Scars On Broadway

Scars on Broadway 3/8/19

Scars ticket

Back on July 20th of 2018 Scars on Broadway released Dictator, the first album of material since the eponymous album was released almost exactly a decade earlier. I read somewhere that the band was now officially known as Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway instead of just Scars on Broadway because he always envisioned different lineups from album to album. Apparently the “new” album was written and recorded right around the time I last saw them in 2012 but not released until recently basically because Daron did not know what was going on with System of a Down.

All it took was one listen to Dictator to make a fan out of me. While I was in Hawaii in December I received an email announcing that Scars on Broadway were playing the Wiltern so I immediately sent out the bat signal to find out who would be in for a little trip to Hell-A. Larry and Bob answered the call of duty and tickets were purchased.

This was already the third trip of the year to la la land for me but I was in great company to see a great band and had only been to the Wiltern one other time to see Marilyn Manson way back in 2004. This trip could have been avoided altogether because sometime after we purchased our tickets there was a show announced in North Park for March 3rd. This slightly irked the others but that show was on a Sunday and our show was on a Friday, which gave us a license to get loose, especially since the hotel we booked was literally across the street.

Long story short we ended up spending an asinine amount of money on beer at the venue after spending $85 at Ralphs for our pre-party and even more money on beer and sake across the street at Kashira Sushi. We arrived at the Wiltern about five minutes before Scars went on and the place was packed. The show was general admission but it was also sold out. Rather than have to fight our way through the crowd just to be sardined for two hours Larry took it upon himself to inquire about VIP tables. Next thing I know we were following him to a table in an area on the floor that allowed us to stretch out and have a waiter.

Scars on Broadway were killer. Daron Malakian is not only an amazing guitar player and songwriter but also knows how to pump up a crowd. It did not hurt that they played damn near every song in their entire two album catalog. In fact the only song I don’t remember being played was “Assimilate” but then again I did have a lot of beer but seemingly not as much as Bob who puked under our table during the last song. Good times.

SETLIST: Animal, Sickening Wars, Fucking, Chemicals, Dictator, Kill Each Other/Live Forever, Guns Are Loaded, Enemy (with cover of China Girl by Iggy Pop during the breakdown), Scars on Broadway, World Long Gone, Serious, Funny, Universe, 3005, Angry Guru, Lives, Never Forget, We Won’t Obey, Insane, Hungry Ghost, Babylon, Gie Mou, Whoring Streets, Talkin’ Shit, Till the End, Fuck and Kill, Exploding/Reloading, Stoner Hate, Cute Machines, They Say

Epicenter 9/22/12

Epicenter 2012

What started in 2009 became “Southern California’s Rock Festival” that took place annually at various venues around Los Angeles. I had not attended since that inaugural date but this year’s lineup piqued my interest because it had been four to five years since I had seen Scars on Broadway, Deftones and Stone Temple Pilots. As far as I’m concerned the other bands were a nice bonus. Bob drove Tom and I up to Irvine with just enough time to make a beer run, check into our hotel and get over to the Irvine Amphitheater. The trouble began with a toothache that turned our beer run into a beer and whiskey run. My tooth had been bothering me for a couple days but I did not have time to go to the dentist so I figured whiskey would act as a redneck remedy. Unfortunately for anyone in my path it also acted as a gateway to a very intoxicated me.

I remember wandering around the grounds and seeing a little bit of bands on the second stage like Hollywood Undead but Dead Sara was the first band we really gave any shits about. It had been five months since we saw them open for Chevelle and blow them off the stage, which was just a couple weeks removed from the release of their self-titled debut album. They put on a hell of a show this time too but the music just did not seem to translate as well to a bigger stage.

Chevelle made good on the opportunity at redemption by cranking it up to the level of performance we had come to expect over the years. It was weird to see them play in the daylight again since we had grown accustomed to the headlining shows.

Four years had elapsed since I was introduced to Scars on Broadway right here at this very same venue during the KROQ Weenie Roast. It was fun the way it went down that original time but now I had a solid four years of digesting the eponymous album, which made this show so much more fun to watch. Thanks to YouTuber “Gun Dink” you can also watch:

Bush was up next. It had been almost a year to the day since we had last seen them open for Chevelle. It was essentially the same show as that occasion with Gavin coming out through the crowd again.

I had not gotten the chance to see any songs from the excellent Diamond Eyes album performed since my last Deftones concert was about five years before this so I was beyond elated when they started their set with my two favorite songs off the album. They were still a couple months away from releasing Koi No Yokan but they still played two songs from the album. Deftones rocked but it must be said that right about this time I was getting really ornery and ended up breaking the seat in front of me if that is any indication of what planet I was on. I also found a number of shitty 5-10 second videos on my phone afterwards of really good shots of the ground and pretty much anything but the stage with me screaming along for audio.

SETLIST: Rocket Skates, Diamond Eyes, Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away), My Own Summer (Shove It), Digital Bath, You’ve Seen the Butcher, Bloody Cape, Leathers, Rosemary, Change (In the House of Flies), 7 Words

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STP had released their eponymous album since I had last seen them about four years before this so I excited to see them again. I was pretty lit for their performance but do remember Scott Weiland was a dancing machine and seemed to be very present for this performance as he provided a lot of banter in between songs. I also remember that Dean’s guitar playing was on fire. We did not know it at the time but sadly this would be the last time we would see Scott Weiland front Stone Temple Pilots as the very next night would be his final performance ever with the band.

SETLIST: Crackerman, Vaseline, Hickory Dichotomy, Meatplow, Big Empty, Between the Lines, Interstate Love Song, Plush, Tumble in the Rough, Big Bang Baby, Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart, Unglued, Sex Type Thing

After the show we took a bus to our hotel and I almost immediately got kicked out of our hotel bar because I basically fell forward into the bar. This lead to all three of us smoking weed in Bob’s car in the parking lot. Neither Tom nor Bob ever smoke weed so that was a fitting end to such an eventful day.

 

KROQ Weenie Roast 5/17/08

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The KROQ Weenie Roast is an annual multi-artist music concert hosted by L.A.’s biggest rock station KROQ that was held at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater up until it was demolished in 2016. This was the first time Marvin, Bob, Bob’s then girlfriend or I had ever been to the now defunct cookie-cutter amphitheater. I did not have a ticket but Marvin has his ways and found me a ticket in the parking lot.

Ticket secured and however many beers later we walked in at the top of the hill to a band playing that looked like it was being fronted by a dark hairy mass with a guitar that resembled Kim Thayil from Soundgarden. Just as I was laughing with the boys about this I realized that the frontman was a beard clad Daron Malakian from System of a Down. I did not know the songs because Scars on Broadway were still a couple of months away from releasing their eponymous album but I was instantly hooked, especially once I saw his brother from System of a Down John Dalmayan drumming behind him.

Apparently we missed MGMT on the second stage but that is because none of us knew who they were yet. Seether was next on the main stage and I had literally seen them a month before this. No complaints here as they were just as rocking during the daylight hours as they were headlining their own show in the darkness.

The Raconteurs were touring for their newest effort Consolers of the Lonely that was released about two months before this. I had the pleasure of seeing them one other time in a tiny place after the first album (see The Raconteurs 7/19/06) and was more than ecstatic to see the new songs performed live. Jack White = Guitar God.

Apparently the only time I saw The Offspring about seven years prior to this was not long before they took a little hiatus, but now they were back to promote the album Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace that was about to be released. We did get a teaser of the new album less than two weeks before this show with the release of the single “Hammerhead.” Solid setlist, solid performance and so much energy that even the crowd in the very steep lawn section got moving. This was the first time I saw bonfires break out in the lawn section if that gives any indication of how rowdy the crowd was. If that’s not rock n’ roll then I don’t know what is.

SETLIST: Come Out and Play, The Kids Aren’t Alright, Hammerhead, All I Want, Gone Away, Staring at the Sun, Gotta Get Away, Want You Bad, You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid, Bad Habit, Pretty Fly (For a White Guy), (Can’t Get My) Head Around You, Self Esteem

We were still about four months away from the release of Death Magnetic at the time of this show and I had not seen Metallica since the very first time I saw them over 12 years prior at Lollapalooza 1996. Both the show and upcoming album marked the introduction of bassist Robert Trujillo but Metallica avoided playing any new material. This was a set of balls-to-the-wall epic Metallica classics and they looked happy to be out of the confines of the studio and back onto a stage.

SETLIST: Creeping Death, Fuel, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Unforgiven, Wherever I May Roam, Harvester of Sorrow, The Memory Remains, Fade to Black, Master of Puppets, Battery, Sad but True, One, Enter Sandman, So What, Seek & Destroy