Friday, February 26, 2010

Dark Tranquility/Devil Wears Prada/KillSwitch Engage

OK, so maybe you weren't there [sigh]. OK, just hear me out. IT WAS VERY VERY f**kng cold! Did I say it was COLD!

Dark tranquility is from Gothenburg, way up at the top of the world, and as they said 'halfway around the world we're giving an outdoor concert. There is snow this deep [hand gestures 3ft] at home. Austin Texas you're fucking awesome!' Yup short sleeves and all, in some 30+ degree weather, was a nice change for them this time of year. Although they played a short set it was very obvious that they are built for speed. I would've been very happy to be upfront, but Angelina Skye was with me, height was an issue. Anyway they killed it, Dark Tranquility was such a great starter for what was coming. Oh Yeah, and it would be dickish of me not to mention that the new album for Dark Tranquility drops on 03/09/10. Check out a sampling on their myspace music page. Just DO IT, dammit.

Ahhhh The Devil Wears Prada, these young guys absofuckinlutely know how to perform on stage. It was beautiful to watch, kinda like synchronized swimming in the summer Olympics. HA! But really, these are the guys that I CAME TO SEE (and Angel too). Loved the performance, all the energy had the whole audience going. Again, here I know they're music and they definitely have a catalog to support being a headliner, but I guess I'll catch that show some other time. BY THE WAY they had they're name before the dumbass movie was out. I do believe these guys would be pegged as Christcore music, but don't label it, LOVE IT! Now that my blood was circulating from they're VERY contagious energy on stage it was time for the kill....

Alright now...KillSwitch Engage is finishing their tour without there lead singer. Citing 'personal reasons', Howard Jones was absent and in his place was Phil Labonte of 'All That Remains'. Now this, NO DOUBT, made Angelina very, VERY happy as she loves "All That Remains'. The lead guitarist for KSE really brought the energy and you could tell there was some great camaraderie between him and the replacement singer Phil. Once KSE set it off, Angel was even more excited as she realized she knew their songs. I wasn't really impressed by the replacement lead singer, seemed that this wasn't exactly his key, BUT there was a whole lot of 'all of you know this song so sing along with us' then the lead singer would go through some of the lyrics and then hold the mic out over the audience. Tell ya what, definitely some die hard, hard core fans, they didn't miss a a beat, they just screamed and sang along with the band the whole way through. Props to Phil as he definitely made a show of it. We, as an audience, were given big props by the band for being there, in the FREEZINGFUCKINGCOLDNIGHTINAUSTINTEXAS, and still supporting them without their lead singer. Overall was a great performance and makes me smile knowing that the philosophy "The show must go on!" really does mean something in today's musical environment.

Later

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Vows and Ashes

So if you are a Facebook friend you have already seen some pics from the show. It was Thursday 02/11/2010 and it was colder than a witches tit (I've felt one before so I know). Although there were 4 bands on the bill that night I only had the time for the first two, one of which was Vows and Ashes.

Slay the Dawn was up first with their lead vocalist playing musical seesaw (up then down), it was pretty damn good. For the metal performance that it was I still will give a nod to these youngsters with their captivating performance (yes there was a lot of squeezing of imaginary oranges - thanks J). I look forward to see how these guys progress, although I believe that greater success for them may lie in other realms, like San Antonio.

Vows and Ashes. So these guys haven't performed live in about a year (the drummer had some back issues), but here they were in all there glory. The sum of the whole was not as glorious as the parts. I absolutely loved the music, very epic and Iron Maidenish (IMHO). The bassist and lead vocalist/guitarist without a doubt made the show. I so look forward to a possible album release from these guys in 2015. Keep your ears peeled, and in the meantime if you need to make a vow that if they appear again you will take the opportunity to check these cats out.

KRS One, the return of Overlord, and the League of ExtraOrdinary G's

First of all it was colder than sh*t Saturday night 02/13/2010 at The Scoot Inn, but things heated up quickly when The League of ExtraOrdinary G's jumped the stage.

Local Austin talent in the rap scene. I thoroughly enjoyed their fresh stylings and the frenetic switching of the lead vocals took me back to NWA days. So many people onstage spitting their rhymes keeping it hot and staying your attention. I wish I had an opportunity to meet the guys after they exited the stage, but DAMN they scrambled like somebody yelled 5.0

Now the night air is even colder, but icon and Austin live Hip Hop legend MC Overlord made his triumphant return (from retirement..HA) to the stage. And four months furlough was just enough to make him bad ass, smile, and really have you understand why he is Overlord. I had the pleasure of watching a friend of mine feel Ovey's performance for the first time (I have seen him quite a bit more than the first time). To see her bouncy, bobbing, and swinging along was answer enough to how good his performance was. Although his drummer had a slight issue (bass pedal), Overlord picked it up with out a blink or hesitation and freestyled it with Ter'ell Shahid. The guitars and bass jumped in and AWAY WE GO. Thanks Ovey nice to see ya back, we still gotta talk about staying unretired.

KRS-One (OMFG loved BDP back in the days at RHS) so to see him live in 2010 was another win on the bucket list. He came out jumped on it right away, although his DJ did an amazing job of blowing fuses every 5 minutes, KRS-One had absolute control of the crowd. Although in between each song he would go political, spiritual, or animalistic (what an amazing rhyme about the ills of red meat). Everyone knew the rhymes and the cold weather seemed to ease away as the crowd pushed for the stage to take in his genius. I even saw Austin's own Bobby Bookout in the audience enjoying a piece of history.

Laters