02/23/2005 (hed)pe, Indexcase, Three Minutes of Hate (Buffalo, NY @ Showplace Theater)
By Eric | February 23, 2005 11:59 pm
I left straight from work, and rolled in at about 7:30, strolled right in the door. Took a spot by the bar, and got ready for the first band. Three Minutes of Hate is a local metal band, and they weren’t half-bad. The singer had a decent scream, and the guitar was okay. It’s just too bad that the songs never seemed to get off the ground, and the cool riffs were few and far between. But they were decent.
Indexcase was next, and their gimmick was having every band member wear nothing but white. (Didn’t 30 Seconds to Mars do this?) These guys were alright also, sort of a metal-lite. The singer wasn’t quite in tune the whole time though, he was complaining about the flu, so that might have been it. The band sounded pretty good though, the musicianship was tight.
Then it was time for hed. There’s been a couple of reviews of their new album, saying they’ve taken a downhill turn. And as much as I hate to say it, those people are right. The performance was okay, but nothing like I remember seeing them during the tour for Broke. Even though the original bassist and DJ are still there, the show seemed like it was Jahred up on his soapbox with 4 guys behind him. He was spewing a lot of political stuff, and it was as if a lot of it was stream of consciousness type rhetoric, “I just thought of this, and oh yeah, screw the establishment too.” The old familiar songs were fun, but still were uninspired. And the new ones were kind of repetitive, not too much going on in them. The new guitar player can play, and play well, but its almost like his talent is wasted with hed. The show was fun and a good time, but not a great time like I’ve had in the past. I can’t say I’ll be breaking down the door to see hed again.
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 02/23/2005 (hed)pe, Indexcase, Three Minutes of Hate (Buffalo, NY @ Showplace Theater)
Tags: (hed) pe, 2005, Buffalo, Indexcase, Showplace Theater, Three Minutes of Hate
Squeezing the Shine out of the Theory
By Eric | February 21, 2005 10:42 pm
Last night was the trip to the ‘Cuse for the Shinedown / Theory of a Deadman show. I’ll have a review up shortly, but in the meantime I’ll give a quick synopsis:
The ride to Syracuse, good.
Standing in line in the freezing cold, bad.
Only being in line for 15 minutes, good.
Venue being small, good.
Venue having two levels, the smaller of which was closer to the stage, kinda bad.
Sight lines if not right up front, bad.
No Address, the opener, okay.
Theory of a Deadman, awesome.
Shinedown, huge disappointment.
The singer missed practically every high note in the 5 songs I stayed for. Either “let the crowd sing”, or took everything down the octave. The band sounded great, however, the singer burned whatever points that got them. They were much better last time. The crap vocals, combined with the snow, convinced me to leave early. The roads weren’t quite plowed yet, 690 to 90 was marginal through Waterloo, where it was fine all the way to Farmington, until it got crappy again, and stayed that way all the way home. I left at 10:30, didn’t get home till 12:30. It wasn’t that adventurous, just slow going.
A small part of this extended time was getting out of my parking spot. Everyone parked in and around an abandoned gas station, which was fine. I was under the canopy, which was even better. What sucked was trying to navigate around all the other parked cars. I had to squeeze out between two vehicles with about 2 inches on each side. No scratches!! A fine piece of driving if I do say so myself.
Amidst all this, Tiff handed in her final exam for class today, so she’s done for the quarter… yay for her!
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Tags: driving, NT, snow, tiff
02/20/2005 Shinedown, Theory of a Deadman, No Address (Syracuse, NY @ Club Tundra)
By Eric | February 20, 2005 11:59 pm
Only the 2nd time I’ve gotten to see a show on my birthday, I drove down to Syracuse for this one. Tundra is a pretty small place, and the layout isn’t the greatest I’ve ever seen. The room has a fairly low celing, and then the “pit” in front is 3 steps lower than the rest of the place, and about 15-20 feet deep. Any lead singer has quite a problem jumping around, as they’ll crack their head on the duct above them. But enough about the venue, on to the show! No Address was the openers, and they were so-so. The lead singer was nasally, he kinda sounded like a brit-rock singer, and the rest of the band were competent, but nothing spectacular. More anticipation for the reason I came, Theory. Happy to be down front near the barrier for these guys! They came out to a fair amount of cheering, and ripped into a song off their soon-to-be-released album “Gasoline”, called Hating Hollywood. Following that was another new one, Quiver, and then on to the old stuff. Invisible Man, Last Song, Nothing Could Come Between Us, Any Other Way, and Make Up Your Mind. Onto the new single, No Surprise, and ended with Leg To Stand On. The band sounded great, they were into it, the crowd seemed into them. I moved up off the barrier, got some water, and stood in the back, ready to rock for Shinedown. Which would have been fine, except for the fact that they came out and I was not at all impressed. Well, I was, partly. The band sounded great, as they opened with In Memory. Then the singer started singing. Sorta. Nary a high note, the screaming was way off pitch, and when the songs went high, either he punked out and let the crowd sing, or took it down the octave and sounded awful. Not to mention totally missing the whole second verse by crowd surfing. Stranger Inside was next, and it was more of the same. Missing notes, totally off-key, I was really surprised at what I was hearing, mainly because I saw them open for Seether about a year ago, and the singer was awesome at that show. Nailed everything. Not so tonight. After Fly From The Inside and Better Version, I had had enough, and did what I normally never do at shows, especially for a band that I enjoy. I left early. Which was a smart move, considering the snow that was falling, but that was far less of a reason than the performance (or lack thereof) was. I’ll be very excited to see Theory again, but I’ll be far less inclined to see Shinedown in the future.
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 02/20/2005 Shinedown, Theory of a Deadman, No Address (Syracuse, NY @ Club Tundra)
Tags: 2005, Club Tundra, No Address, Shinedown, Syracuse, Theory of a Deadman
Dates, and dates for these dates
By Eric | February 3, 2005 10:11 am
So I have a couple of announcements…
First off, if anyone reading this is not doing anything for the SuperBowl, show up at our place about 5pm Sunday, we’ll be pre-gaming, and gaming, and eating, etc. Just bring something!
Second off, Saturday, February 12. Mark your calendar. Not only is it the date of the RIT / Elmira game, but Tiff and I are going to have a psuedo-birthday party for ourselves at our place afterwards. You’re invited. Just DON’T bring anything. 🙂
I also have a couple of concerts lined up for the next two months, perhaps you’ll see me there!
Sunday, Feb. 20 – Shinedown, Theory of a Deadman at Club Tundra in Syracuse
Wednesday, Feb. 23 – (hed)pe, Dry Kill Logic at Showplace in Buffalo
Thursday, March 3 – Soulfly, God Forbid, Stemm at The Icon in Buffalo
Tuesday, March 8 – Tesla at Club Infinity in Buffalo
Friday, March 18 – Breaking Benjamin, Theory of a Deadman, The Exies at Club Infinity in Buffalo
Topics: Blog | 9 Comments »
Tags: Buffalo, concerts, NT, tiff
Check… mates on the road
By Eric | January 22, 2005 3:56 pm
The “road trip” to Binghamton went quite smoothly…
Enough snacks to feed an army… Check.
Mix CD… Check.
Speeder caught on I-90… Check.
Tractor-trailer _sideways_ off the road on I-90, with TWO tow-trucks trying to extracate it… Check.
Dude getting ARRESTED by two troopers on I-81… Check.
75mph the whole way… Check.
It was nothing if not entertaining!
We got there in plenty of time, so we ate at the wholly underwhelming Oakdale Mall, and then strolled into the venue. And what a nice venue. The Magic City Music Hall is a great place to see a show. There’s tables surrounding a spacious floor, and the stage is one of the widest I’ve ever seen! And it was clean! The people working the place were cool, no barrier, no crap. Oh yeah, and the band was good too! Sister Hazel put on a rockin show, the girls had a great time, and I enjoyed myself as well. I’ll have the review up shortly. The drive back was alright, we even made a pit stop in Cortland for gas and some Denny’s. So full. So so full. Ended up rolling back in town about 3:30am, and what time was I up this morning? Yeah, that’s right, 9am. Couldn’t sleep any more than that.
Not that it really matters! We went out earlier to grab some lunch and minor things before hunkering down for the “blizzard” that’s en route. It’s fluffy, it’s drifting, and its freakin C-O-L-D out. The apartment is toasty!
Topics: Blog | 3 Comments »
Tags: cat, music, NT, Work
01/21/2005 Sister Hazel, Graham Colton Band, Drew Copeland (Johnson City, NY @ Magic City Music Hall)
By Eric | January 21, 2005 11:59 pm
Another Sister Hazel roadtrip for Becca, Tiff and myself. Granted, this was only 2 1/2 hours, but still! The music hall is a very nice place to see a show, the stage setup is quite wide, there’s plenty of room to stand, and then plenty of tables around the perimeter for those of the sitting persuasion. Anyway, Drew Copeland, one of the Sister Hazel members, was the opener, as he just released a solo album a couple of months back. He played a couple of tunes off of that, just by himself with either an acoustic guitar or the keyboard. It was cool to see him having the stage presence that he usually doesn’t show when he’s up with the rest of the band. After his set, the Graham Colton Band was next. A jangly rock and roll band, their songs were okay, but nothing I’d call spectacular. They were entertaining and energetic, but somehow just didn’t do it for me. 45 minutes later, we were ready for Sister Hazel. They played a nice long set, a good mix of all of the albums, and just sounded great, as always. The guys looked excited to be there, the fans certainly were, and the girls had a hell of a time!
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Tags: 2005, Drew Copeland, Graham Colton Band, Johnson City, Magic City Music Hall, Sister Hazel
This Stuff Never Gets Old!
By Eric | January 9, 2005 3:31 pm
Sounds like something I’d do! (And thanks to Mrs. Swasta for finding out about this in the first place!)
LAKE STEVENS, Wash. Someone in the Census Bureau may be watching a little too much MTV.
Bevis Lake, a 5.7-acre body of water in a forested area about 25 miles northeast of Seattle, appears on Bureau records with a different name: Butthead Lake.
Those two names Bevis and Butthead are almost identical to the 1990s MTV cartoon show Beavis and Butt-head, featuring a pair of slacker teenagers who watched music videos and made bad jokes.
Someone at the Census Bureau must have gotten bored and made a joke of the name of the lake, said Ken Brown, a land surveyor with the state Department of Natural Resources.
At least someone at the Census Bureau has a sense of humor!!
Topics: Blog | Comments Off on This Stuff Never Gets Old!
Tags: music, NT, video
RIP Dimebag Darrell
By Eric | December 9, 2004 11:48 am
Dimebag Darrell, guitarist of Pantera and Damageplan fame, was gunned down ON-STAGE at a show in Columbus, OH last night.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1494653/20041209/damageplan.jhtml?headlines=true
And to think I came this close to seeing them Tuesday night in Buffalo. But its kinda scary when you think about the fact that this guy just started shooting into the crowd after shooting at the band. Now I’ve seen some crappy bands in my time, but not so bad that I wanted to shoot them! The article says this fool got up on stage, and said something about Pantera before shooting. Anyone that takes their music that seriously has major issues.
And everyone wonders why Tiff was glad to be out of Columbus… the city ain’t a nice place!
Topics: Blog | 4 Comments »
Tags: Buffalo, music, NT, tiff
11/07/2004 Nonpoint, A Day Without Rain, Without Jade (Rochester, NY @ Steel Music Hall)
By Eric | November 7, 2004 11:59 pm
A rare Sunday night show just across the river, with two Rochester bands for support. Without Jade opened things up, and while I’ll admit that their mix sucked, I don’t think much would have helped them. Just not interesting at all. We couldn’t hear the singer, the bass was overpowering, and it probably was just as well. It was punky/emo-y type stuff, not even not my scene, just not interesting. A Day Without Rain was next, and while their mix was much better, and their singer definately into what he was doing, I couldn’t get into their stuff either. This kid could actually sing too, but he didn’t do that nearly often enough. Then for the last song, they brought one of their friends up, and this kid proceeded to scream at the entire crowd, calling them “lame motherf*ckers” because they weren’t moshing or whatever. Dude, your song sucks, shutup and get off the stage, you’re ruining it for your friends band. But after all that, Nonpoint came on and played a high-energy set that got the smallish crowd that was there to see them in a frenzy. Kinda hard to draw people when the radio stations don’t really push the band here. Anyway, the set was quite heavy on Statement material, with only two songs from Development, and obviously the rest from the new Recoil album. Being that at least two of the members of the band have Puerto Rican roots, there’s more than a subtle influence in the music, and that brought out fans that like them specifically for that reason. Not disappointing, Nonpoint closed their set with their two latin-influenced songs, Orgullo and Rabia. Made for a energetic end to a great set.
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Tags: 2004, A Day Without Rain, Nonpoint, rochester, Steel Music Hall, Without Jade
10/30/2004 Toby Lightman, Eric Hutchinson (Geneseo, NY @ Wadsworth Auditorium)
By Eric | October 30, 2004 11:59 pm
We’d seen Toby Lightman twice in two days open up for Gavin Degraw back in August, and now we got to see her headline her own show. But kicking things off was a single kid and his acoustic guitar, Eric Hutchinson. Eric was quite entertaining, running through a bunch of his own originals, plus a cover or two (or more, considering the “medley” he played. Towards the end of his set, he gave us a “preview” of the rest of the songs on his CD, condensing 7 songs into roughly 45 seconds. Made us buy it! He was having a good time up on stage, and the crowd, who started to trickle in once he started, seemed to be having just as good of a time watching him. So he finished up, and Toby and her band came on. She ran through most of her album, plus a couple of cover tunes herself. As it turns out, this was the last night of the tour, and as such, we got an encore, something that she supposedly hadn’t been doing. Obviously, being in Geneseo, it was a predominantly female audience, but there were more than a handful of guys there also. Tiff managed to snag a setlist, and grab an autograph to cap off the evening.
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 10/30/2004 Toby Lightman, Eric Hutchinson (Geneseo, NY @ Wadsworth Auditorium)
Tags: 2004, Eric Hutchinson, Geneseo, Toby Lightman, Wadsworth Auditorium