Paul McCartney 9/28/14

Paul McCartney

When I was younger all that came to mind when I used to think about the Beatles were the happy ass days of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You.” Then I heard the Magical Mystery Tour album when I was well into my twenties and I was blown away. Game changer. I had no idea about the other side of the Beatles I was missing out on. This newfound appreciation was kind of fun because whenever the state of new music became stale I would just delve into another Beatles album. I guess growing up I was more exposed to Wings and Paul McCartney solo stuff but never really cognitively paid much attention to any of it until I fully got into the Beatles.

Needless to say when you get a chance to see a Beatle you take it. Paul McCartney was technically touring for his 16th solo album New that was released less than a year before this. Not only is this guy a LEGEND and a knight but he is also a fucking champ. He played nearly 40 songs and nailed every one of them. “And I Love Her,” “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” Band on the Run,” “Hi, Hi, Hi,” and “Helter Skelter” would have been worth the price of admission alone.

I do not remember the circumstances of why Kyle and I ended up with a shitty ticket but we did. Our seats were facing a wall on the side of the stage so we had to watch the show being projected onto said wall instead of having any direct line of sight to the actual stage. It did suck at one point when the projector stopped working for a couple songs but I was just happy to be in the presence of Macca and we could hear everything from where we were at perfectly. Meanwhile Ingrid and her cousin Shawn were somewhere else in the crowd with an actual vantage point having an entirely different experience paralyzed by the weed muffins they had eaten…

SETLIST: Eight Days a Week, Save Us, All My Loving, Listen to What the Man Said, Let Me Roll It, Paperback Writer, My Valentine, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five, The Long and Winding Road, Maybe I’m Amazed, I’ve Just Seen a Face, We Can Work It Out, Another Day, And I Love Her, Blackbird, Here Today, New, Queenie Eye, Lady Madonna, All Together Now, Lovely Rita, Everybody Out There, Eleanor Rigby, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!, Something, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Band on the Run, Back in the U.S.S.R., Let It Be, Live and Let Die, Hey Jude, Day Tripper, Hi, Hi, Hi, Get Back, Yesterday, Helter Skelter, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, The End

McCOut TherePaul-McCartney-NEW

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Nine Inch Nails/Soundgarden 8/21/14

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As soon as Soundgarden announced a co-headlining tour with Nine Inch Nails it was not a matter of if I was going to see it, it was a matter of when, where and with who. Joe was quick to call me after the announcement and suggest we go to one of the dates together, which was super cool since I had not seen him for a little while. Even better he suggested coming down to San Diego and bringing Claude along for the ride as well.

After much anticipation the day finally came and we of course took it upon ourselves to start drinking beer fairly early in the afternoon. I decided to have an Uber SUV pick us up and then go pick up Bob and Ken separately on the way, which ended up being about $100 since the amphitheater is way down in Chula Vista. We got our money’s worth by drinking the entire way and taking over the stereo to blast Pantera at full volume. The poor Uber driver did not strike me as a Pantera fan and could not wait to get us out of his ride. Once we got dropped off we met up with Tom and had more beer in the parking lot. Add double fisting free tall boys courtesy of Tom’s friend Manny to the equation once we got inside the amphitheater and it’s a wonder any of us remember anything. There are certain friends that tend to feed off of each other and push drinking to the extreme and these were those friends.

This was the third time I had the pleasure of seeing Soundgarden. Unfortunately Matt Cameron bowed out of the tour due to prior commitments with Pearl Jam but whoever they had fill in got the job done. Surprisingly they only played one song from King Animal despite that being their newest album. Most of the songs they played were from Badmotorfinger and Superunknown and I later realized that this tour happened to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Superunknown.

SETLIST: Searching With My Good Eye Closed, Spoonman, Flower, Outshined, Jesus Christ Pose, Black Hole Sun, The Day I Tried to Live, My Wave, Blow Up the Outside World, Fell on Black Days, A Thousand Days Before, Rusty Cage, Beyond the Wheel

Nine Inch Nails was touring for the album Hesitation Marks that had been out for almost exactly a year to the day and I had not seen them in a little more than five years. It was fitting that Robin Finck aka “Lizard Man” was back with the band because of the experience I had with these same people at the Gorge. He certainly adds another level to the show with his badassery. Nine Inch Nails shows are sensory overload and this show was no exception. I found this setlist online but I swear they played “Reptile.”

SETLIST: Copy of A, Sanctified, Came Back Haunted, 1,000,000, March of the Pigs, Piggy, Terrible Lie, Closer, Gave Up, Disappointed, Find My Way, The Great Destroyer, Eraser, Wish, The Hand That Feeds, Head Like a Hole, Hurt

 

Chevelle 7/9/14

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Chevelle is a touring machine and now they were back in San Diego to promote their three-month-old album La Gargola. It had been almost two years since they redeemed themselves at Epicenter and reminded me why I love this band. It was awesome to see “Take Out the Gunman,” “An Island” and “”Hunter Eats Hunter” for the first time live but outside of that there is not much that sticks out in my memory of this show. Chevelle consistently delivers a no-frills rocking concert and that is just fine by me.

SETLIST: The Clincher, Grab Thy Hand, Send the Pain Below, Sleep Apnea, Take Out the Gunman, An Island, Closure, Forfeit, Vitamin R (Leading Us Along), Envy, Hunter Eats Hunter, Hats Off to the Bull, I Get It, The Red, Comfortable Liar, Face to the Floor

 

Local H 5/28/14

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I was so impressed by Local H the last time I saw them a little over a year ago that I could not wait to see them again. They played at an intimate now defunct little dive bar type place in Normal Heights called the Hideout that I would estimate held about 80 people tops.

We arrived earlier than necessary due to some bad information, which was a good excuse to grab some beers and watch the opening band Bad Veins. Not bad but also not Local H. During the Bad Veins set Bob accidentally spilled beer all over a plastic tub, which ended up being where all the Local H t-shirts were stored. We found this out when Scott came over and had to clean up the spilled beer to get inside the tub where many of the shirts were now wet. He was visibly annoyed/pissed off (more so than usual) but did not know who caused this ruckus.

All I can say is that I would gladly spill beer all over his t-shirts every time if I could because it may have slightly contributed to an intensely seething performance. Drummer Brian St. Clair had left the band after the last time we saw Local H so this was our first time seeing drummer Ryan Harding who had only been the drummer for about six months. They quite simply crushed it. A small venue that holds maybe 80 people + loud ass Local H = fucking amazing.

We felt bad for ruining the shirts so I told Bob we had to buy one. Scott mans his own t-shirt sales so I got to say thanks for rocking when I bought a cool one with a Superman style logo…that ended up being too small. Karma is a bitch.

SETLIST: Buffalo Trace, Deep Cut, The Misanthrope, Eddie Vedder, Chicago Fanphair ’93, The One With ‘Kid’, Hands on the Bible, California Songs, Taxi-Cabs, Another February, Team, All-Right (Oh, Yeah), “Cha!” Said the Kitty, Fritz’s Corner, One of Us, Heroes, Bound for the Floor, What Would You Have Me Do?, High-Fiving MF, Heavy Metal Bakesale

 

Toadies 3/20/14

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My birthday came two days late in the year 2014 when Toadies played a show at Belly Up to celebrate the 20th Anniversary for their album Rubberneck. My very first show at the Belly Up was Toadies back in 2008 and I had not seen them since about a year after that show. I somehow convinced Ingrid to come with me despite the show falling on a Thursday (I think it was because of my birthday). This was a rare time when I actually saw the opening band, which on this night was Supersuckers. They were good but it would not have mattered how good they were because I was chomping at the bit to see Toadies.

I was so stoned I could not move or talk, just soak in the songs from a classic album in the same sequence as they appeared on the album. These songs have been on rotation ever since I got the album in 1994 so I think it is fair to say they have withstood the test of time. Vaden’s voice and the rest of the band sounded as fresh as the first time I heard the songs come out of speakers 20 years before this. After they played all of Rubberneck in sequence they took a little break and came back to play a full second set that included a pretty awesome cover of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.” Do yourself a favor and go see Toadies.

SETLIST: Mexican Hairless, Mister Love, Backslider, Possum Kingdom, Quitter, Away, I Come From the Water, Tyler, Happy Face, Velvet, I Burn

Push the Hand, Song I Hate, Little Sin, No Deliverance, Summer of the Strange, Heart of Glass, Dollskin, Rattler’s Revival, Stop It, Sweetness, Hell In High Water

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Stone Sour 2/6/14

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Stone Sour cemented their place as one of my favorite bands with the release of the double album House of Gold & Bones Parts 1 and 2. These albums were released roughly five months apart and by this point Part 2 had been out for about 10 months. I had not seen Stone Sour for almost three and a half years so a little trip to the closest tour stop at the House of Blues Disneyland in Anaheim was not about to stop me from seeing these new songs live.

The excitement soon turned into actual sourness when suddenly not long before this show for no exact reason given Jim Root was kicked out of Stone Sour. This was really strange since they were touring an album that he had a large hand in writing and he was still in Slipknot with Corey Taylor. Due to this unexpected twist this was my first time seeing the band with Christian Martucci.

I convinced Bob to go and Ken to not only go, but drive us in his Toyota Yaris hatchback aka “the Rollerskate.” Being six foot one cramped in the backseat of that thing, eating Del Taco for dinner (I hate Del Taco) and not being able to drink a whole lot due to having to work the next day kind of drew a parallel to the show we were about to watch – it was passable but not ideal. Don’t get me wrong the show was very enjoyable but it just seemed to be missing a certain something or in this case a certain somebody. Christian Martucci filled in nicely for Jim Root but there were little nuances that were just different which made for a slightly different vibe. The “Crreping Death” cover was unexpectedly awesome and the new songs passed the live test, especially “Gravesend” and the one/two punch of “Gone Sovereign” and “Absolute Zero” to end the show.

SETLIST: The House of Gold & Bones, RU486, Say You’ll Haunt Me, Black John, Inhale, Made of Scars, Mission Statement, The Travelers, Pt. 1, Tired, Through Glass, Gravesend, 30/30-150, Nutshell, Bother, Do Me A Favor, Creeping Death, Gone Sovereign, Absolute Zero

 

 

Philip Anselmo and the Illegals 1/18/14

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Philip H. Anselmo was keeping himself busy with multiple projects dating back to the days before Pantera was even over. The only times I had ever seen Phil was once with Pantera and twice with Down and the last time was over six years before this. Phil was now touring for his first solo album Walk Through Exits Only that was released on 7/16/13.

This show was a perfect excuse to make a trip to Portland because I could combine it with seeing my family since I had not seen them for Christmas. Even better this show was a rare Saturday concert and rumor had it that there would be an equally rare Jack sighting, who I had not seen in years (he kind of falls of the map for awhile and resurfaces every once and again).

After a night in nearby Salem with my family I met up with Joe, Jack and Claude for one too many delicious Rubinators from Baghdad. When I lived in Portland the Hawthorne Theater did not exist as a music venue. Sitting on the corner of Hawthorne and 39th since 1919 it had went through quite a few incarnations over the years including an art gallery/headshop the entire time I lived there. One step into the 500 person capacity theater and it was clear that this was what the place should have been the whole time. It was also clear that this place was about to get rowdy as fuck.

I cannot tell you who opened or if there was even an opening band at all. What I can tell you is that place was insane from the first note of Phil’s band to the last and not just because I was one of the drunkest guys there. They tore the roof off that place. Obviously the biggest crowd response came from the Pantera songs played but it was also cool to hear some of the Superjoint Ritual songs.

An interesting sidenote is that for some reason I decided to wear a plaid flannel shirt instead of the standard issue black t-shirt that literally everyone else was wearing. Apparently this rubbed one guy standing near the bar in the back the wrong way because every time I would go back there to get a beer, which was frequently, I noticed this guy mad dogging me. I finally went up to him and said, “what’s your problem man?” He shrugged me off but apparently went up to Joe later and said, “Your friend in the plaid over there? He’s a faggot!” Joe started laughing in his homophobic face and walked away. We still laugh about that moment to this day.

SETLIST: Black Houses, Hellbound, Betrayed, Walk Through Exits Only, Death Rattle, Fuck Your Enemy, Battalion of Zero, Usurper Bastard’s Rant, Bedridden, XXXXXXXX, Family, “Friends” and Associates, Ugly Mug, XXXXXXXXXX, Irrelevant Walls and Computer Screens, Domination, Waiting for the Turning Point, A New Level, Primal Concrete Sledge