H09909

Aftershock 10/12/19

Aftershock 10:12:19

Larry departed first thing this morning and the rest of us woke up still a little buzzed from the day before. I wanted to get something in me before the hangover set in and sometimes beer does not always go down easy in this situation so when Ken said he was going to the store I requested a bottle of Jager or Fireball but because Ken is Ken we ended up with a bottle of both.

H09909 was the first band on the bill for the day that I wanted to check out based on me seeing the end of their set a few years back when they opened for Ministry. They were alright but for some reason we just were not feeling it.

Stone Temple Pilots was up next. The last time I saw Stone Temple Pilots was at this very festival four years ago with Chester Bennington singing. Fast forward to 2019 and now sadly both Chester and Scott Weiland are dead but the other guys in the band wanted to move on so I was naturally curious to see how well STP Version 3.0 would sound with the new singer Jeff Gutt. It turns out not so bad. Gutt’s voice is more suited to these songs than Chester’s ever was and he never seemed to try to imitate the massive personality that Scott was.

SETLIST: Down, Wicked Garden, Vasoline, Big Bang Baby, Big Empty, Plush, Interstate Love Song, Roll Me Under, Dead & Bloated, Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart, Sex Type Thing

Had it really been three years since I last saw Marilyn Manson? Yes and ironically enough it was when they opened for Slipknot. Since that last time they released the album Heaven Upside Down and dismissed Twiggy from the band due to rape allegations but even that was two years ago. This time Marilyn Manson himself seemed like he may have been a little drunk but that certainly did not stop him from tearing up the stage with a good mix of super aggressive songs like “Irresponsible Hate Anthem” and “Antichrist Superstar” with more accessible staples like “The Dope Show” and “The Beautiful People.”

SETLIST: Irresponsible Hate Anthem, This Is The New Shit, Rock Is Dead, The Dope Show, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), Say10 (preceded by “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”), Antichrist Superstar, The Beautiful People

It was funny that Rob Zombie was billed as the headliner for the night right after Marilyn Manson since Zombie now has John5 playing guitar and Ginger Fish playing drums. I have seen Zombie several times and noticed that having these two guys as a part of his band seemed to rejuvenate Zombie to the level of energy he used to display when he was still in White Zombie and the early days of his solo records. “Electric Head, Part 2” was just the swift kick in the ass I needed and besides that familiar crushing riff in “Thunder Kiss ‘65” was easily my favorite moment of the set and possibly even day. Unlike the day before we all managed to stay together this time and get back to our hotel with enough time to shut it down so we could do it all over again one more time.

SETLIST: Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown, Superbeast, Living Dead Girl, More Human Than Human, Get Your Boots On! That’s the End of Rock and Roll, Electric Head, Part 2: The Ecstacy, In the Age of the Consecrated Vampire We All Get High, Well, Everybody’s Fucking in a U.F.O., Pussy Liquor, Ddd, Thunder Kiss ’65, Helter Skelter, Dragula

Ministry 7/21/17

MinistryJuly2017

So yes I just saw Ministry less than two months before this at Blackest of the Black but this is Ministry we’re talking about here. I was ready to happily break my streak of never seeing them play at the same venue more than once but held off on buying a ticket until the last minute because as per usual I could not find anyone that wanted to go…even though it was on a Friday! I was clued in on a cool pre-show party for $50 where you could go listen to the entire new album AmeriKKKant (as of yet no official release date other than “Fall”) with the band. It was tempting but I decided against it because I figured that I would not really get to talk to them even IF the band actually showed up since everyone would be clamoring to chat them up. Back to the problem at hand: someone to go with. Lucky for me my friend Larry just moved back into town, loves going to concerts and agreed to go but he wanted me to buy his ticket and pay me back…which would be okay except he left me with an extra ticket to sell once before, has two children and shit happens. Ultimately I ended up finding two tickets on StubHub for $6 each ($10 with all service fees) so I just bought two and rationed that even if he did flake I would have only paid $20 for my ticket. Shortly after this purchase he did flake. I promptly replaced Larry with Tom after offering him a ticket at no cost. After meeting up with Tom at a brewery across the street from House of Blues I learned that Tom did not even know who Ministry was but agreed to go on my recommendation alone. Nice!

We went in just in time to see the last two songs of the opening band Ho99o9 (pronounced Horror) which was one of the few opening bands I have ever seen that made me wish we would have seen their whole set. I did not know what the fuck I was watching. It sounded like there were live guitars but it was just two MC’s and a drummer. At least we caught two of their songs.

Ministry killed it again and we secured a spot with a perfect vantage point to enjoy it. Rather than tell you about something you cannot truly appreciate unless you were there I will say thank you to the asshole that filmed the entire show and post the link to let you watch for yourself. I am still reeling from their choice to close with “Filth Pig.” Tom told me this was the “heaviest” concert he has ever been to. It is definitely not a show he or I will forget anytime soon.

SETLIST: Punch In The Face, Rio Grande Blood, Senor Peligro, Lies, Lies, Lies, Antifa, Waiting, Worthless, Bad Blood, N.W.O., Just One Fix, Thieves, So What, Psalm 69, Filth Pig