In This Moment, Motionless in White – L.A.: November 27 2013

November 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Last night at the Nokia Theater in L.A. we saw the “Hell Pop” tour with In This Moment, Motionless in White, KYNG and All Hail the Yeti. This was the final night of the tour with this line-up, so we were fortunate enough to catch it here in L.A.

The last time we came down to see a show here in L.A. was for the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour at the end of September which was also at the Nokia Theater. We decided that we very much liked this venue and would come down and see shows here as often as we could. We arrived fairly early (as usual) and were quite surprised that there was really no line-up at the entrance to speak of. We thought we were way early, but it was only a half hour until the doors were to open. It turned out that it must have been a bad night to schedule a show (night before Thanksgiving) as they did not sell enough tickets and instead of letting us sit in our incredibly awesome seats in the balcony, they kept the balcony closed and gave us pit tickets instead. We were a little bummed out at first, but scored ourselves a good vantage point just to the right of center stage at the second level rail so we didn’t have anyone standing in front of us.

The first band on was All Hail the Yeti. There are a few new bands throughout the year where we are surprised on how good they turn out to be and these guys were one of these bands. They were incredibly powerful and full of energy. They really got the crowd pumped and started the night of great music. Nicki and I went and visited them at their merch. table after their set to meet them and get their CD. We talked with the guys for a little while and had them sign a poster for us. They were a great group of guys who clearly love doing what they do and very much appreciate their fans.

Next up was KYNG who were also surprisingly good. These guys didn’t have the typical thrash metal sound to them. There was no screaming, but more of a vintage vibe reminiscent of Metallica, Led Zeppelin and Sound Garden. They did a great rendition of Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher, actually nailed it! Interesting how many of the kids in the audience had no idea this was a cover until the band told them.

Motionless In White came up next. These guys were actually the reason why we were at the show. They are Nicki’s favorite band (or at least one of her top 5). With the exception of the equipment issues that they were having (which they handled very well), they were epic. They opened with “Synthetic Love” which was a great opening song that set the energy level for the rest of their set. One of the best songs they played was an acoustic version of “Sinematic” featuring Tim Skull on the guitar. This song by no means is a soft acoustic song, but Chris Motionless performed it with incredible emotion and passion. They also did a mind-blowing version of “Abigail” which they didn’t play live when we saw them at the Mayhem Festival over this past summer. They closed their set with their anti establishment anthem “A-M-E-R-I-C-A” featuring Michael Vampire of Vampires Everywhere! accompanying Chris Motionless on lead vocals. This band has a great stage performance with Balz’ keyboard stand raising, lowering and spinning throughout the show and the incredibly hypnotic and entrancing Ghost on the Bass.

Finally, In This Moment came on and put on a great show with an incredible stage show. Maria Brink (lead vocals) came out and performed in her usual distinctive and suggestive style, which the guys in the crowd are obviously drawn to. They performed their top songs from the Blood album opening up with “Adrenalize” and of course playing many of their older songs as well. One of the most memorable performances had to be “Into the Light” where Maria performed sitting in a chair in center stage under blue spot lighting and swirling fog.

One of the highlights to the night was when Ashley Costello – vocals and Nikki Misery – guitar of New Years Day showed up right next to where we were standing. Both Nicki and Ryan rushed over to meet them and have their photos taken with them. What a treat this was. We saw them perform at Warped this past summer and they became one of our favorite bands.

Filed Under: Heavy Metal

Trans Siberian Orchestra – Seattle: November 23 2013

November 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment

We went to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra at Key Arena last night. This has become a regular holiday tradition for our family for the last three years. The first time we saw them in 2010 we were blown away and all decided right then that we would make this an end of the concert year tradition. We were (and still are) blown away by their incorporation of classical, orchestral, symphonic, and progressive elements into rock and heavy metal music.

Tonight’s show did not disappoint, and in fact we thought that it was the best TSO show that we have ever seen.

This was the last performance of the “The Lost Christmas Eve”, their show, which is based on the album released in 2004.

The stage set-up seemed much bigger than in previous years as well with side platforms and more projection area in the back of the stage. Of course they had the spectacular elevating platforms both in front of the stage as well as in the back of the arena where the performers would raise above and over the crowd while playing…very cool.

The show opened up with a few great instrumentals showing off the amazing talents of the guitarists Angus Clark and Al Pitrelli; String, Asha Mevlana and Keyboardists Vitalij Kuprij and Jane Mangini (who do an incredible dualing keyboard bit)

The show then transitions into the story portion of the Lost Christmas Eve, which starts out with a narration and set-up of the story followed by the band kicking into more of their signature sound. The story line is a musical tale of loss and redemption. A story of a business man who forty years prior had abandoned his newborn son to a state run institution, and how there is something about Christmas Eve that allows people to correct mistakes they have made in their lives…pretty emotional stuff, but mixed with great rock!

Following the story, they played another fairly lengthy set of their hit songs and the groups founder Paul O’Neill even came out and performed for much of the last part of the show. The stage show really picked up in the part of the performance. They broke out all of the lighting, lasers, pyrotechnics (felt the heat from the fire from where we were sitting) and a few members of the band even walked through the crowd while playing, stopping periodically to jam in the audience.

If you haven’t see Trans Siberian Orchestra perform, you absolutely must experience them at least once. You too will be blown away by the music, story and stage show.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Feel This Tour – Seattle: November 16 2013

November 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

OVER THE TOP!

That is even an understatement of the show tonight at the Showbox Sodo in Seattle. We all went to see the “Feel This Tour” with Sleeping With Sirens, Breathe Carolina, Issues and Our Last Night. Memphis May Fire was supposed to be there as well but apparently had a better gig somewhere in the UK…too bad for them. This was one absolutely Killer show.

First off, Nicki and I were part of the meet and greet autograph, pre-show so we were able to get into the show a bit earlier than Toni, Ryan and Nicki’s friend Jenna. We arrived at the venue early of course at around 3:30 and were to meet at the front entrance for our early entry at 4:30. It was very cold on this winter Seattle night.. I think it must have gotten down into the lower 40’s to high 30’s. As usual with these early entries, they tell you to get there at a certain time and then make you wait for over an hour before they let you in…but at least we got in around 5:30. Toni, Ryan and Jenna couldn’t get in until after 6:30, and probably closer to 7:00. They were REAL cold.

We were able to get the band to pose for a picture with Nicki (although she won’t let me post it here, even though it’s a great pic) and they also signed a couple of posters for us. Nicki brought something special for them to sign, but they wouldn’t have much to do with signing anything but the posters. Needless to say Nicki was pretty bummed about that.

Once we got in, we immediately claimed our favorite spot against the wall near the restroom about 25 yards from the stage. There seemed to be a steady stream of people coming in through at least the first opening act, and the place got packed. As it turned out the show was sold out. Tonight seemed exceptionally crowded however. We have been to sold out shows at the Showbox before and have always had a little room around us to breath, but not tonight. We were jammed in like sardines. It was uncomfortably  hot in there tonight too. Even the bands were saying how hot it was. I think their AC must have not been working or something.. Poor David Schmitt (vocals for Breathe Carolina) was about to pass out after their set. He actually commented that this show was the hottest show that they had ever done and that he had never sweat more during a show than tonight.

The show started at about 7:00pm with Our Last Night opening and playing a great set. I have never heard them before, and they had a good sound to them with a powerful lead guitar, very talented bassist and great vocals.

Issues came on next and they were as good as the last time Nicki and I saw them at this same venue back in April opening for A Day to Remember. They are definitely a heavier band with a good mix of melodic vocals and trashing screams. They played songs from their first album of course, but also some new music which we hadn’t heard before. During their set, they really got the crowd pumped. I think I counted more than 7 crowd surfers all going at once and there were even a couple of body catapults. They really rocked the place out. These guys will definitely be around for a while.

Breathe Carolina came on next and they were quite a surprise to me (although Nicki and Jenna have heard their music before). Their vibe was a mix of dance/club and thrash metal…very interesting. I think the highlight of their set was a cover of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. Not only was it dead on when they wanted it to be, but they mixed it up and added their touch of thrash to it which I think made it better than the original. These guys had a great light show as well, made you feel as though you were in a Rave with black light strobes and very loud bass pounding the room..

Sleeping with Sirens came on around 9:30 or so and played 10 songs I believe, plus one encore. The guys put on a great show I thought, however Toni thought their WARPED 2013 performance was better. Kellin Quinn sounded great and despite the band missing their guitarist Jesse Lawson who left the band exactly one month ago (Oct 16), they rocked it. Kellin mixed it up a bit between each song with personal stories and positive messages, and then one weird rant around a bottle of water, which we all thought was a bit strange (you had to be there). They were definitely the highlight of the night for us and the rest of the crowd.

Set-list of Sleeping With Sirens:

  1. Here We Go
  2. Congratulations
  3. Low
  4. Free Now
  5. The Best There Ever Was
  6. If I’m James Dean, Then You’re Audrey Hepburn
  7. A Trophy Father’s Trophy Son
  8. Scene Five: With Ears to See, and Eyes to Hear
  9. Do It Now Remember It Later
  10. Satellites
  11. If You Can’t Hang
Filed Under: Alternative

Alice Cooper – Tacoma: November 15 2013

November 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Tonight Toni and I were finally able to see Alice Cooper in one of his world famous nightmare induced concert performances. I have been a fan of Alice Cooper since the early seventies, when I (as every teenager since) cranked School’s Out as loud as possible on the last day of school. He is the godfather of shock-rock, and he was everything you weren’t supposed to like when you were a kid, but couldn’t get enough of.

This isn’t the first time that I have seen Alice Cooper in person, only the first time I have seen him perform. Back in the late 80’s, one of my co-workers won a contest from a local radio station in Seattle, where Alice Cooper would come out to your work and you could meet him and have him sign some autographs. I was unprepared and didn’t have any standard, appropriate signing material like an album or poster. The company I worked for at the time was a big software company (and still is) so I grabbed something that was readily available (a 3 1/2″ floppy disk) and rushed out to meet him. All 5 of us (huh..what a bunch of losers I worked with at the time..it’s freakin’ Alice Cooper for crying out loud!)  waited in the front of the building when he showed up in his long stretch, white limousine wearing his iconic white coat and tails with top hat. I handed him my 3.5″ floppy disk, he took and looked at it for a few seconds and ask what the heck it was…funny…I bet if I handed him one today he would ask the same thing…doesn’t actually seem that long ago.. but I guess it’s been over 30 years. Another connection I had with Alice Cooper was a good friend of mine from High School (who was an incredible drummer and played in one of the most popular bands in high school Fifth Angel) happened to be Alice Cooper’s  drummer in the mid to late eighties and for a stint in 1999.. Small world.

The concert was great. He did not stop singing/performing once during the show other than a short break during the obligatory drum solo. My favorite Alice Cooper song has to be No More Mister Nice Guy which they performed flawlessly tonight. The whole first half of the concert was filled with the early mega hits such as Hello Hooray, No More Mr. Nice Guy, Under My Wheels and Billion Dollar Babies. in the middle of the show, they performed a great tribute to some of the great musicians who have passed on including Break On Through by the Doors, Revolution by John Lennon and the Beatles, Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix (which Orianthi – lead guitar just dominated!) and My Generation by Keith Moon and the Who. The show did not disappoint in the shock-rock department. It was filled with Pyrotechnics, Horror theatrics with guillotines, scary un-dead nurses and severed clowns heads. There were even bubbles, confetti, beach balls and streamers…the only thing missing was the boa-constrictors that he traditionally draped around his neck while performing.

Definitely a must see show once in your life, although I would personally see him again..He is a great performer, still can sing    and has a ton of energy that you can tell he puts every bit into the show.

Filed Under: Classic Rock