Thrashy

Lamb Of God / Killswitch Engage / Testament / Huntress
The Fox Theater, Oakland, California
November 9, 2013

YES I'm behind with this blog thing and NO I haven't really been motivated to write recently for some reason.  Anyway, this show was over a week ago and it was pretty chilly that night and I should have worn a heavier jacket.  Before the show Photo Ray and I fueled up at Rudy's Can't Fail before diving into the potential drama that can be the guest list at Will Call.  Long story short, if only all shows were this easy:

Before entering The Fox I had a long overdue drink and catch up session with my Murder In The Front Row co-author / brother Harald O. at a nearby bar that I'd been to before but had completely forgotten about.  Then I found myself inside The Fox watching the last songs of the Huntress set.  Oddly, I had not seen Huntress before... although I had seen the singer in a Metal cover band called Chelsea Girls several years ago in Vegas.  Huntress were not awful and I appreciate how their music is based on Classic Metal, but I will offer the opinion that a song like 'I Want To Fuck You To Death' sung by a witchy woman in a leotard and cape might cause people to pigeonhole the band into a certain stereotype.  Just saying..

During the changeover there was a nice mellow social scene in the VIP area with a few friends as well as 1/2 of Machine Head.  I was kind of surprised there weren't more familiar faces in attendance, especially since it was a Saturday night. However, given that we were in downtown Oakland the local vibe was in full effect.. something that Mr. Robb Flynn commented on as well. 

Anyway, local heroes and legends Testament were up next and it pains me to see them playing so far down on bills like this.  Eight songs and 40 minutes for the longest running and most influential band playing tonight?!  Also, I can't remember the last time Testament actually played inside Oakland city limits.  Of course, they destroyed their hometown with the newer song 'Native Blood' being my fave of the set.  However, given the brief time onstage, it was a classics heavy setlist with 4 songs from The New Order album alone and 'Over The Wall' closing things out.  Then it was "Thankyougoodnight!" and Testament disappeared into their hometown night to be with family and friends before leaving for the next city in the morning.

Uhh, the last time I saw Killswitch Engage they had a different singer and that one guitarist wore a cape onstage and told jokes about having sex with underage girls. I think I'm too old to *get* Killswitch so I'll just leave it at that.  So while they entertained the kidz I had a nice conversation with my good friends a cold beer, Photo Ray, and Nikki Blakk in the bar during their set.  Since The Fox has an in-house video system that's shown on the big screens in the bar, I can at least say I saw Killswitch tonight.

Last but not least, the heirs to the Pantera crown Lamb Of God exploded onstage and I'm sure there was a guy wearing a Pantera shirt in the pit trying to start a fight.  LOG's production was not unlike the recent Megadeth staging that was heavy on video projected behind them on screens behind the backline.  Honesty is my only excuse:  The only song I wanted to hear was 'Walk With Me In Hell' and they blasted that out as the 3rd song of the set.  LOG should headline a Beards of Metal Tour; fake beards could be sold at the merch stands so the entire crowd could participate.

If you bought one of every Lamb Of God merch item you would have paid around $260.  On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag.  Then 5 days later it was...  

Kreator / Overkill / Warbringer
The Fillmore, San Francisco
November 14, 2013 

Honesty is my only excuse:  The main reason I was interested in going out tonight was because it was a rare Metal show at The Fillmore.  There's so much history in the space and it's my favorite hometown venue... and if only all shows were this easy:

I've seen Warbringer several times and they are good at the retro Thrash thing... but I'd like them more if the singer didn't talk to the crowd in his Metal character voice in between songs.  The voice sounds silly... and Baloff didn't have to use a character voice onstage..  but I'm nitpicking because they are one of the better younger bands who dress like we did back in The Day.

The fact this show was at The Fillmore was surprising because the last time Overkill were scheduled to play in San Francisco the show was cancelled due to tepid ticket sales.  However, tonight the old school New Jersey veterans made up for it by playing one of the best sets I've seen them play in these parts... but they didn't play 'Wrecking Crew'.. which I thought was odd.  There were a lot of kidz in the house tonight and it was cool to see them respond to Overkill like it was 1987 again.  I watched the set from the lazy person's spot in the VIP balcony. I noticed a guy in a wheelchair heroically pushing himself around the pit.  After one time around a random guy started pushing him and then another guy helped out.  They ran into people like a careening car on a busy street going the wrong way but no one cared.  I got teary-eyed watching it.  A Metal band of brothers!  Yes, I was a hypocritical jerk for being up in the balcony while those kidz kept it real... but I salute them.

After Overkill I went to the bar and ran into Tom Hunting of Exodus.  Then, after a longish changeover, those veteran German thrashers Kreator returned to a San Francisco stage. At this point Umlaut was a bit punchy from a long work day, but the German's set pretty much went like this the entire time:

Video courtesy of Umlaut's iPhone

Yes, they played 'Pleasure To Kill'.  Despite my fear earlier in the evening that the show would not be well attended, the floor of The Fillmore ended up being decently full and action packed.  There were enough young kidz in attendance to give the floor action some good energy.  It wasn't one of those Old Metal shows where it's just 45-year old men shoving each other and calling it a pit.  All in all an unexpectedly great show!

I was lazy and didn't do a merch audit.  On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag.  Although I didn't do a merch audit there was some juicy merch drama tonight:  Overkill have a different shirt for every night on this tour specific to each city.  Pretty cool, right?  Unfortunately, evidently there are certain rules of conduct when using a venue's name on merch (I might or might not know about this...) and, long story short, Overkill were not able to sell the San Francisco event tee.. which was pretty cool:

Tee pics courtesy of Alan Ralph

Since I may or may not know something about this, I'm disappointed that Overkill's merch person didn't sell the tees outside the venue after the band's set.  Oh well... Anyway, such is the drama behind the scenes at some of your favorite concerts, kidz.

48 Hours Of Mayhem

Mayhem Tour
Sleep Train Amphitheatre, Marysville, CA
July 10, 2009

A Metal Road Trip with Umlaut's music journalist friends Photo Ray and Hard Rock Chick (HRC)!! SPECIAL! Sometimes arriving early at a big festival seems like a good idea until you actually do it... especially when you have to travel over 100 miles to bumfuck Marysville and its scorched Earth Summer heat. I think the weather forecast for the day was "blow torch with a chance of lava.." I was too fried from spending all day under the hot Marysville White Trash Summer Sun to do a "proper" review of this day, so I'm simply going to do a Harper's Index style list:

• Times I heard a band say "pit" or "circle pit" to the audience = 7
• Swastika tattoos = 3
• Unicorn tattoos = 1

The Black Dahlia Murder: They used the Ewok 'Yub Nub Song' from Return Of The Jedi as their intro tape. NOT Metal...

Behemoth: I was half expecting the Poles to melt under the intense heat of the afternoon, but their Black Metal makeup didn't run and they blasted through a great set. However, I have to admit it was almost more entertaining seeing them backstage afterwards sans makeup... and I know HRC will agree with me.

Bullet For My Valentine: My 4th time seeing the Welsh Rock Stars and I still like them despite the fact they tend to remind me of my past professional history. No, Bullet are not Emo despite their name... and '4 Words (To Choke Upon)' is still a good song. Does that make me a Poser? Oh well...

Cannibal Corpse: This was the best set of the day for pure uncut Metal brutality; the pit action was intense and magnified by the heat like ants under a magnifying glass. At one point it was obvious someone was down in The Pit, but it took forever for the medical staff to arrive with a stretcher and fight their way to the injured. It was the only time during the day that the intensity of the crowd matched the intensity of the music.. cue 'Fucked With A Knife'.

Killswitch Engage: I watched their set on the t.v. monitors in the VIP bar... unlike the last time I saw them, at least the guitarist didn't brag about being a pedophile in between songs.. but I can't imagine they were much better in person versus the t.v. monitors. Plus, they somehow think it's cool to wear those novelty t-shirts with a tuxedo printed on the front onstage.. NOT Metal.

Slayer: The masters opened with 'God Hates Us All' > 'War Ensemble'... AND they're playing 'Ghosts Of War' on this tour! Despite the GA floor, this was probably the tamest Slayer crowd I've ever seen; about 1/2 of the people around me were sitting down! WTF... but the band's solid 60 minute set was awesome as usual.. There were no Marshall cabinets arranged into upside down crosses onstage this time, but they made up for it with FIRE:

Slayer!! Fire!
(Vid by Umlaut)

I've been following Slayer since Day One... and I still love them long time. Awww...

(Sidebar: Umlaut needs to upgrade his point & shoot camera to one with (1) a better microphone that can handle high volume levels and (2) one that is good with low light situations sans flash. If anyone has brand / model suggestions please e-mail me!)

Marilyn Manson: I completely missed his set because Paschke invited me to visit the Angel Of Death's tour bus with him, where that band's new album was played for us. Yes, it's FUCKING GREAT!!!

For the second time within a week this concert was also punctuated by a weird encounter with an "ex" from my professional life... which was a bit awkward.. but it was a good thing I had business cards with me. Fook 'em.

Holy shite, the drive back from bumfuck Marysville is brutal... Cheers to Photo Ray for driving; I owe you one! I didn't even bother doing a merch audit. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. As I pulled off the freeway towards Casa de Umlaut my normal route was blocked by some heavy police activity around the local gas station... Friday Night Crimes!

Mayhem Tour
Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
July 11, 2009



Since I wanted to coordinate my arrival with some colleagues, I was able to hang out and chill at Casa de Umlaut for most of the afternoon. Although the previous day had been good, this was a different Mayhem experience than bumfuck Marysville.. It was a more relaxed day for me, mainly because some underlying professional drama that had distracted me in bumfuck Marysville was basically resolved in Mountain View. Longtime readers know that I live to see concerts, but I can't remember the last time I was in such a good mood at a show. Anyway, here's the long and the short of the day from my perspective:

Behemoth: I arrived too late to see their set, but as I entered the backstage common area the Poles were eating sans makeup. I was taken aback that these beings, who appear to be inhuman Metal Gods onstage, eat common food like mere mortals and even use common human eating utensils. Shocking...

Job For A Cowboy: They're not necessarily bad, but I've never been able to get past their name...

Trivium: I've never liked this band, even when they were helping to pay my mortgage... and I thought it was funny that the bassist is all short-haired and GQ now when he used to try so hard to be Metal.

Bullet For My Valentine: While attempting to get to the side of the stage to watch Bullet's set we had to deal with a clueless venue security person who didn't understand the meaning of "All Access". However, Bullet's set paled in comparison to their bassist's chick stalking moves later that night...

Cannibal Corpse: My Harper's Index of things thrown during CC's insane 40 minute set:

• Beers, Bottles, and/or Drinks: 16
  
• Cell Phones: 1
• Garbage Cans: 3
  
• Hats: 10
  
• Jackets: 2
  
• Lit Packs of Firecrackers: 2
• Shirts: 3
  
• Shoes: 10

(Pic by Umlaut)

Dude, the crowd was out of control!! It was the only time during the day that the intensity of the crowd matched the intensity of the music.. cue 'Fucked With A Knife'.

Killswitch Engage: I watched their set on the t.v. monitors in the Angel Of Death's dressing room... but I can't imagine they were much better in person versus the t.v. monitors. Plus, they somehow think it's cool to wear those novelty t-shirts with a tuxedo printed on the front onstage.. NOT Metal.

Note: At this point I must give a HUGE THANKS to HRC for upgrading me to the 3rd row!

Slayer: They say a picture is worth 1,000 words... well here is one thousand words about Slayer from this night..

Kerry King amid fire and smoke onstage from the 3rd row
(Pic by Umlaut)

I can't remember the last time I watched Slayer from this close with the volume from the PA moving my clothes.. According to the Umlaut Archives this was at least my 17th time seeing Slayer dating back to 1984... and I'm pretty sure I said "Amazing!" out loud after almost every song.. with the set closing sprint of 'Angel Of Death' > 'South Of Heaven' > 'Raining Blood' being one of the highlights of my year. In addition to my senses being assaulted from the stage, my head was spinning (in a good way) about the professional drama that had basically been resolved during the day. I actually got kind of emotional as I thought about that drama and the juxtaposition of it with fucking Slayer being onstage right in front of me again. Yes, I'm the type of sensitive guy who can get emotional about Slayer. Does that make me a pussy? If so, then let me be guilty..

Marilyn Manson: I hadn't seen Manson live in 12 years and was not planning to watch his entire set, but since I found myself in the 3rd row I got caught up in the moment. I suppose Manson is trying to create theater onstage, and since I was in such a good mood I went with it. Some of the shtick was silly of course, like having a roadie give him a bottle of water, take only ONE sip every time, and then either throw it down or give / toss it to someone in the front row; I regret not counting how many times he did that. Kudos to any of the Manson Kidz in the front row who got one of the water bottles;they now have some Manson DNA for their collection and / or Ebay.

Manson amid confetti and smoke from the 3rd row
(Pic by Umlaut)

There were also a couple of "wardrobe people" onstage who would alternately bring Manson different stage clothes or props and / or an oxygen tank so he could take a hit. Silly.. but in the end I was surprised that I actually enjoyed his set, although I only knew 2 songs.

For the third time within a week this concert was also punctuated by a weird encounter with an "ex" from my professional life... which was a bit awkward.. but it was a good thing I had business cards with me. Fook 'em.

Then it was time to go home and sleep! I didn't do a merch audit again. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. As I started the drive back to Casa de Umlaut, my iPod on shuffle played 'South Of Heaven'. So... fucking... perfect.. Dude, the lyrics perfectly reflect events that are going on in Umlaut's World right now. To quote the mighty Slayer:

"An unforeseen future nestled somewhere in time..
Unsuspecting victims, no warnings, no signs..
Judgement Day, the second coming arrives..."

Amen.