Eagles of Death Metal

Eagles of Death Metal 8/4/17

It had been almost two years since the last time I saw Eagles of Death Metal when I saw them at Aftershock. The Del Mar horse races have “4 O’Clock Fridays” during the regular race season which includes a free concert after the last race. I usually only go to the races once a year and strategically plan to go when a cool band is playing. This was that occasion.

Larry was actually down to go this time (he bailed on Ministry) so I met him for a couple beers at a stuffy place not meant for lowlifes like ourselves called Red Tracton’s before we headed across the street into the races. I planned on meeting up with Dee, who I had not seen in several months, once inside and ironically right after we came in as I was texting him saw his good buddies Jesse and Julian walking by as I was waiting for Larry to relieve himself. It turns out they were looking for him too and we met up with him just around the corner. After a couple beers and many laughs we made our way toward the stage.

Once we got there I was in shock. The place was empty! I had seen several concerts here and all of them were packed – except this one. I would venture to say that it was about 1/3 capacity. Maybe the band’s name scared people away but I would say they lean way more towards the Eagles than death metal. Their loss. The band was still touring for the now almost two-year-old Zipper Down album and it was on from the start as Jesse “Boots Electric” Hughes took the stage by riding a motorcycle across it. From there the band set the tone by launching into “I Only Want You.” I knew the universe was with us when we got away with smoking a joint despite security guards walking by every five minutes. Boots made a point of this being the only time he played a horse track and said he had lots of family there at the show. He also made a point of saying guitarist Dave Catching’s name a dozen plus times. Dave is all ZZ Top beard, no face and killed it on his Flying V, especially on a fantastic cover of David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream.” Maybe it was the pot but I had not noticed how good of a guitar player Boots was until this time seeing him. The female pigtailed bass player that Dee had a crush on and the drummer held down the rhythm section quite well also. I really wanted to hear “Cherry Cola” and the band obliged. One other memorable moment was when they started playing “Save a Prayer.” I could not figure out why everyone except for me was singing along with this song yet I somehow felt like I knew it. Then I said, “Is this Duran Duran?” to which I was greeted with a look I can only describe as “DUH!” (Full Disclaimer: I do not actually own Zipper Down and apparently have been living under a rock for the last two years.) Overall they crushed it. No Homme on drums and Boots did not really hit the high notes but crushed it. The exit in a King’s robe was a nice touch as well.

SETLIST: I Only Want You, Don’t Speak (I Came to Make a Bang!), Complexity, Save A Prayer, Whorehoppin’ (Shit, Goddamn), Silverlake (K.S.O.F.M.), Cherry Cola, The Reverend, I Like to Move in the Night, Secret Plans, Flames Go Higher, Wannabe in L.A., Heart On/I Love You All The Time, Moonage Daydream, I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News), Speaking In Tongues

Aftershock 10/25/15

This morning was the very definition of a value buzz. I think I drank about half a light beer before I was buzzing again. Which means it took me about another two before I was closing in on full retard…at about 8:30 am. Thank god for the motherly instincts of Marvin, who ventured out of the campground and brought back breakfast burritos for the gang. Life saver. I was right as rain after our “campsite” neighbors came over and smoked me out. From our site we could hear Faith No More doing their sound check, which was pretty awesome but they kept playing “Midlife Crisis” right up to the climax and then stopping. At least we knew they would be playing it later.

The first band I cared about today was Eagles of Death Metal. Even though I had seen them twice before, the first time was only for a partial set (see Street Scene 9/20/08) and both times were without Josh Homme behind the drum kit. Not that the music had crazy drum beats or that Homme was a virtuoso drummer, but I respect him immensely as a musician from Queens of the Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures (essentially another QOTSA album with better backing musicians). They rocked and seemed like they truly enjoyed being there playing these songs for everyone.

Next up I got to see Red Fang for the first time. All it took for me to like this band was hearing the song “Wires,” which Joe turned me on to. This band was exactly what I was looking for and I was hooked after that. Rock and Roll pure and simple. Generally I prefer to see bands at their own headlining shows because they can “stretch out” and play a longer set instead of 45 minutes to an hour. One thing I do like about these festivals besides the value of so many bands for one price at one time is that the stage setup is usually stark and devoid of crazy props which allows the focus to be on power of the music. Red Fang did not need much of a production and I cannot imagine that they would have had one even if I would have seen them at a small venue by themselves.

After that was Stone Temple Pilots…sort of. It was STP but with Chester Bennington from Linkin Park singing. I LOVE Stone Temple Pilots and I like Linkin Park so I was not opposed to this arrangement but I obviously knew going in that it would not be the same as with Scott Weiland. I just looked at it like I was going to see the best STP cover band that existed. We all sang along to the songs that we loved and let a spade be a spade.

Onward to the setting sun for my third privilege of seeing Jane’s Addiction. I am not a giant Jane’s fan but they are always enjoyable to see because Perry Farrell is just the right amount of nut to make a great frontman, Dave Navarro is a guitar guru and Stephen Perkins is a monster on the drums.

Deftones played next and I must say that I think at this point I was starting to drift away to drunk island because I have no photo evidence of the show from this point on. Maybe I was just feeling it so much that I could not be bothered to distract myself from the show. I think I have seen the Deftones more than any other band (have you read the rest of the blog?) but they are always great to see. True road warriors that are no strangers to the stage. I don’t remember this set being particularly on the heavy side as far as the music was concerned. They have super heavy songs and more dreamy atmospheric-type songs and I feel like they leaned more towards the latter.

Faith No More closed out the entire festival and were the band I most looked forward to on this day. I had just seen them for the first time back in April and since then had only fallen more in love with the album Sol Invictus. The song “Sunny Side Up” had become sort of an inside joke between Joe and I and we could not stop singing that shit to each other the whole trip. The stage setup and set list were pretty darn identical to the time we saw them in April but the new songs were much more familiar at this point. I wish they would have played “Cone of Shame” or “Last Cup of Sorrow” but like the Rolling Stones said you can’t always get what you want. The song “Epic” still holds up and somehow sounds even more fierce after all these times the band has been forced to play it. There was also a pretty funny moment after they played “Midlife Crisis” when they broke into the song “End of the Road” by Boyz 2 Men. Funny Fuckers.

Rob Zombie’s Great American Nightmare 11/2/13

Rob Zombie’s Great American Nightmare was billed as the ultimate Halloween music and horror event that was set to run every Thursday through Sunday from October 10^th to November 2^nd at the Fairplex (redubbed FEARplex) in Pomona. Each night featured music performances and the grand finale on closing night was Rob Zombie headlining with Powerman 5000 and Eagles of Death Metal opening. Each ticket also came with access to three haunted house attractions based on Zombie’s films.

Bob drove Marvin, Ken, and I to meet up with Jason at the shithole Pomona motel fairly close to the Fairplex grounds that we were staying at. This was one of those classy places where the person checking us in was behind bulletproof glass. They must have had party problems in the past because we were grilled about partying and there were prominent “No Parties” signs everywhere. We argued a loophole since were technically just pre-gaming…

Immediately upon entry we were spit out into The Great American Nightmare’s “Blood Boulevard” that lead to the haunted houses and was laced with food and beverage vendors, a DJ, classic horror films being played and freak show characters roaming about. It was nice that the haunted houses were included with admission but the lines were so long that we would have had to miss one of the bands to enter.

A few beers later and we were in to see Powerman 5000. This was only my third time seeing them and the last time ironically enough was on Halloween of 2003. Spider was the only band member left from those days, which definitely contributed to me not seeing them since 2003. They were good and thankfully for the most part stuck to “older” stuff since I was unfamiliar with anything after Transform.

It was about four songs deep into Powerman’s set that Jason and Ken got into a scuffle. We were hugged up against a wall to our right and the next thing I know some chaos started to my left. I did not think twice about it until five minutes later I looked over and saw Ken flying through the air with fists of fury. Everything quickly dissipated but another five minutes after that Ken came up to me and said, “Dude Jason got popped good. They kicked him out, won’t let him back in and he possibly needs medical attention.” I walked to the back of the venue to see Jason pleading his case to be let back in even though he had this look about him like he did not quite know where he was. Apparently someone was fucking with Marvin so Ken grabbed a guy by the neck and Jason was in the wrong place at the wrong time. No matter the amount of pleading they were not letting Jason back in so Ken joined him outside since he felt partially responsible.

Eagles of Death Metal were on next. I was excited to see them again because the only other time I saw them was the partial set I saw at Street Scene in 2008. Still no Homme on the drums but these guys were a perfect in-between for Powerman 5000 and Rob Zombie because they are more of a feel good brand of rock and roll.

Before this concert I saw Rob Zombie twice with White Zombie and three times after he went solo, but the last time had been 11 years prior to this at Ozzfest 2002 so this was my first time seeing with John 5. John 5 is one of my favorite guitarists from his stint in Marilyn Manson so I was pretty excited for this. Irony struck again because Ginger Fish also used to play with John 5 in Marilyn Manson but was now the full-time drummer for Zombie. Rob Zombie was the only one out of the night’s lineup that actually had newer music to pedal, having released the excellent Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor album six months before this. Getting to see “I, Zombie” live again was the shit. After we somehow all made it out alive and un-arrested we reconvened at a nearby 24-hour breakfast joint to celebrate another “successful” outing.

SETLIST: Teenage Nosferatu Pussy, Superbeast, Meet the Creeper, I, Zombie, Living Dead Girl, The Star-Spangled Banner, We’re An American Band, More Human Than Human, Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown, House of 1000 Corpses, American Witch, Scum of the Earth, Enter Sandman, Thunder Kiss ’65, The Lords of Salem, Dragula

Street Scene 9/20/08

After having Street Scene in the parking lot of Qualcomm Stadium in 2005 and 2006, followed by a move to the amphitheater in Chula Vista for 2007 it was time to bring the festival back to it’s roots on the streets of downtown San Diego. For the money the lineup was for the most part pretty blah to me with one glaring exception: Eagles of Death Metal. Since the drummer was none other than Mr. Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age fame I was on board that train immediately after the first album was released. I liked that the band name included death metal but the music sounded nothing like death metal. The same sense of humor gave a fun feeling to some really well crafted songs. Fast forward four years and Eagles of Death Metal were on the verge of releasing their third album Heart On and I had still not seen them live.

This was Day Two of the festival and I want to say single day tickets were about $65. A little steep to see a shorter set from one band you really like. Cue Craigslist. I found a gal willing to sell me a ticket for much less and meet me at the entrance. I was very clear with her that I was only concerned about seeing one band that started at 8:30 and so as long as she met me before then everything would be cool. My cab came earlier than expected so I got there a little earlier than our meeting time which meant I was able to see but mostly just hear Ghostland Observatory since they were playing at the stage nearest the entrance. Ben had introduced to this band to me and I had taken a liking to their song “Piano Man.” Back to the real reason I was there, I called the gal and she said she was on her way. The time kept creeping near 8:30 and still no gal. 8:30 passed and now I was pissed. I called to tell the gal to forget it and she pleaded “but I’m on my way.” Too late, literally. By now I had missed two songs of an already shortened set so I bit the bullet and paid the fucking ATM fees on top of a full priced ticket and got my ass to that stage as quickly as I could. To add insult to injury there was no Homme. In his place was Joey from Queens of the Stone Age so all was well. “Feel good rock” is a good way to describe their music. It has a very danceable quality to it and Jesse Hughes actually dancing to the music as he was performing was too infectious for the entire crowd to not be feeling it too. Well worth the dough to hear the live versions of “I Only Want You,” “Speaking In Tongues,” and “Whorehoppin’ (Shit, Goddamn)” though I am certain out of everyone in attendance I was at the festival the least amount of time.

EODM-SS