mind you), which meant that the thousands of people in attendance all descended upon that exit at once.  All it would have taken was a fire or other kind of disaster for mass chaos to ensue. 

                The DJ Kid Rock jam session.  I could have really done without that.  It’s not my kind of music at all and I don’t find the appeal of it. 

                Kid Rock’s DJ.  I don’t think it was Uncle Kracker, but even if it was, he was still horrible.  The fact that anytime something even remotely vulgar appeared in the song it was his duty to sing it, not Kid Rock’s made for just an obscenity-laced rant for him.  It was as if Kid Rock’s DJ had tourettes.   

                All in all, it was a decent concert, and for the price it was well worth it.  A better handling overall by the concert venue, coupled with a longer, more comprehensive set by ZZ Top would have put it over the top.  However, the whole thing was good enough that my girlfriend, an admitted denouncer of Kid Rock, was getting into it by the end of his set.  I’m not sure if I would make a repeat viewing of Kid Rock’s live show the kind of required destination that I do for bands like KISS or Alice Cooper, but for $25 I would absolutely be inclined to partake once more, just not at SPAC.

How NOT to Organize a Concert

                On Sunday, my girlfriend and I had tickets to see Candlebox (remember Candelbox? So do we, so we wanted to catch them before they disappear again).  At $25, the tickets were relatively inexpensive (though a little pricier than one would expect for a band that’s well past their sell-by date).  The venue was close to home though as local radio station 95x and the bar/concert venue Monirae’s shared sponsorship duties, so at least it wasn’t a long commute.  The opening bands for the festivities (which were supposed to commence at 1230 but started late due to problems setting up) were basically all local bands, aside from Candlebox and one band that they brought with them.  Let’s do a quick rundown of everything that was done right on Sunday afternoon:

o   …

o   …

o   …

o  They had an ice cream truck?

                With that out of the way, let’s go over what was done wrong:

·         Every piece of promotion I had heard about the concert up to the event had said that it was at the Oswego County Events Center at Monirae’s.  Imagine my surprise when I arrived at Monirae’s at 1230 and found absolutely nothing.  Apparently I was not the only one as many people had this complaint throughout the day.

·         When we arrived at the venue, it was just a fireman’s field with a fence around it and a stage at one end.  This was the prevailing feeling throughout the day as well.  It felt like a hastily assembled, horribly promoted fireman’s field days.

·         To park near the venue, we were required to pay $5 to park in a field.  This was not a field made for parking either.  It was literally just a field that they had off to the side, and some dude with a mower just went and cut the grass.  It was no place for cars to park, or people to walk for that matter as there were ruts and divots all over the place. 

·         Being that there was at least a good three hours until the only local band that we knew (and wanted to see) was going to go on, we tailgated in the parking lot for a few hours.  The security (which were taking their job waaaaaaay too seriously all day long) told us that our group (of about twelve people) would have to disperse if it grew much larger.  My girlfriend and I went in shortly after that anyway, but upon meeting up with our friends after their arrival, they stated that the security guards came out and broke up the tailgating anyway and made them come in to the “venue” (and I use that term extremely loosely).  Apparently the fact that people were outside eating and drinking and not funneling money to the event was frowned upon.  I have no idea what they would have done if the group had stayed out there longer, but the fact that they needed to make this point showed how out of touch they were.

·         The food prices seemed relatively cheap, but water and beer were as expensive as you would expect.  $2 for a bottle of water and $5 for maybe twelve ounces of beer (less than that if you consider that at least a third of it was foam) while to be expected is still price gouging on a sweltering day, especially when they advertised pricing beforehand with the tagline saying that they tried to keep the prices cheap.

·         There were a total of about seventy-five people in the concert venue, maybe 100 tops including staff. However, the majority of the people there were members of the various bands that were playing.  The local bands didn’t get to hang out backstage, they were just out mixing amongst the crowd, so the number of people there was vastly inflated.  I felt really bad for Candlebox.  I am sure they are not what they were twenty years ago, but they are a national act that is basically playing a fireman’s field days.  How far can you fall?

·         Throughout the day, the mantra was “support local bands”.  This would be all well and good, except the local bands are horrible.  Seriously.  Not counting The Hellfish (the local band that we already knew) there was maybe one band there that wasn’t totally horrible, but for the most part, out of nine local bands that played the show, seven of them were terrible.  I am all for supporting local bands and local music, but I can’t put my support behind bad local bands out of some fleeting sense of loyalty to the Central New York music scene.  If this is what Central New York has to offer the music scene, then no thank you.  Some of the music itself wasn’t terrible, but almost every single singer was terrible, to the point where they all sounded like they just put the band together for this event alone and needed anyone that could kind of sing, but settled on someone that couldn’t. 

·         During the intermission when the bands were setting up (which was relatively brief – the only thing that they got right that day) they played remix versions of Limp Bizkit hits.  I know, that last phrase in and of itself is an oxymoron.  You’re telling me that a “rock radio” station couldn’t come up with more suitable music than Fred Durst’s leftovers to entertain their meager crowd between bands?  It’s almost like they knew that the local bands were going to be crap and decided that they would try and make them sound better by playing the worst music they could find during the intermissions.

·         The bands at the event all pretty much stuck to original music.  One band did not one, but two covers.  “Man in the Box” by Alice in Chains and “Feed my Frankenstein” by Alice Cooper.  And the singer butchered both.  His voice couldn’t register either Layne Staley’s wail or Alice Cooper’s growl and the songs came out as tepid imitations of the real thing.  Something you might expect at a karaoke bar. 

·         The atmosphere felt more like a poorly constructed Battle of the Bands than it did any kind of real concert where bands were opening for a national act; from the three to four song set lists for each band to the poor quality of music on display (seriously, Syracuse, just give up and do us all a favor) it had an amateur, low quality feel to it.  The worst part is that in a few weeks Skid Row will be there and they are planning on doing a similar event!  These guys just can’t learn from their mistakes apparently. 

We stayed at the event from 1230 until about 6, suffered through six terrible (plus one good and one merely okay) local bands and half a set of the piss-poor national act that Candlebox brought with them, and decided to call it quits.  Even seeing Candlebox wasn’t worth this torture, considering the fact that we had the rest of Candlebox’s opener along with one more local band before Candlebox took the stage (probably around 7).  If we had arrived at 330 for The Hellfish and stayed through the end it would have been one thing, but terrible local bands kind of soured our afternoon.  If you follow the same list that 95x and Monirae’s did, you will undoubtedly have a poorly attended fireman’s field days on your hands just like they did.  I know I will avoid patronizing any and all establishments involved from now on, and just feel bad for Candlebox that they had to have their name sullied by such a terrible event. 

                

Gigantour 2013: Hot time in the country.

                Six bands played at Gigantour this year.  For those of you uninitiated in all that is Gigantour, it is the (usually) annual concert festival headlined by Megadeth.  Kind of like OzzFest, but on a smaller scale and usually with less bands that you don’t want to see.  Last year, my brother and I went to Gigantour way out in Glens Falls, New York.  It was held at a hockey arena in February, and the experience was…shall we say…less than memorable.  The lineup included Volbeat, Lacuna Coil, Motorhead and Megadeth.  While Volbeat and Megadeth were good, Lacuna Coil was terrible and Motorhead fell under the “let’s crank the volume, who cares if it sounds bad” umbrella that seems to plague bands at times.  Not only that, but because it was indoors, the acoustics weren’t as good all around and all of the stage tricks like fake smoke and bright lights hung around a bit longer than they should, masking the experience of actually seeing the concert.  This year’s show was in an outdoor venue, in the middle of summer, so I had higher hopes that everything would come together and make this a more enjoyable experience.

                My brother and I rolled up to the show about thirty minutes before it started and got a decent parking space.  Instead of going right in, we hung out and tailgated for awhile, soaking up the fairly tepid tailgating atmosphere.  We had actual seats, so going early and standing in the lawn to get a good spot wasn’t necessary.  We are both getting way too old to stand for that length of time, and my brother was just getting over a cold, so the fact that we could sit down between sets was a godsend.  That also meant that we didn’t have to listen to the opening bands.  If a show has one or even two openers before the headliner, I’ll usually take a listen, even if I’m not in general admission seating.  When a concert boasts six bands, with a few that I have never heard of…not so much.  Not only that but my general fickle nature when it comes to metal music makes finding new metal bands that I like very difficult. I like classic, older metal bands.  Any of the newer stuff, the screaming, unintelligible metal bands are not my cup of tea for the most part.  That being said, my brother and I skipped Death Division and Newstead.  While it would have been interesting to see Jason Newstead in a non-Metallica roll, we heard the music from our parking spot, it was not something that we really wanted to partake in anyway.  We headed in after that though, and I’ll run down the four bands that we did see.  This was amidst a cloud of sweat and body odor so forgive me if my recollections are a bit hazy as the smell of Campbells chicken noodle soup tends to mess with your senses a bit (yeah, I’m looking at you green-haired girl two rows up).

The seats were better than I anticipated.  What you don't see here are the fancy Hellyeah rugs they had on the ground for the guitar players to stand on.  

Hellyeah:

                I don’t mind Hellyeah, at least up until their most current album.  Unfortunately, the crispness of their first two albums was completely lost during their forty minute set of live music.  Ninety percent of their set was unintelligible.  This was not only due to the frontman’s screaming/slurring delivery, but also the fact that the double bass on the drums was the loudest sound on the stage.  I realize that a huge part of Hellyeah’s credibility has to do with the fact that Vinnie Paul is behind the drum kit, but that doesn’t automatically require you to make his sound the only thing heard.  Beyond that, the rest of the instruments were unintelligible as well.  There are two guitars and a bass in the band and they pretty much all came across as one big wall of sound.  That lack of separation, combined with the too-loud drums and the vocals (if you can call them that) made for a poor opening experience. The fact that Hellyeah needed an extra guy in the back, screaming (just fucking screaming) into a microphone seemed incredibly silly to me, and it’s not something I would ever pay full price to see again.   I will give the frontman a little credit as he was definitely full of energy, jumping around the stage and running around without losing his breath (a bigger feat than you would imagine considering the way he was screaming pretty much the entire time).  Other than that though, you can color me unimpressed with Hellyeah.

Device:

                Talk about taking yourself too seriously.  I know, David Draiman, you used to be in Disturbed, but come on.  You were in Disturbed, not Led Zeppelin.  From the fact that he came out on stage wearing what can only be described as Dracula’s bathrobe, to the posturing while he was singing, and the way he barked at two women to leave the pavilion during his set because they didn’t stand up, really dude?  You look like Phil Collins and Kevin Spacey’s love child.  The fact that he kept referring to Device as “his band” was a little odd as well, and it was quite clear that regardless of the skill of the other musicians, Draiman wanted all of the headlines and glory.  Speaking of the band, there was no bass guitarist.  At all.  The sound was okay though, and I could detect some heft to the music, which means that the sound was probably piped in, making it feel almost “Guitar Hero”-esque in that there was music already being played that the band had to synch up to.  For someone that was at the show to see Megadeth and, more importantly, Black Label Society, you can understand my disappointment with that kind of “non-traditional” delivery.               

                I will give Draiman credit in that he noticed a nine year old kid in the audience and pulled him on stage to give the child the spotlight for a moment (the only spotlight he shared for his forty-minute set) as he acknowledged the importance of the child rocking out.  The child had noise cancelling headphones on, so he wasn’t being injured by the volume, and he seemed to be having a good time.  I know we can have a debate about bringing kids to concerts (I’ve had that debate) but as long as you take precautions and are not afraid to leave early if necessary, I don’t see a problem, and musicians will gravitate to kids in the audience, making them feel included and giving a special air to their experience.

                The best part about the Device set was the Nine Inch Nails cover that they ended with.  Playing “Wish” was the highlight of the set for sure, even though I’m not as enthralled by Draiman’s vocals as many people appear to be (but that may have a lot to do with the fact that I’m not a huge fan of him as a person).  All of the problems I had with Device were magnified by Black Label Society as the next band, who was basically the anti-Device.

The anticipation was palpable in the air as that banner unfurled over the stage.

Black Label Society:

                I’ve been a BLS fan for years and this is the first time I have gotten to see them live.  You can imagine my excitement as Zakk and the boys took the stage.  While I have been disappointed in the past when my “bucket list bands” have not lived up to my expectations, BLS surpassed those expectations with ease.  The set list was expansive, covering pretty much every album in the catalog (save Zakk’s solo stuff, Pride and Glory, and the underrated and underappreciated Hangover Music Volume VI album).  That being said, everything fit well together, with Zakk barely stopping his fingers from moving the whole time.  Seriously, the only time he stopped playing was to change guitars, and usually during those times an “intro” to the next song was playing.  All in all, Zakk played for just about sixty minutes straight, not stopping to chat up the crowd like the frontmen from Device and Hellyeah did (and they did it a lot), and only giving a small thank you at the very end before closing out the set with “Stillborn”. 

They tore it up, and Nick (who you can see to the right with the bandanna) was fully engaged with the crowd the entire time.

This is a short snippet of the lengthy solo that Zakk performed halfway through the set.

                There was so much that BLS did right during their set.  The song selection, the bare bones setup, showcasing just the music and nothing else, it definitely ranks very highly in terms of the best live bands I have seen.  The setup was as simple as it could be.  Four guys playing instruments, two guitars, a bass and a conservative drum kit (compared to the other bands that played with them anyway).  There were no lights, no smoke, no flash.  Just a huge stack of Marshall amps behind the guys.  The only thing that could even be deemed “flashy” is Zakk’s microphone stand which was crafted to look like a heavy chain and has three skulls hanging off it. 

The best part of the set was the end of it though.  Not in the same way the best part of the Device and Hellyeah sets was the fact that they ended, no.  The best part was that when the set ended, each member of the band, from Zakk on down to Nick Catanese (more on him in a second) to the drummer and bassist (who looked like he rolled out of the Shire and picked up a bass guitar) came together in the center of the stage, congratulated each other for a show well done, gave each other a hug and turned to thank the audience and take a bow.  There was no pretension, no feeling of anything but gratitude.  Based on the amount of BLS shirts in the audience, it was pretty obvious that most people (myself included) came out to the show to see that band.  They could have ended the set, tossed a couple guitar picks and walked offstage, but they celebrated, they were thankful, and they were real. 

This is how you end your set.  Everyone was thankful and ecstatic, and Zakk led the charge.

                After the band left the stage and the stagehands worked to tear down the BLS set and put the Megadeth set together (which they did quickly and efficiently – more than I have ever seen in fact) Nick Catanese strolled out of the backstage/VIP area and milled around by the seats to my right.  As soon as people noticed him he was mobbed and did the best he could to take as many photos and shake as many hands as he could before he walked backstage.  Then, he proceeded to come back out and head up the aisle, shaking hands and probably stopping for more pictures along the way.  He showed that BLS is full of the right kind of guys, musicians that are for the people that appreciate their fans and work to give them what they want, even if it’s just a quick cellphone pic.  BLS proves that fame, notoriety and legions of devoted fans don’t have to make you prima donnas.  That kind of action basically cemented my return to a BLS concert and comfort with spending my hard-earned cash on a quality product created by quality people.

Megadeth:

                There was one thing that Megadeth had to do this year to top last year’s show; use less fake fucking smoke.  Last year, my brother and I had tickets along the side of the hockey arena  in the seats, deciding that general admission standing room areas just would not work for us anymore as our knees and backs age and creak along.  We were not that far from the stage last year, but the sheer amount of fake smoke covered the stage, and that combined with the lighting made it nearly impossible to see the musicians at times.  The quality of the music itself was great, so by improving the visual aspect of the performance, it would have created the complete package this year.

My phone was dying by this point, so the pictures here aren't as crisp because I couldn't utilize the flash, plus Megadeth loves putting bright lights at the front of the stage.

                As Megadeth often does, they delivered.  Not only was the music itself of the same quality as it was last year (a pretty similar set list as well, just with the incorporation of three new tracks off their most recent release Super Collider) but they had little to no fake smoke.  I’m not sure if something malfunctioned in the mechanism or what, but the band started out with a little fake smoke and after that dissipated it was not really replenished.  This left for a clear and clean viewing experience, and also an ample opportunity for someone to film portions of the show on their phone.  That’s kind of the cost of doing business nowadays though.  I could have done with all of the visuals that they had going on on the three screens behind the band as I found it distracting at times.  I Came to the show to watch Dave Mustaine shred, and if they had left it at that it would have been ideal. 

                The band was incredible, as always, playing all of the hits and pretty much focusing their attention on all of the songs that people wanted to hear (ignoring anything past Risk except for the new album).  Though a heavy-hitter like “Moto Psycho” would have been fun to hear, its absence in no way reflected poorly on the rest of the set.  The band itself, much like BLS was courteous and thankful of the people that showed up, and while Dave Mustaine interacted with the audience more than Zakk Wylde did, it was way more accepted and welcome than that of the leaders of Device and Hellyeah.  It really looked like Mustaine was having a good time on stage (which could be due to the fact that this was only the third show of the tour) but he, and the entire band seemed loose and happy, which always translates well during the course of the show.  Mustaine even stayed out for a few minutes after the rest of the band left the stage and people started to file out, saying good-bye and thank you to everyone that had their eyes still transfixed on the stage.  It’s impressive that a member of the “Big Four” is still humble enough to do that. 

This was early on in the set as my phone was dead by the end, but needless to say, the guys killed it the whole time.

                 Between BLS and Megadeth, it proves that your stance in the music community and your history therein is not a reason to treat your fans like they owe you something.  BLS and Megadeth are doing it the right way and should be commended not only for their contributions to the art form, but for their character.

Clutch at the Westcott Theater: Your beard must be this long to ride this ride.

            Clutch was in town on Monday night and I had yet to see them live, so I took my brother and we headed over to the Westcott Theater in Syracuse, NY.  This is another repurposed old theater (much like the Palace Theater from my review of the Kenny Wayne Shepherd show.  The main difference between t he two venues is that this theater has no seats and is less “classy”.  It feels perfect for a metal show!  There was room for the obligatory mosh pit and plenty of overpriced alcoholic beverages for everyone over the age of twenty-one.  It’s a great local venue and really right up my alley as I have been searching for a venue that replicates the experience of Sayerville, New Jersey’s Starland Ballroom since I moved back up her to central New York six years ago. 

            Okay, on to the show itself.  I will touch briefly on the three (three!) opening bands before I talk about Clutch.  First, though, just from looking around the room, it looked like a ZZ Top cosplay convention.  Just about everyone there had a beard, most of the big and bushy variety.  It was odd seeing that many people sporting a similar look all gathered together in one place.  When you look at the four bands that were playing though, you can almost understand why.

This is what I think happened.  It’s just speculation at this point, but I’m pretty sure this is how we got here.

            Brandon and I arrived a little late, so we only got to hear the very end of Scorpion Child.  We should have arrived later and missed out on them completely, they were bad.  The musicians were fine, but the vocalist was trying to be Robert Plant with a voice like Geddy Lee on his worst day.  The antics and the dress (brown leather vest for the win!) were ridiculous as well.  At one point before their last song (or during, I couldn’t bother to keep track) he went over to a big, gallon water jug, took a drink, then proceeded to spray what I can only assume is a breath freshener into his mouth.  Why?  I have no idea, nor do I really care.  They left (after tearing down their own instruments, obviously the roadie budget for this tour is very slim) and were replaced by Lionize.

            At first glance, you would not assume Lionize would be that great.  They are the second band of four, they set up all of their own equipment, and following a pretty crappy band like Scorpion Child, my expectations were at an all-time low.  I was wrong.  Holy shit was I wrong.  They were great!  Think of a bluesy Black Crowes sound but heavier, with some crazy bass-work in there (the bassist was nuts).  The overall sound was very groove-oriented and went over incredibly well with the crowd (only Clutch got a louder ovation in my estimation).  In my opinion, Lionize didn’t play long enough.  I would have thoroughly enjoyed another half hour of their music as the straight-up opener for Clutch.

            Alas it was not to be, as there was one more band between me and the band I came to see.  Orange Goblin, from the UK apparently.  I have heard them compared to Black Sabbath, but I think they are a little closer to Motorhead, with a little Pantera thrown in for good measure.  They were good, not great.  I will say they are great though because their lead singer is an eight foot tall behemoth. 

This is him.

You may now commence having shitloads of nightmares for weeks to come.  

However, Brandon made a valid point, he kind of looks like Sweetums from the Muppets.  What do you think?

Still scary?

I’m not nearly as into the really heavy, mosh pit inducing music as I used to be, and it says a lot that the best track I heard all night was when they actually slowed it down a bit and played something that was a bit mellower.  I will say that the musicianship in this band was great as well.  The guitar player was fast and precise while the bass player was good as well.  The drummer looked like he was exerting no effort at all, which is not a knock against him, all of his motions were fluid and deliberate, nothing extra to get in the way of the music itself.  This is good, because anything extra was provided by the lead singer (who at first glance looks like he just came from the casting couch at a Rob Zombie movie) who had charisma to spare.  This was Orange Goblin’s first trip to Syracuse, and if the warm reception was any indication, they will be back.

            After an extended break, where the stage (fully set up and ready to go) sat in darkness for a good 15-20 minutes, Clutch took the stage.  Right out of the gate they had the audience on their side.  I was skeptical coming into the show because I have one of their live albums (Full Fathom Five) as well as a DVD of a short set of their songs, and I wasn’t incredibly impressed with either.  I know better than to judge a band based on its concert album when I can see them in person though.  Between old and new favorites, the band had people singing along and dancing to the music.  This was most apparent on their song “Cypress Grove” which singer Neil Fallon dedicated to “all the ladies”.  The entire venue was singing, dancing and moving as one and it was quite the sight to see.  The band itself was not very mobile on the stage itself, but they made up for that with their ability to play the shit out of their instruments.  Neil Fallon made up for the fact that the rest of the band didn’t move though.  He was all over the stage, looking a little bit like what I would assume Dave Matthews would look like if he let himself go.  This is not a knock against Fallon at all; in fact it’s quite remarkable that that huge voice comes out of him, especially after seeing someone with a large voice but also huge frame mere minutes before.  Neil Fallon has one of the most unique voices in all of music, not just rock music and being able to see him perform live and not miss a beat was a pleasure. 

There were a few songs that I wish I had heard live (“DC Sound Attack” from the Earth Rocker album  “Willie Nelson” from Slow Hole to China and “Subtle Hustle” from Blast Tyrant) but I can’t really complain about the songs that they did include.  There were many times throughout the performance where it made me forget that it was nearly midnight on a Monday and I had to get up for work the following morning, or the fact that I am getting way too old to go to a show where I have to stand for five hours straight, and that’s what good music is supposed to do, right?  It’s supposed to transport you to a different mindset, make you forget about your troubles and trials for a couple hours.  Well, Clutch did that in spades.  It was a great show from top to bottom (if you take out Scorpion Child and give a little more time to Lionize and Clutch it would have been better) and I will definitely be seeing them again.  

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Standing Room Only at the Palace Theater

            It’s been quite a while since my last concert review (September to be exact) and it was definitely nice to get out and see some live music again. 

For my father’s birthday this year, I got tickets for us to go see Kenny Wayne Shepherd at the Palace Theater.  We have both been fans of Shepherd’s music for a while now, but had not seen him in concert yet, basically just living off of the various CD releases.  By chance, I wandered on to the band’s website a couple weeks ago and saw that they were playing a show, right here in Syracuse!  Sold!  Tickets were relatively inexpensive, especially given the accommodations, and so I scooped up two to be used as his birthday present this year. 

            First, something needs to be said for the Palace Theater in Syracuse, NY.  This is one of the best venues I have ever seen a concert in.  The seating is comfortable and there is plenty of leg room in case you want to sit down.  The whole theater is small, no bigger than a school auditorium (and in many cases, probably smaller) and the stage is equally small.  I am used to seeing shows at amphitheaters around here because it’s hard to get good, well-known bands to visit smaller venues, but I actually prefer a smaller atmosphere.  This was perfect.  There wasn’t a bad seat in the house.  The tickets were general admission so my father and I sat dead center about twenty rows back.  The acoustics took a second to get used to as it was very loud, but after that slight adjustment period, it was actually quite enjoyable. 

            The sound guys for Shepherd’s band did an excellent job as well.  It is not an easy task to get the sound balanced just right so you can hear all parts, including an organ, while playing indoors.  There were a couple hiccups where the sound dipped and got really quiet, but they were momentary and were quickly corrected.  I have been to outdoor shows where the balance was not this crisp, and I would argue that it is probably easier to manage sound outdoors than in.  Anyway, a huge pat on the back to the sound guys for their spot on, professional work.

            Okay, enough of the technical stuff, on to the performance itself.  Kenny Wayne Shepherd can play the shit out of a guitar.  His backing band was exceptional, and Noah Hunt has a voice perfectly suited to not only the blues, but to Shepherd’s band in general.  In all honesty, it would not be a Kenny Wayne Shepherd CD or concert without Noah Hunt.  I would go out on a limb and say that with Hunt’s versatility as well as just the overall power of his voice that he is one of the better vocalists out there in any genre.  Seriously, put him up against any male vocalist and I guarantee that he would be at least in the top five if not the overall winner.  But people go to these shows to see Shepherd play, and people turned out in droves for this one.  The show was sold out and people were standing in the aisles in order to see the band.  They were absolutely rewarded for that diligence as Shepherd was on all night long.  There was no opening band, so the action started right around eight o’clock and didn’t let up until a quarter to ten.  The band even stayed on stage instead of going off for the obligatory encore break.  This gave us all three more songs and about another half hour of music from the band. 

            I’ll be honest, I usually get tired at concerts.  I feel like an old man, and I have a bad back and usually at the end of a concert, there is more relief for me than there is any kind of elation.  Not here.  I was absolutely ready for more when it came to Shepherd and his band and could have stayed and listened to them for a few more hours.  From start to finish there was no let-up, no weak point.  In many other shows, when you see the lead singer leave the stage so that a musician can take a turn doing either a guitar or drum solo, you can kind of go to sleep a bit.  Sure, some of the guitar and drum solos can be interesting at times, but many of them are just unnecessary masturbatory material to showcase that specific musician.  They drag on too long and wind up being a little too self-indulgent.  Here, Noah Hunt left the stage at least three times, and each time, the quality of the show was just as good as before he left.  Shepherd had solos during the course of the regular songs, but only after Hunt left did Shepherd really cut loose, showing that bluesy rock guitar that comes straight from the Stevie Ray Vaughn school.  His solos are not just solos where he is plucking away at the guitar, experimenting with a sound.  Shepherd knows his sound and he plays it well, so these solos are actually fully written and realized songs (many of which wind up on his albums).  The fact that Shepherd slowly builds to a deafening crescendo in his solos works wonders at keeping the crowd engaged.  There were many times throughout the set, and even mid-song where the crowd would jump to its feet mid-song after a particularly fierce guitar part that was expertly executed. 

            I guess my only real complaint is that it rocked too hard (if you can call that a complaint).  Shepherd has a vast catalogue of music, not to mention years of blues songs that he can cover.  A good portion of those songs are slower, dare I say ballads that are among some of the best.  Not once did he dip his toe in that water this night.  While I can’t complain with the songs that he did choose, and I honestly wouldn’t be able to pick a song to replace as they were all excellent, it would have been nice to take the intensity down a bit at some point with the softer touch that Shepherd and his band really excel at.  That being said, it is a minor complaint, one that is overshadowed by the overall quality of the performance.

            Also, it doesn’t hurt any blues show when you close it out with a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile (slight return).

            If you like the blues, rock music, or just live music in general, you owe it to yourself to see Kenny Wayne Shepherd play.  If you can see him in the confines of the Palace Theater, than you are in for a treat. 

KISS and Motley Crue: Kids under twelve get in free!

-Matt Magill

            “The Tour” as it has been billed combines two of the best live bands of their respective decades together under one roof.  It’s a live rock and roll wet dream really.  Just based upon the reputation of the two headliners it was bound to be the best show of the summer, and those expectations were met and surpassed.  Here’s why:

            Let’s just start this with a simple note on the opening band: The Treatment.  The tickets said KISS and Motley Crue, with no mention of this opener, and the tickets further stated that the show was starting at seven.  Upon arriving and walking through the gate at about ten of seven, The Treatment was already playing.  If the tickets do not even take the opening band seriously enough to mention them then I will not either (except to say that they were terrible-which they were).

            This was my third time seeing each of these bands live, and while some bands don’t hold up as well with each successive live viewing, that is not the case here.  Motley Crue actually put on a better show this year than I have ever seen before from them.  Even on one foot, Vince is a better frontman than 90% of the others out there (he broke his foot a couple days before the show, but aside from a slight limp and a walking boot-which he said he borrowed from KISS-you could barely tell).  Now he was the typical Vince when it came to singing, which meant a few garbled phrases and words combined with either going a little too fast or not following the song to a “T” as it was recorded; but if I wanted that I would stay home and listen to the CD.  I come to a Crue show for the experience, and what an experience it was.  They hit on every note in terms of their biggest hits while also throwing in the typical Tommy drum solo as well as two shorter but killer solos from Mick, which prompted my brother to exclaim that even though Mick can barely move (he was more mobile tonight than I have seen him in the past though) that he can play the hell out of a guitar.  The Crue also played their new song “Sex” for the crowd which, of course, prompted Vince to ask the question “who likes sex?” (did I mention kids twelve and under were free?) 

           

            The sound quality was a little rough on their opening song “Saints of Los Angeles” but it was quickly fixed and the only other issue in that department was on one other song (I think it was “Primal Scream” but can’t remember for sure) where the band just didn’t seem to be synched up in terms of tempo.  They quickly fixed this by the first chorus and there were no other noticeable issues for the rest of the show.  As I posted after the Crue left the stage at 9:15 Saturday evening “KISS hasn’t even gone on yet, already best show of the summer”. 

            Upon completion of the Motley set, there was a quick change of the stage, and I have to take the opportunity to praise the road crew who did a masterful job of tearing down Motley’s highly intricate set (including Tommy’s rollercoaster drum kit) and setting up the KISS set (which was more subdued but no less difficult I’m sure) in about the time you would expect a regular set change.  While the bands are both phenomenal, the road crews are the real unsung heroes here.  Anyway, KISS came on and jumped right in to “Detroit Rock City” with no problem.  They played many of their hits, but with a catalog that extends to the early part of the seventies, no matter how many songs they play, they will leave some out.  Not hearing “Deuce” or “Hotter than Hell” was kind of a bummer, but they replaced them with “Shock Me” which featured Tommy on vocals and “Black Diamond” that had a very prominent vocal role for Eric.  I had yet to hear either of these songs in concert so that was a major plus.  There was also a chance for each of the band members to perform their own solo (Gene’s led into “God of Thunder” and blood spitting as always, Paul’s led into “Black Diamond” and Tommy and Eric actually performed theirs as a duet which was great as both are incredible musicians with great chemistry on the stage).  Not only that, but we were treated to their new single “Hell or Hallelujah” from the forthcoming Monster album.  While it would have been nice to hear something off Sonic Boom from a few years ago, this was a welcome addition that sounded great and proved that they have not lost a step.

              The requisite Paul visit to the small stage in the crowd was during “Love Gun” this year and the stage itself actually rose out of the ground via the wonderful power of hydraulics, so originally I thought that part of the show was going to be phased out.  I am happy to see that they decided to keep it in as Paul continues to show why he is the best in the business, making a cold September night feel warm and inviting for those of us that couldn’t afford $100 tickets under the tent.  That being said, the price that I paid (I think it was around $100 for two lawn seats) was well worth it and I would do so again in a heartbeat next year.

            Now, about the title of this post.  Prior to departing for the show, a quick check of the Darien Lake website brought to my attention that kids under twelve actually got in free with the purchase of an adult ticket.  This was a great idea, considering the fact that the adult tickets were pretty pricey and that this was the last show of the season at this venue.  Now the fact that the bands were Motley Crue and KISS?  Maybe not the best choice.  Between Motley’s half naked dancers and song content (the aforementioned new single “Sex” that prompted Vince’s line of questioning), Tommy’s exclamations of “Fuck Yeah” and Gene’s desire to make sure that everyone got a nice, up close view of his new codpiece, this may not be the place for young children.  As adults, especially those that have either been to a show for either of these bands before or know their music in great detail, we pretty much know what to expect; and I have no problem with any of it personally.  I just found it incredibly odd that the offer for free admission for young children coincided with a show that kids probably had no business being around.

            There were only a couple issues with this show, and most of them were so small that they did nothing to dethrone this as the best concert of the summer (hell, of the year).  I am really not a fan of the excessive use of dry ice and/or smoke machines that are commonplace with all bands now.  I realize that they probably do it so that they cannot be easily filmed, and subsequently Youtubed by concert-goers, but unless you are in the front, it can get awful hard to see anything.  This wasn’t as bad today because they were outside and the smoke could dissipate after awhile.  The Megadeth show back in February was inside and it just collected on the stage which made it hard to see and really destroyed the quality of the show.

            The only other thing is the fact that Paul’s voice is finally showing its age.  Remember how I said, back during the Def Leppard review, that Joe Elliot couldn’t hit the high notes so he had the crowd do so?  Paul wasn’t about to do that, as he made sure that he at least tried to hit the high notes.  Sometimes he did, sometimes he wasn’t as successful, and his voice in general sounded more beat up and just scratchier than I remember from years past.  Did it sound a little off to someone that has been a KISS fan for the majority of his life?  Sure.  Did it ruin the show?  Not in the least.  KISS is still the greatest band in the world, and Motley Crue is definitely making a claim to assume that mantle when KISS hangs up the rhinestones and platform shoes.