Concerts for 2023

[cramx3]

Should I go see Tarja at the Belasco Theater in June?  Her show is under the $25.00 tickets and it's all GA.

I wasn't too interesting in seeing Tarja as I thought her ProgPower performance a few years ago was kind of lackluster.  However, it's a Saturday night and it's also on the $25 sale which now has it on my radar.  I do enjoy Tarja as a vocalist, but her solo material is more miss than hit for me. She is pretty incredible though.

[lonestar]

The rest of May looks like this for me,

May 18th - Clutch @ Starland Ballroom, Sayreville NJ
May 23rd - Avatar, Orbit Culture & Veil of Maya @ Webster Hall, New York City NY
May 27th - Alestorm & Gloryhammer @ Irving Plaza, New York City NY

Not entirely sure I'm up to two nights back to back in NYC to make it happen since I'm not even familiar with them.

Edit to add, I'm also bummed that I'm not seeing The Interrupters tomorrow to open up the summer season at the Stone Pony.  Taking one for my gf to be with her family the entire weekend instead.

Understandable... Definitely check them out though, they're a great rock band, very much akin to a Korean version of The Warning

[lonestar]

Got a few more tracks uploaded from the Rolling Quartz show...they mixed in snippets of covers into their setlist, mainly cause I think they only have about 12 original songs at this point, and played them all except one. They mixed in 7 Nation Army, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Smells Like Teen Spirit, and did a full cover of Youth Gone Wild. Also they had guitar solo segments for each of the guitarists, one did a SVR cover and the other did a Nuno Bettencourt/Extreme cover.


Youth Gone Wild- https://youtu.be/Jc1C_V4cSbY


Scuttle Buttin'- https://youtu.be/SYqSuEAcpEs


Cupid's Dead- https://youtu.be/w80oC2LERBo

[cramx3]

Got a few more tracks uploaded from the Rolling Quartz show...they mixed in snippets of covers into their setlist, mainly cause I think they only have about 12 original songs at this point, and played them all except one. They mixed in 7 Nation Army, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Smells Like Teen Spirit, and did a full cover of Youth Gone Wild. Also they had guitar solo segments for each of the guitarists, one did a SVR cover and the other did a Nuno Bettencourt/Extreme cover.


Youth Gone Wild- https://youtu.be/Jc1C_V4cSbY


Scuttle Buttin'- https://youtu.be/SYqSuEAcpEs


Cupid's Dead- https://youtu.be/w80oC2LERBo

That's pretty cool

I scored a $33 ticket for Clutch on resale, face value of $58 and the venue's twitter says this should sell out so I feel like I got a great deal.

[cramx3]

Tim would be happy, I'm strongly considering seeing Helloween this weekend in NYC.  They are playing Saturday night and I currently don't have plans so seems like it would be more fun than a night home. Also, I missed two concerts last week so I need to make up for some of that 

[El Barto]

Tim would be happy, I'm strongly considering seeing Helloween this weekend in NYC.  They are playing Saturday night and I currently don't have plans so seems like it would be more fun than a night home. Also, I missed two concerts last week so I need to make up for some of that 

I thought about catching them Saturday 3 nights ago for the same reason. In our case it sold out and I wasn't $85 bored.

[lonestar]

I think Helloween is in the Live nation 25$ thingy which I believe is still going on.

[cramx3]

Tim would be happy, I'm strongly considering seeing Helloween this weekend in NYC.  They are playing Saturday night and I currently don't have plans so seems like it would be more fun than a night home. Also, I missed two concerts last week so I need to make up for some of that 

I thought about catching them Saturday 3 nights ago for the same reason. In our case it sold out and I wasn't $85 bored.

$85 seems to be face value after fees here too which is why I didn't just pull the trigger.  It's an AXS ticket show and sometimes those resales can be cheaper (like Clutch this week) so I've got my eye on it (not sold out, yet).  However, I'd probably still pay the $85, but not more.

I think Helloween is in the Live nation 25$ thingy which I believe is still going on.

Not for me, it's an AXS not live nation show for Terminal 5 NYC

[lonestar]

Ah, I may have misheard

[cramx3]

Ah, I may have misheard

Maybe not, it could just be based on location. 

[El Barto]

Definitely location. It was an AXS show here, too. We've got a couple of non-LN venues.

And in this case face was $50+TTL. There was an abundance of scalper tickets, but once it sold out that ship sailed. I was hoping the secondary market would crater the day of the show.

[countoftuscany42]

Saw The Winery Dogs thursday in Anaheim, great show from them as always 

Haken coming up Wednesday in LA, absolutely stoked to hear the setlist from this tour 

And now just bought a ticket for Plini in LA next saturday, it had been sold out but I guess some holds were just released 

[ReaperKK]

I saw Plini last night and I promise you won't regret it, easily the best show of the year. Get there early enough to see Jakub Zytecki open. It's such a killer show.

[Evermind]

September 3rd - Soen @ Zorlu PSM, Istanbul, Turkey

Just got the ticket with some help from a friend (since you can't purchase tickets abroad with Russian-issued cards), hopefully nothing drastic happens in the next three months and I'll be able to go see some very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff. Apparently the show is Atlantis, semi-acoustic, in a theater with a string quartet. Should be amazing.

[lonestar]

September 3rd - Soen @ Zorlu PSM, Istanbul, Turkey

Just got the ticket with some help from a friend (since you can't purchase tickets abroad with Russian-issued cards), hopefully nothing drastic happens in the next three months and I'll be able to go see some very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff. Apparently the show is Atlantis, semi-acoustic, in a theater with a string quartet. Should be amazing.

Cool, glad you're getting to a show since I'd imagine nobody is touring Russia these days outside of Russian bands. Speaking of which, a dude at a recent show told me about a group from St Petersburg called Tardigrade Inferno and they're quite amazing. You familiar with them?

[Evermind]

September 3rd - Soen @ Zorlu PSM, Istanbul, Turkey

Just got the ticket with some help from a friend (since you can't purchase tickets abroad with Russian-issued cards), hopefully nothing drastic happens in the next three months and I'll be able to go see some very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff. Apparently the show is Atlantis, semi-acoustic, in a theater with a string quartet. Should be amazing.

Cool, glad you're getting to a show since I'd imagine nobody is touring Russia these days outside of Russian bands. Speaking of which, a dude at a recent show told me about a group from St Petersburg called Tardigrade Inferno and they're quite amazing. You familiar with them?

Haven't heard of Tardigrade Inferno but I'll look into them.

And yeah, haven't seen a foreign band show since 2021 (first Covid, then war happened). Ironically the last foreign band I saw was Jinjer, September 10th in 2021. Before them, it was Beyond the Black in November 2019.

[Glasser]

I saw Plini last night and I promise you won't regret it, easily the best show of the year. Get there early enough to see Jakub Zytecki open. It's such a killer show.

I guess Disperse never really stuck? Such a great band.

[lonestar]

While I'm obviously way more stoked about Haken in Thursday, I do have a nice appetizer of Love and Rockets tonight!! Time to get my 80s on...

[TAC]

Helloween tonight!

[Glasser]

Helloween tonight!

 

[Evermind]

Helloween tonight!

[cramx3]

Last Thursday Clutch ended their NA tour at the Starland Ballroom.  A venue they regularly play and my 3rd time seeing them, all at the same venue.  This was the first time of the 3 not officially sold out, but it was about as close as it could be as the venue was saying they expected a sell out, but looked like I could have grabbed a ticket at the door (I didn't need to, grabbed an almost half off ticket on resale). 

The first opener was Nate Bergman who I was not familiar with and nothing of his performance made me want to become familiar.  Just very boring and generic rock that did nothing to distinguish itself from any garage band.  I wonder if he paid to be on this tour.

The main support was Amigo the Devil.  Another band I was not familiar with.  Now this was at least interesting.  Reminded me of like if cheech and chong did rock n roll music.  He just had that souther, like mexico southern, type of sound and style mixed in with rock and a lyrical style that reminded me of a comedy version of death topics.  Apparantly he performs solo a lot, but he had a full band for this tour and the band really added to the show.  He did a few solo songs that I thought were uninteresting, but with the full band including a sexy keyboardist, it was pretty solid show.  Not really my music, but something unique and different plus completely raw.  I enjoyed it.

Up next were Clutch who didn't go on until 10:10pm which annoyed me being it was a Thursday and they opened with the same song they opened with last time here (which wouldn't bother me too much but this is a band that plays different sets every night so it felt like we should have gotten one of the many different songs to open with....). But they quickly just made me forget about that stuff.  The singer, Neil, is just so entertaining on stage.  He's aggressive and has hand motions to go along with basically all his odd lyrics.  The one moment during their new single "Nosferatu Madre" was one of the best  I joke with my gf (who came with me last time, but not this time) that I wanted him to point at me because he does a lot of pointing while singing.  After I pointed at him like 20 times, he finally pointed and sang right at me near the end of the set.  I spent the first half of their set on the stage right side and then crossed the entire venue to spend the second half on the opposite side.  All close enough to the band to feel interactive with Neil.  He also mentioned that the show last night was attended by "mouth breathers"  I had to check that, they had played in Long Island NY the night before.  They ended around 11:40 but I snuck out right before the final song to beat the crowd out of these.  Good show 

Clutch & Amigo the Devil LIVE @ Starland Ballroom Sayreville NJ 5/18/2023

[cramx3]

Saturday was European power metal night in New York City with Helloween and Hammerfall.  This concert wasn't even on my radar but when I had to cancel going to a couple and saw I had an opening, this concert fit nicely into my schedule.  I also managed to get two tickets from a twitter friend for a nice discount so my gf came along.  What a fun night it turned out to be!

We got there just at 7pm and by the time we were inside Hammerfall were already on. I've seen them 3 previous times (all as openers) so I knew what to expect.  Fun set that started a bit slow but had the crowd totally into it by the end.  I thought it was funny that one person had a child on their shoulders up front and near the end of the set the singer said something along the lines of "this is not school" and I definitely thought that was directed at the person who's child was likely blocking a lot of people's view.  I mean, I don't think having a kid on your shoulder is the worst thing, but that kid was up there for most of the set and I think that's not right. Funny thing, I've seen Tim's pics and some others on social media and it looks like they have played with the Helloween screen behind them displaying a Hammerfall image, but at my show, they had a back drop behind them instead.  I think I'd rather the screen to help light things up a bit.



Helloween were pretty awesome.  I'm not a huge fan of theirs and this was my first time seeing them, so I didn't really know all their history and music, but you kind of get the idea when there's multiple singers and guitarists that this is a band that's re-united.  I thought the singing between the two main singers was fantastic.  They did a soft song together with their arms around each other.  It was really sweet.  Kiske was just so good though, easily my favorite of the singers and stood out the most.  Even my gf was very impressed with him and not just because he could sing but because he could understand what he was singing.  I loved the pumpkin drum kit, felt like that was something unique for their stage show.  Also, the videos played for each song were really well done.  Besides Kiske, the guitar playing from all three was another stand out.  So many solos and unisons which I really enjoyed.  I definitely left the show more of a fan than what I arrived.  If you are a fan, you should definitely check them out.  I scooped up a tour tshirt that had both bands on it for $40 on the way out. Felt like this would be a good shirt to wear at Progpower in September.



Helloween & Hammerfall LIVE @ Terminal 5 New York City, NY 5/20/2023

Next up.... tonight!

May 23rd - Avatar, Veil of Maya & Orbit Culture @ Webster Hall, New York City NY

also in future cram concert news... my brother finalized his bachelor party plans which knocks out three summer concerts I was planning on seeing. None of which were must sees so I'm good (if he had picked Metallica weekend, I'd be livid). But my summer is looking wild and I'm likely doing a work trip that will negate some of these... but here's the tentative list:

May 27th - Alestorm & Gloryhammer @ Irving Plaza, New York City NY
June 4th - 311 @ Bader Field, Atlantic City NJ
June 9th - Rhapsody of Fire, Wind Rose & Seven Kingdoms @ Gramercy Theater, New York City NY
June 10th - TLC & Shaggy @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
June 17th - Tarja @ Irving Plaza, New York City NY
June 23rd - Avenged Sevenfold & Falling in Reverse @ Madison Square Garden, New York City NY
June 24th - Streetlight Manifesto @ Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park NJ
June 28th - Dream Theater, Devin Townsend & Animals As Leaders @ Hulu Theater, New York City NY
July 14th - Taking Back Sunday & The Maine @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
July 15th - Less Than Jake & Voodoo Glow Skulls @ Irving Plaza, New York City NY
July 16th - Brett Michaels, Night Ranger & Jefferson Starship @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
July 18th - Dave Matthews Band @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
July 28th - Mudvayne, Coal Chamber, Gwar @ Jones Beach, Wantagh NY
July 19th - Godsmack & Staind @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
August 2nd - Snoop Dog & Wiz Khalifa @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
August 4th - Metallica, Pantera, & Mammoth WVH @ Metlife Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
August 5th - Fall Out Boy & Bring Me The Horizon @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
August 6th - Metallica, Five Finger Death Punch, & Ice Nine Kills @ Metlife Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
August 8th - Incubus & Badflower @ Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asubry Park NJ
August 15th - All American Rejects & New Found Glory @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
August 17th - Slightly Stoopid, Sublime with Rome, Atmosphere & The Movement @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
August 19th - Kamelot, Battle Beast & Xandria @ New York City NY
August 24th - Smashing Pumpkins, Interpol & Rival Sons @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
August 25th - Ghost & Amon Amarth @ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden NJ
September 3rd - Foreigner & Loverboy @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
September 7th - Beast in Black, VOLA, Halo Effect… Day 2 Progpower @ Center Stage, Atlanta GA
September 8th - Kamelot, Caligula’s Horse, Green Carnation…Day 3 Progpower @ Center Stage, Atlanta GA
September 9th - Myrath, Unleash the Archers, Delain… Day 4 Progpower @ Center Stage, Atlanta GA
September 10th - Lynyrd Skynyrd & ZZ Top @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
September 11th - Beast in Black & Dance with the Dead @ Gramercy Theater, New York City NY
September 12th - Greta Van Fleet @ Madison Square Garden, New York City NY
September 13th - Delain & Visions of Atlantis @ Gramercy Theater, New York City NY

[lonestar]

Totally forgot to post my thoughts on Love and Rockets from last Sunday. Even though I'm not a massive fan, it was a great show. Technically they were pretty flawless, and the visuals for the show were top notch. Even though it never got me to that adrenaline release point I thrive for in shows, they still managed to give me a solid groove throughout. Daniel Ash was especially impressive, totally amazed at the sounds he manages to get out of his guitar.


Next up...motherfucking HAKEN tomorrow night!!!! Upgraded to the VIP experience, so expect some epic pics of me and the band!!!

[Glasser]

Totally forgot to post my thoughts on Love and Rockets from last Sunday. Even though I'm not a massive fan, it was a great show. Technically they were pretty flawless, and the visuals for the show were top notch. Even though it never got me to that adrenaline release point I thrive for in shows, they still managed to give me a solid groove throughout. Daniel Ash was especially impressive, totally amazed at the sounds he manages to get out of his guitar.


Next up...motherfucking HAKEN tomorrow night!!!! Upgraded to the VIP experience, so expect some epic pics of me and the band!!!

How'd you pull that off? Enjoy RJ!!!! 

[coz]

Anybody interested in a pair of tickets for the Les Claypool show 5/31 in Columbus Ohio?  $109 for the pair.  PM me.

[cramx3]

I had a blast on Tuesday night at the Avatar, Veil of Maya, and Orbit Culture concert in NYC. 

Bought a resale for $35 (would have been $50 at the door) 15 minutes before the show started standing outside the venue.  I haven't been to Webster Hall in over 3 years, but I must say, I do enjoy this venue.  They have, I think, 3 stages.  This show was in the main ballroom that can hold ~1.5k people GA, but I doubt even 1k were at the show.  I absolutely LOVED how it wasn't super packed.  Had space to walk around and hold my own corner in the back to get some good video and the freedom to move up closer when I wanted. 

Orbit Culture hit the stage at 7:30. They were actually scheduled to play Progpower last year before pulling out so I was curious to see them.  Not sure if the ProgPower crowd would have loved them (some would for sure) being more of a death metal band, but I thought the singer /guitarist was pretty good live.  I didn't love them, but they were solid performing in front of maybe 200 people to start the show.  Place was empty to start so I was pretty close to them before a pit eventually broke out and I just watched from the back and then side stage.  Almost got a guitar pick from the singer when they ended after 30 minutes. 



One thing I like about Avatar shows, they bring some interesting people out.  I guess you can call it a "freak show" (given the name of one of their most popular songs).  But I find these are some of the nicest and coolest people to talk to.  Between bands I hung outside at the smoking section and everyone was so nice and fun to chat with.  SO mcuh so, I missed the start of Veil of Maya because I was chatting too much outside.

I had sampled Veil of Maya and didn't really like it before the show, but they were soooo much better live.  I may have just sampled the wrong songs as there was definitely stuff I didn't care for, but a bunch of songs (which I still don't know) came off as really enjoyable live.  I definitely started vibing to their set the more it went on.  I just really don't like how metalcore has such a huge obsession with dark stage and fast flickering lights.  It just makes it hard to actually see the band.  But there were enough moments to catch some good clips regardless.  Also helps that while the place filled in more, it still was not packed at all so I could comfortably enjoy the show.

Avatar hit the stage a little bit after 9:30 and they performed for a full 2 hours.  I really felt like this was great bang for buck show if you are into some screamo types of metal.  Avatar shows are just sooo ridiculous.  They are definitely live for one and perform at a very high level, but they incorporate such interesting and unique stage show elements.  It just amazes me the attention to detail they put into their live show beyond performing the songs.  ANd this is not some big show, remember, this is not a packed small venue.  This show is way over the top for the venue/turn out.  And that's why I love seeing this band.  They just give it all for the show.



At one point during the song Puppet Show the singer ssnuck through the crowd (right next to me to my surprise) and came out and started making balloon dogs to hand out and then did a trombone solo before running back to the stage right in front of me.  Another song had him come out in a box with some guys ass crack hanging outpushing it on stage  He had balloms that he was handing out.  At one point during what I thought would be a drum solo instead had the drummer dancing on stage by himself before shooting confetti into the crowd.  The guitarist being kinged for the song "Statue of a King".

I also may have finally been heard from the band before an encore.  I've been yelling this all year when a band goes off for the encore... "ten more songs".  WHy? Because why not.  People chant for one more and I think that's not asking for enough  anyway, it's just been a joke that I've been doing.  Well, when the singer asked if we wanted one more and I yelled 10 more he actually stopped and said "10 more? New York you are greedy!" 

After the show ended I managed to get a guitar pick from both of the guitarist to top the night off!



Avatar, Veil of Maya & Orbit Culture LIVE @ Webster Hall New York City 5/23/2023

Next concert (AND I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS ONE!!!)

May 27th - Alestorm & Gloryhammer @ Irving Plaza, New York City NY

[twosuitsluke]

I've got NOFX, Lagwagon, Anti-Flag and more this Sunday! Can't wait.

[cramx3]

I've got NOFX, Lagwagon, Anti-Flag and more this Sunday! Can't wait.

Enjoy, that'll be fun and last time for NOFX?

[Glasser]

I've got NOFX, Lagwagon, Anti-Flag and more this Sunday! Can't wait.

That's going to be insane! Enjoy Luke!!!! 

[twosuitsluke]

I've got NOFX, Lagwagon, Anti-Flag and more this Sunday! Can't wait.

Enjoy, that'll be fun and last time for NOFX?

Yea, their last UK show. Sad to see my all time favourite punk band call it a day but looking forward to being at the show. I really hope they close with The Decline 

I've got NOFX, Lagwagon, Anti-Flag and more this Sunday! Can't wait.

That's going to be insane! Enjoy Luke!!!! 

Yea I really can't wait!

[twosuitsluke]

I had offered Ariich a ticket to come see NOFX on Sunday but unfortunately he can't make it. Was hoping to be able to get my first DTF Meet up/bird flip photo    and of course hang out with Rich.

[lonestar]

What can I say...Haken was absolutely flawless on every level.


Not sure if I'm ready to wait 30 days for my next show after 5 in a 20 day period. :'(



Feb 26- Riverside, Cornerstone in Berkeley-  8/10, good show overall, but set got cut short due to Mariusz being sick.
March 7th - Nemophila, Goldfield Trading Post, Sacramento- 10/10, fucking perfect.
March 8th - Nemophila, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco- 9/10, front and center, but sound was off
April 14 - Spiritbox & Intervals, Ace of Spades, Sacramento-10/10, all bands fucking crushed it
May 4th - The Warning, The Fillmore- 10/10, Flawless performance by the headliners in a historic venue.
May 6th - Bloodywood, Sacramento- 11/10, holy fuck what an evening!!
May 11th - Rolling Quartz, Bottom of the Hill- 10/10, definitely gets the award for biggest surprise of the year
May 21st - Love and Rockets, Fox Theater, Oakland- Fun show, not a massive fan of the band, but free tix and good music is always a win.
May 25th - Haken, August Hall, San Francisco- 10/10, Haken always delivers.
June 30 - Tarja UC Theater, Berkeley
August 14 - Band-Maid, Ace of Spades, Sacramento
September 1 - Kamelot, San Francisco
October 6 - Babymetal, Avatar, Pantera, Korn, Polyphia, et al.. Aftershock Festival, Sacramento

[Anguyen92]

So I found a better seat for the Matchbox Twenty show that I’m at today.  Bought the ticket and relist the old ticket on Ticketmaster.  Got the ticket sold, but I see that in order for me to receive payment, Ticketmaster is asking me to fill a form online that includes providing SSN number.  Has anyone gone through with this new process of providing SSN to Ticketmaster or any resale sites when they sold a ticket and need to provide SSN in order to get payment?

[chknptpie]

So I found a better seat for the Matchbox Twenty show that I’m at today.  Bought the ticket and relist the old ticket on Ticketmaster.  Got the ticket sold, but I see that in order for me to receive payment, Ticketmaster is asking me to fill a form online that includes providing SSN number.  Has anyone gone through with this new process of providing SSN to Ticketmaster or any resale sites when they sold a ticket and need to provide SSN in order to get payment?

That seems shady AF