San Diego

Muse 1/7/16

Muse

In the spirit of trying to save money for the upcoming wedding, Ingrid and I decided that for Christmas gifts we would get each other tickets to go see Muse instead of paying too much for crap we did not need. Muse was on tour for the excellent album Drones that came out in June. I’m not really sure how this band stayed off my radar for so long but I don’t think I really heard them until the song “Madness.” I am also not sure why the show was postponed from December 16th to January 7th but this delay changed our entire experience because now our friends Larry and Christina were in town from Europe and could go with us. They had tickets in a separate section but we were able to meet up beforehand and have a few drinks. It was raining pretty heavily so we decided to pay the $20 to park in the lot but traffic at the main gate was being diverted to behind the Sports Arena where traffic was horrendous. We had skipped the opening band Phantogram and it was now getting uncomfortably close to showtime. Rather than wait for the traffic we decided to try to find street parking nearby. The closest spot was a pretty far walk so we ended up catching the shortest Uber ride in history to avoid the rain. Once we got close to the venue we realized that Muse was already playing the song “Dead Inside” which ended up being their second song. Shit. Not only was this one of Ingrid’s favorite songs but she also had to use the ladies room immediately after we were inside. I used this opportunity to relieve myself as well but as I stood in the bathroom they had begun to play one of my favorite songs – “Hysteria.” Double shit. After a fiasco trying to find our seats and then kicking people out of our seats we could finally behold the greatness of Muse.

I have never seen such a fantastic stage setup and I have seen a LOT of concerts. They used the stadium in such a way that there was literally not a bad seat in the house. Their massive stage sprawled out lengthwise on the floor instead of the traditional stage setup at one end of the arena that renders all seats directly to the side and in back of the stage useless. The best way to describe it is a circle in the center that turned 360 degrees with a catwalk on the north and south ends. The light show and retractable see-through projection screens were nothing less than incredible. Oh and the music? Flawless and phenomenal without any of the usual fluff and banter with the crowd. They played for two solid hours and had many visual tricks up their sleeve to enhance the experience including giant dark balloons that shot out into the crowd, pianos that came out from under the stage, giant lit up balls that hovered above the crowd and a giant rocket/drone that circled the stadium. Instant top five concert I have ever been to.

SETLIST: Psycho, Dead Inside, Hysteria, Plug In Baby, The 2nd Law: Isolated System, The Handler, Resistance, Supermassive Black Hole, Prelude, Starlight, Apocalypse Please, Munich Jam, Madness, Undisclosed Desires, [JFK], Reapers, Time Is Running Out, Uprising, The Globalist, Drones, Mercy, Knights of Cydonia

Toadies 8/14/15

A rare concert on a weekend night…in the summer. Ken lived in a Penthouse right beside Balboa Park facing the south towards downtown. It was very convenient for seeing a show not far away so me Bob and I met up with Ken at his place and had a few on his rooftop deck before venturing out into the night. We got into the House of Blues right as Fuel was performing their last song. I was not that distraught because I think there is exactly one song of theirs that I like and I did see them open up for Aerosmith at the Gorge several years earlier. I don’t know what it is about Toadies that I like but I like it a lot. They consistently release great rock n’ roll albums and that is more than enough for me. I always forget how small the House of Blues is until I actually go there again. Toadies rocked through their set and then revealed the new song “In The Belly of the Whale” and news of an upcoming acoustic album of selections from their catalog. I also met the band afterwards at the T-shirt booth. I’m pretty sure I came off as a drunken creep but in the end I walked away with having seen the Toadies one more time, a kick-ass T-shirt and pictures to prove I was there being a drunken creep.

SETLIST: Rattler’s Revival, Backslider, Little Sin, I Am a Man of Stone, Happyface, Push the Hand, No Deliverance, Away, Sweetness, Possum Kingdom, In The Belly of the Whale, I Burn, I Come From the Water, Hell in High Water, Tyler, Paper Dress, Dollskin, Got a Heart, Jigsaw Girl, Stop It (Pylon cover), Summer of the Strange, Heel

Steel Panther 6/12/15

It had been nearly two years since I last saw Steel Panther tear up Aftershock. Bob, Ken and I jumped at the chance to see them again now that they were back in San Diego for the rare Saturday show to promote their newest album All You Can Eat appropriately released on April Fool’s Day in 2014. The “shtick” was still the same: a fun party band mocking the excesses of 80’s hair metal playing genuinely kick ass original music. This band always looks as though they were recently let out of an orgy time capsule buried in 1984 with lots of cocaine and that is a good thing. The blatant sexuality bordering on sleaziness only amplifies the comic effect. In a day and age when people seem to increasing take everything too seriously it is always refreshing to see this band make fun of themselves.

SETLIST: Asian Hooker, Fat Girl (Thar She Blows), The Shocker, Hair Solo, 17 Girls in a Row, If I Was the King, Death to All but Metal, Party All Day (Fuck All Night)

Local H 5/6/15

For my third time seeing Local H I had the distinct pleasure of being able to revisit the Casbah. This place is just barely bigger than the other two places I saw Local H but much more well known. They had just released the killer new album Hey, Killer (like what I did there?) three weeks before this, which was the first to feature new drummer Ryan Harding. In the words of Scott Lucas, “The goal with this record was to trim the fat and just pile on the hooks. All killer, no filler is how the saying goes.” They ended up playing all but three tracks off the album and left room in their set for some of the older fan favorites. I still cannot get over how much sound these two guys can make but I love it. I would have paid much more than the $15 I paid to do it all over again.

SETLIST: The Last Picture Show in Zion, Creature Comforted, All the Kids Are Right, Gig Bag Road, Another February, Fritz’s Corner, City of Knives, Freshly Fucked, Hands on the Bible, Leon and the Game of Skin, The One With ‘Kid’, Deep Cut, Mansplainer, California Songs, John the Baptist Blues, The Misanthrope, Bound for the Floor, That’s What They All Say, High-Fivin MF

Paul McCartney 9/28/14

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 16^th 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

McC

Chevelle 7/9/14

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

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

Corey Taylor 7/20/13

As I was hung-over on a Saturday morning I was scrolling through Facebook and saw the words “Free,” “Acoustic Performance” and “Corey Taylor” together. After I felt a stirring in my loins I realized that the event was that night. Comic-Con was in town and Corey Fucking Taylor was there to promote the House of Gold & Bones comic series from Dark Horse Comics and give a solo acoustic performance at the DVD release party for “Evil Dead.”

A Saturday night in the Gaslamp during Comic-Con was an easy sell to Bob, Ken, Ingrid, Emma, Josh and Josh’s friend because downtown is a fun place just to people watch during Comic-Con. We arrived early enough to not be too far back in the line because entry was first come, first served and not guaranteed but when we got to the front the bouncer told us no dice and tried to give us some load of shit as to why we were not going to get in. After turning on the charm (having two beautiful women with us did not hurt) and a little sweet talk we were in. Not only were we about to see Corey Taylor play a solo acoustic set…for FREE…but it was also an open bar in a place that held maybe 120 people on a good day!

Corey came out and said, “Alright. What do you guys want to hear?” A guy yelled “Spit It Out” which made Corey laugh. He said, “Haha on acoustic? Shit. What would that sound like?” And then he actually played it, which made me laugh because it was such a riot. He also did a cover of “Blister in the Sun” by the Violent Femmes and a couple other songs then he was out the back door. The whole thing was very light-hearted and fun. He was pretty much there for a payday and who can blame him? “I’m playing my four songs that I am contractually obligated to play and I’m out.” It was fucking awesome.

Marilyn Manson 5/29/13

I Just saw Marilyn Manson back on February 20th but these guys are pretty up there for me so there is no way I was not going to walk out my back door to see them play in my yard. I will go see this band as many times as I possibly can. Apparently this show was only two nights before they officially joined up with Alice Cooper for a co-headlining tour deemed the Masters of Madness/Shock Therapy Tour, which is a bummer because it would have been cool to see Alice Cooper. Woe is me…

Marilyn Manson always opens their albums and shows with a strong song and tonight was no exception when they opened with “Angel With the Scabbed Wings.” Killer. The majority of the setlist was the same as back in February but the addition of “Angel With the Scabbed Wings,” “Little Horn,” “Great Big White World” and “This Is the New Shit” completely changed the dynamics of this performance. This time we got the impassioned intensity and grit the previous show fell slightly short on.

SETLIST: Angel With the Scabbed Wings, Disposable Teens, No Reflection, Little Horn, The Dope Show, Rock Is Dead, Great Big White World, Personal Jesus, mOBSCENE, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), Hey, Cruel World, This Is the New Shit, Irresponsible Hate Anthem, The Beautiful People

Local H 4/9/13

I was sold on Local H the first time I heard “Bound for the Floor” back in 1996. So much so that I went and bought the As Good As Dead album not having heard any of the other songs. My hunch paid off as this band rocked. I was even more floored to find out that all that sound was coming from just two people. Somehow I had never seen Local H so when I saw they were coming to play a little dive called Soda Bar for $10 I convinced Bob and Tom to come see what I knew would be a great show. They were touring for the Hallelujah! I’m a Bum album released about six months before this.

Soda Bar’s capacity is listed at 230 but feels much smaller if you are in front of the stage in the corner because the bar in the middle basically splits the whole place. I was mesmerized by Scott effectively playing bass and guitar at the same time through his custom rigged Stratocaster and Brian was wailing on the drums the whole time. My favorite moment was at the end when they played “High-Fiving MF” followed by what I can only describe as “Tape Man” where Scott taped the microphone to his face with duct tape and played some dissonance right before he jumped off the stage to walk to the back of the place to man the T-Shirt sales.

Rock N Roll Recollections

Fuzzy recollections of bands that rocked my world