Concerts for 2024

[countoftuscany42]

That King Crimson tribute concert is doing two shows in the Greater LA Area.  The United Theater on Broadway in LA (never been there before, but apparently it's near the Orpheum theater) and The City National Grove of Anaheim (right close to Angels Stadium).  I shall pass.

In the meantime, I'm looking at the schedule for April.  Only two concerts intrigue me this month.  Bruce Dickinson at the Observatory in Santa Ana (resale is at $132.00.  If it gets below $100.00, that gets me buying it) and Starset at the House of Blues.

United Theater on Broadway was formerly The Theatre at Ace Hotel if you ever went there. Very much looking forward to the Beat shows, will probably be at one or both of the LA area dates

[Buckeye69]

I haven't been to any so far this year, but have several coming up.


Tix in hand

YYNOT
Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks
Al Di Meola....front row/meet & greet!!   
Dweezil Zappa
The Musical Box


"Thinking about it"

Satch/Vai
Journey/Def Leppard/Heart
King Crimson(The Beat)
Billy Joel/Rod Stewart
The Stones

[lonestar]

They rescheduled the Survive Said the Prophet shows. it's on 7/13 now, same venue.

Soooo, next show is BtBaM next Friday, then Babymetal at the end of the month.


May is fucking loaded, on top of Allegaeon and Hanabie, we also got the Omega fest and the Chaos and Carnage fest, both falling on Saturdays with lineups of a shit ton of unreadable logos lol.

[cramx3]

Looks like the full tour has come out now.  I'm not into King Crimson so this generally doesn't interest me, BUT, the cast of musicians is pretty cool AND they are coming to a local theater for me so I put it on my calendar.  Maybe I'll go because of the uniqueness and local show.

this show sold out immediately  so I wont be attending

[cramx3]

Almost forgot to write a review!

On Easter Sunday my gf and I went to see the final show of the US tour for Avenged Sevenfold in NJ.  I managed to buy tickets the day of the show and scored a good deal to get tickets in the suite level seats that include an all you can eat buffet.  My gf had advised that getting thsoe tickets wouldn't make sense since we would be coming from her parents for an early Easter dinner, but the price point was cheaper than seats in the lower bowl so it was worth it.  The food was actually pretty good too, and while I wasn't hungry, I still made a full plate and grabbed some snacks for the seat. 



There was an early opener that we missed, I don't even remember who it was.  But we got there in time to watch the entire Poppy set.  I don't know how I feel about her music, some songs I enjoyed, some I hated.  But I can say that the live performance was garbage.  I really do think the drums and guitar were live, because they often did sound live, but it's soooo heavy backing track that it didn't feel live at all.  The vocals for the msot part didn't sound live either, although I think she is live with an effect on top of a backing track of her voice so it's really hard to get any feeling of a live rock/metal show from that performance.  Poppy was easy on the eyes though, wearing a skin color bunny suit, it almost looked like she was hardly wearing anything from my seat.  THey did the new Bad Omens and Poppy colab song which was the highlight of their set for me.   She also didn't say a single thing between sets other than thank you at the end.  ANotehr reason why it felt like the set was hitting the play button and just miming it.

After a long break, Avenged Sevenfold came out.  I thought their sound and visuals were significantly better than the MSG show last year.  The visuals could have just been from having a better seat, but the sound was soooo much better.  They sounded really good to me, and while they do use backing tracks, they also sounded very live to me.  I also loved how the singer took a moment to talk about Easter.  He basically ripped their booking agent for booking them on Easter, then put on some bunny ears becasue the entire front row of the crowd was wearing them, and then said Jesus Christ couldn't make it, but they had Johnny Christ so everyone was spending their night with JC in the end.  He also changed the lyrics in The Stage to "Johnny Christ was born to die" which I thought was a cool thing to do given the day.  Also, during the short drum solo, he kept talking about Easter food and gravy    All those things are likely putting this into my top 10 concert moments of 2024.  Thought the Easter references and the buffet at the venue were great.

They ended the show with Cosmic, which was my favorite song to come out in 2023 and a song they did not play last time.  In fact, there were a few changes to the set that were all really awesome for me.  Great set!

Avenged Sevenfold & Poppy LIVE on EASTER @ Prudential Center Newark NJ 3/31/2024

Next up:

April 9th - Korpiklaani, Visions of Atlantis & Illumishade @ Gramercy Theater, New York City

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

Almost forgot to write a review!

On Easter Sunday my gf and I went to see the final show of the US tour for Avenged Sevenfold in NJ.  I managed to buy tickets the day of the show and scored a good deal to get tickets in the suite level seats that include an all you can eat buffet.  My gf had advised that getting thsoe tickets wouldn't make sense since we would be coming from her parents for an early Easter dinner, but the price point was cheaper than seats in the lower bowl so it was worth it.  The food was actually pretty good too, and while I wasn't hungry, I still made a full plate and grabbed some snacks for the seat. 



There was an early opener that we missed, I don't even remember who it was.  But we got there in time to watch the entire Poppy set.  I don't know how I feel about her music, some songs I enjoyed, some I hated.  But I can say that the live performance was garbage.  I really do think the drums and guitar were live, because they often did sound live, but it's soooo heavy backing track that it didn't feel live at all.  The vocals for the msot part didn't sound live either, although I think she is live with an effect on top of a backing track of her voice so it's really hard to get any feeling of a live rock/metal show from that performance.  Poppy was easy on the eyes though, wearing a skin color bunny suit, it almost looked like she was hardly wearing anything from my seat.  THey did the new Bad Omens and Poppy colab song which was the highlight of their set for me.   She also didn't say a single thing between sets other than thank you at the end.  ANotehr reason why it felt like the set was hitting the play button and just miming it.

After a long break, Avenged Sevenfold came out.  I thought their sound and visuals were significantly better than the MSG show last year.  The visuals could have just been from having a better seat, but the sound was soooo much better.  They sounded really good to me, and while they do use backing tracks, they also sounded very live to me.  I also loved how the singer took a moment to talk about Easter.  He basically ripped their booking agent for booking them on Easter, then put on some bunny ears becasue the entire front row of the crowd was wearing them, and then said Jesus Christ couldn't make it, but they had Johnny Christ so everyone was spending their night with JC in the end.  He also changed the lyrics in The Stage to "Johnny Christ was born to die" which I thought was a cool thing to do given the day.  Also, during the short drum solo, he kept talking about Easter food and gravy    All those things are likely putting this into my top 10 concert moments of 2024.  Thought the Easter references and the buffet at the venue were great.

They ended the show with Cosmic, which was my favorite song to come out in 2023 and a song they did not play last time.  In fact, there were a few changes to the set that were all really awesome for me.  Great set!

Avenged Sevenfold & Poppy LIVE on EASTER @ Prudential Center Newark NJ 3/31/2024

Next up:

April 9th - Korpiklaani, Visions of Atlantis & Illumishade @ Gramercy Theater, New York City

You should make a YouTube video where you film your reaction to one of the shows you go to. Similar to your "Halo with the girlfriend" series but it's shows instead of games. I used to do something very similar back when I was playing Sea of Stars

[SoundscapeMN]

Raul Malo tonight in Minneapolis.

After seeing his band The Mavericks last Fall, and being pretty floored, I'm hoping for more of the same tonight.

[Anguyen92]

When I saw A7X in Cleveland, the first band for the A7X tour was this DJ named Sullivan King.  I actually liked that guy more than Poppy as an opening act.  He had pyro, great visuals, and he had moments where he was singing a few vocal lines, and playing guitar here and there.  Naturally, he threw in some snippets of well-known songs in the mix like Linkin Park's Bleed it Out, the piano intro to MCR's Welcome to the Black Parade, Rob Zombie's Dracula, etc.

Poppy was pretty boring to me.  This was only the 4th instance I can recall where I dozed off during a set (other instances was Periphery at a festival in 2019, the guy that opened for Telsa/Lynyrd Skynyrd in Irvine in 2022, Blue October when they opened for Goo Goo Dolls in LA in 2022, and Poppy).  Visuals were bleak and I agree with Cramx, her vocals had that processed effect that doesn't come off as "live", and she said nothing at all to address the crowd other than good night at the end of the show.  Not really something note that makes me go, "I need to see this again."

A7X was awesome.  I wished they had some pyro in their set, especially in Shepherd of Fire, but the visuals were great, especially the visuals they had that gives the signal that they were going to play a song from Life is But a Dream.  Nightmare had the biggest singalong of that night I feel, especially in the bridge section.  I also appreciate them throwing some good deep cuts as well.  I have a bigger appreciation for Save Me when I read they were playing it, this tour, than I did when I first heard the song in the Nightmare album playthrough, a long long time ago.

I wish I can find deals in shows where there are suite seats that comes with a buffet that are cheaper than lower bowl seats, but maybe I'm not looking hard enough.  Not that I really needed to eat at the show in Cleveland.  I had a nice veggie burrito from a solid burrito place and Horchata prior to getting into the arena.

[cramx3]

I wish I can find deals in shows where there are suite seats that comes with a buffet that are cheaper than lower bowl seats, but maybe I'm not looking hard enough.  Not that I really needed to eat at the show in Cleveland.  I had a nice veggie burrito from a solid burrito place and Horchata prior to getting into the arena.

For my venue, Prudential Center, those seats aren't sold on live nation, only through stubhub.  So the prices fluctuate a lot.  They were twice the price for the lower bowl up until the day of the show. I'm looking to try and get the same seats for Judas Priest, but they so far have not gone down in price. Also, the seats themselves are more comfy and you have a good view from that section.  Probably my favorite seats at that venue, but just not always something that's in my price range.

[cramx3]

Tuesday was a big party in NYC for the interesting foreign trio of Korpiklaani, Visions of Atlantis, and Illumishade.  Solid turn out, although not sold out at the 500 capacity Gramercy Theater.  Got myself the same seat I've had for quite a few concerts at this venue over the last year.  The show started at 7pm with Illumishade from Switzerland.  Their first ever tour of the US and a fairly new band with their second album having just been released.  The singer asked the crowd if they knew who they were and was shocked to hear a good cheer back.  There was also a small mosh pit for them that the gutiarist noted was a first ever for them.  Wow! I mean, their music isn't super moshy, more headbanging because of the djenty gutiaring at times, but yeah, still a bit shocked that no one's ever moshed for them before.  I thought they were pretty good and maybe a bit all over the place in style, but I dug it and the singer was really giving it all.  I bought their new album after their set and got a selfie with the singer who was hanging by the merch table. 

Next up was Visions of Atlantis.  They were the band I was there to see the most.  Thought they were awesome in my two introductory concerts to them last year at ProgPower and the follow up NYC show.  They have a new album coming out soon, so no surprise they did an awesome live rendition of their new single Armada, but they also did two unreleased new songs.  Since the tour had just started, I was one of the first to get to hear this new music.  I thought of the songs, Monsters, was actually really good.  The mosh pit got a big bigger for them and their music is faster paced, more power metal, so that seemed more natural.  The live dual vocals were really good again.  The floor went into a huge row pit, again.  It was a really fun set!

Headliners, Korpiklaani, were the band I was least familiar with. I don't really listen to folk metal, but they were a ton of fun!  Definitely got a part vibe from them as the mosh pit went up another level.  Their music is super energetic with blazing accordian and viiolin solos.  The singer looks like a finnish version of a rastafarian.  Their stage had a lot of plants and just a very trippy vibe to it all.  I really enjoyed their set.  I guess I could say they are a finnish and metal version of Dropkick Murphys or Flogging Molly.  Most of the songs were in Finnish so I really didn't understand any of it especially sicne I didn't know the songs, but still enjoyed it.  They just had a new album come out as well so all three bands did sets heavy of new 2024 music, and I LOVED it! Great concert overall.

Korpiklaani, Visions of Atlantis, & Illumishade LIVE @ Gramercy Theater New York City NY 4/9/2024

Also, for $5 I bought this cool Visions of Atlantis guitar pick:

[El Barto]

I wish I can find deals in shows where there are suite seats that comes with a buffet that are cheaper than lower bowl seats, but maybe I'm not looking hard enough.  Not that I really needed to eat at the show in Cleveland.  I had a nice veggie burrito from a solid burrito place and Horchata prior to getting into the arena.

A band/promoter has nothing whatsoever to do with suites. They're generally owned/leased from the venue itself. FedEX and AT&T (among many others) own suites at probably every arena in the US. They're theirs to do with as they please. Sometimes they'll use them for concerts and sometimes they won't. Sometimes whoever owns/manages it will sell the seats on Stubhub. I've actually seen suite tickets go for less than comparable seats before. The catch is that it may very well not be catered in that instance, since it's the owner that would have to pay for it. It looked to me like Jerry's suite was dark at the Metallica show, but at the same time it wouldn't surprise me if he had the thing packed for Taylor Swift's gig a month earlier, prime rib and 18 year old Scotch all hell over the place.

Really, the only way to get into one for a concert and also have it catered is to be a potential client for a company that owns one. I've been in Staubach's for a Stars game, and FedEX's suite for a Ranger game, and both times it was business related.  (Staubach didn't feed us much, but FedEX really had a nice spread). Friends bought into one for Roger Water's most recent gig, and while it was quite affordable, they had to pay for their own stuff, and it was pretty ordinary arena fair. 

[cramx3]

A band/promoter has nothing whatsoever to do with suites. They're generally owned/leased from the venue itself. FedEX and AT&T (among many others) own suites at probably every arena in the US. They're theirs to do with as they please. Sometimes they'll use them for concerts and sometimes they won't. Sometimes whoever owns/manages it will sell the seats on Stubhub. I've actually seen suite tickets go for less than comparable seats before. The catch is that it may very well not be catered in that instance, since it's the owner that would have to pay for it. It looked to me like Jerry's suite was dark at the Metallica show, but at the same time it wouldn't surprise me if he had the thing packed for Taylor Swift's gig a month earlier, prime rib and 18 year old Scotch all hell over the place.

Really, the only way to get into one for a concert and also have it catered is to be a potential client for a company that owns one. I've been in Staubach's for a Stars game, and FedEX's suite for a Ranger game, and both times it was business related.  (Staubach didn't feed us much, but FedEX really had a nice spread). Friends bought into one for Roger Water's most recent gig, and while it was quite affordable, they had to pay for their own stuff, and it was pretty ordinary arena fair.

The few times I got suite tickets off stubhub, food was not included.  You are right about that.  But when I went in the Bank of America suite with my friend who works there, free booze and buffet. (free to me, I'm sure BOA paid for the food and booze). 

Some venues do have food included options not in suites like what I had at Prudential Center in NJ, or when I saw Metallica in Atlanta at Mercedes Benz stadium they had an all you can eat buffet section that you could buy on livenation.

[Anguyen92]

As mentioned in the Iron Maiden thread, I got the ticket to see Bruce Dickinson at the Observatory in Santa Ana.  The monthly concert streak lives on!!!

Bruce Dickinson - The Observatory - Santa Ana, CA.  April 15th 2024.

[lonestar]

As mentioned in the Iron Maiden thread, I got the ticket to see Bruce Dickinson at the Observatory in Santa Ana.  The monthly concert streak lives on!!!

Bruce Dickinson - The Observatory - Santa Ana, CA.  April 15th 2024.

That's such a cool venue, drove down to see Asterism there last year.