11/02/2007 Sevendust (Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall)
By Eric | November 2, 2007 11:59 pm
My 10th Sevendust show! 10 Years, Black Light Burns, and Neverset were also on this bill, but I didn’t see them, because I was too busy enjoying my front row seat to the Tragically Hip show across town at the Auditorium Theater. However, I got out of that show, flew over to Water Street, miraculously found a parking spot on Andrews, ran down the street, and got to the Music Hall to find that I’d only missed 2 Sevendust songs! I promptly found a spot next to the bar, grabbed a beer, and surveyed the crowd while listening to the boys get back to the self-titled days with Terminator and Prayer. After the beer, I decided it was time to get down and dirty in the pit, and I careened through the actual pit to get to the outer fringe in front of the stage. It was kinda nice having all the energy, just getting there, as opposed to being there all night and already being tired by the time the headliners start. As per usual, seeing Sevendust is a full-contact sport, but the crowd was pretty cool, no real idiots in the pit. The song selection was a bit different than when I saw them in Buffalo in late July, mainly with the distribution of older songs. I missed seeing Crucified and Pieces (neither of which they played in Buffalo, oh well), some of the older stuff they mixed in was the Terminator/Prayer medley, and Born To Die which I’ve never seen them do! Great times. I got out all of my aggression in the 45 minutes I saw of them, and it was well worth the ticket price just for that.
Setlist:
Crucified
Pieces
Denial/Terminator/Prayer (medley)
Enemy
Ugly
Deathstar
Clueless
Waffle
Praise
Born To Die
Black
Encore:
Beg To Differ
Face to Face
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Tags: 2007, rochester, Sevendust, Water Street Music Hall
11/02/2007 The Tragically Hip, Joel Plaskett Emergency (Rochester, NY @ Auditorium Theatre)
By Eric | November 2, 2007 11:58 pm
I had jumped on the pre-sale for tickets for this show, and through sheer luck of the draw, got a front row seat on the right side of the stage. I arrived at 10 of 8, grabbed a beer, and settled in my seat for the Joel Plaskett Emergency. A cool three-piece from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Joel and his Emergency ran through a 45-minute set of rockin’ tunes, with both electric and acoustic guitars. Plaskett was originally the lead singer for the band Thrush Hermit, who had some considerable success in Canada in the late 90’s, and this music is an extension of that. They were certainly entertaining, and had the crowd into it. During the intermission, a bunch of Canadians started up a “Go Leafs Go” chant, which was met with an equal, if not greater response in the form of “Let’s Go Buffalo”, before both devolved into the standard “Hip! Hip! Hip!”. And then, as if on cue, the members of the Tragically Hip appeared, and launched into their set. I almost hesitate to write that it was a standard Hip show, because that isn’t a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. They’re consistent, and consistently great. They sounded fantastic, the song selection was spot on, and the sold-out crowd was as raucous as always. Some of the best singalongs included “Courage”, “Hundredth Meridian”, and “Grace, Too”. There isn’t much more to say, it was a great show as always! As soon as the last notes of Fireworks ended, I hightailed it out of there, rushed to my car, and sped off in the direction of the Water Street Music Hall, to try and complete my Friday night concert doubleheader, to see Sevendust!
Ahead By A Century
Scared
100th Meridian
Setlist:
01: Yer Not The Ocean
02: New Orleans Is Sinking
03: My Music At Work
04: Itís A Good Life If You Donít Weaken
05: Family Band
06: Ahead By A Century
07: The Lonely End Of The Rink
08: Courage
09: World Container
10: Scared
11: In View
12: Springtime In Vienna
13: At The Hundredth Meridian
14: Bobcaygeon
15: The Kids Donít Get It
16: Fully Completely
17: Little Bones
Encore
18: The Drop Off
19: Grace, Too
20: Fireworks
Topics: Concerts | 2 Comments »
Tags: 2007, Auditorium Theatre, Joel Plaskett Emergency, rochester, The Tragically Hip
10/30/2007 Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, Seether (Hamburg, NY @ The Agri-Center)
By Eric | October 30, 2007 11:59 pm
Jerry and I got out of work at 5:30, and trucked on down the highway to the Fairgrounds, where we were met by a good deal of traffic on South Park Ave. We finally got into the parking lot, paid, and got to the building just as Seether was starting (Red was the first opener, just like at RIT, but we didn’t miss much not seeing them). Since it was the day before halloween, there were a good number of people dressed up (including the chicks!), so we at least had something to amuse us while we were waiting in line. We heard Seether’s first song standing outside the building in the will-call line, which was Gasoline. We actually got into the lobby to hear Fine Again and Needles, and we were finally in the place by the time Truth started. We found ourselves a nice spot right in the center of the floor, and enjoyed the rest of Seether’s opening set, which continued with the first song off the new album, Like Suicide, then a crowd sing-along with Broken (with BB’s bass player coming out to play with them). The new single, Fake It, was next, and while giving the shout-outs to the other bands, they did some snippets of BB’s “Water” and 3DG’s “I Hate Everything About You” before closing with Remedy. They sounded pretty damn good, despite the long layoff for Shaun being in rehab and the loss of the 2nd guitar player. They did just fine as a three piece. Wish they would have played longer.
In any event, just like RIT, Breaking Benjamin didn’t headline, so they were next. The set list was a bit different this time out, as they frontloaded the set with Phobia songs, starting out with the Intro right into Diary Of Jane, Had Enough, Until The End, Breath, and Topless. I like all those songs, but guys, mix it up a bit! Breakdown was next, followed by Polyamorous, and Break My Fall. Then we were “treated” to an extended drum solo, which was cool, but I’d have much rather seen another song or two, considering they weren’t headlining. They brought out Shaun from Seether and the guitar player from 3DG for a cover of the Deftones’ “Change”. This I could get behind! Back to the BB stuff for the last two tunes, those being Sooner or Later and So Cold. As with the other BB shows, they sounded good, had the crowd into it, and had fun up there, but I think they killed their momentum by starting with all Phobia tunes. Opening with Polyamorous always got everyone fired up right away, and I think they should have stuck with it. Ah well. Still a good show.
At the RIT show, we left before Three Days Grace came out, so this time we actually stuck around to watch them. We passed the time inbetween sets (and actually during most of the set as well) by waiting in line for the concession stand. Yeah, it took that long. I think the fact that we stood in line that long was more motivation for staying then 3DG were once they started. Quite frankly, the singer can’t hold his notes. The band was okay (although way overdriven out of the monitors), and the songs are okay (I recognized a few), but the singer kinda ruined it. He sounded hoarse by the end of the first song. They also started Just Like You in the wrong key, before correcting it when the song kicked in. That was just kinda funny, I can’t bag on them too much for that. What I can bag on them for is their attempt at covering AIC’s Rooster. As I told Jerry, “You hear that humming sound? That’s Layne Staley spinning in his grave!” It just didn’t make it. Anwyay, we left early to beat the traffic out of the parking lot and grab something to eat. To make a long story short, we made the right choice to leave RIT early too! They were okay, but there’s no way they should be headlining over Breaking Benjamin (or Seether for that matter!)
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Tags: 2007, Breaking Benjamin, Hamburg, Seether, The Agri-Center, Three Days Grace
10/05/2007 Matthew Good, Drew Smith (Buffalo NY @ Club Infinity)
By Eric | October 5, 2007 11:36 pm
I rolled in from Buffalo, found a quick parking spot behind the club, and got in the already lengthy line. We got into the place in a quick and orderly fashion, and I grabbed a beer and just kind hung in the back for awhile, when I was spotted by a friend I hadn’t seen in a good long time. One of my classmates in the Harrison Co-Op program, Christine, recognized me, and along with her husband Matt, we pretty much hung out all night and caught up, so that was pretty cool, because the opener didn’t really hold our attention much. Drew Smith was two guys from Hamilton with guitars, and I have to confess to being one of “those people” that didn’t pay attention to them much at all. Ah well, Once Matt Good came out though, pretty much everyone was at rapt attention all night. This being a solo acoustic show, it was just Matt and a guitar, and occasional backing samples. He certainly can carry a show by himself, and the show was fantastic, but I still think I’d rather see him all plugged in. However, the fact that I haven’t seen him or his band live since March of 2001 might contribute to that (not that he didn’t come around, it just never worked out for me to go). In any event, as expected, the show was heavy on songs from his solo work rather than with MGB, and at that, heavy on the new Hospital Music Album. It was certainly an enjoyable show, and Matt was definately in fine form with the playing and singing, even with a comment about nasal drip during one song, which pretty much served to remind that this indeed was a live show. I really want to see him plugged in sometime soon!
Setlist:
North American For Life
I’m A Window
99% Of Us Is Failure
Show Banter
Born Losers
Avalanche
Strange Days
Load Me Up
Silent Army In The Trees
Black Helicopters
Alert Status Red
She’s In It For The Money
In A World Called Catastrophe
Generation X-Wing
Primetime Deliverance
Metal Airplanes
Apparitions
Encore:
Girl Wedged Under the Front of a Firebird (word)
Champions of Nothing
Suburbia
Pledge of Allegiance
The Fine Art of Falling Apart
Topics: Concerts | 2 Comments »
Tags: 2007, Buffalo, Club Infinity, Drew Smith, Matthew Good
09/18/2007 Finger Eleven, Sick Puppies, Pride Tiger (Rochester, NY @ The Club at Water Street)
By Eric | September 18, 2007 11:59 pm
I loved the 7:30 start time for this one, as I actually got to eat a real dinner at home first, then leisurely made my way to Water Street, and walked right into the club side. Unbeknownst to me, there was actually a 2nd opening band, by the name of Pride Tiger. Talk about the surprise of the night! These four guys from Vancouver came out with a ton of energy, especially their lead singer/drummer, who was one of the most facial-expressive musicians I’ve seen in quite awhile. But nevermind that, these guys sounded great! They rock a real 70’s album rock type vibe, to my ears they almost sound like Thin Lizzy, or Boston. The songs are groovy, catchy, the guitarists played some rockin’ solos, and the musicianship all the way around was excellent. Quite a nice surprise, and not what I would have expected for a Finger Eleven opener. So after their set, I bought their CD and had all the guys sign it, and chatted for a bit about how they liked touring the states so far. (I subsequently found out after the show that three of the four guys used to be in 3 Inches Of Blood, which is a metal band also from Vancouver, who obviously sound nothing like Pride Tiger!) I can add Pride Tiger to the quite short list of opening bands, who not having heard of them prior, I’ve been super impressed with (only Liquid Gang, Boy Hits Car, Greenwheel, Ra, Toby Lightman, Eric Hutchinson, and Tony C and the Truth come to mind.)
Sick Puppies was next, and these guys are partly famous for having the song in the background of the Free Hugs video that was all over YouTube. They’re a three piece from Australia, with a chick bass player. They were okay, but it was generic alt-rock/post-grunge/whatever you wanna call it. I already like too many bands that sound like them, and they didn’t do anything special that made them stand out any. The half-hour was just enough, and enjoyable, as they certainly weren’t bad by any means, but they just didn’t do it for me. They did a mash-up cover of Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name”, using those lyrics with the music from Green Day’s “Brain Stew”, which was kinda neat.
Then it was time for Finger Eleven. It’s been over three years since the last time I saw them, which was at Steel with Thornley. I was less than thrilled with their performance that time, and now, three years and a new album later, it was still just okay. Just like the last time, I really like their new album. There’s just something about their performance that makes me say, “blah”. They were into the performance, in fact, Rick Jackett was as animated as I’ve ever seen him. The band sounded good also, including Scott Anderson’s vocals. It started out promising enough, with Good Times, and Falling On. Then it got slower, with Talking To The Walls, but they came back with Suffocate (only like 3 other people did the WE… FALL… DOWN… yell in the chorus, which was majorly disappointing) and Quicksand. Then it got slow again. Obvious Heart was next (and I love that song), Change The World (really slow), Lost My Way (getting better), and Easy Life (more uptempo, but the song’s not that great). Then the big hit (and I still say worst F11 song ever), One Thing. They kept it slow with I’ll Keep Your Memory Vague, and finally got it back up to speed with So-So Suicide and Above. The encore started with a Neil Young cover of Walk On, and closed with Paralyzer. The show was good, but not great. I can’t quite describe what my complaint is, but to me, it’s hard to “get into” their show. Maybe song selection has something to do with it, as most of the last two albums has not been as up-tempo and “hard”, if you will, as their first two. Even still, there were much better songs off of self-titled that they could have played (Other Light, Stay In Shadow) and only one song off of Greyest, and only two off Tip? Boo. And they didn’t play Tip again either. I’m afraid they’re going the way of the Tea Party, playing the same stuff over and over, and ditching the good songs out of the set. I must have to go see them in Canada instead.
One Thing
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Tags: 2007, Finger Eleven, Pride Tiger, rochester, Sick Puppies, The Club At Water Street
Enough CD’s To Fill A Catalog
By Eric | September 11, 2007 11:30 am
In other news, I’m in the process of being my usual anal self and cataloging all of my CD’s with a nifty program called ReaderwareAW, which lets me use my old CueCat barcode scanner (the freebie from Radio Shack that got hacked in like 2 hours) to scan the barcodes on the backs of the CD’s, and then grabs the info from Amazon and stuffs it into the database. Of course, with all the promos, imports, and other crap I have, it took awhile, and there was a fair amount of manual entry involved. The good news is, all of the CD’s are in there, in one form or another. The bad news is now the tweaking begins. Getting record labels, track listings, covers, and all that stuff correct is going to take some time. Be right or don’t be. The neat thing about the program is that it allows you to make custom HTML “reports”, so I’ll have something really nice to look at once I’m done, rather than the simple list I have on the site now. Don’t hold your breath though, I’m sure it’s going to take awhile!
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Tags: music
200 Shows
By Eric | August 21, 2007 3:18 pm
While ten years was a bigger deal to me, it almost escaped me that the Lamb of God / Hatebreed show last Friday was #200 of my “career”… all the stuff from the ten years of concerts post still applies, but another milestone is always cool!
Speaking of concerts, after three in one week, thankfully they’re getting a little more spaced out… I have three upcoming in the next two months, feel free to let me know if you’re going:
Tuesday, Sept 18 – Finger Eleven @ Water Street
Friday Oct 5 – Matthew Good @ Club Infinity (Main and Transit)
Tuesday Oct 30 – Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, Seether @ Erie County Fairgrounds Agri-Center
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Tags: concerts, music
08/17/2007 Lamb Of God, Hatebreed, Behemoth (Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom)
By Eric | August 17, 2007 11:59 pm
This show was supposed to be at the Dome Theater in Niagara Falls, but was moved the day before. Still not sure why. Anyway, due to heavy traffic on the 90, and stopping to get something to eat first, I missed 3 Inches Of Blood, who were also on the bill. I got there just as Behemoth were setting up. These guys are real death metal from Poland, and they did the whole get-up, from painted white faces, to spitting blood, to wearing the spikey leather accessories. Personally, death metal is just a bit too far out there for me. They were entertaining for the 40 minutes or so they played, but it’s *so* fast and *so* brutal that it’s kinda hard to figure out what the hell is going on. And never mind trying to figure out what he’s screaming/growling. But it was cool enough.
Hatebreed was next, and I’ve been looking forward to seeing them for awhile. I didn’t really get into them until the last couple of years (they’ve been around since ’97, in the mainstream anyway), and everybody always tells me that they put on a great show. Well, everybody was right. The place was packed, and a good number of the kids were all about Hatebreed. Granted, the songs are pretty simple, and are written with the scream-along in mind, but that’s not to say that it’s not a blast to be a part of it! Jamey and the boys looked to be having a blast on the stage, and the crowd gave it right back to them. They opened with To The Threshold, and proceeded to rip through songs from all 4 albums, stopping to thank the crowd after practically every song. My highlight of their set was probably the closer, I Will Be Heard, because the entire place went bonkers when they played it! The setlist (in rough order) was: To The Threshold, Last Breath, Destroy Everything, As Diehard As They Come, Defeatist, Doomsayer, This Is Now, Tear It Down, Live For This, Perseverence, I Will Be Heard.
After calming down from that set, the headliners were up. Lamb Of God. As their tagline says, Pure American Metal. Although the setlist was almost identical to the show I saw in March, they seemed even more energetic this time around. I think the crowd was a bit more into it here than at Harro East as well. LoG, too, seemed to be having a hell of a time up on stage, Randy was a lot more talkative than the last time, and he gave a shoutout to the hometown guys in Every Time I Die (“Party at Andy Williams’ house!”). The one switch from the list in March was that instead of Bloodletting, we got Subtle Arts this time around, and the order was a little different. They sounded awesome, Mark Morton’s solos were incredible, and Chris Adler’s drumming was spot on. Another show where I definately felt I got my money’s worth. LoG’s setlist: Hourglass; Again We Rise; Walk With Me In Hell; Ruin; Pathetic; As The Palaces Burn; Descending; More Time To Kill; Blacken the Cursed Sun; Subtle Arts of Murder and Persuasion; 11th Hour; Now You’ve Got Something To Die For; Laid to Rest; *** Encore *** Vigil; Redneck; Black Label.
Topics: Concerts | 2 Comments »
Tags: 2007, Behemoth, Buffalo, Hatebreed, Lamb of God, Town Ballroom
08/16/2007 Velvet Revolver, Alice In Chains, Kill Hannah (Darien, NY @ Darien Lake Performing Arts Center)
By Eric | August 16, 2007 11:59 pm
Right out of work, through the rain, to Darien Lake for the big rock show. Thankfully the rain was over by the time I got there! I got there just as Kill Hannah was starting. I could have been later… these guys are terrible. Picture the most pedestrian, mundane, mainstream rock band, and then toss in a screechy singer that’s off-key the whole time, and you have Kill Hannah. They attempted a cover of Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell”, and while the musicianship was okay, the vocals were worse than you’d hear at the local karaoke bar. Mercifully, they only got a half hour.
Then it was time for the real show to begin! ALICE!!! The four guys just strode out on stage, and ripped into it. William Duvall does an admirable job on vocals, and the rest of the band sounded stellar. Of course, nothing would compare to actually seeing Layne Staley sing live, but since I’ll never get that chance, I’ll certainly take this. The entire crowd was into it, singing along with all of their favorites… the setlist was: Again, Grind, We Die Young, Them Bones, Down In A Hole, Rain When I Die, Sludge Factory, Angry Chair, Man In The Box, Would?, Rooster. Not too much banter in-between songs, just full-on rocking… just awesome.
I didn’t take these, and I forgot where I grabbed these from, so if they’re yours, send a note and you’ll get credited!
[flickr-gallery pagination=”0″ mode=”tag” tags=”2007-08-16″ tag_mode=”all”]
After making acquaintance with some friendly Canadians in the seats next to me (Paul and DJ, what’s up?!), we grabbed some beers and waited for Velvet Revolver to begin. Which they did with a bang! They started out with Let It Roll, She Mine, and Sucker Train Blues, getting the crowd whipped up early. Much like Alice, the band sounded great, Slash’s solos were awesome, and Weiland’s voice, while not as strong as in previous years, wasn’t bad at all. A couple of songs later they toned it down a little, brought out the stools and did a pseudo-acoustic bit with Last Fight, Interstate Love Song, and the nights first huge sing-along, GNR’s Patience, which was incredible. After the next GNR cover, It’s So Easy, the guy in front of me (late 30’s, early 40’s) turns around and asks me, “Is this on the new album?” I’m like, “Are you serious? That song is 20 years old! Its Guns N Roses! Appetite! Damn dude!!” Moron. And he’s supposed to be old enough to know better!! They did two encores, the last of which started with a cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, and the show closed with Slither. VR put on a fantastic show, Weiland was doing his patented freak-out dancing all night, Slash ripped it up, and the rhythm section of Duff, Dave and Matt held down their end as well. There weren’t nearly as many people there as I thought there’d be, especially on the lawn, so getting out was a snap!
VR’s full setlist: Let It Roll, She Mine, Sucker Train Blues, Superhuman, Do It For The Kids, Big Machine, Get Out The Door, Vasoline (STP), Last Fight, Interstate Love Song (STP), Patience (GNR), Pills Demons & Etc., Fall To Pieces, It’s So Easy (GNR), She Builds Quick Machines, Set Me Free, Mr Brownstone (GNR), Sex Type Thing (STP), Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd), Slither.
Short clips of every AIC song in the set:
Alice in Chains @ Darien Lake 8/16/07 from bucky716 and Vimeo.
The dude held up a toy rooster through the whole video, but here’s Rooster:
Rooster @ Rooster from bucky716 and Vimeo.
Clips of some VR songs:
Velvet Revolver @ Darien Lake 8/16/07 from bucky716 and Vimeo.
Jerry’s solo during Them Bones:
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Tags: 2007, Alice In Chains, Darien, Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, Kill Hannah, Velvet Revolver
08/13/2007 GWAR, Shadows Fall (Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall)
By Eric | August 14, 2007 10:41 am
I rolled up to Water Street, missing the entire line, and walked right in. I found my buddy Rich, and we commenced our waiting… The Acacia Strain was supposed to be the first opener, but for whatever reason, they cancelled. So on with Shadows Fall! They sounded *much* better than they did at the Niagara Falls show, so this was much more enjoyable. According to Brian Fair, this was the last night of their tour with GWAR, so they rocked out “extra hard”… Anyway, they opened with Failure of the Devout, and then I can’t quite remember the order, but they played Stepping Outside The Circle, Burning The Lives, Redemption, The Power of I and I, Eternity Is Within, and they closed with What Drives The Weak right into The Light That Binds. They sounded great, rocked hard, and were a great warmup for what was to follow…
The Almighty GWAR!!! The stage setup wasn’t that elaborate, but their costumes sure were! The most amazing part to me was how well they played their instruments while in the heavy costumes, and how good the songs were. For me not knowing but one Gwar song, I was impressed with how they sounded. But of course, the music was almost secondary to the show! The most over-the-top, ridiculous, gross stuff… and of course, the fans eat it up. They first came out with the head of the lead singer of Lordi (the Finnish band that does similar costumes) on a stake, which of course was shooting fake blood out of its mouth… continuously! The next “victim” was a representation of the VT killer, who came out guns blazing, and had his head and arms chopped off by a huge sword. These wounds also spewed forth tons of fake blood… “Rochester’s biggest GWAR fan” was rolled out strapped to a board, and similarly decapitated. Lest we forget, the giant prosthetic penis of lead singer Oderus Urungus spewing fake urine all night. (If it all sounds gross, just remember, it’s so over the top and cheesy that it becomes funny, not scary!) It was literally a really bad B horror movie come to life, and certainly entertaining! As I said earlier, I only knew one song (Saddam-A-Go-Go, thanks to Beavis and Butt-head!), but that didn’t matter in the least! The musicianship was quite good, the stage theatrics goofy and entertaining, and it made for a fun night. I can now say I’ve seen GWAR!
Topics: Concerts | 2 Comments »
Tags: 2007, GWAR, rochester, Shadows Fall, Water Street Music Hall