08/16/2017 Guns N Roses, Live (Buffalo, NY @ New Era Field)
By Eric | August 17, 2017 3:12 pm
Not In This Lifetime indeed. Much like most of the known universe, I got hooked on GNR by seeing the Paradise City video in constant rotation on MTV when I was 8 years old. Being a bit too young to see them in their heyday, plus all of the ensuing drama, I didn’t think I’d ever see any “real” incarnation of GNR. So when they announced the tour, they hit Toronto and I wasn’t going to be able to make that work – but then the 2nd leg was released with a Buffalo date on it, well, it was a no brainer. I went wild and spent big bucks to get a GA Pit ticket down front – when am I going to see GNR again? As the show got closer, Sara hit me up to join her and her co-workers in taking a limo bus! So this show, and now tailgating super-close to the gates, and I don’t have to drive? Count me in.
So we get on the bus, get to the stadium, and hang out for quite awhile. We all split and meandered in – I wandered down front as I was fairly interested to see Live. I’d never seen them, save for seeing Ed Kowalczyk at KRockathon a couple years ago, and besides an Audioslave cover (I Am The Highway) in tribute to Chris Cornell, it was an all-killer no filler radio hits setlist. One super curious note – two full drum kits and two drummers! Apparently usual drummer Chad Gracey had suffered an arm injury and wasn’t 100%, so they recruited Robin Diaz (who’s played with a bunch of people, including Theory of a Deadman, Daughtry, Candlebox, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.). They sounded great and obviously a lot of people were enthusiastic about seeing them. Our Lady Peace had been opening a couple of the other dates on this tour and probably would have had an even better reaction, but no matter.
Operation Spirit
I Am The Highway
Live Setlist
————
All Over You
Operation Spirit
Pain Lies on the Riverside
The Dolphin’s Cry
Selling the Drama
I Alone
Lakini’s Juice
I Am the Highway (Audioslave cover)
Lightning Crashes
Now it was time for GNR. The pit filled in pretty solidly by this time, I camped out on the left hand side, and the band came out to the opening strains of It’s So Easy. The setlist was pretty varied, and even with Duff and Slash back in the band, there were three Chinese Democracy songs in the set also. I frankly wasn’t going to care too much what they played, but they did play a bunch of the deeper cuts I like (Mr Brownstone, Double Talkin Jive, Used To Love Her, My Michelle). They too did a tribute to Chris Cornell, playing Black Hole Sun in addition to a couple other covers. The band sounded fantastic, Axl didn’t hit every single note, but was perfectly fine. I don’t have a super thorough review for this one, other than to say that the whole night and the whole set was a ton of fun, and having the core three dudes playing these songs (I know, I know, where’s Izzy?) in such a huge stadium show environment was a blast!
Double Talkin Jive / Better / Estranged
Used To Love Her / My Michelle / Wish You Were Here
Black Hole Sun
GNR Setlist
———–
It’s So Easy
Mr. Brownstone
Chinese Democracy
Welcome to the Jungle
Double Talkin’ Jive
Better
Estranged
Live and Let Die
Rocket Queen
You Could Be Mine
New Rose (with “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory intro)
This I Love
Civil War
Yesterdays
Coma (with band introductions)
Slash Guitar Solo (with ”Johnny B Goode” jam in the middle)
Speak Softly Love (Love Theme From The Godfather)
Sweet Child O’ Mine
Used to Love Her
My Michelle
Wish You Were Here(Pink Floyd cover)
November Rain (“Layla” piano exit-intro)
Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (with Only Women Bleed intro)
Nightrain
Encore:
Patience (Melissa Intro)
The Seeker (The Who cover)
Paradise City
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 08/16/2017 Guns N Roses, Live (Buffalo, NY @ New Era Field)
Tags: 2017, Buffalo, Guns N' Roses, Live, Slash
Sick Of It All – 2016 – When the Smoke Clears
By Eric | August 1, 2017 6:00 pm
Artist: Sick Of It All
Title: When the Smoke Clears
Label: Century Media
Released: Nov 4, 2016
Packaging: Cardboard Sleeve
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#When the Smoke Clears
#Black Venom
#Doomed Campaign
#Blood & Steel
#Fortress
Review:
Topics: CD Collection | Comments Off on Sick Of It All – 2016 – When the Smoke Clears
Tags: 2016, Cardboard Sleeve, Century Media, Sick Of It All, Standard
Save Ferris – 2017 – Checkered Past
By Eric | August 1, 2017 6:00 pm
Artist: Save Ferris
Title: Checkered Past
Label: Withyn
Released: Mar 3, 2017
Packaging: Digipack
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#Anything
#New Sound
#Golden Silence
#Do I Even Like You?
#Goodbye Brother
Review:
Topics: CD Collection | Comments Off on Save Ferris – 2017 – Checkered Past
Tags: 2017, Digipack, Save Ferris, Standard, Withyn
John Prine – 1976 – Prime Prine – The Best of John Prine
By Eric | August 1, 2017 6:00 pm
Artist: John Prine
Title: Prime Prine – The Best of John Prine
Label: Atlantic
Released: Jan 2, 1976
Packaging: Jewel Case
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#Sam Stone
#Saddle In The Rain
#Please Don’t Bury Me
#The Great Compromise
#Grandpa Was A Carpenter
#Donald And Lydia
#Illegal Smile
#Sweet Revenge
#Dear Abby
#Souvenirs
#Come Back To Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard
#Hello In There
Review:
Topics: CD Collection | Comments Off on John Prine – 1976 – Prime Prine – The Best of John Prine
Tags: 1976, Atlantic, Jewel Case, John Prine, Standard
07/21/2017 Primus, Clutch (Rochester, NY @ Dome Arena)
By Eric | July 22, 2017 10:11 am
Clutch in my backyard at the Dome? Yes! I got tickets to this as soon as they went on sale. And then I ended up having throat surgery scheduled for the day before… meaning I would be on voice rest. Complete voice rest. Everyone was asking, “Are you still going to go?” Uh, I didn’t have surgery on my ears! Of course I went. Got right down front too. I didn’t really have to talk to anyone anyway. This being my third Clutch show, it was the first that had any semblance of a mosh pit. They did skew old-school towards the end of the set (Immortal, Peterbilt, Spacegrass (which I finally got to see!)) and people predictably went nuts – a lot of people came out of mosh retirement! They also played three new songs, including the live premiere of Bubonic Blues. Tons of fun, even though I couldn’t sing along this time.
Clutch Setlist:
—————
Crucial Velocity
Cyborg Bette
Earth Rocker
Promoter (Of Earthbound Causes)
Firebirds!
Vision Quest (new song)
Sucker for the Witch
A Quick Death in Texas
Immortal
Bubonic Blues (New song, live premiere)
The House That Peterbilt
Spacegrass
D.C. Sound Attack!
We Love a Good Fire (new song)
Electric Worry
X-Ray Visions
Cyborg Bette
Earth Rocker
Vision Quest
Quick Death In Texas
The House That Peterbilt
Spacegrass
We Love A Good Fire
Electric Worry
I retreated to the back to hang out with Brett and his buddies for Primus. I had always been sort of interested to see them, and now having seen a show, I’m not any more of a fan. Perhaps its because I didn’t know a lot of the songs save for the hits (Wynona, My Name Is Mud, Jerry Was a Race Car Driver), but the set felt overly long, and I just wasn’t that interested. So it was okay, they sounded good, however it didn’t do a whole lot for me. I can say I’ve seen them!
Primus setlist:
—————
Seas of Cheese
Spegetti Western
Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver
Sgt. Baker
Too Many Puppies / Hello Skinny (The Residents cover)
American Life
Over the Falls
Lee Van Cleef
Candy Man (Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley cover)
Mr. Krinkle
Drum Introduction / Eleven
On the Tweek Again
My Name Is Mud
Jerry Was a Race Car Driver
Seven
Southbound Pachyderm
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 07/21/2017 Primus, Clutch (Rochester, NY @ Dome Arena)
Tags: 2017, Clutch, Dome Arena, Primus, rochester
07/13/2017 Warped Tour – GWAR, Hatebreed, Sick Of It All, The Acacia Strain, blessthefall, Candiria, Beartooth, Emmure, CKY, Watsky, Hawthorne Heights, Alestorm, Anti-Flag, Save Ferris, Separations, After The Burial, Feeki, Silent Planet (Darien, NY @ Darien Lake Performing Arts Center)
By Eric | July 14, 2017 10:48 am
Every year I check the Warped Tour lineups, and every year it’s two bands I want to see and a bunch I either don’t or have never heard of. This year there was a whole bunch of stuff that looked interesting – Hatebreed, GWAR, Candiria, Sick of it All, Save Ferris, among others. Plus Jamey Jasta was doing live podcast tapings at each stop, so that combined with the lineup pulled me out of Warped retirement. I hadn’t been to Warped since 1998 at LaSalle Park! Neither had Hatebreed for that matter, but they didn’t play Buffalo for some reason. I was curious to see how it compared nearly 20 years later.
The weather almost didn’t cooperate. The morning of this show it was POURING. I ran around to practically every store in Batavia looking for a light windbreaker / raincoat before finally finding one at K- Mart. I rolled into Darien and miraculously the rain stopped pretty much as I arrived. Apparently they were shovelling water out from the front of the main stage right up until doors. I got in not too long after that, milled around a bit, and the first band I stopped to actually watch was Silent Planet. Pretty decent. Milled around some more, hit up the American Villian tent and talked to Jed for a second, and then caught some of After The Burial over on Mutant South because that was right near the tent for the workshops. Time to sit in on the Jasta show podcast taping!
A bunch of the Warped artists had workshops that fans could buy tickets for, and Jamey’s was his podcast with fans sitting in. Given that this was the Buffalo show, the guest was Andy Williams from Every Time I Die. Given how hot and sticky it was outside, the fact that the taping was in one of the air-conditioned artist rooms backstage was much appreciated. The taping was fun, the podcast was entertaining as always, and pictures as proof are always in order!
Most of everyone I wanted to see was later on in the day, save for a couple I would have liked to see that were playing during the podcast (Knocked Loose, I Prevail, Municipal Waste). I caught a little bit of Attila to see what all that fuss is about (I think I’m too old to get it), and a hockey player buddy of mine was touring with Separations, so I checked them out. I was interested to see Save Ferris, as I’d never seen them. Much like Hatebreed, they had played Warped in 1998 but they either didn’t play the Buffalo date or I didn’t see them. Either way, it was fun hearing the old songs, including, of course, Come On Eileen. Apparently its lead singer Monique Powell with a whole new band, but no matter to me. I picked up the new EP and got a pic with Monique at the merch tent too – I told her it was my first time at Warped since ’98 also!
After Save Ferris, I caught little bits of CKY, a lot of Candiria (hadn’t seen them since Showplace in 2001!), another buddy of mine has toured with Beartooth so I watched most of that set and was very impressed, a little bit of Emmure (same idea as Attila – I don’t get it), and then camped out in front of the Mutant North stage – watched the end of blessthefall, and all of The Acacia Strain on the other stage in preparation for my main attraction of the day – Hatebreed!
They ran through a half-hour sprint of most of the hardest and crowd-participatory songs in the catalog, and boy was that fun. I was right up on the barrier and had a blast. It’s always a good time when Hatebreed comes to town.
Hatebreed setlist
—————–
Last Breath
Looking Down the Barrel of Today
To The Threshold
In Ashes They Shall Reap
Everyone Bleeds Now
As Diehard as They Come
Destroy Everything
Perseverance
Driven by Suffering
I Will Be Heard
So after that I ran over to the main stage to catch the last song from Sick of it All, then came right back for GWAR. I don’t think most of the kids in attendance were ready for what they saw (or got sprayed with haha), however, they put on the usual hilarious spectacle. After GWAR I milled around a little more, ran into both Wayne and Florida Frank (Hatebreed’s guitar players) for a brief moment, and caught a couple more bands before calling it a night. I don’t know if the show sold out, but there were a good number of people there, and the kids seemed to be into it. Every single band looked like it had at least a bit of a dedicated following to go along with all the passerby (such as myself in most cases).
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 07/13/2017 Warped Tour – GWAR, Hatebreed, Sick Of It All, The Acacia Strain, blessthefall, Candiria, Beartooth, Emmure, CKY, Watsky, Hawthorne Heights, Alestorm, Anti-Flag, Save Ferris, Separations, After The Burial, Feeki, Silent Planet (Darien, NY @ Darien Lake Performing Arts Center)
Tags: 2017, After The Burial, Alestorm, Anti-Flag, Beartooth, blessthefall, Candiria, CKY, Emmure, Feeki, GWAR, Hatebreed, Hawthorne Heights, Save Ferris, Separations, Sick Of It All, Silent Planet, The Acacia Strain, Warped Tour, Watsky
07/08/2017 Fuel, Unwill (Rochester, NY @ The German House)
By Eric | July 9, 2017 10:29 am
[American Acid was first band on, didn’t see them.]
This show was early. Like, Fuel came out on stage around 8:30 on Saturday night early. I was dumbfounded, and thankfully I didn’t do my usual “put the kids to bed first” routine, or I would have missed most of it! I wonder if the lack of ticket sales led them to just say the hell with it and get it over with, as there weren’t too many people in the place. Definitely sparse for the openers. Unwill is a local Rochester band, and were almost a bit too heavy to be opening for Fuel, but no matter, they were pretty decent for their half hour.
Regardless of what time they came out and the size of the crowd, Brett and the new set of hired guns put on an excellent show. Just like old times at the start, with Untitled into Jesus or a Gun. Mary Pretends was back in the set as well, but this time we got two covers (Fly Like An Eagle and Mary Jane’s Last Dance), and only one new song in Puppet Strings. I would have liked more originals rather than the covers, and Cold Summer or Time For Me To Stop from the new album would have been cool. In any event, it was still a really fun show, a trip down memory lane, and I got back home early!
Untitled
Jesus or a Gun
Empty Spaces
Mary Pretends
Bad Day
Sunburn
Fly Like An Eagle (Steve Miller Band cover)
Shimmer
Bittersweet
Mary Jane’s Last Dance (Tom Petty cover)
Puppet Strings
Hemmorhage
[Innocent was on the setlist but didn’t get played]
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 07/08/2017 Fuel, Unwill (Rochester, NY @ The German House)
Tags: 2017, Fuel, German House, rochester, Unwill
06/29/2017 Our Lady Peace, Collective Soul, Tonic (Buffalo, NY @ Albright Knox Art Gallery)
By Eric | June 30, 2017 10:33 am
This was essentially my 20th anniversary concert – give or take 2 weeks, but seeing the same band in the same city where it all started was pretty special. My first ever show was Our Lady Peace at the Tralf in June of 1997, and the only thing that would have made this show even more complete would have been to hang out with my high school friend Christine, whose mom drove us to that first show. As it turned out, she almost came to this show, but was at Darien Lake seeing Third Eye Blind instead. Since I ran into another old co-op friend in Katie at this show, I did get to say hi to Christine via text through her, which was kinda cool. It all comes full circle!
So as for the show itself, I was still in line outside the grounds (the stage and crowd area were in the front parking lot of the museum) when Tonic started. Couldn’t really see them, but heard them perfectly, and they sounded good. I liked that even with a short set, they play some of the more rockin tunes that weren’t necessarily singles, like Liar and Top Falls Down. Jon, Laura and Art met me in line just as we were about to get in, and once we did, it was off to stand in line after line for beer tickets, beer, and then food. We finally got our stuff and staked out a spot just as it was time for set change.
[Randomness]
During this set change, in something peculiar and interesting only to me, over the PA they played, among other things, Emphatic’s “Get Paid”, which while a song that I like, made zero sense in the context of this show and/or any of the bands. I must have looked like the RCA Victor dog when it came on as I went “They’re playing this? Here? WHY?”
[/Randomness]
Tonic
—–
Open Up Your Eyes
Liar
Top Falls Down
You Wanted More
Sugar
Mountain
If You Could Only See
You Wanted More
It was about this time I ran into Katie, so I caught up with her all through set change and most of Collective Soul’s set as well. CS sounded terrific, and they’re one of those bands that you forget how many hits they have until they play them all back to back. It was the 90’s all over again for sure!
Collective Soul
—————
Simple
Heavy
Better Now
Shine
December
The World I Know
Contagious
Right as Rain
Where the River Flows
Run
Someone put a couple of song clips together:
So after another beer run and food run, we settled in for OLP. And after watching this band for 20 years, in all manner of venues and places, this show was… weird. They opened with Innocent, and the setlist selection was varied and somewhat interesting, but yeah. I don’t know. I’ll admit that I have some huge gaps as far as seeing them (2003 @ RIT, then 2009 Lockport, 2010 Clumsy in NT, and then this one) so I don’t know what they’ve normally been playing. I’ll probably never be happy with a setlist at this point. Is Anybody Home and One Man Army were nice to hear, and the new Drop Me In The Water is pretty good. I guess In Repair and Not Enough are the only songs I could really do without, but I’ll forever complain when Starseed is the only song off Naveed. Ah well. The band sounded good, Raine was okay, not stellar. Now that Taggart isn’t in the band anymore either it’s even more not the same as it was back in the day. Despite all that, I really did have a good time, was very happy to be there, and it put me in a nostalgic mood considering all the history with OLP over the last 20 years.
And oh yeah, of course I wore the shirt! (From what I could see, I was the only one with said shirt too!)
Our Lady Peace
————–
Innocent
Is Anybody Home?
Superman’s Dead
One Man Army
Paper Moon / Life
Somewhere Out There
Drop Me In The Water
Not Enough
In Repair
Clumsy
Heavyweight
4am
Starseed
Starseed
Compilation of a bunch of songs:
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 06/29/2017 Our Lady Peace, Collective Soul, Tonic (Buffalo, NY @ Albright Knox Art Gallery)
Tags: 2017, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, Collective Soul, Our Lady Peace, Tonic
Papa Roach – 2017 – Crooked Teeth (Deluxe)
By Eric | June 12, 2017 6:00 pm
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Artist: Papa Roach
Title: Crooked Teeth
Label: Eleven Seven
Released: May 19, 2017
Packaging: Digipack
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Deluxe Edition
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#Break The Fall
#Crooked Teeth
#My Medication
#Born For Greatness
#American Dreams
#Periscope (featuring Skylar Grey)
#Help
#Sunrise Trailer Park (featuring MGK)
#Traumatic
#None Of The Above
#Ricochet
#Nothing
#Bleeding Through
#Intro (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Face Everything And Rise (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Getting Away With Murder (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Between Angels and Insects (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Where Did The Angels Go? (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Broken Home (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Burn (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Forever (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Scars (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Lifeline (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Infest (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Kick in the Teeth (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Broken As Me (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Still Swingin (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#To Be Loved (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
#Last Resort (Live at Fillmore, Detroit)
Review:
https://open.spotify.com/album/4KTUNKma9YpiSbioeui4pW
Topics: CD Collection | Comments Off on Papa Roach – 2017 – Crooked Teeth (Deluxe)
Tags: 2017, Deluxe Edition, Digipack, Eleven Seven, Papa Roach
Chris Cornell – 2011 – Songbook
By Eric | June 12, 2017 6:00 pm
Artist: Chris Cornell
Title: Songbook
Label: Universal
Released: Nov 21, 2011
Packaging: Jewel Case
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#As Hope and Promise Fade
#Scar On The Sky
#Call Me A Dog
#Ground Zero
#Can’t Change Me
#I Am The Highway
#Thank You
#Cleaning My Gun
#Wide Awake
#Fell On Black Days
#All Night Thing
#Doesn’t Remind Me
#Like A Stone
#Black Hole Sun
#Imagine
#The Keeper
Review:
Topics: CD Collection | Comments Off on Chris Cornell – 2011 – Songbook
Tags: 2011, Chris Cornell, Jewel Case, Standard, Universal