Suicidal Tendencies
First Avenue welcomed the “Church Of Suicidal” congregation for a night of bombastic music and circle pits. Suicidal Tendencies has been moshing its way through the states in support of “STill Cyco Punk After All These Years” which dropped a few weeks ago. The long-standing New York hardcore outfit, Madball, provided support. Continue reading
Tesla
Minnesota’s own HERICANE ALICE opened up the final day. In 1990 they released “Tear The House Down” and we got some of the great cuts off that album. The band is fronted by Bruce Naumann and also features Johnny Holiday (guitar), Johnny (Super J) Keyte (Bass) and Jerry Babcock (drums). The band opened with a cover of “Radar Love” but the crowd really reacted to “Tear The House Down” and “Wild, Young, and Crazy”. There is new material on the way and I know a lot of people looking forward to that. They were a great way to get the day started.
Tuff
The Stevie Rachelle lead TUFF brought a great show to the stage next. Flanked by founding member Todd Chase on bass the band opened with “God Bless This Mess”. The roster was filled out with Jimi Lord on drums and Billy Morris on guitar. They were a lot of fun and Rachelle’s personality kept you dialed in. Some songs that made the playlist included “Spit Like This”, “Ruck A Pit Bridge” and “In Dogs We Trust”. Stevie gave a nice shout-out to Nicci Wikkid and dedicated “Good Guys Wear Black” to him. He was the guitarist for one of Minnesota’s most loved metal bands, Slave Raider, and sadly past away recently. “The All New Generation” and the anthem “American Hair Band” brought the TUFF gang’s time on the stage to an end.
Autograph
AUTOGRAPH launched into “Deep End” and then “Loud and Clear” to get people moving. Steve Lynch (guitar) and Randy Rand (bass) have been waving the Autograph flag since the beginning and have recruited drummer Marc Weiland and singer Simon Daniels to carry the band forward. They released a new album in 2017 called “Get Off Your Ass” and showcased the title track along with “Every Generation” and “You Are Us, We Are You” during the set. It’s hard to imagine an AUTOGRAPH without a Steve Plunkett on vocals but I’ve seen this line-up multiple times now and they have won me over. Daniels is a true talent and his vocals play well with the Autograph catalog. Your not leaving an AUTOGRAPH show until you get the built in closer, “Turn Up The Radio”, and it still consumes everybody within earshot of it.
Lynch Mob
George Lynch would make his second appearance of the Festival with LYNCH MOB. “Street Fighting Man” was the opener and then they jumped into “She’s Evil But She’s Mine” and “River Of Love”. Nathan Utz handled the vocals while Sean McNabb (bass) and Scot Cogan (drums) took on the rhythm section. A couple highlights for me were “Tangled In The Web” as loved that second LYNCH MOB record and the DOKKEN cover of “When Heaven Comes Down”. I not sure I’ve ever heard that song sound so heavy and epic, it was brilliant. Utz was very entertaining and was all over the stage and George put in another great performance to follow up the DOKKEN show the night before. The rest of the set included “Mr. Scary”, “It’s Not Love”, “No Good”, and the closer “Wicked Sensation”.
Queensryche
QUEENSRYCHE struck gold when they were able to replace Geoff Tate with Todd LaTorre. He is a true talent with a voice that perfectly fits within the bands sound. Every time I see them I’m still amazed how seamless that transition was. Michael Wilton on guitar and Eddie Jackson on bass are the only original members playing with the band now. Scott Rockenfield is still listed in the band but hasn’t played with them in some time as Casey Grillo has been filling in behind the kit. Guitarist Parker Lundgren was absent and Mike Stone took over those duties for the evening. The band opened with “Best I Can” with a rousing response from the crowd. I like hearing the stuff from the pre-mindcrime era and we got a few, “The Whisper”, “Queen Of The Reich”, “Take Hold Of The Flame” and “Screaming In Digital”. The staples of every set were also present in the forms of “Silent Lucidity”, “Empire”, and “Jet City Woman”. These guys never sound bad and they played a great set that was capped off with “Eyes Of A Stranger”.
Tesla
TESLA would close out the three-day festival. These guys seem to never come off the road and remain one of the busiest rock bands out there. With a ton of great material to choose from, the band opened with “I Wanna Live” and then “Hang Tough” and “Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)“. There isn’t much left to say that hasn’t already been said but TESLA is simply a great rock-n-roll band. Jeff Keith on vocals, Brian Wheat on bass, Troy Luccketta on drums, and the twin guitar attack of Frank Hannon and Dave Rude powers the TESLA machine. The crowd loved every minute of the set that also included an acoustic section that included “Cumin’Atcha Live/Truckin’”, “Lazy Days, Crazy Nights”, “Paradise” and the ultimate sing-along song “Signs”. All the usual hits like “Love Song”, “What You Give” and “Little Suzi” were played but it was “Mama’s Fool” and “Edison’s Medicine (Man Out Of Time)” that got my attention. A perfect ending to the event was TESLA filling the nighttime air with “Modern Day Cowboy” and I’m sure I’m not alone in that thought.
Grand RockTember VI comes to an end after three days of some of the most iconic material written from a time period that so many hold near and dear to their hearts. The guessing game is already in progress to who will be on the bill in 2019 as hotels are already being booked for next years pilgrimage to the Grand Casino in Hinckley, MN. Let the countdown begin…
David Byrne
Danny Wimmer Presents the second annual Bourbon and Beyond festival which made its way into Champions Park in Louisville, Kentucky. The grounds were setup with all kinds of different food vendors and they smelled great as soon as you walked through the gates. Every kind of bourbon you could desire was on hand. The VIP tent really made you feel at home with a huge bar, big screen TV’s with a live feed from the main stages, and plenty of tables and couches.
I didn’t know what to think of the weather. Just about everyone I saw had a poncho or rain suit and for good reason. On this cool, rainy, gloomy day in September, a day of live music, great food, and bourbon was upon us. The Bluegrass Situation Stage and the Mash Stage were home to the smaller side stages and the Barrell Stage and the Oak Stage were setup for the headlining acts. The first day had some heavy hitters with John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, and Lenny Kravitz. The Louisville crowd was setup for a great time. Continue reading
Chris Hawkey
Chris Hawkey would welcome the crowd to day two of RockTember. Hawkey is from Minnesota and does a wide of range of music that covers country to hard rock and metal. He mixed in original material with covers of “Wasted Years” (Iron Maiden), “Man In The Box” (Alice In Chains), and “Fat Bottomed Girls” (Queen). His band sounded fantastic and he has a great stage presence. He was able to win over a skeptical crowd that had worried he wasn’t rock enough to play this festival. Chris Hawkey was an entertaining and fun opening act that set the table for things to come. Continue reading
Skid Row
It has become a rite of passage that every September a pilgrimage is made to the Grand Casino Amphitheater in Hinckley, Minnesota for a few days rock-n-roll, old school style. This is a festival for the people that grew up in the MTV era where music videos dropped wild and flamboyant rock stars right into your living room. RockTember celebrates a once in lifetime generation of music. Continue reading
Bullet For My Valentine
Bullet For My Valentine is currently making a run through the United States in support of the new release “Gravity”. This Tour was billed with We Came As Romans and Bad Omens. It was just announced that We Came As Romans will join this tour as planned, despite the passing of singer Kyle Pavone, but they did not appear at this show. Bad Omens, from Los Angeles, moved up a slot in the bill and provided direct support. Continue reading
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
Polaris
Ah, Music City. Where else can you gather with all the single ladies and run this town with Beyoncé and Jay-Z on a Thursday, shake it off with Taylor Swift on a Saturday, and then beat the hell out of your closest hardcore friends somewhere in between on a Friday? Well, if you happened to be in Nashville, TN between August 23rd and August 25th you could have done all of those things, but if you were at the Gideon, Polaris, Varials, Chamber, Nothing Left and 30 Nights of Violence show at The End on Friday night, I doubt those other shows were high on your itinerary. Continue reading
I was running late due to heavy traffic on the horrible M5, but had to rush to get to The Lanes venue to grab my credentials – luckily with no drama – and catch the end of True Heights‘ set who are blowing up in the UK right now. The festival is in its second year, and with a turn out that I witnessed, you would have thought it had been going longer than that. Fat Lip Fest is set in three different venues along one street in the city of Bristol, and all within a stone’s throw of each other. The Lanes had an inside stage and also an outdoor courtyard acoustic stage. Karl Ficarotta kicked off to a decent sized crowd in the courtyard, and rightfully so, with the release of his new video. Continue reading
Glassjaw
Back in the 2000’s Glassjaw were one of my favourite go-to bands, but for different reasons like tour cancellations and personal reasons, I never made it to a gig. So when I had the opportunity to get access to an iconic venue with this iconic band I could not miss it. Continue reading
