Concerts for 2023

[lonestar]

Holy shit balls... Asterism absolutely destroyed that venue last night. What a fucking instrumental clinic. I'm fully ready to put Hal-CA up with the greats as far as mind blowing live performances go. Haven't seen that level of shredding in forever.

Anyone in the NYC area, do not miss their free performance tomorrow night.

https://youtu.be/FPj9zdgZDx8

[lonestar]

A buddy got shots of the first two tracks... seriously it'd be criminal not to hit this show folks...on top of Hal CA just crushing it, bassist Miyu and drummer Mio are both insane in their own rights, and their chemistry is air tight.


https://youtu.be/sohaQKE7xq4

[cramx3]

I won't be going.  Keeping true to my 2 week break of concerts.  I even declined seeing Counting Crows and Dashboard Confessional last Thursday and Sam Hunt last Saturday even though I have the summer pass so I wouldn't have to pay to see them.  I'm just enjoying this break of concerts and break on my wallet before a 3 concert weekend coming up:

July 14th - Taking Back Sunday, The Maine, Head Automatic & more @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
July 15th - Less Than Jake & Voodoo Glow Skulls @ Irving Plaza, New York City NY - Sold out and being live streamed
July 16th - Brett Michaels, Night Ranger & Jefferson Starship @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ

[Anguyen92]

I didn't go yesterday as well.  I feel like I need to take a bit of breather from doing concerts as I got a lot of things planned out for July and August.

In July, I'm waiting for prices to be just right, but on Saturday, I'm going to the OC County Fair to see 3 Doors Down and Candlebox. 3 Doors Down is doing an anniversary tour for their album, Away from the Sun, which spawned two big hits for them (Here Without You and When I'm Gone).

Also, still waiting for tickets to be at the right price for the Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin, and Jinjer show in Irvine on my birthday.  If I don't get the ticket at the price I like, I'm just going to bite the bullet and pay the $80.00 on Ticketmaster for a bleacher center view.

[lonestar]

I just preach the gospel of Hal-CA..

[cramx3]

I didn't go yesterday as well.  I feel like I need to take a bit of breather from doing concerts as I got a lot of things planned out for July and August.

In July, I'm waiting for prices to be just right, but on Saturday, I'm going to the OC County Fair to see 3 Doors Down and Candlebox. 3 Doors Down is doing an anniversary tour for their album, Away from the Sun, which spawned two big hits for them (Here Without You and When I'm Gone).

Also, still waiting for tickets to be at the right price for the Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin, and Jinjer show in Irvine on my birthday.  If I don't get the ticket at the price I like, I'm just going to bite the bullet and pay the $80.00 on Ticketmaster for a bleacher center view.

I have so many concerts for the rest of the summer.  Taking a break last week and this is kind of needed to recharge (and it's not like I wasn't busy, I went to a wedding last weekend too, just killing my wallet).

That 3 Doors Down show just happened here locally, I didn't go, it was the same day as Dream Theater.  The Disturbed show was on my calendar but now that's scratched due to my brother's bachelor party. I would have liked to see Jinjer in that opening slow.  My gf is actually going to take her niece to that show since she apparently wants to go. It will be her first concert.

[lonestar]

Well, unless anything pops up unexpectedly, got a month's wait till my next two shows, BAND-MAID on 8/14 and Voice of Baceprot on 8/18.

BAND-MAID will probably be an all day event as those shows are, it's honestly good fun to hang out with those knuckleheads all day in line, definitely good people.

[lonestar]

Tesseract announced, instant yes.

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
July 9th - Asterism, The Observatory, Santa Ana
August 14 - Band-Maid, Ace of Spades, Sacramento
August 18 - Voice of Baceprot, New Parish, Oakland
September 1 - Kamelot, San Francisco
October 6 - Babymetal, Avatar, Pantera, Korn, Polyphia, et al.. Aftershock Festival, Sacramento
October 31 - Tesseract, Intervals, Regency Ballroom, San Francisco

[cramx3]

Tesseract announced, instant yes.

Nice to start seeing some fall tours being announced.  My schedule is too busy to fit anything in before September 23rd.  I'm not too familiar with Tesseract to put them on my calendar, but maybe when the time comes. 

I did add this to my calendar, December is usually dead for concerts so I'd be more open to checking out some new bands (for me, never seen Meshuggah or Whitechapel)

December 10th - Meshuggah, In Flames & Whitechapel @ Wellmont Theater, Montclair NJ

[lonestar]

That tour totally fucked off the SF bay area.


Starting to give up hope on either Caligula's Horse or Myrath attaching a tour to their PPUSA appearance.

[countoftuscany42]

Tonight is BTBAM / Rivers of Nihil / Thank You Scientist in Anaheim. Absolutely stacked lineup, I think I missed the last time RoN were in the LA area so I’m glad to be seeing them again, and TYS are always a wacky fun time. Parallax II is the album that cemented my love for BTBAM and seeing it performed in full on the original tour is still one of my favorite performances from them, so this should be a good night 

[cramx3]

What an incredible 3 nights of concerts this past weekend.  I'll write more later when I have more time, but I couldn't help myself with sharing how last night ended!

Bret Michaels - Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd) w Impractical Jokers, Steve Augieri, Mark McGrath, Jefferson Starship, Night Ranger, Dom Jamieson & Tommy London LIVE @ PNC Bank Arts Center Homdel NJ 7/16/2023

Yeah, you read that right.  Murr and Quinn from Impractical Jokers were there on stage for the Bret Michaels encore!

[Anguyen92]

So after spending a year touring and supporting bands like Alter Bridge and Metallica, Mammoth WVH has their own headlining show announced for late Fall.  Nita Strauss will open.

https://loudwire.com/mammoth-wvh-2023-headline-tour-nita-strauss/

LA show at the Belasco on a Saturday.  I'll think about it.  Wouldn't be surprised if it is a fast sellout.  Small venue (only 1,000 people).  Hometown show, final show of the tour.  I just need to know when TSO is going on tour for their annual Winter run and when the Ontario, California show will take place, since that takes 1st precedence for me.

[lonestar]

And another tour that completely fucks off all of northern California

[Anguyen92]

^^ Yeah, that's just a bit mean to set up like that.  They hit Boise, Spokane, Seattle, Portland, and then fly all the way down to San Diego (one of the cities that don't get concerts often).

I would like to go to San Diego for a concert one of these times.  It seems like such a nice city to be in for a day, but the window to be there for a concert is never there.

[lonestar]

^^ Yeah, that's just a bit mean to set up like that.  They hit Boise, Spokane, Seattle, Portland, and then fly all the way down to San Diego (one of the cities that don't get concerts often).

I would like to San Diego for a concert one of these times.  It seems like such a nice city to be in for a day, but the window to be there for a concert is never there.

It's been a growing trend I've mentioned (bitched about) in this thread and elsewhere. Either they skip NorCal in general, or they hit Sacto in favor of the Bay Area. Notorious bands I've missed multiple times because of this for the past few years are Nita, Jinjer, and BTBAM

[axeman90210]

Man, too bad, I'd love to catch Wolfie and Nita but I'll be home in NJ for Thanksgiving when they play their one FL date. Oh well.

[ProfessorPeart]

Louise Post (of Veruca Salt) - 7/20 at Lincoln Hall
The Warning - 8/19 at Bottom Lounge

I really should get tix for District 97 at Martyr's on 8/18 seeing as it is an album release show and I am a Kickstarter backer and I can get all my swag direct from them at the show. I have some time. I most likely will end up going. The Warning adding a surprise show today messed everything up. I just shudder at 2 straight days driving into Chicago. It's never fun getting there.

[Samsara]

^^ Yeah, that's just a bit mean to set up like that.  They hit Boise, Spokane, Seattle, Portland, and then fly all the way down to San Diego (one of the cities that don't get concerts often).

I would like to San Diego for a concert one of these times.  It seems like such a nice city to be in for a day, but the window to be there for a concert is never there.

It's been a growing trend I've mentioned (bitched about) in this thread and elsewhere. Either they skip NorCal in general, or they hit Sacto in favor of the Bay Area. Notorious bands I've missed multiple times because of this for the past few years are Nita, Jinjer, and BTBAM

The Bay is becoming a pain. I have noticed that the Regency Ballroom is having less shows in the hard rock/metal genre. And the loss of Slim's has really crimped the market for smaller bands. The Great American Music Hall is an option. I've been there often. Not terribly difficult to get to, and parking is fine. But in general, promoters are skipping the Bay a lot more than usual. It's usually Reno. And smaller acts hit Sac, but either play at the shitty Ace of Spades (which is all LN controlled now) or go up in the burbs to Goldfield Roseville. Frankly, the latter being an independent venue, it's probably cheaper for bands to play there. They likely get paid more too.

I was really surprised when Alter Bridge, who played The Regency Ballroom on the AB III tour, The Warfield on the Fortress tour, and then the Regency again on the Last Hero and Walk the Sky tours, skipped NorCal altogether in favor of Reno on their past tour. Reno is a two hours drive from Sac, more than three hours from the Bay. That really cuts out a market that is valuable, IMO.

I noticed the the Hard Rock casino, out in rural Wheatland is bringing in more rock and metal acts. Mercyful Fate played there (I had to skip), and Armored Saint will be there in a couple weeks (opening for WASP). But that doesn't help the Bay at all.

I really dug Slim's. VERY easy to get to, easy parking down the street at Costco, pizza next door at the DNA, and just a chill club. Sucks that it is gone. I saw The Warning at the Fillmore, but I noticed the Fillmore isn't booking AS MANY hard rock/metal acts either. It's just a weird time.

[lonestar]

^^ Yeah, that's just a bit mean to set up like that.  They hit Boise, Spokane, Seattle, Portland, and then fly all the way down to San Diego (one of the cities that don't get concerts often).

I would like to San Diego for a concert one of these times.  It seems like such a nice city to be in for a day, but the window to be there for a concert is never there.

It's been a growing trend I've mentioned (bitched about) in this thread and elsewhere. Either they skip NorCal in general, or they hit Sacto in favor of the Bay Area. Notorious bands I've missed multiple times because of this for the past few years are Nita, Jinjer, and BTBAM

The Bay is becoming a pain. I have noticed that the Regency Ballroom is having less shows in the hard rock/metal genre. And the loss of Slim's has really crimped the market for smaller bands. The Great American Music Hall is an option. I've been there often. Not terribly difficult to get to, and parking is fine. But in general, promoters are skipping the Bay a lot more than usual. It's usually Reno. And smaller acts hit Sac, but either play at the shitty Ace of Spades (which is all LN controlled now) or go up in the burbs to Goldfield Roseville. Frankly, the latter being an independent venue, it's probably cheaper for bands to play there. They likely get paid more too.

I was really surprised when Alter Bridge, who played The Regency Ballroom on the AB III tour, The Warfield on the Fortress tour, and then the Regency again on the Last Hero and Walk the Sky tours, skipped NorCal altogether in favor of Reno on their past tour. Reno is a two hours drive from Sac, more than three hours from the Bay. That really cuts out a market that is valuable, IMO.

I noticed the the Hard Rock casino, out in rural Wheatland is bringing in more rock and metal acts. Mercyful Fate played there (I had to skip), and Armored Saint will be there in a couple weeks (opening for WASP). But that doesn't help the Bay at all.

I really dug Slim's. VERY easy to get to, easy parking down the street at Costco, pizza next door at the DNA, and just a chill club. Sucks that it is gone. I saw The Warning at the Fillmore, but I noticed the Fillmore isn't booking AS MANY hard rock/metal acts either. It's just a weird time.

Agreed on all points.

I'm not sure why promoters don't utilize the UC Theater and Cornerstone in Berkeley, don't have to deal with heading into the city, both are a skip off of I80, they're both independent venues that don't take a merch cut, and you got varying capacities for all bands (450 and 1200). Even if they want to go bigger there's always the Fox in Oakland, though I think they're a LN venue.

[chknptpie]

Prize Fighter Inferno FIRST EVER tour goes on sale tomorrow!!!

[Samsara]

Agreed on all points.

I'm not sure why promoters don't utilize the UC Theater and Cornerstone in Berkeley, don't have to deal with heading into the city, both are a skip off of I80, they're both independent venues that don't take a merch cut, and you got varying capacities for all bands (450 and 1200). Even if they want to go bigger there's always the Fox in Oakland, though I think they're a LN venue.

The merch cut thing is huge. HUGE. And yeah, the Fox in Oakland is LN. LN is buying up everything they can. I have seen and heard more bands coming to the UC Theater and Cornerstone. Didn't Tesseract play one of them on the Sonder tour?

But overall, things are crazy. Something is going to happen to change things. What that is, I don't know. But the touring market is not going to be sustainable. Not with LN buying stuff. Hell, makes me want to buy a venue and cut bands good deals. The problem is, LN swoops in with gigantic offers that you can't say no to. I remember when they bought Ace of Spades in Sac. They've turned that once cool, quirky venue into a popular spot, but it's also my least favorite place to go now, just because of how expensive they've made everything, and the changes they made on the inside to gouge people out of more money.

[cramx3]

Sucks for those not getting the Wolfie/Nita tour.  I plan on attending the NJ show. It's crazy how many times Wolfie has played in NJ.  I think that will be his 4th appearance in this state this year and I saw him three times already in the state the last two years.  Granted, this will be his first fully headline tour (last year was coheadline) so I expect to see a full set of material from his new album and first album. Nita will be very cool to see as well. Haven't really listened to her solo music, but I will.

Last friday was The Sad Summer Festival.  It was supposed to rain and thunderstorm all day putting the concert at risk, but luckily it never did.  It was dark clouds all day, I guess fitting for "sad summer" naming. The big amphitheater was wayyy under sold for this event.  People talk about Dream Sonic, but this was wayyy worse. I'd guess there was 5k people at the 17k capacity venue. They gave free upgrades and so I got a seat and since the seats were still empty, I basically just say dead center in the seats by myself. 

First band I saw was Hot Mulligan.  They were already on when I got there around 5pm (festival started at 2:30, so I missed a few bands).  Thought they were good, but the sound was pretty shitty.  I also hadn't gotten my upgrade yet, so I watched from sitting on the empty lawn.  It was quite nice actually and their set was enjoyable.  Felt like watching a bunch of kids though.  I definitely felt a bit on the older side at the festival that early.

Next up was the band I wanted to see the most that day, Head Automatica. They had just performed their first shows in 12 years recently and were just doing the weekend shows for the festival making their appearances pretty rare.  Thought the singer (he's also the singer of Glassjaw) was really good.  Cool style and voice.  The problem was once again the sound.  They used backing tracks in some songs as well for the techno/disco parts and they were just so overpowering of the live music.  It actually really sucked how bad they sounded.  Even before they went on, it just sounded bad when they were sound checking. Not blaming the band here, the entire night had terrible sound. Thought the band did as good as they could. Place was also empty and extremely hot. 

Pvris was next.  Not familiar with this artist at all. I'd say they used WAY too much backing tracks.  Their set actually sounded the best though, probably because of that.  The singer/guitarist was only playing some of the live guitar so it made it hard to differentiate her playing vs. tracks.  Same with the bassist/keyboardist.  Sometimes he was playing one of the two instruments yet you could hear the other still.  The songs weren't too bad though.  Some catchiness to them really, but maybe not totally my style of pop rock. I thought for a front woman, she wasn't the greatest either.  She show no emotion what so ever on stage.  I'm like 95% certain this could be from the shit crowd.  The empty venue feeling I think turned off a lot of the bands.  They had just released their new album that day which I thought was kind of cool, but apparently they ddin't do anything different for the set compared to the rest of their shows to celebrate it (other than just stating it).

The Maine were next and I think this was probably the best set of the night.  Their sound wasn't great either, but they felt more live and with the crowd waking up, had more reaction and a louder audiance to help out the bad sound.  They also did a song with the singer of Taking Back Sunday.  I also was not familiar with them and felt the set was pretty enjoyable although probably not my thing overall.  I don't plan on getting an album, but the set was good enough that if they toured with a band I like, I'd make sure to see their set.

Taking Back Sunday headlined and I honestly was not into their set at all.  Terrible sound and it was like 90 degrees.  After being out all day, I was exhausted.  For the first time in a long time, I left half way through their set.  Funny enough, the reddit board has been shitting on their singer almost exactly like people are doing to JLB. I can't even blame his vocals being poor as the reason I wasn't into it, I could hardly hear him  I just wasn't feeling anything about their set in that moment.



Sad Sumer Festival 2023 Taking Back Sunday The Maine Pvris Head Automatica Hot Mulligan Holmdel NJ

[lonestar]

Agreed on all points.

I'm not sure why promoters don't utilize the UC Theater and Cornerstone in Berkeley, don't have to deal with heading into the city, both are a skip off of I80, they're both independent venues that don't take a merch cut, and you got varying capacities for all bands (450 and 1200). Even if they want to go bigger there's always the Fox in Oakland, though I think they're a LN venue.

The merch cut thing is huge. HUGE. And yeah, the Fox in Oakland is LN. LN is buying up everything they can. I have seen and heard more bands coming to the UC Theater and Cornerstone. Didn't Tesseract play one of them on the Sonder tour?

But overall, things are crazy. Something is going to happen to change things. What that is, I don't know. But the touring market is not going to be sustainable. Not with LN buying stuff. Hell, makes me want to buy a venue and cut bands good deals. The problem is, LN swoops in with gigantic offers that you can't say no to. I remember when they bought Ace of Spades in Sac. They've turned that once cool, quirky venue into a popular spot, but it's also my least favorite place to go now, just because of how expensive they've made everything, and the changes they made on the inside to gouge people out of more money.

Yeah, Ace of Spades is definitely a money grab, and more tours are running through there. I'm stuck going there for Band Maid in a few weeks cause that's their only Norcal stop, same with Spiritbox back in March.



I was at that Tesseract show, so damn good. I haven't to have a bad experience at the UC Theater (except when Amorphis canceled day of)

[Samsara]

First time I am seeing an interior shot of PNC Bank Arts Center since I was last there in 1998. Nice to see that not much seems to have changed from my memory. I don't think the white stage backdrop (where the screens hang) was there back then. But other than that...works with my memory. I don't recall the red seats (thought they were green), but makes sense that after 25 years, they'd have replaced them.

[cramx3]

First time I am seeing an interior shot of PNC Bank Arts Center since I was last there in 1998. Nice to see that not much seems to have changed from my memory. I don't think the white stage backdrop (where the screens hang) was there back then. But other than that...works with my memory. I don't recall the red seats (thought they were green), but makes sense that after 25 years, they'd have replaced them.

I don't know if the seats were previously green back then (maybe, because it used to be The Garden State Arts Center and now it's a live nation venue (red coloring they use)). But I can tell you, not much has changed with the bowl area of the venue.  They've done some nice upgrades to the site areas where the concessions are, but I can't think of anything besides likely the seats that has changed with the main area.  It's very dated including the screens.  It's kind of embarrassing how bad the screens are actually. The white behind the stage is only seen because of this show's set up with a light back drop that the sun shined right through (you could see people loading to the street behind the venue). 

[Lonk]

Waiting for A7X. King Dracula is on now. Alexisonfire next

[Anguyen92]

Man, I was really worried about wondering if I was going to see Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin and Jinjer.  The prices for the center bleacher sections was going for around $80-100 for most part when tickets were on sale.  I was thinking about biting the bullet and buying it on Ticketmaster for around $80.00, but they just raised the price to $90.00 today and thought, maybe I'm just not going to go tomorrow.

Looked at Tickpick right now and found a seat for $55.00.  I'm locking that one up.  Happy birthday to me.

Disturbed and Breaking Benjamin with Jinjer opening - Fivepoint Amphitheater - Irvine, California.  July 20th, 2023 (happy birthday to me)

[Anguyen92]

The hits just keeps on coming.  Tickpick gave me $10.00 credit for my birthday and I decided to use it to lock up the Alter Bridge and Sevendust show in Grand Rapids.  Costed $23.00.  Cheapest I have ever paid for an AB GA ticket.  Things are coming together and becoming a reality soon.  My list as of right now.

Disturbed and Breaking Benjamin with Jinjer opening - Fivepoint Amphitheater - Irvine, California.  July 20th, 2023 (happy birthday to me)
Alter Bridge and Sevendust - GLC Live at 20 Monroe - Grand Rapids, Michigan.  August 25th, 2023
Goo Goo Dolls and O.A.R. - Fivepoint Amphitheater - Irvine, California.  September 6th, 2023
Owl City - House of Blues - Anaheim, California.  October 4th, 2023
Incubus - Hollywood Bowl - Los Angeles, California.  October 6th, 2023
Shinedown and Papa Roach - Fivepoint Amphitheater - Irvine, California.  October 15th, 2023

[cramx3]

happy birthday, enjoy the show tonight 

Another review from last weekend....

Last Saturday was a sold out ska show!  Less Than Jake is on tour celebrating 25 years of Hello Rockview so they performed the entire album, plus 5 more songs.  They had different openers depending on location, but the NYC show had Voodoo Glow Skulls and Spring Heeled Jack.  Both ska/punk bands from the 90s.  I didn't know either were still around as I had liked both as a kid when I was big into ska music, but haven't heard of either in like 20 years.  So I was very excited for the show and also a bit curious to how these bands sound.

Spring Heeled Jack opened the show at 8pm (why did the ticket say 7? I waited 45 minutes in the venue for the show to start  ) After how horribly the sound was at the Sad Summer Fest, it was refreshing to hear a band (an opener nonetheless) actually sound pretty good. Thought they were fun and they played the song Jolene that I remembered and had the Less Than Jake sax player perform it with them.  Highlight of their set was the inflatable penis going around the crowd and the singer making a joke about it. 

Voodoo Glow Skulls were AWESOME. I had seen them over 20 years ago (I still have my ticket stub) but couldn't really remember much about that show. But they had some wild energy. I mean, the music is very fast paced and encouraging of singing along (although I don't think many knew the words).  The singer (who apparently is new, I didn't know) was great.  So much energy.  During one song he went off stage and re-appeared on the balcony, pretty close to where I was at the moment (venue was PACKED and I was just lingering around the back of the balcony for the first half of their set trying to peak over people's shoulders to see the band).  I knew he was close by and saw him walking towards my direction and I fumbled my phone in my hand trying to prepare to take a pic or video, but the singer literally pushed me out of the way  to get to a spot on the railing to keep singing.  It was awesome (it wasn't too aggressive, but it was total gtfo of my way so I can sing to the crowd  ). 

Less Than Jake were about as good and fun as they get.  I've seen them countless times.  The first time was actually my first concert ever in 1998, on support of their newest album Hello Rockview.  So it was really cool to see the whole 25 years later thing, it also made me feel very old. They brought some old guys on stage for a song, a bunch of shirtless sweaty dudes for another, a big red headed dude for one.  It was just a party.  The best part was how loud it was.  Everyone was singing along to all the songs, including all the less popular songs from the album.  I did think it was kind of annoying that the singer kept calling the unpopular songs bsides and basically ripping on their own music.  It was fine the first time, but the same talk was for all the rare songs.  But funny enough, everyone was singing along to those songs too.  So I don't think it was some big deal worth constantly talking about.  Honestly, it was those songs I was most interested in!

About half way through their set of getting videos from the back of the venue, I said, it's time to just get in it.  I walked to the side where there's a doorway to the pit.  Some dude was going wild by himself there and was trying to get me to go wild with him.  I asked if he just wanted to go to the pit, he said yes but he didnt want to walk through the crowd.  I said follow me, and I grabbed this guys hand made our way into the pit and we went wild.  The guy literally hugged me and thanked me for the escort  It was awesome, I got up clsoe and just sang my lungs out. I made a lot of eye contact singing together wtih Roger (my favorite member).  At the end of the show, I'm pretty sure he took his setlist made it into a paper plane and threw it right at me.  I believe it not only because of the eye contact, but because it literally was thrown right at me and I caught it with two hands.  However, a female next to me had the end in her one hand and didn't easily give it up.  I had multiple people saying for me to let go.  But I had both my hands on it and the girl just had the bottom piece that she was ripping. She gave up.  Sorry, if it were a tie, I'd give it up (I literally gave up a set list last year ebcause of this, a tie to a female, which is actually a big reason why I made sure I caught it with both hands).  Anyway, I thought it was pretty ironic for the whole 25 year thing for me and to talk out with a set list.  Incredible concert for my tastes.  Their set was also live streamed.  I need to watch it to see if I made the cut.



Less Than Jake Voodoo Glow Skulls Spring Heeled Jack LIVE @ Irving Plaza New York City NY 7/15/2023

[Anguyen92]

Back from this hip late-night tea bar to get a smoothie and unwind from the Disturbed/Breaking Benjamin/Jinjer concert.  Aside from all of the Alter Bridge shows I’ve seen this year, this concert was the best concert I’ve been to this year.  Disturbed really upped their game when it comes to production values.  I'll post about it more tomorrow after work.

[cramx3]

My last review from last weekend's trifecta of concerts...

Bret Michael's Parti-Gras tour!

The show started off by riding the school bus from the parking lot to the gate, I love doing this! (Although I usually like doing the walk, but the timing was perfect).  We grabbed some lawn chairs and got right up front and center of the lawn about 30 minutes before the opener while it was empty.

Show started with Jefferson Starship. Really great opening set.  It was short at 7 songs, but it was a lot of classic rock from some really old rockers. I didn't realize, but the singer/guitarist/only original member left is almost 85?! He certainly looked old, but he still had a bit of power in his voice.  The duet for Jane was beautiful.  My gf loved their set too.  It just felt like listening to the classic rock radio that my Dad would play as a kid.  He (and my mom) were super excited for me to see them too, and a bit jealous it seemed.

Next up was Night Ranger.  A lady from the local radio station came out for what seemed to be an introduction for them, but she fell short of doing so and I was quite confused.  Well, then Eddie Trunk came out and you realized he was going to do the introduction (which he did after telling a story).  Pretty cool to see Eddie at the show and it was probably the first hint that the show might be special.  Night Ranger were good.  Surprisingly, I never really gave them much listens at all. But they certainly were similar to a of the 80s metal I like so their set was very enjoyable even if I didn't know most of the music.  I also thought they clearly looked like they were having fun. Crowd seemed to enjoy them as well as people finally started to fill the venue.

They advertised the Parti-Gras as having two guests, Mark McGrath from Sugar Ray and Steve Augeri formerly from Journey. So as kind of expected, Bret did a handful of poison songs and then would bring out one of the guests and do their song.  So they did Every Morning and Fly from Sugar Ray (with Bret Michaels playing the bongos  ) and Steve did Seperate Ways, Any Way You Want It, and Don't Stop Believin (which I loved how he included singing about NJ towns and throwing Holmdel into the chorus).  I have to say though, I thought both of these guys were VERY iffy on vocals.  Steve had a few good moments, but many misses.  Mark I thought just completely sounded awful on both songs.  He kind of just looks odd and out of place too. I was not impressed with the Sugar Ray songs.  The Journey songs were much better, but still a bit off on the vocals.  Bret's guitarist nailed all the solos though.  Also during the middle of the set Bret mentioned the Impractical Jokers were in the back drinking and we'd see them later.

The encore was a cover of Sweet Home Alabama. They brought out both opening bands on stage, Steve Augeri, Mark McGrath, Tommy London (a sirius XM host who also sang on Nothin but a Good time), Don Jameison, and Q and Murr from Impractical Jokers. It was clearly a big party on stage for this.  Just so much fun.  Easily shoots up my list of top 10 concert moments for this year.



Bret Michaels Parti-Gras NJ 2023 with Night Ranger & Jefferson Starship PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel

[Anguyen92]

Eddie Trunk introduced a band at your show?  My show had Jose Mangin of Sirius XM Octane and Liquid Metal introducing Disturbed.

[cramx3]

Eddie Trunk introduced a band at your show?  My show had Jose Mangin of Sirius XM Octane and Liquid Metal introducing Disturbed.

Yeah, weird because he wasn't out there for the encore, but also weird to have some Sirius hosts there but the event was sponsored by WDHA and their radio station was live there and also did the introductions.  They actually called the event "Rock the Park" which is odd because the place is not a park nor named park.  They had their Rock the Rock festival a few months ago with Breaking Benjamin so I was a bit surprised to see them here and Eddie Trunk / Tommy London / Don Jameison.

[Samsara]

Was really looking forward to see Armored Saint again in a couple weeks, but looks like WASP canceled the tour due to Blackie Lawless being injured. Sucks (both for him, all the band and crew guys, and obviously, the fans). My wife and I are huge Saint fans (we went to the first leg of the tour and left after Armored Saint and were planning to do that again), and it sucks we won't get another set.

Here's hoping Armored Saint find another tour to play. John Bush did say they are getting moving on their new album though, now that the time is free. Hope so.