Now For Something Completely Different

Prince
Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA
February 21 & 24, 2011

Talk about building hype: Prince had 3 shows in Oakland, 2 of which were announced only 6 days in advance of the first night. Anyway, I'm sure this post will not sit well with most Metal Kidz, but I don't give a shit. Back in The Day this was my March 1985:

March 3rd: Prince - Purple Rain Tour ($17.50)

March 14th & 15th: Metallica - Ride The Lightning Tour ($10.00)

March 21st: Iron Maiden - Powerslave Tour ($14.50)

Say what you will, but in hindsight here in the 21st Century it was pretty fucking cool to see 3 such historic tours within 18 days of each other like that... and I was open-minded about music for a Metalhead back then. However, quite a few other Old School Bay Area Metalheads are also Prince fans (Gary Holt of Exodus being one of them). So go ahead and call us fags...

Anyway, I ended up seeing 2 of the 3 shows and they were... awesome. No, I don't listen to Prince's music and barely know any songs past his big hits, but he was definitely one of the most talented musicians and performers I've ever witnessed onstage. He embodies old school showmanship, it's like watching James Brown onstage, and his guitar skillz were sublime and blazing; Prince is a legitimate Guitar God. I was surprised how much his guitar playing was featured in the shows and the range of virtuosity he displayed across different styles, from Funk to Soul to Rock, was beyond impressive. The production of the show was also unique, with the stage being in-the-round and shaped like Prince's symbol. Not many performers could pull this off:

The first night had some rough spots, with Prince calling out for monitor adjustments during the opening song... which I found interesting since I was expecting a show like this to be more choreographed. The first night's highlight was an unexpected guest appearance by Carlos Santana, who appeared onstage seemingly from out of nowhere to jam on a version of his song 'Soul Sacrifice'.

Santana... Jamming...

Man, a Prince crowd is fucking LOUD; I've never heard a Metallica crowd that loud. Seriously... and the version of his iconic hit 'Purple Rain' was kind of transcendental. Going into the first night I was halfway expecting the show to be closer to when I saw Celine Dion; a show more about heavy-handed production instead of musicianship. However, I was proven wrong and Prince onstage wasn't much different than when I saw him in 1985. Metalheads, go ahead and call me a fag.

Three days later I found myself back at Oracle Arena... and the closing night performance will definitely be on my Best of 2011 List. First of all, Prince was onstage for 3 hours (an hour longer than the previous shows) and his guitar playing seemed to be even more off the hook than opening night. Pretty much all of the hits were given a run through and at mid-set Larry Graham (original bassist of Sly & the Family Stone) came onstage for versions of the Sly songs 'Everyday People' and 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)'. Given that Sly & the Family Stone were from The Bay Area, the vibe coming off the stage was pretty amazing. Besides having longtime associate (and Oakland native) Sheila E. in his band, Prince also gave shout outs to Oakland often during the shows. It's pretty cool that a performer like Prince was influenced by Bay Area Music in the same way that Metal bands were influenced by the original Bay Area Metal Scene. Yes, it's all connected, man... It really is..

Anyway, these shows were NOT Metal but I was blown away by Prince nonetheless. His level of musicianship combined with showmanship is something you do not see very often here in the 21st Century. Given that he's 52-years old it makes sense that Prince is versed with the same type of Old School Music sensibilities that I grew up with... and THANKS to The Sheriff and to Cable Car for the leg-up into the shows.

Prince... The Guitarist.. starting at around the 3:20 mark.

Scorpions shirts = 1 (on the 1st night). If you bought one of every Prince item you would have paid around $435, although bootleg shirts were being sold outside the venue for $10 with better designs than the official tees. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. No, I'm NOT going to start wearing purple, but I do rank Prince as one of my favorite musicians... but now back to Umlaut's regularly scheduled programming.

Almost Famous

"I will quote you warmly and accurately.." - William in Almost Famous.

Thanks to my friend None But My Own for giving me a heads up about this excerpt from the latest issue of Guitar World magazine:

Click for a larger image..

Guitar World are quoting from something I wrote 4 years ago for Metallica's official fan club publication. However, I never got a call from the magazine's fact checker like in Almost Famous so I couldn't deny everything... HAHA! Hilarious... Although Lars and I were talking on the phone about the movie because we both had Siskel & Ebert on the t.v. as we chatted and they were reviewing it.

We didn't see the movie together as Guitar World says. Otherwise, it's a 100% true story. "Frozen soul, frozen down to the core... Break the ice I can't take anymore.."

A Lament

Man, my old Rock Heroes are falling on a regular basis these days. This morning came the news that Guitar God Gary Moore passed away. Remember when Y&T would cover the Moore song 'You Kiss Me Sweetly' (from his 1979 solo album G-Force) in their 1982 local live sets? Me too.

Waiting For An Alibi 7" Single
(From the Umlaut Archives)

Rest In Peace... and cue my favorite Thin Lizzy song co-written by Moore.

Another Friday Night

Social Distortion
The Warfield, San Francisco
February 4, 2011


Yes, Metal friends, I like Social D... Yes, most of their songs are pretty derivative and the lyrics earnestly cheesy, but I like them because it's all about the delivery. Mike Ness is like an Orange County version of Lemmy... Now, DON'T think that I'm saying Ness is as godlike as Lemmy... I'm just saying that life experiences can make up for many things with a band; if Ness didn't have some credibility behind his songs it would be completely different. Also, for the past 7 years it's been a tradition of sorts that I see Social D with my Music Geek brother The Sheriff... so here we were again.

Tonight was one of those surgically precise shows that make me appreciate my home; it only took me 17 minutes to go from Casa de Umlaut to being parked near The Warfield. Tonight was also the 2nd completely sold out show, which is impressive when you think about how many Rock bands can sell out The Warfield for two nights these days (not very many). Inside it was a very lively Friday night crowd... and our seats gave us the perfect vantage point to watch douchbags beat the crap out of each other.

I can't remember the last time I've seen girls crowd surfing while wearing spike heels. Not to be an Old Fart, but they could poke someone's eye out! Anyway, the set started off really strong with 'Road Zombie' (the opening instrumental off the new album... I think..) that went into 'So Far Away'... and 'Mommy's Little Monster' was particularly good tonight... and for the first 5 or 6 songs I thought that tonight had the makings of one of the best Social D shows that I've seen. The lively Friday night crowd on the floor was going nuts with plenty of entertaining bonehead crowd action and the band were lively and playing great.

However, then Social D went from their full-on Lock 'N Loll mode and downshifted to their slower Old Country-tinged mode... and the transition was bumpy for me because they stayed in that gear for a bit too long. A slowed down version of 'Cold Feelings' was alright but I would have preferred the jacked up Rock version much more. They picked the momentum up a bit with a good version of 'Making Believe' and closed the main set with the standard 'Ring Of Fire'. Stomp, stomp... Clap, clap... said the crowd.

For the encores, Social D lost me when when they brought out a pair of young female back up singers for 2 new songs. In Umlaut's World back up singers are completely unnecessary in a Rock band; added fluff to compensate for a lack of something else in the band. However, the best part of this segment was seeing how uncomfortable the singers looked onstage as the lively Friday night crowd punched and shoved each other in front of them... and once their part was over they seemed to leave the stage a little too quickly ("Get us out of here!"). Then the show closed with the standard 'Story Of My Life'... and I made a quick exit... and then I interrupted a gentleman smoking crack in the parking garage. Sorry, dude..

My winner for bonehead guy down on the floor was the disheveled and bruised dude who had one sleeve of his longsleeve button down shirt ripped completely off; he looked like he'd been in a parking lot brawl. Yeah, Social D attracts alot of douchbags to their shows... Do people still wear Von Dutch?? I guess so...

Number of Motörhead shirts = 2. I was going to do a merch audit but Social D are one of those bands who offer an insane amount of items so I didn't even bother... but bootleg Social D shirts were selling outside for only $5! On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. All in all it was a decent Friday night and a good hang time with The Sheriff... but now it's the weekend! Next..

Groundhog Day

Motörhead
The Warfield, San Francisco
February 2, 2011

Not only was today Groundhog Day, but it was also the 9th Anniversary of the passing of the incomparable Paul Baloff. Bonded By Blood!

(Photo by Umlaut)

Because of this sad Metal anniversary, it was beyond appropriate that Motörhead were playing in The Bay Area tonight. Without going into details, this show was as much about work for Umlaut as it was being a Metalhead. At one point it felt like I was trying to herd cats through a stampede of cattle... but it got better after that... and it was made even better when I was given a meal ticket to eat dinner from the backstage catering... because I was STARVING at that point.

This show was like high school reunion both in the lobby and backstage. There were A TON of Old School Bay Area Metalheads in attendance. A TON... many who I have known for 20+ years. However, sadly I only saw most of them for, like, 10 seconds each because I was usually in the middle of doing something "work-related". Sorry, guys... It was also a "Who's Who" of Bay Area bands who are in Umlaut's record collection with various members of Black Cobra, High On Fire, Machine Head, Metallica, Rancid, and Saviours all being in attendance. I was also introduced to legendary pro skater and recording artist Tommy Guerrero... and there were quite a few of Hell's Angels in the audience as well. Hide the pool cues!

At approximately 10:00pm the houselights went down and the legendary headliners simply walked onstage with zero fanfare and kicked things off with the combination of 'We Are Motörhead' > 'Stay Clean'. According to the Umlaut Archives this was my 14th Motörhead show and part of what I like about seeing them now is that it feels so comfortable. It's comfortable in the same way as when I order my favorite beer at a bar: I know what to expect, I know what I'm getting, it's completely comforting, and it's exactly what I need. Seeing Motörhead live is one of life's reassuring things for me at this point.

Eventually we found ourselves standing at stage left and it was cool to share the experience of being onstage with Motörhead with a couple of friends. Standing onstage with the band is what I imagine standing in front of a jet engine might feel like before you're sucked into it and minced to pieces by the spinning turbines. Dude, even their backline is LOUD.

At one point I found myself standing in between Lars of Rancid and Lars of Metallica as part of a "Lars Sandwich"... and Robb of Machine Head was standing in front of me like the garnish. Anyway...

Dude, the band's new and more recent songs sound so good live! That being said, my Inner Old Fart Motörhead fan was a tiny bit bummed that the older songs they played were mostly the same ones they played on the last tour ('Stay Clean'... 'Over The Top'... 'I Got Mine'... 'Killed By Death'). However, none of that mattered when they launched into 'The Chase Is Better Than The Catch'... which I hadn't witnessed live in awhile... and it was cute standing behind The Drummer of Metallica as he geeked out on the song too.

All good things must come to an end... and the standard final duo of 'Ace Of Spades' and the 'Overkill' encore still work for me. Witnessing Motörhead perform those two songs is sacred shit to me as they are 2 songs that definitely changed my life. When I was an awkward, geeky teenager seeking some kind of individuality and something that I could identify with, Lemmy and Motörhead were there to help fill that void in my young life.

I don't have a whole lot more to say about the night... NOT because it wasn't an awesome night. On the contrary it was one of those nights when my whole life to this point seemed to come together... From the band, to the people who were around me, to just the entire vibe of the night. I guess I'm at a loss for words because Motörhead have been part of my life for so long that I don't have a lot of perspective on them anymore... If that makes any kind of sense?

Oh shit! THE best moment of the night was when Umlaut's old friend Ron Quintana and a copy of Issue #13 of his legendary Metal Mania from 1983 (with a Lemmy cover!) had some quality time with Mr. Kilmister and a Sharpie.

This photo shows the exact moment when the value of Issue #13 spiked.

If you bought one of each Motörhead merch item you would have paid around $500. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. I can't remember the last time I started a year off with concerts by 3 of my all-time favorite bands consecutively: Melvins then Neurosis and now Motörhead. Sometimes life is just too good, man (knock on wood).

Click HERE to see Sensory Abuse's shots from the night!