Helmet

Helmet/Clutch 10/9/22

I was looking for an excuse to go to Portland before the end of the year so I could see my mom since I would not get to see her for either upcoming holiday this year and would be gone all of next year traveling the United States. This show was a perfect excuse as I would also be able to go to my first concert at the Roseland since I lived in Portland 18 years ago. Time really does fly when you’re having fun! As a bonus I would get to see Joe, Claude and Joe’s friend Greg.

We arrived right after JD Pinkus had finished and right before Quicksand took the stage. I had not remembered that drinking was only allowed upstairs but it made perfect sense as I am positive the floor area would have been a total mess if they did allow drinking down there.

I own the Quicksand album Manic Compression because it was a free CD through Columbia House way back in the day. Other than that, I had not made an effort to hear any of their other material so seeing them live did not do much for me. They were ok but just did not knock my socks off.

Helmet on the other hand was great. It looked to be the same band supporting Paige Hamilton that he has had for years now, which certainly helped. I thought it was ironic that from my vantage point upstairs Paige was off by himself separated from the other “hired guns.” My favorite moment of their set was when they played “Speechless” because I distinctly remember mentioning that song to Paige several years ago when I was able to chat with him briefly.

I have seen Clutch a handful of times and the only complaint I have ever had is that they never play many of their older songs. I did not expect anything different for this occasion since Clutch just released their thirteenth album Sunrise on Slaughter Beach a few weeks before this show on September 16th. Boy was I delightfully wrong! They did play five songs from the new album but went deep into the catalog for the rest of the set including three songs from the first album! This was the Clutch setlist I had been waiting on for years. Well played sirs, well played.

SETLIST: Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone), Walking in the Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks, Nosferatu Madre, Promoter (Of Earthbound Causes), El Jefe Speaks, Pure Rock Fury, Green Buckets, The Elephant Riders, Mountain of Bone, Willie Nelson, The Mob Goes Wild, A Shogun Named Marcus, Animal Farm, Passive Restraints, Skeletons on Mars, Noble Savage, The Face, Slaughter Beach, Earth Rocker, The House That Peterbilt

System of a Down 2/1/22

This was originally supposed to be a one-off show on May 22, 2020 in L.A. with Helmet, Faith No More, Korn and System of a Down all on the bill. Due to popularity another date was added but then the show was postponed multiple times due to COVID so I sold my tickets. Then more cities were added including San Diego so I bought a ticket…then Faith No More dropped off the tour…then Helmet dropped off the tour.  

Long story short this show was a long time coming and despite half of the bands I wanted to see no longer being in the lineup I was still excited to see Korn and really excited to see System of a Down, especially since the timing was now perfect to bid farewell to “dry” January and because this was my first actual concert in six months. As such Bob, Kyle, Christi, Larry and I all met at the campus bar/restaurant Eureka to have a few before walking over to the show. 

I thought departing at 7:45 would leave enough time to catch some of the opener Russian Circles since the show started at 7:30 but was rudely awoken as we approached the arena and heard the familiar sounds of Korn emanating through the night air. It turns out the show actually started at 7 pm and Korn went on at 7:30 sharp. Now not only was there no Faith No More or Helmet but we had inadvertently missed half of Korn’s set as well because by the time we made our way to the floor they were finishing up “Coming Undone.” I was beside myself but enjoyed what was left of their set, particularly their masterful mashup of multiple songs. Fieldy was absent (Suicidal Tendencies bassist Ra Diaz filled in) but the overall spirit of Korn was not. 

Korn SETLIST: Here to Stay, Falling Away From Me, Start the Healing, Got the Life, Rotting in Vain, Shoots and Ladders, Clown, Coming Undone, Y’All Want a Single, Freak On A Leash, It’s On/Trash/Did My Time, Twist, A.D.I.D.A.S., Blind 

Everything that happened before System of a Down came on all went away the second they appeared with the energetically perfect opening song of “X.” From then on it was a beautiful blur of spiritual proportions. Rock ‘N’ Roll is my religion and this concert was my much-needed church service.  

System of a Down SETLIST: X, Prison Song, Holy Mountains, Mind, Cigaro, Suite-Pee, Needles, Deer Dance, Soldier Side-Intro, Soldier Side, B.Y.O.B., Genocidal Humanoidz, Suggestions, Psycho, Chop Suey!, Lonely Day, Lost In Hollywood, Radio/Video, Dreaming, Hypnotize, ATWA, Bounce, Chic ‘N’ Stu, Protect the Land, Aerials, Toxicity, Sugar 

Why yes that is a gentleman in a wheelchair crowdsurfing!

Coronavirus Concert Casualties

Concert Plans

Gatherings of 250 people became officially banned in San Diego as of March 13th, 2020. Nationwide lockdown followed shortly after. The list of concerts below are the ones I intended to attend that have been impacted (so far):

  • 3/13/20 Local H @ Belly Up – RESCHEDULED to 10/10/20 – Local H was set to open for Soul Asylum in support of their album Lifers that was about to drop on 4/10/20 Local-H-Lifers

UPDATE 4/24: Local H decided to let fans on their Facebook page vote on an entire album from their catalog for them to play live from their “bunker” in Chicago. The album that received the most votes was Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles? and they livestreamed their performance on both Facebook and YouTube. I would have paid good money to see this live so this was quite a treat as the first livestream concert I ever watched. The picture quality was better on Facebook but the sound was better on YouTube.HHH

  • 3/28/20 Rage Against the Machine @ Pan American Center, Las Cruces, NM – POSTPONED – Before Rage announced a full tour there were originally only five shows scheduled: El Paso, TX, Las Cruces, NM, Phoenix, AZ and as the headliner for both weekends of Coachella. I had no interest in going to Coachella due to the expense and “scene” that I am very much not a part of so Phoenix was the logical choice due knowing people that live there and distance but New Mexico was on a Saturday. That was enough reason for a group of us to decide that a trip was in order. Rage

UPDATE 5/1: The rescheduled tour dates have arrived and it looks like I will not be seeing Rage Against the Machine until May 2021!

  • 4/4/20 Loudermilk @ The Uptown Theatre, Richland, WA – POSTPONED – This was to be the first time I had been “home” in over nine years and with The Ladybird Unition set to open it was going to be like I was 17 years old all over again.Loudermilk Postponed
  • 4/13/20 Pearl Jam @ Viejas Arena (SDSU) – POSTPONED – Pearl Jam was one of the first bands that decided to halt their tour. This was to be only my second time seeing Pearl Jam and ironically at the same place that I saw them the first time. This tour was slated in support of the new album Gigaton released on 3/27/20.
  • 4/24/20 The Darkness @ Observatory – POSTPONED – The Darkness was set to tour for their newest effort Easter Is Cancelled, which turned out to be a prophetic title.Easter Is Cancelled

UPDATE 5/15: CANCELLED – Well Poop2

  • 5/8/20 The Rolling Stones @SDCCU Stadium – POSTPONED – This was to be the second time I had the pleasure of seeing the Stones. As a bonus this was going to be the opening night of the tour within walking distance of my place on a Friday…
  • 5/22/20 System of a Down, Korn, Faith No More and Helmet @ Banc of California Stadium – POSTPONED – This was a one-off concert in L.A. that had such high demand that a second show was added.

SOAD

UPDATE 5/22: RESCHEDULED – This event will now happen on the same date in 2021 as if this year never happened at all.SKFH

  • 6/10 Styx @ San Diego County Fair – CANCELLED – This was set to be my second time seeing Styx but the show and better yet the entire county fair for 2020 was cancelled.SDFair
  • 7/12 The Black Keys @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – CANCELLED – This was to be my third time seeing these Ohio natives. Good thing I was able to see the beginning of the “Let’s Rock” tour back in November.Screen Shot 2020-05-19 at 6.41.20 PM
  • 7/19 Incubus and 311 @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – CANCELLED – Two bands that I like on the same bill is always a treat. I guess this would instead fall under the category of trick.Screen Shot 2020-05-21 at 9.04.27 PM
  • 7/23 Motley Crue @ Petco Park – ??? – On May 1st Motley Crue released a statement saying “Our goal is to have an official update to everyone by June 1 outlining exactly how we will proceed.” All signs are pointing towards an inevitable postponement/cancellation.

UPDATE 6/1: POSTPONED – Shocking!Motley

  • 7/24 Weezer/Green Day @ Petco Park – POSTPONED – What was to be a rare concert on a Friday night is no more…until 2021

     

  • 7/30 Ministry @ House of Blues San Diego – RESCHEDULED – There is a website called bandsintown.com that I am on the email list for and this was how I learned that the Ministry show got rescheduled to April 29, 2021. Hopefully Uncle Al is still around.Ministry Postponed
  • 8/1 Primus and Wolfmother @ Open Air Theatre – POSTPONED – This was going to be a unique show with Primus undertaking the task of replicating Rush’s 1977 classic album A Farewell To Kings. I was also looking forward to seeing the entire Wolfmother performance after the last one got cut short.Screen Shot 2020-05-21 at 8.43.25 PM
  • 8/8 Guns N’ Roses @ Sofi Stadium – POSTPONED – This was going to be my second time seeing GNR and first time visiting the new gazillion dollar monolith stadium in L.A. where the Rams and Chargers will play.Screen Shot 2020-05-21 at 8.56.33 PM
  • 9/1 Disturbed @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – POSTPONED – This tour was to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the debut album The Sickness, which now seems like an even more apt title.Screen Shot 2020-05-21 at 9.11.54 PM
  • 10/9-10/11 Aftershock Festival @ Discovery Park, Sacramento – CANCELLED – See you in 2021!

Aftershock Cancelled

  • 11/1 Aaron Lewis and Sully Erna @ Del Mar Fairgrounds – CANCELLED – Just when I thought I was going to get some sort of live music even this got cancelled… 

Aftershock 10/24/15

Aftershock 2015

After such a good time two years ago at this event we could not help ourselves and holy crap what a lineup! Same crew as 2013 (Marvin, Ken, Bob and I) and the addition of Joe in from Portland, but unlike last time we actually knew that Marvin was coming. This time the venue was at a place called Gibson Ranch instead of Discovery Park and we were able to “camp.” The plan was for Marvin to drive out from Salt Lake City and meet up with Bob who would already be in the Bay Area due to attending the 49ers/Seahawks game for Thursday Night Football and then meet up with Ken, Joe and I who were flying in on Saturday morning. Since all of us were flying Marvin was in charge of bringing tents, sleeping bags, etc. After we all met at a Walmart on the way to load up on supplies (mostly alcohol) we were on our way. The first band any of us cared about was Suicidal Tendencies, scheduled to be on at 2 pm, since we had missed them earlier in the year at Epicenter. Since our flight landed at 10 am we figured we had plenty of time to get settled but all the little things add up and we now found ourselves waiting in a long line of cars to get into the place and more specifically the campground. Very poor organization caused us to wait in our car (a rented super small shitbox of a Mazda) for what seemed like forever before we could get “escorted” to our campsite. By the time we got to the campsite and set up tents, etc. it was about 2. We quickly decided that we did not care all that much about Suicidal Tendencies after all. In our defense we could hear them perfectly from where we were. We were trying to save money by drinking at the camp spot but Helmet was up at 2:30 and attendance was non-negotiable. After some quick work of beers we went in and Helmet greeted us with all the songs you would want them to play (mostly from Meantime, Betty and Aftertaste). Next up was P.O.D. who continue to surprise me with each passing time I see them. Then we had to find our way to the “fourth” stage, which Clutch was playing at for some damn reason. Clutch was touring for the excellent new album Psychic Warfare. I made a bet with Joe that they would not play anything from their first three albums and I was right. It did not matter because they have so many good songs to choose from otherwise. More beers and back to one of the main stages for Seether. I believe by this time most of us had gotten separated from each other and when there is a concentration of that many people in one place cell signals do not work. I believe at this point I was just with Bob and some gal came out of nowhere and would not leave us alone. We finally shook her and watched Breaking Benjamin which was pretty alright.

Our original plan was to get an eighth of pot to bring but when that did not work out we settled for two decent sized joints. This meant we had to ration one for this day and one for the next day, which meant we had to strategically time ignition. For me this was the moment: Marilyn Manson was coming on. I had seen him many times but he is always splendid and now he had another excellent album out; The Pale Emperor. This set is one I have only seen him play a few times and can only be described as fierce. Not a lot of talking, every song just ripped you a new one and then he was gone. This version of his band is the tightest I think I have seen since the departure of John 5. I was tripping out because I could not tell if Twiggy was on the stage or not. If not it sure as hell looked like him.

Next up was Slipknot. I REALLY like their new album .5 The Gray Chapter so I was really excited to see them as well. By this point I was a little drunk and stoned but holy fuck did these guys rock. After finding our way back to the campground Bob and I were greeted by our missing buddies for a nightcap. Marvin informed me the previous day that he forgot one of the sleeping bags so I shoved a pillow and blanket in my carry on (talent) and planned on just sleeping in the reclined seat of our rental car. This is easy when you are drunk. Joe ended up sleeping in the passenger seat because we were up forever talking and laughing our heads off since I do not get to see him very often anymore. Today was a good day.

Helmet 4/29/15

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Helmet released the album Betty on June 21st, 1994. Marvin, Jack and I made a special trip to the mall that day to pick up a copy. Here I was at the Belly Up almost 21 years later to hear the whole album performed front to back to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Betty. I was not at all surprised to see this because during two of the other four times I saw Hemet they played about half of both Meantime and Aftertaste in sequence.

I never had the pleasure of seeing them tour Betty back when it was new, let alone hear most of these songs live at all. It had been almost exactly seven years since the last time I saw Helmet at Cane’s when I started chatting Page up after the show and told him that he should make his new band learn “Clean” and “Speechless” (for selfish reasons). Well he not only made them learn those two songs but the entire damn album and it was incredible. The band did a fine job of reproducing the album pretty much note for note. Seeing any band you love play such a small venue is awesome because the energy translates so well. I would have been satisfied had they left the stage after “Sam Hell” but instead we all got a bonus encore set of songs spanning the rest of Helmet’s career after that.

SETLIST: Wilma’s Rainbow, I Know, Biscuits for Smut, Milquetoast, Tic, Rollo, Street Crab, Clean, Vaccination, Beautiful Love, Speechless, The Silver Hawaiian, Overrated, Sam Hell +

Helmet

Helmet Betty

Helmet 4/17/08

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Cane's

Wow! Helmet is in town again and I consciously decided that I didn’t care to see them because I didn’t think they would be able to top their last performance @ the Casbah. Boy was I wrong…Marvin let me know the day of the show that he scored two free tickets and asked me if I wanted to go. Without hesitation I was in. When Marvin got home from work I was pleasantly informed that Nick Oliveri’s band was opening. The moment we flipped the corner to enter Cane’s who was there going in at the same time? Nick Oliveri. Funny huh? Especially since I had randomly seen him at the recent Foo Fighters show in the midst of that fiasco. So Marvin and I go to the bar to talk to his bartender friend Sabrina and who comes rolling up next to us to order a drink? Nick Oliveri. We just couldn’t shake this guy. I gave him a fist bump and life was good. He was on next and his little three piece band busted out some punk rock fury and three Queens of the Stone Age songs, “I’m Gonna Leave You,” “Hidden EP,” and “Rated R.” Next up, Helmet. The same incarnation as the last Casbah show with the exception of a different guitarist. They started out with the first song on Aftertaste, “Pure,” and got about five into it before he stopped and started bantering with the crowd. I didn’t catch anything he said but, “No. First we’re going to play the rest of Aftertaste and then we’ll take requests.” I thought he was kidding but he wasn’t. I’ll be damned if they did not play the whole fucking album in sequence from front to back! That’s when they left the stage before the inevitable encore. They came back and played “In the Meantime,” “Wilma’s Rainbow,” “Milquetoast,” and “Give It.” Amazing. Then after the show Page decided to hang out by the T-Shirt stand. I went and started chatting him up. I told him he should make his new band learn “Clean” and “Speechless.” He told me they knew “Speechless” and then he picked up a copy of Strap It On and pointed out the songs they knew from that album. I praised him for the show they had just done and went on my way. I was content and obviously elated. Thank you Marvin.

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Helmet 9/13/07

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Screen Shot 2015-10-08 at 7.10.04 PMJust a typical spontaneous moment. I’m thumbing through the San Diego weekly Reader and see that Helmet is playing tomorrow night at the Casbah. This is funny because I have only visited the Casbah once in my life and the other time was when I watched Helmet for the first time. I called Marvin and asked if he would like to go with me via voicemail. He texts me back at three in the morning (he works in a restaurant) with an enthusiastic “Helmet deep.” It’s 7 p.m. the night of the show now and I’m on my way to pick up Marvin and fucking hungry. We decide to eat at Gordon Bierch but find that there is a wait for a table when we arrive. “Fuck this.” We strolled over to Bev Mo across the parking lot and each picked up a 22 of Stone. Then we continued to IN N OUT to eat delicious hamburgers and wash them down with our Bev Mo purchases in my topless Jeep in the parking lot. We arrive at the venue about 9 pm only to find out Helmet will not be coming on until 11:30. Nothing left to do but start drinking (more). I wanted to have “a drink” at the nearby Airport Lounge because my ex-coworker Kristin was going to be there supporting her friend’s event. The doors were locked so we continued on to The Waterfront (a bar). We proceeded to drink two pitchers of beer before Donna arrived. Then we drank one more. It was now 11 and I was paranoid that the door guy at the Casbah didn’t know what he was talking about so we parted ways with Donna and walked back over to the Casbah. Turns out the door guy was right. This gave us enough time to try to hit up Airport Lounge again. This time we were in and I saw Kristin. She had just been laid off that day but was in good spirits (severance package). One beer and back to the Casbah, but not before stopping by the Jeep to take a hit from my sneak-a-toke. We walked in and Helmet was on stage but were still setting up. They didn’t start playing for about 10 minutes but when they did it was amazing. They started off with “Pure” from Aftertaste and did not let up from that album until they had played the first six songs consecutively in sequence. This blew my mind because I had never seen any band play in that fashion. Page Hamilton’s supporting lineup this time was completely different than the last time I had seen Helmet. The next two songs were “Street Crab” from Betty and “Repetition” from Strap It On. I was pretty sauced by this point since Marvin had bought me two more tall beers upon our arrival and I was still tripping out about them playing the first six songs from Aftertaste in sequence when all of a sudden they bust out “In the Meantime” from Meantime. They did it again only this time with Meantime! They played the first seven songs on that album IN SEQUENCE! They followed with “Bad Mood” and then a song from the newest album Monochrome. It turned out being the only song played from their two most recent albums. Cool with me because I had only heard Monochrome once and Size Matters was definitely not one of my favorite Helmet albums. They closed their set with two more from Betty: “Wilma’s Rainbow” and “Milquetoast.” We shook Page’s hand and went home. I probably should have not been driving but everything turned out fine. I thought my night was over but when I got home I found that Donna had started something without me but was happy to have me finish what she started…

Chevelle 1/27/05

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So this was my second time seeing Helmet, my second time seeing Chevelle and my second time sneaking into Soma. It was Marvin and I again and we literally did the same thing we did previously at Static-X: had several beers at Chili’s and walked right through the back door like we owned the place. There were other bands on this tour besides Helmet and Chevelle but we did not care about them. Helmet had the same lineup and pretty much the same set list as when we saw them back in October but it was still awesome to see them again. Chevelle on the other hand had released the new album This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In) back on September 21st and I had not seen them since they rocked Ozzfest in the summer of 2003. I did not know they had a new album out until I stumbled upon it at Tower Records but was not disappointed. I remember being happy that they played a ton of the new songs and also remember thinking that their songs translated much better to this smaller venue instead of the giant amphitheater.

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Helmet 10/29/04

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Helmet came onto my radar via the song “Unsung” from the album Meantime. My friends and I loved Helmet from that point on and picked up copies of both Betty and Aftertaste the day they came out. Needless to say this was a very exciting show for me. My first time seeing Helmet and my first time at the Casbah. It is a quintessential small rock palace that I would estimate holds about 200 people tops. I think it was Marvin, Dee and I. I cannot remember exactly what Helmet played but they had just released the album Size Matters about a month and a half before this show. I want to say they divided up the setlist pretty evenly amongst the five albums out up to this point but I was drinking and smoking and am pretty far removed from this day at the time of this entry so who knows. I do know they rocked.

Helmet