The Concert Thread

Manowar were surprisingly good. I must say I was impressed with how tight the band was, without any breaks between the songs. They also had an amazing stage production, and the setlist was very solid, including the Bulgarian anthem, which made people piss themselves with patriotism. On top of that, we were out of the venue and in the car about three minutes after the concert ended and home 10 minutes later. Overall, a very smooth and enjoyable experience. 9.6/10

Oh, and the new guitarist is probably better than Carl.
Solid review @Ariana. Will you give ratings for each song they played? That's the only way could've got that overall rating!

Not as much as you'd think. It may have been expensive for a Bulgarian (although I was told it wasn't), but not for a West German.

I'm happy. Manowar got a lot of bad rap in the last 10 years, even by their standards, but the gig was superb. Eric Adams still has it, and he proved once again (to me) that he's one of the best metal singers ever. The new guitarist is the best they've had since Ross the Boss. The setlist had me satisfied. They played
Battly Hymn (one of my favourite songs ever), The Gods Made Heavy Metal, Kings of Metal/Fighting the World/Hail and Kill in a medley that worked really well, Thor, and a lot of other stuff, but those were my highlights. Together with, of coure, Warriors of the World United, Brothers of Metal and Sons of Odin.

Eric, who must be pushing the seventies by now, was wholly believable when he sang "Don't try to tell us that we're too loud/'Cause there ain't no way we'll ever turn down".

Great stage production, tight playing, I really have no complaints. Even the sound was good after the first two songs. I'm glad I went, it was completely worth it.
So it was a cabaret set then? No rare hidden gems?
 
Some rare gems, for sure. Not too hidden, though.
I can't rate individual songs but I can say most of them were fast songs with heavy riffs, except for those that were slow.
 
Saw Priest and Uriah Heep last night, never seen either band prior to the show. Heep sounded great and played for about an hour. Priest came on about 25 minutes later and holy can Halford sing, some of his screams were so high it hurt my ears. From a preformance standpoint the band was on fire and I really enjoyed hearing songs such as Breaking The Law, Living After Midnight, Halls Of Valhalla, Out In The Cold, No Surrender, Spectre amongst others. As someone who hasn't seen priest I do wish they played a couple more hits namely Painkiller and You've Got Another Thing Comin'; but I like how they did shake up the set so much from previous tours. A couple more firepower tracks would have been nice. Nonetheless an amazing show.
 
I've had a solid week with regards to tour announcements - all thanks to Download Festival which is only good for bands announcing tours. It's a weekend to wait for with bated breath as one anticipates the various tours which might be announced, some of which are "leaked" from the festival magazine or posters around the site. Of specific interest to me were Alter Bridge, Delain, Sumo Cyco and Amon Amarth - but nothing from Dream Theater. Sad!

This morning I was waiting at my laptop to enter the O2 presale for Alter Bridge's London show a few days before Christmas and got myself a seated ticket at the quite reasonable price of £56 including fees. I think my seat is OK but I wasn't given an option of which seat to take so had to make do with what the system offered me. I'm hoping that from a seated position I'll be able to see more of the stage than I did at the Royal Albert Hall a few years ago! Another advantage of a seated ticket is that I can skip The Raven Age.

I'll be seeing Delain in Bristol in February. I've had to pass on the London show as I don't know where I'll be living after Christmas so a Saturday show is realistically the easiest to get to, plus it means I can stay the night and visit somewhere I don't know well. Delain should be playing some songs from the forthcoming album (whenever it will be released) so I'm looking forward to the show. There hasn't been any word on supports yet but I'm hoping that the take Vuur around like they've done in Latin America.

On Monday I got a ticket for Sumo Cyco - a Canadian Punky sort of band - in a crappy little venue in London at the end of November. Fortunately the venue isn't too far a trip on the Underground away from the train station I need to get to for the journey home. I will probably be in the older part of the demographic at this show. They're a damn good live band so I'm sure it'll be good fun.

I decided to pass on Amon Amarth as I'm not a big enough fan of them to go when the supports suck (Arch Enemy and Hypocrisy). They're a great live band - one of the best I've seen - but I'm not motivated to stand through poor support bands and go to a venue which is quite far away from the train station I need to go home through. When I saw them a few years ago I mostly went for Testament, who are one of my favourite bands, but Amon Amarth were much better on the night. I may end up deciding to go closer to the date if there's tickets left and I feel like it.

Next up is Gojira in Birmingham - are you ready @phantomoftheicarus? - followed by Demons & Wizards in London the next day.

29/6 Gojira, Birmingham
30/6 Demons & Wizards, London
5/8 Iron Maiden, Montreal
8-11/8 Scorpions, Sabaton, Anthrax, Powerwolf, Soilwork etc. @ Bloodstock Festival
28/9 Ancient Bards, Birmingham
31/10 Beyond the Black, London
25/11 Halestorm, Nottingham
28/11 Sumo Cyco, London
21/12 Alter Bridge, London
8/2 Delain, Bristol
 
Next up is Gojira in Birmingham - are you ready @phantomoftheicarus?

I certainly am, it can't come quick enough! :rocker:

I'm trying to decide what concerts to buy tickets to, or if I should at all. Alter Bridge is tempting but I don't think I like them or the openers enough to justify the understandable price. I'm the same with Amon Amarth, I'll see if my dad wants to go. Agnostic Front and At The Gates also have shows going round about the same time, so I'll consider them too.
 
I forgot to post here. Testament had super shite sound, I couldn't enjoy the concert without hearing the vocals or any guitar solos from Alex Skolnick. Also it was too short, setlist was shite af (no Over The Wall or The Legacy), and it was unbalanced, first all modern stuff, then all old stuff.

Pero Defformero opened, they had a much better sound, but I missed their opening few songs including my favorite one of theirs :(
 
I forgot to post here. Testament had super shite sound, I couldn't enjoy the concert without hearing the vocals or any guitar solos from Alex Skolnick. Also it was too short, setlist was shite af (no Over The Wall or The Legacy), and it was unbalanced, first all modern stuff, then all old stuff.

Pero Defformero opened, they had a much better sound, but I missed their opening few songs including my favorite one of theirs :(
So would you say it was a decidedly un-solid concert?
 
Decided that instead of doing a year end full concert breakdown I'd split the year into the two halves.

Concert #1: Greta Van Fleet
The up and coming band delivered a strong nearly 2 hour show kicking off a year of great concerts. The setlist had every song I wanted to hear from the band and they delivered in both vocal and instrumental departments. The concert had 2 downsides, the first being a 4 hour drive each way. And that they decided to play 3 acoustic tracks in a row in a rather short 12 song setlist. An amazing show from a band which I would definitely see again.

Concert #2: Kiss
Stage show unreal, live vocals somewhat questionable, but fun nonetheless. The set was book-ended with hits whilst the middle was a little more dry for a very casual Kiss fan, that being said the show was incredibly entertaining I'm just happy I had the chance to see them on their "final" tour.

Concert #3: Lynyrd Skynryd w/ Randy Bachman
An incredibly loud concert, Randy opened up with a set full of Guess Who and Bachman Turner Orchestra songs, for an old guy his voice has held up fairly well and musically was good. Skynryd was another band which I saw because I wanted to hear the hits at least once, didn't know a ton of their stuff but I bought the cheapest tickets and they played Free Bird who that was worth it all. Wouldn't need to see either band again

Concert #4: P!nk
Amazing performance and having grown up listening to P!nk hearing her pop anthems live was quite the enjoyable experience, visually I'd put her show close to Kiss if not on par with them as the best visual show I've seen this year. Her backing band is quite strong as well.

Concert #5: Michael Schenker Fest
Michael and crew delivered a night filled with hard rock guitar based assaults. Of his 4 singers, Robin was easily the strongest with Doogie not far behind. Graham Bonnet surprised me with his vocal ability letting out some great screams. Schenker was unreal on guitar, the opening notes to Doctor Doctor was amazing, as well as hearing Holiday, Lights Out and Shoot Shoot. From his solo career, Save Yourself, Dancer and Anytime were amazing. Great show, would definitely see him again.

Concert #6: Halestorm
The opening acts weren't very good, but Lzzy and the band delivered an amazing high energy set with some unreal screams. I wish the set had one or two more tracks from Vicious but I got to hear It's Not You which had been dropped from the setlist for their current tour so that makes up for it. Overall a much better show than when I saw them "Co-Headlining" with Stone Sour. Would do it again in a heartbeat

Concert #7: Judas Priest w/ Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep I honestly had never heard of prior to buying my ticket, I was quite impressed by both Bands but Priest delivered a really strong show full of deep cuts as someone who would love to hear his favourite bands pull out some deeper cuts here and there I can greatly appreciate the new Priest Setlist despite missing a couple of the hits which were dropped for it. Overall a great show with some really well maintained vocal chords by the singers.

First Half Of Year Ranked:
  1. Greta Van Fleet
  2. Halestorm
  3. Judas Priest
  4. P!nk
  5. Michael Schenker
  6. Kiss
  7. Lynyrd Skynryd
 
I went to Mastodon tonight. They always put on a great show. I didn't go for the rail this time because I had a long same day drive and I'm also still a bit sore from Judas Priest. In addition this venue for Mastodon last year was the roughest pit I've ever been in. I showed up while the opening band Everytime I Die was playing and stood in the merch line, they didn't sound good. I watched Mastodon from around the sound stage. Obviously it sounded very good from there but it was pretty nice to sit back and watch the visuals. Crack the Skye in its entirety was definitely a treat. I watched the first couple songs from Coheed & Cambria. They're not my favorite band, and I've already seen them twice. They sounded pretty good though and had a very cool stage set.

Mastodon's setlist and discussion :
Crack the Skye (Full album)
Bladecatcher
Black Tongue
Ember City
Blood and Thunder


Very nice setlist. It could have been a bit longer, but it was nice to see Ember City and Blood and Thunder. I wish 'Steambreather' was thrown in there somewhere, and 'Sultan's Curse' would have been nice. 'Toe to Toe's' anyone?

Unrelated: Since I'm in Seattle, I went to Chick-Fil-A. So fucking good!
 
I went to Mastodon tonight. They always put on a great show. I didn't go for the rail this time because I had a long same day drive and I'm also still a bit sore from Judas Priest. In addition this venue for Mastodon last year was the roughest pit I've ever been in. I showed up while the opening band Everytime I Die was playing and stood in the merch line, they didn't sound good. I watched Mastodon from around the sound stage. Obviously it sounded very good from there but it was pretty nice to sit back and watch the visuals. Crack the Skye in its entirety was definitely a treat. I watched the first couple songs from Coheed & Cambria. They're not my favorite band, and I've already seen them twice. They sounded pretty good though and had a very cool stage set.

Mastodon's setlist and discussion :
Crack the Skye (Full album)
Bladecatcher
Black Tongue
Ember City
Blood and Thunder


Very nice setlist. It could have been a bit longer, but it was nice to see Ember City and Blood and Thunder. I wish 'Steambreather' was thrown in there somewhere, and 'Sultan's Curse' would have been nice. 'Toe to Toe's' anyone?

Unrelated: Since I'm in Seattle, I went to Chick-Fil-A. So fucking good!

This was a really good tour. I far prefer Coheed, but Mastodon are always solid (even if Brent Hinds is one of the most boring live players I've ever seen).
 
This was a really good tour. I far prefer Coheed, but Mastodon are always solid (even if Brent Hinds is one of the most boring live players I've ever seen).
Coheed seemed pretty good live, I haven’t seen them since the Maiden England tour and they seemed like they’ve stepped up a little bit. Brent is only boring because he’s so baked every gig.
 
Coheed seemed pretty good live, I haven’t seen them since the Maiden England tour and they seemed like they’ve stepped up a little bit. Brent is only boring because he’s so baked every gig.

I believe it. Last week at Chicago he was the only band member not drinking and hanging out after the show. (Probably cause he was getting baked in his trailer).
 
Updated lists. I guess I'm looking forward to September.

Coming Up:
  • 9/5/19 Iron Maiden with The Raven Age @ The Tacoma Dome, Tacoma WA
  • 9/6/19 Iron Maiden with The Raven Age @ The Moda Center, Portland, OR
  • 9/13/19 Iron Maiden with The Raven Age @ MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV
  • 9/26/19 Ghost with Nothing More @ The Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA
The Early Years:
  • 12/15/02 Neil Diamond @ The Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA
  • 04/09/04 Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken @ The Spokane Arena, WA (Note: did not go to this one willingly)
  • 07/03/04 Fleetwood Mac @ The Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA
  • 09/26/07 George Thorogood and the Destroyers @ The Big Easy, Spokane, WA
  • 06/24/11 Kiss @ The Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA
2012:
  • 07/29/12 Iron Maiden with Coheed & Cambria @ The Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC
  • 07/30/12 Iron Maiden with Coheed & Cambria @ White River Amphitheater, Auburn, WA
2013:
  • 06/24/13 Machine Head @ The Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA ***
  • 09/12/13 Iron Maiden with Megadeth @ Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV
  • 09/21/13 5FDP with Halestorm, Sepultura, and 10 Years @ Greyhound Park, Post Falls, ID
2014:
  • 05/05/14 Sabaton & Iced Earth @ The Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA ***
2015:
  • 03/08/15 Machine Head @ The Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA ***
  • 05/29/15 The Eagles @ The Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA
  • 09/30/15 Def Leppard, Styx, and Tesla @ The Spokane Arena, WA
  • 10/25/15 Queensryche @ Northern Quest Resort & Casino, Spokane, WA
2016:
  • 02/27/16 Schism @ The House of Blues, Las Vegas, NV (Note: Tool cover band) ***
  • 02/28/16 Iron Maiden with The Raven Age @ Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV
  • 04/11/16 Iron Maiden with The Raven Age @ Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA ***
  • 07/09/16 Alice in Chains @ The INB Performing Arts Center, Spokane, WA '''
  • 09/02/16 Duran Duran @ Northern Quest Resort & Casino, Spokane, WA
  • 11/03/16 Steel Panther @ The Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA
2017:
  • 01/17/17 Chevelle @ The Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA ***
  • 06/17/17 Tool @ The Gorge Amphitheater, George, WA
  • 06/30/17 Sammy Hagar & The Circle @ Northern Quest Resort & Casino, Spokane, WA
  • 07/03/17 Iron Maiden with Ghost @ The T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV ***
  • 08/09/17 Metallica with A7X and Gojira @ Century Link Field, Seattle, WA
  • 09/29/17 The Scorpions and Megadeth @ The Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA ''' (Note: Megadeth meet and greet)
  • 10/24/17 Mastodon with Eagles of Death Metal & Russian Circles @ The Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA ***
  • 12/4/17 Foo Fighters @ The Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA
2018:
  • 03/01/18 Queensryche @ Northern Quest Resort & Casino, Spokane, WA
  • 06/22/18 Mastodon with Primus @ Marymoor Park, Seattle, WA ***
  • 08/26/18 Alice in Chains, Bush, The Cult, Stone Temple Pilots @ Sunlight Supply Amphitheater, Vancouver, WA ***
  • 09/13/18 Australian Pink Floyd @ Northern Quest Resort & Casino, Spokane WA
  • 11/17/18 Ghost @ The Joint, Las Vegas, NV ***
  • 12/2/18 Metallica @ The Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA ***
2019:
  • 2/4/19 Kiss @ The Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA ***/ '''
  • 6/19/19 Judas Priest with Uriah Heep @ Northern Quest Resort & Casino, Spokane, WA ***
  • 6/22/19 Mastodon with Coheed & Cambria @ Marymoor Park, Seattle, WA
Key:
*** = On the rail/Front Row
''' = Met the band/Meet & Greet

Top 5 most seen bands:
1. Iron Maiden (6)
2. Mastodon (3)
2. Coheed & Cambria (3)
3. Tie between Megadeth, Metallica, Raven Age, Ghost, Alice in Chains, Queensryche, and Machine Head (2)
 
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Last night I saw Gojira with @Black Wizard. Unfortunately one of the openers Black Peaks got cancelled which left us with Rolo Tomassi, who unfortunately we both thought were pretty damn underwhelming, with poor sound too. Fortunately however Gojira made up for it the best way they possibly could. Probably the heaviest band I've seen live, with a GREAT atmosphere and a great stage presence by the band, I thought Joe Duplantier did a brilliant job as frontman. Very heavy setlist too, with all the songs coming across as face meltingly heavy. Great gig and really good to meet Wiz (hope you didn't find me boring:p)

I now have to look forward to Rammstein on Saturday!

Upcoming gigs:
Rammstein @ Milton Keynes Stadium 6/7/19
Periphery @ O2 Ritz Manchester 14/11/19

  • Download Festival 2016 (Sunday, Iron Maiden + Nightwish, Disturbed and others)
  • Status Quo w/ Steve Harley And The Cockney Rebels @ Caldicot Castle - 06/08/16
  • Status Quo w/ The Lounge Kittens and REO Speedwagon @ The Echo Arena, Liverpool - 23/12/16
  • Status Quo @ Brentwood Festival - 15/07/17
  • Metallica w/ Kverlatak @ Genting Arena, Birmingham - 30/10/17
  • Testament w/ Vader and Annihilator @ O2 Institute Birmingham - 30/03/18
  • Agrona w/ Deus Mori and Dark Sorrow @ Scruffy Murphy's, Birmingham - 20/07/18
  • Iron Maiden w/ Killswitch Engage @ Genting Arena, Birmingham - 07/08/18
  • Slayer w/ Obituary, Anthrax and Lamb of God @ Arena Birmingham - 07/11/18
  • Behemoth w/ Wolves In The Throne Room and At The Gates @ O2 Institute Birmingham - 7/02/19
  • Alice In Chains w/ Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ Arena Birmingham - 24/05/19
  • Gojira w/ Rolo Tomassi and Black Peaks (cancelled) @ O2 Academy Birmingham 29/06/19
 
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I finally found the master list of all the gigs I've been to! So glad I didn't lose it online.

01. Iron Maiden w/ Alice Cooper - Atlanta, GA 06/23/12
02.
Iron Maiden w/ The Raven Age - Ft. Lauderdale, FL 02/24/16
03.
Napalm Death & The Melvins w/ Melt Banana - Birmingham, AL 04/03/16
04.
Chvrches w/ Pure Bathing Culture & Death Cab For Cutie - Charleston, SC 06/15/16
05.
Balkan Beat Box, Zella Day, NF, Chvrches, Big Boi, ColleGrove (2 Chainz x Lil Wayne), Twenty One Pilots, Daya, St. Lucia, Grouplove, Kesha, DJ Mustard & deadmau5 (Music Midtown) - Atlanta, GA 09/17/16 & 09/18/16
06.
Taylor Swift - Austin, TX 10/22/16
07.
Usher & The Roots - Austin, TX 10/23/16
08.
Laughing Sword//Amanda X//Super Unison - Birmingham, AL 10/28/16
09.
Scare Your Face Off Fest VII - Birmingham, AL 10/29/16
10.
Hurl Yeah//Sailor Poon//GT- Birmingham, AL 01/15/17
11.
Rattlesnake Battalion//Leveless//Heads Are Zeroes//Black Hole Kids - Birmingham, AL 01/25/17
12.
Black Hole Kids//Reserving Dirtnaps//Heavy User - Birmingham, AL 01/28/17
13.
Dirkschneider - Atlanta, GA 01/31/17
14.
Cannonball Jars, Throbbing Chakra, The Mermers - Asheville, NC 03/04/17
15.
Franz Ferdinand - Asheville, NC 05/26/17
16.
Binding Isaac, Frostfang - Asheville, NC 07/21/17
17.
Steel and Stone Metal Fest II - Asheville, NC 10/14/17
18.
King Vulture - Asheville, NC 03/04/18
19.
Völur, 1476, All Hell - Asheville, NC 03/07/18
20.
Uriah Heep, Judas Priest - Uncasville, CT 05/16/19
 
Saw Burning Rain last night for the first time. They are the band Doug Aldrich formed and put out 2 cds with prior to joining Dio on Killing the Dragon. They have a new cd out they are touring to promote. They are, like Whitesnake and Badlands, very Zeppelin influenced. Didn't hit the stage until after 10:00 and played about 1 hour 45 minutes. Every member sounded great! Strange though is after the last song, Keith (singer) said "that's a long set huh? That's all we got for ya". Then they left the stage, club turned on crappy house music, & the equipment started getting torn down. This all despite the audience chanting "1 more song!" Because Keith was the singer for Montrose, Doug was in Whitesnake, & drummer Blas was in Slaughter, they ended with covers from each band (which were cool; especially enjoyed the Whitesnake cover)


 
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