The Golden Gods Awards – LA: April 23 2014

*Shots inside the show are below – lots of them!

What an absolutely incredible show at Club Nokia at LA Live in LA last night. The Revolver Magazine’s Golden Gods awards

This was our first awards show and was such a rush to be there, part of the excitement and to see all the performers come down the black carper (of course it is black not red for the metal gods). We were not in real close, and they had us back behind a few low barricades, but we could see many of the guests and performers passing through and talking with the press. We were able to see such stars as Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, Ace Frehley, the guys from Guns N’ Roses, Dee Snider (who was doing the live pre-show for VH-1), the guys from Pierce the Veil, A Day to Remember, Zakk Wylde, Five Finger Death Punch, and the list goes on. Funny too, as we were eating lunch near the venue, we saw Jill Janus of Huntress coming out of an A-Team type van fully decked out in her Goth outfit and walked past us to the carpet…what a sight.

We got in a little before 8:00 as the bands and fans were fileing in. We had the best seats in the house, front row, aisle just left of center stage, on the balcony overlooking the stage and the crowd below…unbelievable.

The show was hosted by the guys from That Metal Show, Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson who did a great job throughout the show tag teaming introductions and coming together for the important points of the show. It was great to see the various artists, both from music and film presenting the nominees and making the introductions of the performers. Some of the more notable and memorable for us to see were Nicolas Cage, Chris Motionless (Motionless in White) , Scott Ian from Anthrax (a few times), Pauley Perrette (NCIS), Andrew Dice Clay, Matty Mullins (Memphis Mayfire), Alice Cooper, Zakk Wylde, Tony Hawk and Carmen Electra, Marilyn Manson, Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein (The Misfits), Richie Sambora and Orianthi (Guitarist from Alice Cooper), Jacoby Shaddix  (Papa Roach), and again, the list goes on…

Of course what was most memorable from the night was the music. The show opened up with a surprise band.. we were all real excited to see who they were going to surprise us with, and we weren’t disappointed…it was Slayer, who absolutely tore it up. Following up was a great performance by A Day to Remember who played a few songs including one of our favorites, Right Back At it Again. After a few awards, a newer, up and coming band called The Pretty Reckless came out and performed their current hits Heaven Knows and Going to Hell (both off their new album). One of the most memorable and definitely the most somber part of the show was when Zakk Wylde came out performing solo on a baby-grand piano, center stage playing tribute to all the rock and metal artists who have passed on too early. Following Zakk (prophetically) was Suicide Silence who had lost their lead singer Mitch Lucker in 2012 (and was mentioned in Zakk’s song). I thought I heard them being introduced as debuting their new lead singer Hernan “Eddie” Hermida, who put on a great show. Next up was Alice Cooper presenting Joan Jett with a Golden God award, and then Joan Jett and the Blackhearts performing a few of their hits (Bad Reputation and I Hate Myself For Loving You) and one of their songs from their new album Unvarnished (Any Weather). We got a bit of a treat as following their performance of I Hate Myself for Loving You (with Taylor Momsen – The Pretty Reckless), they had to preform it again due to some audio issues…but the crowd loved it! Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top came out and made a quick cameo during the song…real cool! After a few more awards (not the least of which was the Album of the Year: Black Sabbath, 13, with Tony Iommi accepting the award on behalf of the band) who else other than Nicolas Cage came out and presented the Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award to Axl Rose and introduced Guns N’ Roses who put on one of the best Rosk performances I have ever seen. Duff McKagan performed with the band which was a real treat for true GNR fans. They put on about an hour show playing many of their greatest songs such as Sweet Child O’ Mine, Welcome to the Jungle, Paradise City, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door and an absolutely stunning version of November Rain.

The night couldn’t have been better for the four of us.. Down in LA from Seattle, loving the sun and Rock Music. Definitely a show we will all remember.

Also want to shout out to Stephanie D. Cabral who was photographing for Revolver Magazine and sitting next to us…you’re living the dream! And thanks for the Megadeath picks!