Sebastian Bach Brings Skid Row 30th Anniversary Tour To Lexington, Kentucky [Review & Photo Gallery]

“Good God bless my soul…I need a fix of rock n’ roll”. Thanks to Sebastian Bach, I recently got that fix and got to hear those exact lyrics live again for well, I’m not even sure how many times now. Let’s rewind for a second..

January 24th 1989, 4 dudes from New Jersey, along with a Canadian transplant, released their self titled debut album ‘Skid Row,’ an album that at the time quickly became an album that I could have swore was written with me in mind. At that time a ton pop artists ruled the Billboard charts as well as dominated MTV, rap was just really starting find it’s place in the world and Hair Metal (yep, I said it. Suck it, Trunk) was still in full swing. Headbangers Ball was a staple of every self respecting heavy metal fans’ Saturday night. I was 13 years old, running around with kids that were probably too old for me to be hanging out with and I was already a fucking handful. Cigarettes? Smoked’em. Beer? I had a few by then already. Snuck out and hung with those too old to be friends with friends at all hours of the night? Yep, and even hung out on random rooftops of buildings with my partner in crime, Eddie. No idea why on that last one, but we always had a blast just seeing if we could get up there. You can see where I am going with this..we WERE, the “Youth Gone Wild.” Now we’re just the “Middle Aged Gone..who knows where.” Continue reading

SCOTT STAPP Fuels A Frenzy In Kentucky With MESSER & WEAPONS OF ANEW [Review & Photo Gallery]

Wednesday night ROCKED in Lexington, Kentucky! Scott Stapp (you know, the voice of multi-platinum selling, Grammy Award-winning Creed, Scott Stapp? Yeah, that one) brought his incredibly talented band along with a couple of equally talented and hard-hitting metal bands, Messer and Weapons of Anew, to Manchester Music Hall. All three bands tried their best to blow the windows out of the building with some loud, aggressive, in-your-face rock n’ roll! It was a good night to be a rock fan in Lexington. Continue reading

BUCKCHERRY, JOYOUS WOLF, And KISS KISS BANG Rock Kentucky [Review & Photo Gallery]

The month of March in the Bluegrass state (Lexington in particular) is generally all about basketball, but not on this night. Tonight was about rock n’ roll. Dirty, sleazy rock n’ roll. Buckcherry rock n’ roll and they did not disappoint! Along for the ride, and ready and willing to get dirty, was Joyous Wolf and Kentucky’s own Kiss Kiss Bang. Continue reading

JONATHAN DAVIS, JULIEN-K, & THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE Rock Lexington, KY [Review & Photo Gallery]

Jonathan Davis

 

Jonathan Davis of Korn brought his Black Labyrinth tour in support of his solo album of the same name to Manchester Music Hall in Lexington, KY. Julien-K and The Birthday Massacre joined him, tonight was the last show of the tour. If you missed it, you missed a helluva show and by all accounts a helluva tour! Continue reading

DEVILDRIVER, JINJER Inspire Mosh Pits In Lexington, Kentucky [Review & Photo Gallery]

Words By: Kevin Akers | Photography By: Estil Robinson

Lexington Kentucky decided to celebrate Halloween a day early as DevilDriver brought their Outlaws til the End Tour to the Manchester Music Hall. The venue has hosted a bunch of hard rock acts in the past year including Sevendust, All That Remains, and Trivium. But it has never hosted a tour this heavy before. In fact, it may be the heaviest tour to ever play in Lexington.

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NOTHING MORE & BAD WOLVES In Lexington, Kentucky [Review & Photo Gallery]

 

Is there a better way to spend the Sunday night of Labor Day weekend than to spend it with four bands at Manchester Music Hall in Lexington Kentucky? If there is a better way I don’t know what it would be! Nothing More, Bad Wolves, Eyes Set to Kill and Indigo Storm had this sold out crowd rocking from the very first note, it was going to be a great night! Continue reading

CLUTCH, THE BRONX, RED FANG & FIREBALL MINISTRY Rock The Bluegrass State [Review & Gallery]

Clutch

I can’t think of a better place to be on a rainy Saturday night in May than at Sold Out Manchester Music Hall! It’s dry inside the drinks are cold and the music is LOUD! It’s also the first Saturday in May so there’s a little horse race going on up the road a piece, but tonight that was the farthest thing from this crowds mind! Tonight was all about Clutch, The Bronx, Red Fang and Fireball Ministry shaking the roof off of Manchester Music Hall!

Fireball Ministry

Fireball Ministry had first swing at this huge crown and they didn’t waste it! This group of experienced musicians (formed in 1999) knew exactly what to do with this crowd and that was to work them into frenzy for the bands to come. That’s exactly what they did with songs like “Flatline” “Two Tears” and “King”. You know it’s going to be a great show when the first band puts out a performance like this!

Red Fang

Next to take a shot at keeping this crowd going was Red Fang. Red Fang is another band that has been around the block. Formed in 2005 in Portland Oregon, this “stoner metal” outfit has 4 studio albums, several EP’s and a host of video’s to pull material from. It was evident from the beginning of their set that Aaron Beam vocalist and bassist was having a good time with this big responsive crowd, he had a smile on his face from start to finish! Playing songs like “Blood Like Cream” “Hank is Dead” and their first single “Prehistoric Dog” Red Fang had the folks in Manchester Music Hall right where they wanted them!

The Bronx

Trying to keep the momentum up that Fireball Ministry and Red Fang had started was The Bronx. To say they not only kept it up put pushed that momentum forward would be an understatement. The Bronx has been around since 2002, formed in Los Angeles California. I’ve seen them listed as a punk/ hard rock band, whatever category you want to put them they are talented musicians and onstage front man Matt Caughthran is nonstop! I was wore out after watching him, jumping running, dancing, moving back and forth across the stage and at one point in the crowd, were he sang three songs while dancing and moshing with some very surprised fans! Their fifth album titled ‘V’ was just recently released; all the albums are self-titled with roman numerals differentiating each one. If you like loud, energetic, well played music get out and see The Bronx!

Clutch

The reason Manchester Music Hall was Sold Out, the reason this crowd was in Lexington KY and not Louisville at Churchill Downs, the reason people were standing in line in the pouring rain was tonight’s headliner Clutch! “Holy Shit!” , that comes real close to summing up this night! This was my first Clutch show and hopefully not my last! A friend and lifelong Clutch fan gave me some advice before the show he said “Watch Neil Fallon, as you’re photographing the show, he delivers his lyrics like a southern church pastor” and he was right. Not only does he deliver those lyrics like a preacher but he controls the crowd like one as well. Back and forth across the stage everyone in the building was watching him and reacting to everything he did. It was beautiful to watch. Neil along with guitarist Tim Sult, bassist Dan Maines and legendary drummer Jean-Paul (JP) put on a show that Manchester Music Hall will not soon forget. They opened the night with “Pure Rock Fury” what followed was an epic set list of 16 more songs that included “Firebirds” “Crucial Velocity” along with two songs off their yet to be released album Book of Bad Decisions (Sept. 2018) “Gimme the Keys” and “Spirit of ‘76” then closing out the set with “D.C. Sound Attack” before coming back for a two song encore “Electric Worry” and “The Mob Goes Wild”. With that an amazing night of music in Lexington, KY came to an end. Those that had the privilege of being here will not soon forget it. There will be various other opportunites coming up to see Clutch as they are one of the headliners of the inaugural Inkcarceration Fest in Mansfield, Ohio in July at the prison where Shawshank Redemption was filmed as well as their own festival in West Virginia the Earth Rocker Festival on Saturday August 4th get more info for that festival here. 

As always get out and see the show! Support local and touring musician, buy tickets, merch and most importantly buy their music!

 

 

TRIVIUM & 68′ Display Flawless Performances In Lexington, KY [Review & Photo Gallery]

Trivium

In Early May I got to catch my very first Trivium Concert at Manchester Music Hall in Lexington KY. If you aren’t familiar with Manchester Music Hall, first let me say that its one of, if not the best small concert venues in Central, Kentucky. Prior to this concert, I did a little research on the band. I had heard of the band over the years and had checked out the radio-friendly cuts but I had never really dug into any of the album tracks. One thing I love about listening to tracks off a bands albums 24 hrs before going to see the band really makes me appreciate the hard work, blood sweat, and tears musicians put into making an album. Most bands track songs just for studio cuts while others track just how they would be on stage as if they were performing the songs live. Being a musician myself I can certainly say that in my many years of stage experience less means more. The more backing tracks and other electronic gear you bring to a live show other than whats necessary raises the chances for more shit to go wrong. Continue reading