LIVE! | 70,000 Tons of Metal: Day 4

by Chris A.
Staff Writer –

Sailing Back To Reality and Insanity: The 70,000 Tons Of Metal Day 4

The shadows from the low eastern sun crossed the deck as day 4 of 70,000 Tons of Metal kicked off with Megora performing at 10 a.m. Thursday on the pool deck. The final band, which closed the cruise, was God Dethroned, whose set was schedule to wrap up at 3 a.m. the following day. Literally four hours later, the ship coasted back into its berth in Miami. Day 4 of 70,000 Tons of Metal was filled with incredible bands, a lot of relaxation and soaking in the atmosphere of an incredible experience.

Merchandise lines for the cruise and the individual bands were crushingly long as metal heads sought souvenirs from an incredible week of music and
adventure. Knowing that this was the final day of live music prompted everyone to get in as much fun, drinking and head banging as possible. The cruise soon would be over, and it would be back to the real world.

Day Four Bands Include: Megora, Atheist, Alestorm, Virgin Steele, Sapiency, Diamond Plate, Eluveitie, Tristania, Therion, Riot, Pretty Maids, Orphaned Land, Coroner, Hammerfall, In Extremo, Dark Funeral, Amorphis, Venom, Whiplash, Channel Zero, Over Kill, Edguy, Suffocation, Candlemass, God Dethroned.

70,000 Tons of Metal Day 4 Photo Gallery

Photos Appear Courtesy of Chris A.

LIVE! | 70,000 Tons of Metal: Day 3

by Chris A.
Staff Writer –

A Trip to Hell: The 70,000 Tons Of Metal Day 3

The Cayman Islands

On Wednesday, the heavy metal sailors woke up to find the ship slipping into its anchoring position off the coast of the Grand Cayman Islands. Small tenders soon shuttled several hundred black-clad tourists from the ship to the docks, where we passed through an almost invisible customs inspection. On the island, the metal heads were greeted by an assortment of tours, food, shopping and activities.

During the six hours we had on shore, popular activities included taking tours, such as “Hell,” a small town on the island that featured strange rock formations like demons from Hell. Our crowd fit right in, and Hell apparently was quite a popular destination. Also high on the list were the Rum Cake Factories. which offered generous samples of flavored rum and rum cakes. Before long, everyone on the island was smiling. For many, the only place to go was Seven Mile Beach, where you could hang out on the white sand or snorkel off the shores with stingrays. Others opted for a turtle hatchery, where sea turtles were hatched and eventually released into the Caribbean Sea.

Booze, food and jewelry also beckoned the visitors from more than 50 nations. With four cruise ships in the harbor, the long-haired, black-clad heavy metal sailors attracted great attention. Perhaps the image that best sums up the guests from the 70,000 Tons Of Metal Cruse to the Caymans is the photo of the young man on the beach, flashing metal in front of a “666” that was made out of rocks in the sugary-white, warm sand.

After a day on the island, it was party time on the boat. Bands took to the stages starting at 6 p.m. with Overkill performing on the pool stage, and the day closed out with Tankard at 4:45 a.m. The following day.

Day 3 bands included: Overkill, Pestilence, Stratovarius, Annihilator, Crowbar, Exciter, Nightwish, Children of Bodom, My Dying Bride, Vicious Rumors, Kamelot, Kataklysm, Moonsorrw, Samael and Tankard.

70,000 Tons of Metal Day 3 Photo Gallery

Photos Appear Courtesy of Chris A.

LIVE! | 70,000 Tons of Metal: Day 2

by Chris A.
Staff Writer –

A Sea of Blood: The 70,000 Tons Of Metal Day 2

Steaming toward the southwest, with the coast of Cuba visible on the horizon, Day 2 of 70000 Tons of Metal resumed with abandon. For the next 18 hours, there would be a nonstop assault of metal on the ship’s three stages, with 27 bands scheduled to perform. At 10 a.m., with temperatures approaching 80 degrees on the main pool stage, the first band of the day would be old-school thrashers Whiplash with Crowbar set to close the day’s action at 4:15 a.m. the following day.

It was a day of head banging, drinking and running around the ship as the 2,000 fans went from venue to venue, navigating the narrow corridors with pits stops at the bar and casino. Catching all the bands was impossible, of course, but the atmosphere, beautiful weather and the utter variety of bands kept a smile on everyone’s face. Day 2 was nothing short of kick ass.

Day No. 2 performers included: Whiplash, Megora, God Dethroned, Diamond Plate, Exciter, Spiency, Orphaned Land, Tankard, Suffocation, Pretty Maids, Atheist, Kamelot, Stradivarius, Amorphis, In Extremo, Therion, Kataklysm, Annihilator, Children of Bodom, Virgin Steele, Venom, Riot, Hammerfall, Pestilence, My Dying Bride, Dark Funeral and Crowbar.

70,000 Tons of Metal Day 2 Photo Gallery

Photos Appear Courtesy of Chris A.

LIVE! | 70,000 Tons of Metal: Day 1

by Chris A.
Staff Writer –

Rocking the Boat: The 70,000 Tons of Metal Day One

As the ship pushed away from its berth and headed into the Caribbean sea, amps were powered up, lights dimmed, and the heavy metal sailors started to fill the various on-board venues. By 6:30 p.m., the first bands kicked off the cruise.

With multiple artists performing on multiple stages, fans and photographers had to carefully review the schedule to catch their favorite bands. The main deck of the ship had been converted into an outdoor venue, while additional performance venues were set up for other bands on below decks.

Day No. 1 performers included: Alestorm, Grave Digger, Tristania, Coroner, Moonsorrow, Cannibal Corpse, Nightwish, Samael, Candlemass, Vicious Rumors, Edguy, Eluveitie, Channel Zero and Massacre. Day one music ended at 4 a.m. the following day.

70,000 Tons of Metal Day 1 Photo Gallery

Photos Appear Courtesy of Chris A.

LIVE! | Anthrax

by Jay Villain
Staff Writer –

January 26, 2012 at Midland Theater in Kansas City, MO

Anthrax live at the Midland theater in Kansas City, Missouri was a unique performance and definitely a night to remember. The audience welcomed the return of vocalist Joey Belladonna with open arms but unfortunately, Scott Ian one of the founding members of Anthrax was absent, so guitar players from both Testament and Death Angel stepped in.

Anthrax is back and as strong as ever. They opened the show with “Earth On Hell” and “Fight ‘em ‘Til You Can’t,” both tracks coming from their latest CD entitled Worship Music. Their set list included 13 songs total, 5 songs from their latest CD and 8 classics from their past. Old and tired? Not even close! This band has more fire and energy than most of the younger newer bands today.

The stage design was a direct reflection from the artwork on the Worship Music CD. Including the two bass drums, there were 5 inverted pentagrams surrounding the band. Unless it’s a coincidence, considering a pentagram is a 5 pointed star it’s actually quite brilliant. The sound was very good and all instruments were audible even when Charlie Benante’s double bass drums kicked into high gear, all of the musicians are in fact at the top of their game; there are no weak links in this chain. Anthrax still has what it takes to continue being a standard setting, metal thrashing band for many years to come.

The night was a complete success due to the genuine camaraderie between fellow musicians. Music is not a sport nor is it a competition, like some unimaginative scripted reality TV shows would have us believe. Anthrax, Testament and Death Angel lead by example, they show what it means to work as a team when all involved share common goals. “The show must go on,” is a common phrase in show business and what these three bands did together is something that should not go unrecognized. They did it to help out one of their own, they did it for metal, but more importantly they did it for the fans.

Set List:
1. Earth On Hell
2. Fight ‘em Til You Can’t
3. Caught In A Mosh
4. Antisocial
5. I’m Alive
6. The Devil You Know
7. Indians
8. In The End
9. Got The Time
10. Medusa

Encore:
11. Madhouse
12. Metal Thrashing Mad
13. I am The Law

LEATHERWOLF to film Southern California show for a live DVD

Southern California’s vaunted heavy metal Triple Axe Attack, LEATHERWOLF, have scheduled a headline show at the Ramona Mainstage, 626 Main Street, Ramona, CA http://www.ramonamainstage.com/ on Saturday, January 28 where the band will be filming for an upcoming live DVD. Read more

LIVE! | Chickenfoot

by Alissa Ordabai
Staff Writer

January 14, 2012 at Brixton Academy in London, United Kingdom

This was Chickenfoot’s second ever show in London, the band having played here previously in June 2009. During between-the-songs banter Sammy Hagar shared that the band loves coming to the UK, while for him personally the experience is made even more enjoyable through his appreciation of the English ale. The 2000-seater theater Brixton Academy was close to full house, and the reception given to the band – heartfelt, although not quite nearing full-on ecstatic welcome crowds at the same venue are capable of giving to other Americans luminaries – even those who don’t wear the “supergroup” badge.

Speaking of which, if the “super” in the “supergroup” has anything to do with outstanding instrumental skill, then Chickenfoot is perhaps the greatest of them all. Guitar guru Joe Satriani and equally adept in high-tech fretboard wizardry Michael Anthony on the bass, along with ueber-drummer Chad Smith are each an awe-inspiring force on their own right. How well they interact with each other in the format of this outfit is, however, another matter. While Anthony and Smith gel so tightly and to such an formidable effect – which they have demonstrated with a jaw-dropping bass-driven intro to “Turnin’ Left” – there are also times when Satriani’s leads are coming through as slightly too alien in the context of such simplistic songwriting as this band’s.

On the biggest standouts of the evening, such as “Big Foot” and “Something Going Wrong” his leads sprang seamlessly from the song to a spectacular effect, showing how mammoth riffs and laconic, powerful leads can turn a simple song into an anthem. But at other times, as on “Alright Alright” and “Soap on a Rope” it felt that the song and the solos were conceived in a very different headspace – Satch probably taking the inspiration from the privacy of his own inner continuum, while the song itself was following the well-trodden path of the generic hard rock songwriting.

And songwriting is another aspect of this band which stops it from being truly great. There were gems during the show such as “Big Foot” with its inspired riff and huge space-rocking presence, and “Sexy Little Thing” with its deliciously layered sound and folkish songwriting tapping into the vibes of Led Zeppelin III. But much of the other material ranged from predictable to downright unfinished demo-quality songwriting – especially with such songs as “Alright Alright” and “Up Next”.

Toward the end of the show Hagar assured the audience that Chickenfoot is a purely non-commercial project and that they aren’t in it for the money, but simply love the music that they play. While in case of Hagar this sounds plausible, it is up to Satriani’s fans to decide if a musician of such sophisticated tastes and such vast musical knowledge finds genuine pleasure in such simple tune-craft. But then again, simple pleasures are at times the hardest to allow yourself, and most of us would never know what enjoyment and pleasure really mean to those who know it all and who in the past have achieved everything they aimed at.

Set List:
1. Lighten Up
2. Alright Alright
3. Big Foot
4. Sexy Little Thing
5. Soap on a Rope
6. Up Next
7. My Kinda Girl
8. Down the Drain
9. Three and a Half Letters
10. Something Going Wrong
11. Turnin’ Left
12. Future in the Past

Encore:
1. Different Devil
2. Oh Yeah
3. Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix cover)

Photos Appear Courtesy of Alissa Ordabai

LIVE! | Alice Cooper

by Chris A.
Staff Writer –

December 12, 2011 at Taft Theater in Cincinnati, Ohio

He’s one of the most recognizable people in the world, a big-time rockstar who inspired the likes of Kiss, Motley Crue and even Ke$ha. He’s been in movies, television shows, commercials and hosts a nationally syndicated talk-show. The guys a star and could have retired from all the rigors of the road years ago but from all indications, he genuinely loves what he does. At 63 years old Alice Cooper still rocks like he’s 18 and based on the bombastic, mock-carnage filled performance at the Taft Theater in Ohio’s Queen City, there’s no sign of him packing up the makeup and shipping his death-dealing props off the the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame yet.

A genuine icon of rock n roll and recently inducted into the aforementioned hall of fame, Alice Cooper’s brand of musical theater continues to wow his fans and influence rock n roll.

Opening the show with “The Black Widow”, Alice towered above the audience blanketed by smoke and a wall of lights. On the stage below him, the 2011 Alice Cooper band consisting of Chuck Garric, Orianthi, Tommy Henricksen, Steve Hunter and Glen Sobel, waited for their leader to descend to the stage. Once down from his spiders lair, Cooper prowled the stage, working his way to the front, unfurling his eight-legged spider garb. It was absolutely classic Alice Cooper.

For the next 90 minutes,

Alice and his crew ripped through at least 20 classic tunes including; “Brutal Planet,” “I’m Eighteen,” “Under My Wheels” and much more. The tunes spanned nearly the entire Alice Cooper catalog and included cuts from the Love It To Death album through Coopers newest release Welcome 2 My Nightmare.

For rock ‘n roll fans, an Alice Cooper show is one of those events that has to be experienced. As 2011 comes to a close, Alice is certain to continue to perform live and record. He was recently quoted as saying he’ll keep performing until his last breath. I hope that’s a long, long time from now. Check out Alice Cooper’s newest release “Welcome 2 My Nightmare” and visit Alice on-line at www.alicecooper.com and check out Alice on his radio show, “Nights With Alice Cooper.”

[Photos Appear Courtesy of Chris A.]

LIVE! | Whitesnake in the Netherlands

by Marcel Groeneveld
Staff Writer –

December 3rd, 2011, at De MuziekCentrum in Enschede, Netherlands

This nights event is not just a normal rock event for Whitesnake’s Forevermore world tour, as the tour already came to the Netherlands some 5 months ago.

This night was a sign of respect and appreciation between two hard rock heavyweights David Coverdale and Adrian VandenBerg who once were partners in crime. There are a lot of discussions of what the best line up of Whitesnake was. For many attendees of tonight’s show it was the lineup which included Adrian “Adje” VandenBerg, which is not so surprising as Enschede is the home town of the guitarist.

There weren’t any AC/DC or, Iron Maiden shirts like you would normally see at a Whitesnake show. The audience tonight was not filled with the standard group of rock fans but was instead made up of friends, family and people from Enschede who came to see “ Adje” and David united once again on stage.

The Irish hard rockin’ blues band (As they call themselves.), The Answer, were up for the challenge to warm up the just under 2000 people present tonight with their heavily influenced ’70s rock. The Answer are no strangers to supporting a big headliner, they were been hand-picked by AC/DC on their last world tour as the opening act, that took them on the road for almost two years, which is pretty amazing these days. In support of their new album Revival they supported yet another legend, Whitesnake.

Opening with the catchy “Vida” which is built around a strong riff and chorus, has that straight ahead no bull feel to it, what you hear is what you get and that is ground stomping rock ‘n roll. Cormac Neeson’s raspy voice is perfect and a connection with a band like The Black Crowes is easily made, Brother Cane also comes to mind. Although the first three songs were well received , after ”Under the Sky” and sing a long song “On and On” the crowd seemed to take to the band.

Guitarist Paul Mahon performance on “Evil Man” shows his ability to enhance the song without “showing off.” He roamed the entire stage from the beginning of the show, bass player Micky Waters caught on later realizing the size of the stage allows him to move around more freely unlike smaller venues. Drummer James Heatley played without lighting throughout the set but still did an awesome job and was tight as one could be.

The band’s performance of the slower song “Nowhere Freeway” was dedicated to Whitesnake ‘s crew. Performing a little Belfast blues the song “Trouble” was played, harmonica and all, again inciting the crowd to sing along. Closing down the gig with “Waste Your Tears,” The Answer did what they set out to do , warm up the crowd and gain a few new fans and I am sure they accomplished just that tonight. Catch them live because they are still touring as we speak.

Band:
Cormac Neeson – Vocals
Paul Mahon – Guitar
Micky Waters – Bass
James Heatley – Drums

Setlist:
1. Vida
2. Under The Sky
3. On And On
4. Evil Man
5. Too Far Gone
6. Nowhere Freeway
7. Trouble
8. Waste Your Tears

Website: http://www.theanswer.ie/

Never before did Whitesnake play in Enschede and everything was in place to make this a memorable night. Opening with the intro the Who’s classic “My Generation” the show starts for these bad boys of rock with the classic “Bad Boys” spurring the crowd to their feet as soon as David Coverdale screams his favorite word of the night, Enschede! The gunslingers of the night Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich are take turns on the solo’s for the classic songs. Although Reb seemed to struggled with his pedals, the duo are a perfect team and handle the twin solo parts with no problem at all. Straight away “Children of the Night” is blasting through the PA system with Michael Devin and Brian Tichy sounding very bombastic, while Brian Ruedy’s keyboards are sometimes lost in the mix.

This was corrected by the time David welcomes the Enschede crowd, and “Give Me All Your Love” is being played, it is obvious David and the rest of the band are not only performing on stage but have a lot of fun doing it tonight and the Beatles’ song “Yesterday” is being turned over in “Enschede all your troubles seem so far way …” and led in to “Love Ain’t No Stranger” and “The Deeper the Love.”

As it is a friendly crowd they brought written requests for David to sing pieces from “Love is Blind” and he obliged. Doing it again after “Steal Your Heart Away” a little taste of “Now You’re Gone “ is being brought by the master. Although David can’t reach as high and even midrange as in the hey days, he has got the roughness in his voice back and the screams which he didn’t had on the Bad to the Bone tour he played Holland; he is making fun about him being an old man but the geezer still rocks!

After the love song “Forevermore” and fooling around about the airco “The Dutch Wind” Doug and Reb were going at it face to face in a guitar duel and showed us their skills which shows us the guitar heroes of today with both their own style. The guys continued with “Snake Dance” and “Can You Hear the Wind Blows” a little teaser of “Rock Me Baby “ to the semi ballad “Love Will Set You Free” was song along by the fans. With the instrumental jam being called “The Badger” on the set-list it was time for the spotlight kid Brian Tichy to perform his drum solo.

Starting off and coming up with some gadgets like Chinese chopsticks and also drumming with Ginsu knives was fun, but then it became a Tommy Aldridge clone as Tommy used to play bare hands on the drums and this part took way too long, ending it with laminated drum sticks launching them by beating on the floor tom and letting go looked like fireworks, which was a cool sight. Time for a little fun and play and introducing the band and going in to some “Slow and Easy” and David missing the first words of “Is This Love” might be staged, however the crowd is helping him sing one of his biggest hits.

Up next the much anticipated highlight of the evening for 90 percent of the audience and probably the whole band was the entrance of the flying Dutchman Adrian Vandenberg, being reunited once again with Coverdale and having some fun with close to 2,000 of their friends.

You could sense the history in the blasting of “Fool for Your Lovin’” and I have never witnessed so much respect for a guy on stage before. Doug was pushing Adje to the spotlight each time as Adje seems to be a bit timid, while Reb just wanted to play and stand next to him and all this while David was hugging everyone, what a special sight to see.

Adje slipped up here and there but no one seem to care, the Enschede quire was singing “Here I Go Again,” and again Doug shoved Adje to the front a few times. With David says “Still of the Night” De MuziekCentrum is shaking on its foundations.

With a standing ovation, so to speak, Adje and band walks of stage and leave David to sing “Soldier of Fortune;” he must had some emotions stuck in his throat cause he was a little of key.

The band returns and performs Deep Purple’s “Burn,” with Coverdale adding maracas to the arrangement. Doug shreds while the organ is blasting like a storm which brings on “Stormbringer,” which ends the show. With early Christmas spirit all the guys including Adje gathers around the microphone and singing “White(snake) Christmas.” Saying goodbye until next time the two-hour show ends, lights go down and the tape of “We Wish You Well” plays, and the really special night comes to an end.

Set List:
1. Intro My Generation (The Who)
2. Bad Boys / Children Of The Night
3. Give Me All Your Love, Yesterday The Beatles cover turns ‘Enschede’
4. Love Ain’t No Stranger
5. The Deeper The Love , Love Is Blind only vocal
6. Steal Your Heart Away Now You’re Gone , only vocal
7. Forevermore
8. Guitar Duel
9. Snake Dance
10. Can You Hear The Wind Blow intro Rock Me Baby
11. Love Will Set You Free
12. The Badger (instrumental Jam)
13. Drum Solo Brian Tichy
14. Band Introductions incl. snippets of ‘Walk This Way’, ‘Another One Bites the Dust’, ‘Dancing Girls’, ‘Eye of the Tiger…Slow an’ Easy, Eye of the tiger, ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’, ‘Fire.
15. Is This Love
• Fool For Your Lovin’ (* Adrian Vandenberg joins)
• Here I Go Again)
• Still Of The Night
16. Soldier of Fortune(David A cappella)
17. Burn / Stormbringer
• White(snake) Christmas a capella band with Adje
18. Outro We Wish You Well

Whitesnake De MuziekCentrum Photo Gallery

[Photos appear courtesy of Marcel “Mars “Groeneveld with Pictures RMD Entertainment.]

LIVE! | Scorpions

by Elsie Roymans
Staff Writer –

November 26, 2011 at Vorst Nationaal in Vorst (Brussels), Belgium

Long before tonight, the Scorpions “Get Your Sting and Blackout” show was SOLD OUT.

With more then 100 million CD’s sold over the last 40 years and their latest CD Comeblack, which contains their biggest hits and covers of The Beatles, The Kinks & The Rolling Stones, the Scorpions, are going out at the top of their game.

This concert is part of the farewell tour with dates booked into October 2012, the band will make another stop in Antwerp, Belgium on June 1st at the Sportpaleis arena, providing fans what maybe their last time to see Scorpions live. For those who attended tonight’s concert it was a fun night filled with plenty of rock ‘n roll.

The Scorpions were in fine form this evening, Klaus voice sounded great as usual. With the band playing through their catalog of music in front of the sold out crowd they proved that their is still plenty of gas in the tank and the audience loved every minute of it.

Scorpions:
Klaus Meine (Vocals)
Rudolf Schenker (Guitars)
Matthias Jabs (Guitars)
James Kottak (Drums)
Pawel Maciwoda (Bass)

Set List:
Sting In The Tail
Make It Real
Bad Boys Running Wild
The Zoo
Coast To Coast
Loving You Sunday Morning
In Trance
(First time played since 2009)
The Best Is Yet To Come
Send Me An Angel
Holiday
Raised on Rock
Tease Me Please Me
Dynamite
Kottak Attack
Blackout
Six String Sting
Big City Nights

Encore:
Still Loving You
Wind Of Change
No One Like You
Rock You Like A Hurricane

Visit the band: http://www.the-scorpions.com

Scorpions Photo Gallery

Photos appear courtesy of Elsie Roymans

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