Pacifier
@ Viper Room, 12 March, 2002.
Aoteroa (New Zealand) grown boys, Jon, Carl, Phil and Tom hit the Viper Room Stage for their first US gig under their newly announced name Pacifier!
The boys played a kick ass set, and Jon was in the most Rock 'n Roll form I have ever seen him in. From balancing (just) on the monitors to flying off the stage into the crowd and knocking his mic into the punters on a few occasions to getting mad at the guitar tech for badly tuned guitars.
"What is the only animal with a cunt halfway up its back? A Police horse". Jon's attempt to keep the crowd entertained while guitars were being tuned may have been a little misconstrued by American's not too familiar with Kiwi humour.
Pacifier played a small grip of new songs from their upcoming new release, produced by Josh Abraham (Korn, Orgy, Crazy Town), with a little treat that the NZ/Aussie punters could relate to "Wait and See" from The General Electric.
They played a Kick Ass Kiwi set, despite tuning
difficulties and a couple of hiccups, it came together nicely with Jon Swooping down from
the Stage, into the punters in true rocker style.
Good on ya boys!
8/10
Sevendust @ The Palace, Hollywood, 21 Feb, 2002 Sevendust, already on their 3rd album have sold out every show across the USA until they came to LA. Why the Palace was only half full, I will never know, as these guys present a kick ass show. Sevendust opened with Black, followed by Denial, Redefined and my personal favorite, Trust which they kickstarted it off with Pantera's very own Walk. The lighters broke out for Angel's Son, the song they dedicate in memory of Lyn Strait of Snot, which was followed by their latest single, Live Again. Toward the end of the show they played Crucified with a reindition of White Zombie's "1965" before slamming into their first single from Animosity - Praise. Ofcourse the show couldn't possibly end without Home's Waffle and finally ending the set with Bitch. Although Sevendust played a killer set, the sound could have been better, the vocals often drowned out by the guitars made it hard to define which song was which at times.But all in all a wonderful performance. 8/10 |
Static X/Soulfly, featuring Soil
Date:1 Feb, 2002
I rocked up to the Palladium and armed myself with an all access pass, photo pass and a non digital - disposable camera. I was on a mission. This is the Static X/ Soulfly co-headlining show that everyone's been hanging out for and if you couldnt go, then you dont even want to know how good it was, because it will just make you depressed!
I got there on time to see Soil, a 5 piece from Chicago consisting of: vocalist Ryan McCombs, guitar/vocalist Adam Zadel, guitarist Shaun Glass, bass player Tim King and drummer Tom Schofield. These guys have worked with producers such as Steve Albini (Nirvana/Jesus Lizard) and Johnny K (Disturbed/Machine Head). They performed well with great energy and the crowd seemed to dig them especially when they played their single "Halo". Check them out on http://www.soilmusic.com/site.php.
The Palladium was packed from wall to wall with Metal Heads anticipating Soulfly and Static. Support acts and stage set up just seems to take forever when all you want to do is rock out to the Max! (Pun intended).
Soulfly tore up the stage as they ripped into Primitive from their last album. With Roy Mayorga , the original drummer back and pounding hard as ever! They played No Hope = No Fear, Spit, Jump Da Fuck Up/Bring It and Bleed, with Max's step son singing the (Fred) chorus.
Max who will never forget who he is or where he came from indulged us with some Sepultura tracks such as Dead Embryonic Cells, Attitude and Roots........Yeah!
The hightlight of the show was probably when Dino Cazares (Fear Factory) played guitar when they performed Eye for an Eye, the first track on their 2000 release, Primitive. Jason (Slaves on Dope) and Max's step-son gutted out some vocals finnishing up a perfect set on the last song Pain.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/artists/Soulfly/
Last but not least, Static X took the stage, Wayne in a Where's Wally outfit, without the nerdy glasses and Tony in a Brujeria shirt. Tripp was wearing a "hail and kill" shirt and Ken was wearing his drum kit.
Thanks to Tripp (guitarist) I had the best view, due to the photo pass that he provided me with especially for the Axe Attack. I managed to get great pics of these guys tearing up the stage in a good ol' Static fashion.
Static, opened up with This is Not from their latest release Machine, followed by Bled for Days and Im with Stupid from their pre Machine release, Wisconsin Death Trip.
They ofcourse played their album self-titled song Machine, along with Cold which they just made a video, directed by Nathan Cox and Joe Hahn (Linkin Park, SOAD). Cold will be the lead single for the upcoming movie Queen of the Damned (based on Anne Rice Novel), which also features David Draiman (Disturbed), Marilyn Manson amongst others. Other tracks that they hammered out were Love Dumb and Wisconsin Death Trip. And yet another highlighted guest appearance was Push It, the first track on W.D.Trip with Dino Cazares on guitar, Marcello (Soulfly) also on guitar, Marty O'brien (Methods ofMayhem) on bass and Elijah from Deadsy - on chain swinging? " And the crowd went wild".....literally, they loved it and the pit went mad at the allstar guest jam. And finally, after only 1 hr of good live Static, they played Bien Viendos and Get to the Go, from Machine as their encore. http://www.static-x.com/
This was truly a great metal driven show and I would like to thank Tripp (Static X - guitarist), Guy Sykes (Soulfly - tour manager) and Marty O'brien (MOM) for making this review possible.
FAMILY VALUES TOUR/ LINKIN PARK
Date:10 November, 2001
Well I just managed to scrape into Family Values by the hair of my chinny chin chin! I've been rather complacent when it comes to gigs these days, waiting 'til the last minute almost literally. One quick phone call the day before had me riding with Stephen Carpenter (Deftones), his wife and my friend Russ. Russ hasn't always been reliable when it comes to coming through, like the time I was left high and dry for the Static X show and the time I was ready and waiting for him to pick me up for the Godsmack/Deftones gig that was cancelled. However he has completly made up for it by coming through for FV! Thankyou Russ, oxoxo.
So after we finally made our way backstage, which is actually the most boring and most pretentious place to be while at a show in LA, we accidentally found ourselves in the Staind dressing room. We vacated very quickly after Aarons wife and band girlfriends had a dramatic fit, not realising we were looking for Stephen and co who were in the Linkin Park room next door.
Linkin Park was the first band I got to see. They had a very glamourous stage set, definately proof of their success over the last year and a half. They have come along way.
They played hits off their album, which as you know they have only one so they pretty much played their whole album, including a new song which was very Hip Hoppy. Joe the DJ actually impressed me, he actually knows how to rock out while pressing buttons, and the guitarist did a very good job of playing with a broken foot. Mike has now aquired a certain comfortable poise while he's standing around waiting for his verses and interacts with the crowd at these points. And Chester has now had alot of practice with their live shows and now can sing most notes without his voice cracking or falling out of tune. All in all a very impressive show by the Park and an even better show performed than the show they played at the Town Hall in Auckland earlier this year. They seem to have the know how, when it comes to interacting with their fans, both Chester and Mike taking turns at stage diving.
So after playing songs like Paper Cut, With You, In the End, A Place for my Head, Crawling the broke into Sweet Child 'O Mine (GNR), a very good way to break into One Step Closer, and to top that off, Aaron Lewis from Staind came out to sing the last verse with Chester.
So, I know they happen to be part of the New Metal genre, but damn they put on a great live show and they do know how to rock, all respect!!!!
Staind were on next but I happened to miss them whilst pigging out on chocholate cake and fruit in the catering room and I got a chance to catch up with Joe and Stephano (LP, guitar tech). I also got to see the likes of Hed PE, Lit and apparently Cameron Diaz was lurking backstage with some actor she's dating. Im quite disappointed that I missed Staind but Im sure I'll get another chance.
Stone Temple Pilots were on next and I definately wasn't going to miss that. Im actually a fan of their first two albums, Core and Purple, so I underestimated the brilliance of their performance drastically. I thought they would play far too much new material but even the new songs rocked out with the quality of the stage set and crazy, wild antics of Scott Weiland.
I missed the first few songs but I got there in time to see them perform Dead and Bloated (Core) with Chester. I also saw them perform Sour Girl as the stage revolved and evolved into a living room. "Welcome to my living room!" boomed Scott as every member sat on a couch to sing Sour Girl. After that Scott, after claiming "We are a Snobby Band" in regards to not often having guests on Stage, introduced Aaron Lewis to sing Creep. They did have some technical difficulties with the guitar at the beginning of Interstate love song, and Scott stormed off to the rear of the stage to sort it our but once the show was up and running again, it all ran smoothly. After all these years waiting to see STP live, I had truly underestimated them. STP's final song was ofcourse their first single from Core - Plush, what a way to go out as Scott stripped prior to Plush into an American Flag. At the end of the song the whole band bowed at the front of the stage and one of the band members snatched the flag from Scott who promtly ran off stage with his "Sex type thing" between his legs!
After growing up in the grunge era, I truly felt complete and whole at finally seeing STP live. The missing link after having seen all my hot faves like FNM, RHCP, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearljam. I could definately have seen Alice In Chains if they hadn't cancelled there NZ shows, or Nirvana if I had bought my ticket on time, but the past can never change now.
So all in all an amazing show and very incestuous at that. I think that both these bands are very underated and if you get a chance to see them live, and are hesitant, just go, because your missing out!!!
Date:
So a wonderful friend whose name I wont mention as he will get in trouble if I do, managed to score two passes for me to get in the show. It wasvery nice of him to sleep with the Big Old Hoochy Mumma to get me in the show so thankyou soooooo much.
We managed to smuggle ourselves in with the crew passes, not looking anything like crew to catch the first or second song.
The Wiltern is a theatre, not a rock
venue at all, so it was completely seated, although everyone was ofcourse standing up. We
had to sqeeze ourselves in a row so we would not get kicked out. Unfortunately a cple of
losers wouldnt make room for a legitamate, ticketed person and security checked ticket
numbers. I flashed my crew pass and they told me I had to have a ticket to be in the
theatre and that was for backstage only. FUCKING NAZI'S!
So there I am left in the foyer, all lost
and forsaken. But I had one more card to pull out, Dino from Fear Factory was there and I
called him only to see him waving at me from the bar down the other end. Dino, accompanied
by two very lovely and georgeous ladies (as usual) hooked me up with a ticket stub to get
back in. So yay! Im in again! Protest Authority!!!!!!!!!! Speaking of which:
Maynard, the shepheard he is, revealed to
all who his flock was by saying repeat after me, "Always be different", (crowd
repeats after him), "always be unique.........Protest authority....Always be
different......Never repeat anything someone else says!". Very clever Maynard, a very
good way to make people realise they are following instead of leading themselves down
their own path. Me and Dino never repeated which made me feel just soooooo independant. Ha
ha.
Anyway, not being a fanatic TOOL fan, but
being able to appreciate the music, I watched with interest as Maynard swayed and stamped
like an actor from Planet of the Apes in a black and white striped costume infront of a
big screen, which was infront of an even bigger screen which displayed the various
released and unreleased video clips. If your on A class drugs the show would have been
even more appealing, however if not the 5 minute breaks between songs, the 15 minute
guitar echos and 10 minute bongo drum solos' just become minotonous! So although a show is
long, it does not mean it is good. When they played the songs that we all recognised like
'Sober', 'Opiate" tracks off Aenima and the new album Lataralus then the show just
totally went off. The sound was clear and loud, so it sounded great, I just wish they had
cut out alot of the unecessary crap!
So all in all, it was interesting but it
didnt really live up to the HYPE which Im beginning to believe that is all the Tool shows
really are: playing in obscure venues, not doing interviews and remaining anonymous are,
judging by the amount of avid TOOL fans this HYPE thing really does work.
System of a Down Riot
Date:
An estimated 10,000 people turned up to the free S.O.A.D show being held to promote their new album "Toxicity" at a carpark on Schrader blvd in Hollywood today that was big enough to fit only 3,500 people.
The band who were scheduled to play at 5pm were told by police that the show would be shut down as there were too many people.
At 5.30pm the bands Backdrop was pulled down with no explanation to the crowd as to why the band would not play and fans got confused an angry and made attempts to rush the stage, and within moments chaos errupted and all Hell broke loose in the carpark and people started rushing the stage. Equipment was thrown and toppled into the crowds, fights broke loose and and it was pandemonium in Hollywood. There was $30,000 worth of damage in stolen and destroyed epuipment.
The main question being asked is how could the organisers been more prepared and how could the crowd be informed of the situation and let down in a better way as to prevent the situation turning out the way it did.
According to the Bands' Manager, they had indications by 3.30pm that the show may not go on, due to a disruptive crowd that were so many, that they were spread out on the surrounding streets of the carpark.
People were injured, fires were set, equipment stolen and damaged and there were 6 arrests, and no one even got to see the band perform! It turned out to be a very expensive and dangerous event and luckly no one was fatally injured.
It took alot of police in riot gear to calm the riot and Schrader blvd was still closed at 11.30 for street cleaning, while stage crew were still busy cleaning up the destruction in the carpark itself.
Hopefully next time promoters and organisers will be better prepared if anything like this is to occur again. But my only opinion on this event is "Happy Labout Day America!).
Marilyn Manson/ Professional Murder Music
Date:30th June 2001
After a long and hot drive from Ozz Fest, San Bernadino, we finally arrived in the City of Neon Cheese and last decision
weddings.
This time we're here to see Marilyn Manson, supported by Professional Murder Music, who are here to do a one show between Ozz
Fest's.
When P.M.M came on set its not hard to see how badly support acts can be ripped off of stage and sound quality, and supporting
Manson, that doesnt surprise me at all.
They played well, although the vocals could have been turned up a little and they weren't as visually stimulating as they
could of been doing a show of there own. But having only heard one song, that is incredibly sexy cool from the soundtrack of
Valentine, and only being allowed limited sound etc, I thought they put on a good show, I just wish I was less sleep deprived
and more familiar with their material.
MARILYN MANSON took on the stage with the same format as Ozz Fest the night before. So nothing new to see here apart from a
very close up view of how he treats his stage crew. The abuse he deals to his crew only reinforces my view of Manson as a true
Metal Diva. All Queened out and cuffing his stage manager over the head as he just finnishes putting the mike stand back up
that Manson had so dramatically thrown down in the throws of his "Rocking Out".
Later Manson is at the back of the stage where he has 3 stage hands fitting him into his priest costume. One stage hand lifts
a mirror for Manson to check his atire and he is not happy about something. The stage hand reached up to adjust Manson's head
dress and to his surprise found himself at arm's length with Manson's hand wrapped around his throat. Manson walked on stage
to perform a song which I cannot recall at this stage as I was far more interested to see how the costume and stage crew
reacted to Manson's abuse. The other 2 were obviously asking him what happened and the maltreated stage hand shrugged with a
look of bewilderment. All I can say is, I hope Marilyn Manson's crew are taken care of financially atleast to be treated like
that.
So all and all, a very insightly show as always.
Ozz Fest 2001
Date:29th June 2001
After arriving in Los Angeles now my new
home, the day before Ozz Fest, I have definately had a most exciting and pleasing
first taste of whats to come over the next 6 months. If this is just the appetiser, then I drool in anticipation for the main
meal....
I arrived in Los Angeles after a short
excersion to Honolulu. After flying 5 1/2hrs across the pacific to the City of Angels, I
find myself (very sleep deprived) at the infamous Rainbow Bar and Grill on Sunset, shaking hands with the very tall and very
assured, true Rap/Rock Superstar, B Real from Cypress Hill. Big Hair Bands - silcone/saline, metal - collegen, rockstars -
groupies, you dont need to look for that to have it rammed deep down your throat here.
Ozz Fest - San Bernadino starts at 10am,
however I dont leave California until 2.30pm. After 2 miles of bumper to bumper
traffic, we flash our not-so-authentic passes at security and park our car amongst the tour buses backstage.
There is something a little out of sinct
about rockin out in the sunshine, we're talking a good 100 degrees farenheit,
something that a majority of the mostly nocturnal scene had to adjust to.
So we arrived during the Linkin Park Set,
having missed an apparently very good Disturbed set prior. By the time we had our
legitimate passes sorted, complements of Disturbed (thank you very much), we were on time to see only Slipknot, Marilyn Manson
and Black Sabbath.
So we go into the Pit armed with our
digital camcorders and we settle in for Slipknot, damn, damn, damn it must be hot in those
costumes!!!! They tore up that stage faster than Manson could say "Fuck the Government!". Luckily we captured live evidence of
this on tape which only I can provide as my partner in digi crime had his confiscated by Slipknots own personal barbarian, who
failed to notice mine already tucked away in my bag (there is a God!).
Anyway, just barely did we escape backstage, where if u were looking the likes of B Real (Cypress Hill), Gene Simmons (Kiss),
Crazy Town, Spineshank, Disturbed and many others could be seen.
At Dusk Manson strut is skinny little
booty onstage to protest The Church, government and the beautiful people. Manson is like a
Goth/Metal version of Micheal Jackson, with as many costume changes as Maddonna, meet Metal Diva Manson!!! Apart from the many
costume changes, crotch grabs and ever changing stage themes and props, the highlight of the show would have been when invited
a dedicated young manson fan onto the stage, after asking who wanted to be abused. ABUSE was written on her chest with M and E
on her breasts. As she stood facing the crowd Manson snaked his hand accross to fondle her "M' breast and kissed her very
unpassionatly and left her to shake her "Me Me's" while they tore into Sweet Dreams.
After Marilyn Manson's great if not
entertaining performance, I was off to take refuge once again Backstage where I had the
brutal pleasure of meeting Mick, one of the performers from Slipknot (sorry didn't do my home work). He just happened to be
talking about copulating dead woman and setting them on fire. I decided that since necrophilia was not my strongest topic of
conversation I left to see the almighty and still alive BLACKSABBATH!
A great light show, a medievil back drop,
and ofcourse the Satan of Rock himself, Mr Ozzy Osborne. The creator of Ozz Fest and
evil demeaner of the devil on acid, sung his way through classics (they're all classics) such as, into the void, iron man and
amongst others warpigs. To my dismay there was no live 'Sweet Leaf". However, Ozzy never forgot the crowd of 60,000, and made
an effort to rehydrate then heat exhausted crowd with a fire hose and the occasional bucket. And it would'nt be right to talk
about Tommi Iomi who not only has aged the least of the band, but played with the presence of what only a great guitar player
truly could.
In conclusion, a wonderful and not to be missed experience, Ozz Fest 2002, here I come!