Avenged Sevenfold Live in Lubbock,Texas - Review

As some of you know, I am Australian. I went to Soundwave this year for the express purpose of seeing Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) and Saxon. Neither turned up. So, I was very happy to be in the U.S. for Rock on the Range, to see A7X. But I had to work, so this meant I couldn't go to the fest. So, on the night of Tuesday, May 17, I flew to Lubbock, Texas, to see Avenged live. I am nothing if not persistent.

So, I fly in to Lubbock, go to my hotel, and drive to the venue. Only the traffic is a nightmare, so I parked a mile out and walked in. I parked in Buddy Holly park, I guess he was from there. When I get to the venue, there’s two lines: boys and girls. This is because we all get body searched on the way in. Seriously, why is it that it’s assumed that because someone likes loud music and has an "out there" hair cut, they walk around armed? But, I digress.

I did notice a bullet rolling around on the ground outside the venue. I don’t believe it was a casing, it looked like it was all there. No-one seemed to care.

So, we get in, and the merchandise is right there. I don’t get why merchandise stands could ever not take credit. Thankfully I had the cash for three shirts. I was astounded that they did not have shirts with the Nightmare logo and tour dates. I confess, I bought a pirate shirt for the first time ever, simply because it had the artwork I wanted, and the official merch did not.

I had assumed the first band was Three Days Grace, but I guess Bullet for My Valentine are not as big as I expected ( in the U.S. at least). At Soundwave, they were close to the top of the billing, below Slash, but barely. They are a great live band, with great songs, and I still think their star is on the rise. Their short set was a lot of fun.

Turns out I do know some Three Days Grace songs, probably from Rock on the Range last year. They were also good and got the crowd going.

Finally A7X took the stage. They start by hanging some guy, who ends up twitching for all of "Nightmare." The reason they did not play Soundwave is they said they were not allowed to do their full show. Their full show involves most of the stage being on fire at different times, pyro, and a dude being hung, so I am not surprised they could not do all that at a festival.

The full set list was :

Nightmare
Critical Acclaim
Welcome to the Family
Almost Easy

Buried Alive
So Far Away
Afterlife

God Hates Us
Bat Country
Unholy Confessions
Fiction
Save Me

One thing that struck me is how many new songs they do, in light of our Whitesnake experience last week. I guess A7X is a band on the rise, but, I wanted MORE new songs if anything, although the "old" ones are all killer, too. They were doing "Danger Line" at one point and I was sad not to hear that. "So Far Away" was dedicated to drummer the Rev, and was introduced with a long speech about how they appreciate the fans support, miss the Rev, etc. This seems like a good time to talk about the new drummer. He sounds good. He seems like he’s capable of playing these songs. If the loss of the Rev causes the songs to drop off, well, that will only be shown by the next album.

I will say one thing. The band is tight and they all play well. Singer M. Shadows sounds terrific. However, the backing vocals are a bit off at times, especially the "rough" vocals provided by bassist Johnny Christ. That was off putting at first, but I got used to it, and, as I said, M. Shadows is a great singer: he sounds good all the way through.

I left before the encore. I was sad to miss "Fiction," but I was very tired and had to get up at 4 a.m. to fly back to Dallas due to work commitments. A7X have announced dates in Australia, tickets are not on sale yet, but I will definitely go, and take my daughter at least.

Avenged Sevenfold is a great live band. In my opinion, the best of the modern wave of heavy rock bands today. They certainly put on a huge show, and they have the songs to back it up. I did not time the show, but 12 songs seemed short to me, even if they are all six minutes long, that’s just over an hour. Still, quality over quantity and for the songs and the spectacle, I would definitely see them again.

Bullet For My Valentine, Live, Tonight!

You guessed it, I'm still at Rock on the Range! Today I get to see Bullet For My Valentine, Pop Evil and Cavo. Have you been following me on Twitter? If so, then you know some good stuff has gone down. I'm @bringbackglam!

Avenged Sevenfold, Live, Tonight!

So Rock on the Range really kicks off today and I'll be seeing My Darkest Days and Avenged Sevenfold. I'm stoked for both! I'm also going to check out Danzig, Escape the Fate and Alter Bridge. Here's Avenged Sevenfold's new video for "So Far Away." Remember to follow me on Twitter for updates @bringbackglam!

Steel Panther, Live, Tonight!

I'm seeing Steel Panther live tonight. The band is headlining the Rock on the Range kick-off party. Rock on the Range is held annually in Columbus, Ohio.

In addition to Steel Panther, Red Line Chemistry, Lez Zeppelin and Danko Jones will perform during this party. If you want to follow my Rock on the Range journey and get highlights of Steel Panther's show, just follow me on Twitter @bringbackglam!

Steven Tyler -- '(It) Feels So Good'

Last week, Steven Tyler released the video for his new solo single "(It) Feels So Good." My only thought while watching the video for the first time was "the boys are missing." By that I mean, of course, the rest of Aerosmith. Aerosmith is a sum-of-its-parts sort of band. Aerosmith needs Steven Tyler as much as it needs Joe Perry, Joey Kramer, Brad Whitford and Tom Hamilton. Take away a part, and the remaining pieces are weaker.

I'm sure I'll get Steven's solo record when it is released... but I'm looking forward to the new Aerosmith disc more. Truth is truth. Opinions?

New Jetboy vs. Classic Jetboy - An M3 Comparison

This past weekend's M3 Festival featured a set by Jetboy during Friday's "Kix-Off Party."  Jetboy performing at M3 is nothing new, considering they have played every M3 festival to date, however the twist to this years set was Jetboy was now featuring a new singer, D.K. Revelle, as Mickey Finn left band in late 2010. Personally, I am a longtime Jetboy fan, and I think Damned Nation is one of the most solid albums to have been released during the late 80s/early 90s time frame. Last year, I was front and center for Jetboy's set, and honestly is was probably the set I was most looking forward to (even though the band was taking the stage just past noon on that day). It was brutally hot that day, but it didn't slow the band down at all and they delivered a killer set. I hadn't seen the band live since 1990, when I saw them on tour with Vixen and The Electric Boys, but they sounded as good as ever, and the classic Jetboy sound remained.

Fast forward one year to 2011, and the set that I listened to last weekend seemed like almost an entirely new band. As festival sets are shorter, Jetboy did not have a lot of time allocated to them, but they crammed in a lot of music. They opened with "Dogs Gotta Roam" off the the recent Off Your Rocker EP (which was recorded with Mickey on vocals), and also played "Going Down (Above the Clouds)" off the same album. From the classic material, they performed "Stomp It (Down to the Bricks)" and "Ready to Rumble" from Damned Nation and, of course, they closed with "Feel the Shake" from the Feel the Shake album. The also included two new songs, "Stripped Down" and "Little Miss Sin Eater." Clearly, the band is concentrating on the new music that they have written, and not relying on their past catalog, and they performed a solid set with more energy than last year's show (but that could be due to the insane heat last year that was not present this year).

 

The first difference I noted was how tight the band sounded now. I recall when I spoke with Billy earlier this year, he relayed to me that it was difficult to Jetboy to rehearse, as the majority of the band lived in the San Francisco area and Mickey lived in Los Angeles. Now that the new singer is closer, clearly they are able to actually practice and work out the nuances in the songs so that it all sounded like more of a unit. They showed some creativity by changing some of the classic parts around a bit and added a big ending to "Feel the Shake" which included a callback to the "Ready to Rumble" riff from earlier in the set. Additionally, there is the obvious change in voices.  D.K. stays pretty close to the original versions of the Jetboy songs that pre-dated his time in the band, but does add his own swagger to the songs and plays with the vocal timing a bit... but I fully understand him adding some of his own flavor to those parts, so as to not be labeled a carbon copy of Mickey. The new songs, written with D.K., are in the same vein as prior Jetboy songs, as they are guitar-riff driven, AC/DC-type songs, and D.K. sounds great singing them. A fan of the classic line-up would not be disappointed with the new songs.

 

So of the two versions, which do I prefer? To be completely honest, I have been listening to Jetboy since 1990, and Mickey's voice is what I associate with those songs. So if I had the ability to choose, I would want to hear Mickey singing the classic songs. However, that is not to take anything away from D.K., as he is a great singer and performer, and the new songs suit his voice very well. I understand situations change and they require bands to adapt, and D.K. was a great choice to replace Mickey. Additionally, as stated above, the band, as whole, sound better now. The change in singers brought a new level of energy to the band that may have faded some during the end of Mickey's tenure. The creativity is flowing and they are writing new songs and moving forward. While change is not something that we fans of the 80s Glam music like, this is a situation where, for us fans, the differences are about as good as it gets, and the band has taken this shot in the arm and are reacting in a positive way. Bottom line, if Jetboy was coming to my town, I wouldn't think twice about attending.

Jetboy at M3 2011

Jetboy at M3 2010

M3 2011 Day 2 Review

The second day of M3 was the big one, featuring performances by Modern Superstar, Danger Danger, Firehouse, Slaughter, Great White, Mr. Big, Sebastian Bach, Tesla and Whitesnake on the main stage. On the side stage, there were performances by Korupt, Pretty Boy Floyd, Hurtsmile, Black n' Blue, Faster Pussycat, Big Noize and Lita Ford. 

The weather was freaking cold in Columbia, Maryland on Saturday. So cold that at one point I was wearing a T-shirt, my husband's button down, Christian's long-sleeved Whitesnake shirt and a hoodie. And my toes were still numb. The rainy mist was annoying as all get out, too. Still, the weather didn't deter the crowds and that is great. Also, as a side note I bought a margarita from one of the vendors and almost had to call my bank for a loan. $13 for a frozen strawberry margarita? Insane. I bet Merriweather Post Pavilion made a ton of money off concessions during the two days of M3. I digress.

I didn't see Modern Superstar so I have no comment on their set. I arrived just as Danger Danger was performing. People were filing in to see D2 and Ted Poley sounded great as always. During Danger Danger, I noticed a guy two rows in front of me. Let's call him Hot Pleather. Anyway, it was clear that Danger Danger was maybe his favorite band. He stood, fist in air, the entire set. His pleather pants were gleaming, and his mesh shirt just seemed appropriate. When Ted jumped from the stage and ran up the aisle, I poked Christian and said "Watch." Sure enough, Hot Pleather flew to the center aisle to high-five Ted. It was very cute. During "Naughty Naughty" Hot Pleather called a friend and held the phone in the air. Dude was having a great time and that was good to see. Danger Danger doesn't play live very often and they are a treat to catch live. Definitely one of the better bands of the weekend. Oh, and they dedicated "Rock America" to Seal Team 6 which was cool. 

I didn't catch Korupt so the first side stage band I saw (briefly) was Pretty Boy Floyd. They did the songs they always do live, including "Toast of the Town" (the Motley Crue song) and Steve Summers gave away some stuff. The band did sound good, very glam. And Steve had on a furry jacket which was humorous. Honestly, I didn't hang around long -- everyone in my little group was giving each other a look. So we wandered back to the pavilion to get ready for Firehouse.

Firehouse is one of those bands that is just chock full of awesome musicians but isn't all that great in a festival setting. Why? Because Firehouse is a ballad band. And by this time, the pavilion was pretty full, people were standing and cheering... and then the ballads started and it was a total buzz kill. While the slower songs are not great for a festival, Firehouse does them well and C.J. Snare can just sing his butt off. So props to them. I love "All She Wrote" and "Don't Treat Me Bad" so there you go.

We left Firehouse early to check out Hurtsmile. They were probably the band I was most curious about so we pushed fairly close. Gary Cherone is awesome and he was wearing a shirt that said "INFIDEL" which I wanted really bad. The band is heavy and I like their debut record. Gary's brother Mark had some guitar issues, but things worked out okay. They did a Van Halen tune and Extreme's "Hole Hearted." They were very, very solid - another top band of the weekend.

Of course I didn't get to hear "Hole Hearted" because I had to move back to the main stage to see Slaughter. The over lapping bands was insane and got worse as the day went on. No matter what, it ended up that you usually missed the band's most famous songs because you were moving from one place to another.

I watched Slaughter from the lawn but I wasn't paying much attention -- all I wanted to hear was "Fly to the Angels" but did I? No. We stood, listened, heard "Mad About You" among others and decided to try someone we hadn't seen yet. Let me say I know Mark Slaughter takes a lot of flack for his voice, but I didn't think he sounded bad. The jumbo screens focused on drummer Zoltan Chaney a lot and I noticed our resident drummer Brian was studying Zoltan's nutty moves.

Because I was looking for someone, I did not catch any of Black n' Blue. While we walked past the side stage Christian said "Didn't we see Jamie St. James with another band not long ago?" I said "No" and then it dawned on me. "Yes! With Warrant at the first Rocklahoma!" And then we laughed.

Great White had Terry Ilous singing lead. Terry can sing but it's weird hearing things like "Mista Bone" from a different voice. I'm not sure it was even fair, Terry singing. But still. It wasn't like the band was advertised as Great White featuring Terry Ilous. But, Terry did say at the beginning of the set "Jack sends his love" which was nice. I think everyone is pulling for Jack Russell to get well. I have no problem with the band using a fill in singer to get through gigs but some people were perplexed, asking what was going on. "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" sounded slow and hollow. It's hard to explain, but it didn't sound like Great White's signature song at all.

After a snack of pita chip and hummus - which I'll admit in hindsight was an odd choice from a festival booth - I was back in my seat for Mr. Big. Holy Glam, they were awesome! Billy Sheehan rocks! He played his bass guitar with an electric drill. Paul Gilbert is awesome. But you know what I didn't get to hear? You guessed it: "To Be With You." Look, I know a lot of people hate that song but I've never seen Mr. Big live and I wanted to hear that one. Why didn't I get to hear it? Because I had to freaking go back to the side stage to catch Faster Pussycat. Seriously, the overlapping bands was awful.

I figure Mr. Big will tour and I'll catch them that way with a full set. I'm a big Sheehan fan.

So me and Kari went to the rail for Pussycat. I've seen them live... oh I dunno... maybe a dozen times. And this was the best. They were seriously awesome. Man, Taime Downe is paler than me - and I keep my skin about as white as a sheet (I stay out of the sun). But while you can tell I just use SPF 100, Taime looks more... crypt-like. Dude was chain smoking and saying "good morning." It was roughly 5:30 in the evening when the band took the stage, so that was funny. The band pushed through their set and the crowd was freaking nuts for them - just people on top of people. "Bathroom Wall" was awesome and so was "House of Pain" as well as "Cathouse." There was no electronica-whatever here: all glam.

So after Faster... it was time for Bach. He was good and came out swinging and head banging. He whips his microphone around like a wacko and my husband was down in the pit taking photos. He said every photog ducked each time Bach started swinging his mic. Christian asked me how long before someone in the band gets decapitated.... it was that insane. Bach did some of his Angel Down stuff and mostly Skid Row material like "Slave to the Grind," "I Remember You," "Youth Gone Wild," "Monkey Business" and "18 and Life." When "18 and Life" started, Brian said "I hate this song," sat down and pretended to shoot himself. So yeah. At one point, Bach got the crowd riled by dedicating a song to Seal Team 6, started a "USA! USA!" chant and mocked the bullet through Bin Laden's brain. It was all very patriotic... for a Canadian.

The surprise of the day? Big Noize! Joe Lynn Turner and Carlos Cavazo are awesome! Overall, Big Noize probably had the best set list because they did a ton of Dio and even some Quiet Riot stuff. Warrant singer Robert Mason came out and did a couple tunes and that was fun. My highlights were "Cum On Feel the Noize" and "Rainbow in the Dark." I was back on the rail with Kari and Christian for this one, so I could see for a change. Side note: I saw Joe Lynn Turner at the airport Sunday morning. His hair was just as big going through security as it was ripping through "Crazy Train." True story. Besides Kix, Big Noize was my favorite band of the weekend.

Tesla was up next. You always know what you're going to get with them: a solid rock show. The band did "Love Me," "Modern Day Cowboy" "Signs" and more. Toward the middle of the set, it was time for Lita Ford. Brian has never seen Tesla but he wanted to leave them for Lita so I went with him (telling him he was nuts, by the way) but off we trotted. By this time it was good and cold, dark and rainy. We got a spot toward the middle of the crowd and waited... and waited. Did I mention I had LASIK surgery two weeks ago? Well, I did. Which means I have chronic dry eye right now. This is aggravated by cigarette smoke. People were smoking so much during Lita, my eyes started running which was incredibly painful and I left Brian on his own. I flooded my bloodshot eyes with bottled tears, had to use the cold compress I had stashed in my bag and wandered back to watch the end of Tesla alone. So, I have no comment on Lita other than Eddie Trunk introduced her. I'm sure Brian can review her performance for us.

Whitesnake headlined the entire festival. I've seen them before and I like them a lot. Too bad they weren't very good at M3. The set-up wasn't impressive for a headliner and the band played too many solos. Sure, Reb Beach and Dough Aldrich are awesome... but good gravy. A 30 minute solo block? Really? And a giant block of all new material? Really? Total buzz kill. People started leaving in droves. I didn't get to hear "Still of the Night" because that was the last song and we left early. Everyone in my group was tired and Christian was sick of me trembling from cold beside him the entire set. Kix should have just been the main headliner. Seriously.

To sum, I think this was a great festival but the overlapping bands must be fixed. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way -- and quite frankly, I enjoyed more side stage bands than main stage this year. Kix should always get a headline spot. Whitesnake should have done a festival set, not a regular headline show. Also, they ran out of the girlie-cut M3 festival shirts by Friday night. Too bad I went to the booth to get one Saturday morning.

It was great seeing friends from all over the country - and world! Special props to NirVrana and HRosaV for letting the entire Bring Back Glam! staff crash at their pad!

I have a zillion photos - and I haven't had time to edit them. So check back tomorrow.