TOOL Spirals Out in Nashville [Review & Photo Gallery]

Four years and six days to the date since last descending upon Nashville, genre transcending and now three time Best Metal Performance Grammy winning band Tool returned to Music City to fascinate their ever loyal fan base and captivate the uninitiated. Along for the ride and opening was Author & Punisher, who, as with most Tool tours, was an eccentric choice that most Tool fans wouldn’t necessarily encounter when shuffling ‘Tool Radio’ on their streaming service of choice.
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Five Finger Death Punch, Bad Wolves & More Radiate Rock In Lexington [Review & Gallery]

Five Finger Death Punch

Knuckleheads big and small, young and old converged on Rupp Arena in Lexington Kentucky for an early December night of rock and roll! For those reading this that don’t know what a “Knucklehead” is (other than what your Dad called you when you did something questionable as a child, or maybe that was just my childhood) that’s what the fan base of Five Finger Death Punch call themselves and they have shown up by the thousands to see what Lexington’s own Chris Kael and the rest of Five Finger Death Punch have in store for them. Five Finger Death Punch didn’t show up to the most holy of holy arena’s in college basketball alone, no they brought Three Days Grace, Bad Wolves and Fire From The Gods. This night was going to be LOUD! Continue reading

MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, SKOLD, DEFYING DECAY Ignite In Bristol, UK. [Review & Photos]

Motionless In White

So I arrived at the Bristol o2 Academy to one of the biggest queues I have seen. The line went on and on for what seemed like forever. This was the last night of the UK run of dates for Motionless In Whites Disguise Tour. After the release of their latest album ‘Disguise’ released on 7th June 2019 through Roadrunner Records, it’s their second release on a major label since their departure from Fearless Records. Continue reading

ALMOST COOPER Brings Their Nightmare To Minnesota [Review & Photo Gallery]

The one and only Alice Cooper is one of rock’s most adored figures. His legacy of music and theatrical stage shows is nothing short of legendary. The precision of his performance and the way the songs create a soundtrack that play along with the madness on stage is sheer brilliance. Alice Cooper doesn’t live in Minnesota but we have a man, Bobby Jensen, who can amazingly embody Cooper’s spirit and take it to the stage. Jensen took his Alice Cooper Tribute band called Almost Cooper to Myth Live in Maplewood, Minnesota for the Almost Cooper Christmas Fruitcake show. The event is a take on the Annual Alice Cooper Christmas Pudding Show held in Phoenix, Arizona. Proceeds and donations from the event went to the Alice Cooper Solid Rock Foundation and Toys For Tots. Before Almost Cooper played, local acts Fookey and Blue Felix warmed up the crowd. Continue reading

STATIC-X Brings Wisconsin Death Trip Over The Border To Minnesota [Review & Photo Gallery]

Fans packed the Myth Live in Maplewood, Minnesota to relive the sonic explosion that Static-X released decades ago with ‘Wisconsin Death Trip.’ The evening was dubbed “Wisconsin Death Trip 20th Anniversary Tour & Memorial to Wayne Static.’ The tour package featured Mushroomhead, Dope, Wednesday 13, and Raven Black with Static–X closing the night. Continue reading

EXIT 111 FESTIVAL 2019: Sunday [Review & Photo Gallery]

Days one and two of the inaugural Exit 111 Festival in Manchester, TN featured 30 bands and over 20 hours of southern rock, thrash, metalcore, alt rock and just about every other heavy music genre on one small farm in Middle Tennessee. Day three was poised to wrap things up with a bang, with another 15 bands and a scheduled three hour set from headliner and recently resurging late 80s rockers Guns N’ Roses. So pitter patter, let’s get at’er.

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KING DIAMOND Brings His Institution To Minnesota [Review & Photo Gallery]

 

King Diamond brought his “The Institute North American Tour 2019” to the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota. It’s been four years since the last North American tour and his loyal fan base was ready to see the shock rocker take to the stage. Before the theatrics started, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats along with Idle Hands provided support for the night. Continue reading

EXIT 111 FESTIVAL 2019: Saturday [Review & Photo Gallery]

Day one of Exit 111 (review and pics here) really set the bar high with a great mix of bands like Black Stone Cherry, Anthrax, 10 Years, Slayer, Killswitch Engage and classic rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd. Not to mention the amazing sunny fall Tennessee weather, with highs in the low 80s and the low reaching a cool but comfortable 44 degrees. But with temperatures promising to turn much cooler and steadily drop into the low 30s by nightfall, day two had to turn up the heat on stage in order to keep the campers toasty and the party rolling. So, at noon on Saturday, with college football in full swing at the Mega Sports Bar and a lineup of 18 bands scheduled for the day, the gates opened and the fans started pouring in. Continue reading

LOUDER THAN LIFE 2019: Saturday [Review & Photo Gallery]

Halestorm

After being forced into a flood-induced sabbatical last year, LOUDER THAN LIFE 2019 roared back to life the last weekend of September. Over 50 artists and nearly 130,000 fans descended on Louisville, Kentucky’s Fair and Exposition Center, making Derby City the undisputed capital of the hard rock world (for at least a couple days). Your intrepid METAL NEXUS away team braved the teeming throngs and the suffocatingly oppressive heat, chasing slivers of shade while soaking in the sights and sounds in order to bring you these dispatches from the front lines of the biggest rock festival in America. Continue reading

TOM KEIFER & L.A. GUNS Rise To The Occasion In Minnesota [Review & Photo Gallery]

 

The Medina Entertainment Center in Medina, Minnesota was packed to hear some hard rock classics that still have as much life today as they did when they were released decades ago. Tom Keifer, of Cinderella fame, brought his #Keifer Band and a catalog of hits while L.A. Guns featured Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns supplying their own fuel injected adrenaline the duo introduced on their debut record back in 1988. Continue reading