Of Mice & Men
First off, let me apologize to the members of SHVPES and Vagrants. I missed their sets completely. Work (day job) gets in the way sometimes! What I heard from people that saw both bands were that they both had killer sets. I’m sorry I messed them! I still had Dead American and Of Mice & Men, so the night was far from a loss! Continue reading
REO Speedwagon
Rock n’ roll veterans, REO Speedwagon made a stop in Pikeville, Kentucky, bringing Sister Hazel along for the ride. Chances are the younger audience reading this may not have heard of REO Speedwagon. If you’ve not, do yourself a favor, open a new tab on that browser, go to YouTube, look up a REO Speedwagon‘s video for “Roll With the Changes,” turn the volume up really loud, and you’ll understand how this band has sold over 40 million albums; and why 40 plus years into their career, thousands of people in Pikeville, Kentucky, on a Wednesday night, are still lining up to see them play. Continue reading
The Hu
Here at Metal Nexus we love nothing more than grabbing hold of new talent and the next biggest act on the planet. From the moment we watched the debut video for The HU called “Yuve Yuve Yu,” we just had to cover a live show to witness what these guys were about. Continue reading
The Dio Returns Tour has been making its way across North America and Myth Live in Maplewood, Minnesota hosted the states first hologram centered rock show. The debate about holograms has been non-stop across various social media platforms, as Tupac, Frank Zappa and Roy Orbison holograms have joined Dio as touring acts. Continue reading
Stryper
I don’t need much of a reason to go see Stryper. They are one of my favorite bands of all time, but when I read that the “History Tour” is featuring nothing but greatest hits and covers I’m all over it. Now mind you the last three albums ‘No More Hell To Pay,’ ‘Fallen’ and ‘God Damn Evil’ are phenomenal albums and hold up to and sometimes surpass anything they’ve ever done, but when it boils right down to it I am a child of the 80’s. So when you’re talking Stryper greatest hits ‘Soldiers Under Command,’ ‘To Hell With The Devil’ and ‘In God We Trust’ is where I go. Those three albums are where a lot of tonight’s set list came from, but I getting ahead of myself. Continue reading
Slayer
“Once more into to breach, dear friends, once more”. One more time into the Slayer farewell tour, I’ve been lucky enough to cover this tour more than once for Metal Nexus and for that I am thankful! This time I’m in Huntington, West Virginia at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena where they know how to host a rock show!
For this leg of the farewell tour Slayer has Lamb of God (who’s been with them throughout) along with Amon Amarth and Cannibal Corpse opening the show. These four bands will get any metal head’s black heart pounding, head swinging and horns in the air! Somewhere on the ticket for this show should be a whiplash disclaimer, I’m guessing a lot of necks hurt after this onslaught of sonic violence. Continue reading
Gojira
A hot Columbus morning greeted the concert goers as they arrived at Mapfre Stadium for Day 2 of the Sonic Temple Arts and Music Festival. The sun was beaming down and and there wasn’t much relief from the wind. There also wasn’t as many people lined up waiting to get in when the gates opened. Maybe it was the late first night that kept those numbers down.
Fever333
One of the benefits about less bands at Chicago Open Air this year was being able to sleep in before leaving on the second day. Since there were less bands this year, the event didn’t kick off until 2:30, instead of noon like past years. At the same time, it was strange heading in there for day two knowing that we had already arrived to the last day of the fest when it would’ve normally not even been the halfway mark of the festival yet. With that said though, we couldn’t wait to get out and catch seven fantastic sets from Alien Weaponry, The Black Dahlia Murder, Fever 333, In This Moment, Gojira, The Cult, and the legendary Tool. Continue reading
System Of A Down
Last year in mid July I saw down at my house without much to do. It was sad knowing that the same weekend over the previous two years was spent catching several fantastic acts like Rammstein, Gojira, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and more at the Chicago Open Air festival. When the news came that the festival wouldn’t be happening in 2018, I was devastated. I had made several friends and memories both years at the festival and was really looking forward to it again. It was promised to return in 2019 but many people were unsure that it would actually happen. In September, it was announced that Chicago Open Air would be returning, but it was weirdly worded. It was said that it would now be titled “A Day In The Park” and would take place the same weekend as the new Danny Wimmer Presents festival, Sonic Temple. Many of us were unsure what this meant exactly, but we knew that the festival definitely was not going to be the same. Eventually the lineup was rolled out in January, and the “A Day In The Park” vision never really happened. Instead, the event was two days with only one stage. This was different compared to the previous years as it was three days with two stages. Despite being a small lineup, there were several killer acts on it to keep me happy like System of a Down, Tool, The Prodigy, Gojira, and ten more acts. Continue reading
Korn
The inaugural Epicenter Festival that was held in Rockingham, North Carolina earlier this month was, to most, a major success. Others will disagree, pointing out flaws in traffic congestion for the first two days and the Day 2 headliners, Tool and Judas Priest, among others being canceled due to severe weather. Which I agree was a little inconvenient, but when you understand anything can happen during a festival, especially a festival’s first year as well as a new venue, you take it as it comes. Although there were a few hiccups throughout the weekend (nothing major that would warrant the degree of dissatisfaction that a lot of individuals have expressed) the majority of the festival-goers got their money’s worth and really enjoyed yet another amazing weekend hosted by the Danny Wimmer Presents crew. Continue reading
