Five Finger..............Death Punch!

It's been a little while since I've been to a concert, but last night was a show that I had been anxiously awaiting for a few months now - Five Finger Death Punch. When I purchased tickets months ago, the lineup was supposed to be FFDP, All That Remains, Hatebreed, and Rev Theory. Of the four bands, I was most excited about FFDP and Rev Theory, but Rev Theory pulled out after one of the band members had some kind of an accident. They were replaced by a band called Rains. Having never heard of them, I listened to their music and I liked them. I liked them so much I bought the album. Though I was curious as to how they fit in with the other three bands on this tour. Rains is a bit softer, more like Evans Blue. Good rock tunes, but certainly not tear-it-up, speedy metal.

Arrived at The Rave about 6pm and was herded into one of the smaller bars downstairs to wait before they allowed us to go upstairs to the ballroom. I hate it when they do this. At least they had bands there playing while we waited. The band playing when I got in there was on their last song. No idea who they were, but I didn't think they were that good anyways. Then I recognized the next band as they were setting up. Hard to forget the big black guitar player and the smoking hot lead singer from Losing Scarlet. Saw them back on April 8 when I went to see Egypt Central. After their first song, the gates opened and upstairs I went. The stage setup was interesting and because it was already after 6:30 I was wondering if all four bands would play. The stage was setup with Hatebreed's banner separating the stage leaving about 10-12 feet of stage in the front for the bands to play. Right around 7pm, Rains took the stage. They only played five songs. The crowd did warm up to them a bit, but seemed happier when they finished.  I enjoyed them and would definitely see them again.

Up next was Hatebreed. I'm not a huge fan of this band, but they did put on a really good stage show. They had a lot of energy and got the crowd involved a lot. I know I've mentioned in the past that working the crowd and stage presence is something that separates the good bands from the bad ones. Don't get me wrong though, good music is important too. After Hatebreed got the crowd whipped up into a frenzy, All That Remains was next. Whereas Hatebreed is more of a guttural growler band, All That Remains is more of the screamo type. They ripped through a good set mixing in old songs and some off their new album. I did notice a couple of interesting things about this band. First, the bass player is a woman...and she's a growler. When they got to the parts of their songs where there was growling, she did it. The other thing I noticed was the drummer. Again, I've mentioned in the past that I do pay attention to drummers as they can make or break a band. All the drummers were good on this night, but the drummer for All That Remains held his drum sticks in the old school traditional way (see picture below), which I don't remember ever seeing from a hard rock or metal band.

Not even sure what time it was, but some time after All That Remains, Five Finger Death Punch took the stage. I thought they kicked ass too! Stage was set up with a lot of towered lights and several large video screens up high. The drum set was on like an elevator structure, which raised the drumkit up high in the middle of their set. FFDP opened with Under and Over It, then right into Salvation. American Capitalist was the only other song they played from their new album of the same name. The rest of the setlist included: Hard to See, The Way of the Fist, No One Gets Left Behind, Bad Company (Bad Company cover), White Knuckles, Far From Home, Bulletproof, Never Enough, The Bleeding, and the encore Burn It Down. A great setlist!! Great performance!!  I did manage to take a few decent pictures. Check them out if you'd like.

As of right now, my next show is An Evening With Corey Taylor on November 23.   Rock On Everybody!!

The Sound of Winter

No, I'm not hearing things nor am I hoping for the cold and snowy season of Winter. The Sound of Winter is the latest single released by the band Bush. The once extremely popular band had gone their separate ways in 2002 only to reunite and release a new album, The Sea of Memories, in 2011 that is both new in sound but also continues Gavin's amazing lyrical content. I do recommend you check it out.

You might be asking. "Why is he mentioning Bush's new album?"  I can tell you that I am not getting paid for this advertisement. I mention Bush's new album because I saw them in concert on Saturday, October 8, and it was an amazing show. I saw three bands - Filter, Chevelle, and Bush - that each could have been the headliner and all for less than $30. In fact, each of them has been a headliner at Summerfest in years past, though you would most likely never be able to see them in the same night.

A quick gripe...the venue website said the show started at 7:00. I arrived at The Rave at 6:30, because I wanted to check out the merch booth, only to find out that Filter was already playing. They must have started closer to 6. I ended up missing the first three songs, but still heard a few of my favorites, including Take a Picture and Hey Man Nice Shot. They did a pretty cool cover of ZZ Top's Gimme All Your Lovin' and also played (Can't You) Trip Like I Do, a collaboration with Crystal Method. During the performance of The Best Things, Richard Patrick body surfed through the crowd while singing. Pretty cool!

Taking the stage next was Chevelle. I love this band! Two brothers and a brother-in-law, I love the sound these three guys put out. Awesome bass grooves! These guys just get on stage and jam! This tour was a double-headliner, so Chevelle and Bush both played longer headliner sets. Chevelle played all of the usual favorites - Jars, Antisaint, Sleep Apnea, Well Enough Alone, Send the Pain Below, The Red, The Clincher - and played a new song called Face the Floor off their forthcoming new album. At one point, I believe it was during The Red, Pete's guitar wasn't working. The roadie brought out another one, but that one was apparently not tuned correctly. Third time's a charm. He was visibly annoyed. Finished out the set and tossed the guitar into the crowd and slammed his mic. Entertaining to say the least.

And finally...we've got Bush! Reunited after a ten year hiatus...well Gavin and the drummer are original members at least...fans packed The Rave for an awesome show! Kicking off the show with Little Things and then performing I Believe in You from their new album, they did a great job of introducing fans to their new songs while appeasing cult followers with some of their all-time hits such as Comedown, Machinehead, and Everything Zen. During their encore, they did a fantastic version of The Beatles' Come Together that had the crown singing along.

As with all of the concerts I see, I usually take some pretty good pictures. Check them out.

Thanks for reading. Rock on!!

Time sure does fly when you're having fun

And a lot of fun I have had over the last month or so. Let's see, my last post was August 23. Guess I never mentioned my birthday did I? I had a really great birthday (August 26). I took the day off work. Just a relaxing day. Weather was beautiful. I went golfing. Met some of my good friends for drinks at The Iron Horse. They have an awesome patio. Afterwards a few of us went to the Potawatomi Casino and played some Black Jack. My two friends left after about an hour. A couple hours after that, I left just $10 down. Not bad.

The following weekend, on September 3, I attended Milwauktoberfest, which was a part of the Made in Milwaukee festival at Cathedral Square Park. That was a really great time. The Milwauktoberfest showcased a dozen or so Wisconsin breweries. In case you are just tuning in, I'm a beer aficionado and any time I can sample some of Wisconsin's best beer, I'm there. Aside of Milwauktoberfest, the Made in Milwaukee festival showcased all kinds of art, crafts, and products that are made right here in Milwaukee. Several local bands played music throughout the day and night and the evening culminated in a fashion show. Never been to one of those before. It was quite interesting.

Fast forward just a little to September 17th and the Warrior Dash. This was a highly anticipated event. Described as a 3+ hellish mile run with about 12 obstacles, including fire, it was everything I had hoped it would be. Sure I have been nursing a stress fracture to my right foot for most of the year, but a bad foot wasn't going to keep me from running in this race. Oooh Rah!!! Attack!!!  Even with a bad foot I was able to finish in 30 minutes. What may be an even better part of this day was the discovery that I am a pro at axe throwing. I split an axe handle with another axe.  Check it out.

Sprinkle in rounds of golf throughout September and then I went to the WI Beer Expo. Yes, another beer tasting event. This one, however, was the worst one I have ever been to. First of all, all of the people behind the tables were volunteers and not from the breweries. So I couldn't really ask them about the beer. Second, for the price of admission, they could have done a lot better than hand-written signs. How about a few giveaways?  Ehhhh. Disappointing.

On September 29, I went on a VIP tour of the old Pabst Brewery. This was a really great event. A few cold Wisconsin beers and a behind the scenes look at the historical Pabst Brewery. Very nice.

Friday, September 30, was Brew Madness, a fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I went last year with a friend and we sampled pretty much everything there. Fortunately the event is held at the Zoo, which is within walking distance from home. The unfortunate part of last year was that there was a bar, Mo's Irish Pub, in between the Zoo and home. Probably shouldn't have stopped. This year, my friend couldn't go, so I attended solo. Hell, I made friends. ;)  Since I had sampled most of the beer that was there, I concentrated on the ones that I had not had before. There were several really good brews. A couple of my favorites were Autumnal Fire from Capital Brewery and Orange & Black from Moylan's. I even showed a few people how good Buffalo Water's Bison Blonde tastes with vanilla ice cream. Yum.  Check out the pics.

Now the weather is getting cooler. Opportunities for golf are getting slimmer. One thing about Milwaukee though, is that no matter the season, no matter the weather, there is always something fun to do.

Coming up (so far):

• 10/8 - Bush, Chevelle, and Filter
• 10/29 - Milwaukee Haunted Tour & Dinner
• 11/2 - The Southern Gentlemen Tour featuring Ed Roland of Collective Soul and Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra
• 11/4 - Five Finger Death Punch, All That Remains, Hatebreed, and Rains

Catching up with my Summer

I realize I haven't written much lately, so I thought I'd catch you up on other events from my summer so far. Since I attended Rock USA 2011 in Oshkosh, WI, I have attended two beer festivals and another concert. Back on July 23, I went to the 2011 Milwaukee Firkin Craft Beer Festival, which was held at Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee, WI. It should be no secret that I am a huge fan of craft beer, a beer aficionado if you will. I love trying new beer from all of the macrobreweries, microbreweries, and brewpubs from all of the U.S. Wisconsin has many great breweries other than the one it is most famous for, Miller. I personally have sampled well over 200 different beers from all over. Some are outstanding and others are not good at all, but each offers a different style and taste. I'm learning about beer all the time. Yes, I do have favorites. Much like the many different styles and flavors of wine, the craft beer industry has taken to brewing beer of all kinds. The Milwaukee Firkin Craft Beer Festival is a celebration of these specialty craft beers. There were over 90 beers available to taste, some brewed especially for the event. It was a great time with lots of great tastes! Here are some pictures from the event.

The following week, on July 30th, I attended the 2nd Annual Milwaukee Brewfest. This event was similar to the Firkin only much, much larger with over 120 beers to sample. No, I didn't sample them all, but I had my share. Thankfully I did not drive. I had purchased VIP tickets which got me in an hour earlier and allowed me to sample special 'VIP-only' brew. Because I have already sampled over 200 beers, I didn't need to taste all of them at this event. I concentrated on the special VIP beer and the one's I haven't sampled. There were many great beers. A couple breweries stood out - Howe Sound Brewing and Lowlands Brewing Company. There were three beers that I thought were fantastic: The Grand Saison from Grand Teton Brewing Company (Victor, ID), Peanut Butter Ale from Blue Moon, and Mango Sunset Lager from Delafield Brewhaus (Delafield, WI). Check out pictures from Brewfest.

Fast forward to August 14th and that is when I took in my next concert. We traveled an hour to Kenosha, WI for a show at The Brat Stop. The Brat Stop is basically a truck stop sort of restaurant that happens to have a stage. On this night, I was particularly excited about seeing Evans Blue, a great rock band that I have been wanting to see for a few years now. The opening act was a regional band called Soul Shaker. They were kind of a throwback southern style rock band. The lead singer looked like a cross between Axl Rose and Bret Michaels. They were decent, but not who I was there to see. Up next was Evans Blue. They just killed it! I was very impressed with the quality of the sound from such a small venue. I've mentioned in other posts how much I enjoy watching the drummers. Evans Blue's drummer, Howard Davis, is absolutely amazing! He is now my favorite drummer to watch play. Such energy! Such passion! Evans Blue played all of my favorites, well most of them anyways as I like all of their music. Pop Evil was the headliner. I saw them open for Chevelle and Buckcherry in 2009 and didn't think much of them then. I guess a couple years has done them well. They were really good. Unfortunately I wasn't familiar with most of their songs. I did, however, get to meet the lead singer and the drummer from Evans Blue while Pop Evil was playing. Check out the pics.

This has certainly been the year for me to meet bands. There was John Falls (singer) from Egypt Central; Dan Jordan (singer) from Kopek; Julia (singer) from Me Talk Pretty; Mandi (singer) from Of Verona; Tim King (bass), A.J. (guitar), and Jordan (singer) from SOiL; Sick Puppies; and Dan Chandler (singer) and Howard Davis (drummer) from Evans Blue. Still a few months left in the year too.

So what's next?

My birthday is this Friday (August 26th). I'll be competing in the Warrior Dash (a 3-mile race with obstacles) on September 17. I'll be seeing Bush, Chevelle, and Filter on October 8. I have tickets for the Southern Gentlemen Tour featuring Ed Roland of Collective Soul and Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra on November 2. Still have to purchase tickets for Five Finger Death Punch on November 8.  Lots of fun events over the next few months. Stay tuned!  Hope you are enjoying your Summer too!!

A Time to Reflect

From time to time throughout our lives, events occur that make us stop and think. Occurrences that make us take a deep breath, put life on pause, and reflect. These events that I write about are often sad and unfortunate. It is easy to let the pain and sorrow take control of you, if you let it. I choose to take a moment or two and think about my life and the many people in my life that I care about and those that have touched me in an emotional or spiritual way. I look at my life as a book and the many people I have met and the many relationships I have built all have their pages in my book. Some have only lasted a paragraph and others have lasted a couple of chapters. No matter how much space these people take up in my book, each and every one of them had a significant part in my life. I appreciate every one of them. I choose to accept people for who they are, whether they make it into my book of life or not. I understand that I may not agree with or get along with everyone and I accept that. I choose to be giving of myself to those that could use my help. I am important, but I choose to make the people in my life just as important. This probably is starting to not make any sense...

What I really want to say is...Cherish the people and the relationships in your life for however long you have them, for you never know how long you will have them. Reflect on the moments you share with the people in your book of life. I am and I appreciate every one in my book. I love and respect you all!

Shout It Out Loud

Here we go again. Less than a week after Summerfest ended, I went to yet another music festival. This time, I went to the inaugural Rock USA 2011 in Oshkosh, WI, at the site where they hold Country USA every year. Apparently they decided to try their hands at a rock show. It was a three-day festival with a decent musical lineup including Daughtry, Puddle of Mudd, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Journey, Korn, and KISS. My friend and I decided that we would be going on the last day, which was yesterday. We felt it had the best lineup of the three days - Dokken, Hollywood Undead, Korn, and KISS.

The site is located in a huge field. They had campgrounds so people could camp out for three days, amusement park rides, several vendors, food, and beer. They apparently modeled it after Country USA by selling VIP tickets and having this very large section in front of the stage with plastic chairs. The size of this section forced general admission attendees to be one or two hundred yards away. The sad part about this VIP section was that it was never full. Each and every band that came to the stage, including KISS, made comments about wanting everyone to be closer. Hollywood Undead's comment was funniest as they said they never performed for so many white chairs before. The festival people need to realize that the fans that attend country shows are different from fans that attend rock shows. I can only imagine the size of the swirling mosh pit that would have ensued had that section not been blocked off. As it was, concerts are much more enjoyable when you can be up close. Since I wasn't that close, I also didn't take a lot of pictures, thought I did get a few. Check them out here.

Now on to the music...

Arrived about 4pm. First band I saw was Dokken. I saw them open for Aerosmith (I believe) back in the late 80's. George Lynch (original lead guitarist) hasn't been with the band for many years. Don Dokken can't quite hit those high notes anymore, so they sung and played some songs at a lower octave. I've always liked Dokken and they still jammed. Up next was Hollywood Undead. I had just seen them at Summerfest the previous Sunday. The show was better at Summerfest, which may have been attributed to being closer then than we were yesterday. The interesting thing to watch was the crowd. You go from an 80's hair metal band like Dokken to a new wave rap/metal band like Hollywood Undead and you certainly see changes in the crowd. Before HU took the stage you could see all of the younger kids moving up into the crowd. Then when they were over, they left. There were some older rock fans who were confused and surprised that so many people were singing along with HU. Good show!

The final two bands for the evening I had not seen before - Korn and KISS. Korn is an awesome band. KISS was more of a bucket-list band. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed that the first time I was seeing Korn, or KISS for that matter, I was so far away from the stage. The first time I see a band, I like to be up close and really experience the performance and the sound. Korn came out and rocked me. No talking. No bullshitting in between songs. They were flowing seamlessly from one song to the next...UNTIL the sound system went out on the back speakers. By the mere fact that Korn kept going told me that they were unaware of the technical difficulties. The sound cut in and out a few more times and really soured my experience. At one point, my friends and I were preparing for things to get ugly in the crowd, but it never happened. From some things I've read today, it sounds as though it just may have been Korn's sound crew that messed this one up. Either way, it was disappointing. While I can say that I saw Korn, I'm not so sure I can positively say I heard them...at least not the entire set. Hopefully they will come around again soon.

Headlining this last night of Rock USA 2011 was none other than the "greatest show in the world", show being the operative word.  I've never been a big fan of KISS as a band. Sure they have been around for 40 years and have lots of commercial success with many songs that everyone can sing to, but I just feel that they are not a great band musically. Individually, they are all mediocre musicians. Seriously, Paul Stanley is a terrible singer. Eric Singer, the drummer, is actually a better singer. Ace Frehly may have been the one standout. Collectively, they do put on one impressive show. For KISS, it's always about the show, the spectacle of KISS. From the fire, the explosions, the makeup, the costumes, and all of the theatrics they are a great rock 'show'. I can now check them off my bucket-list.

Rock USA 2011 was a good time. I can only hope that the folks that put this show on make some necessary changes to make it better. They can begin with removing the front fenced-in VIP section and finding alternative methods for VIP sales. They say they are wanting to spend $2.5M on bands for next year's Rock USA. Time will only tell if they are successful and if I will attend.

Summerfest 2011 Superlatives

It's been a few days since Summerfest has ended. I figured I'd write up my final review of the World's Largest Music Festival, as I saw it, and award the Summerfest 2011 Superlatives. I'm continuing the superlatives trend from last year's Big Gig. I was told it was an entertaining read. My friend Mark said he was going to resurrect his blog and issue his rankings, which he has yet to do. Not sure I'll hear from anyone else that attended with me. Just like previous years, I always have a difficult time ranking all of the bands that I see. Each band offers something different. If you've been following along, you have read my recap from each day that I attended. If you haven't, feel free to go back and read them.

Let me first begin by giving another hearty Thank You to all of my friends, old and new, that enjoyed the Summerfest experience with me: Mark and Pam, Joe and Jaime, Chad and Anne, Dusty, Rick, Marissa, Zach, Nicki, Annie, and the Hansons - Hillary, Julie, and Rick. I apologize if I forgot to mention someone.

General Observations and Notes

• After running the gauntlet last year (attending all 11 days), I only went 10 days this year. Thus ending my consecutive streak of days attending Summerfest at 20.  Still, 10 days is still respectable. I partly blame the lackluster lineup as there really wasn't a band I wanted to see on the day I did not go. Either way, I'm okay with missing the one day. 
• I saw 37 bands this year.
• First time I have seen a show at the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard stage.
• The renovated South end of the Summerfest grounds, including the Briggs & Stratton stage, looks great.
• For years, when the Rock Stage finished, they would play Todd Rundgren's 'Bang the Drum'. This year, Todd Rundgren was there to sing it live, though not at the Rock Stage.
• 2011 was the year of the 'walk about'.
• Also the year for meeting bands (4).
• Only golfed once and it was way too hot.
• I really enjoyed the two new beers brewed especially for Summerfest - Let's Fest Ale (an amber ale) and Big Gig IPA.
• I got a new camera so pictures were much better this year.

If you want to read the 2010 Summerfest Superlatives, click here.

Without further ado, here are the 2011 Summerfest Superlatives:

BIGGEST DISASTER and BAND THAT PISSED ME OFF THE MOST

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - In early 2009 at The Rave, they were downstairs where the acoustics are terrible. I gave them a pass. At Summerfest 2009, the lead singer had serious voice issues and barely completed six songs. I wanted to chalk that up to voice problems. This year, after two disappointments, they had a chance to redeem themselves. They had two years of touring and had finished recording a their 3rd album. Within the first six words of the first song, it was obviously apparent that these guys do not know how to perform. The singer cannot even sing in tune. It's almost as if the singer on stage is someone completely different than the person who sung on the cd. Not only could he not sing, but he spent way too much time talking in between songs, talking about himself like he had this huge ego. Bands that have been around less time put them to shame. I'll go out on a limb here and say that these guys were the worst live band I have seen out of all that I have seen as Summerfest. Terrible! 

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT(S)

Sevendust - This was the 5th or 6th time I've seen Sevendust over the last five years and this, in my opinion, was the worst performance of them all. While they usually always put on a great show, I felt they left something on the table. Their encore was only one song and they were done nearly 30 minutes before many of the other headliners had finished. I may have to pass on seeing them again.

SOiL - With three or four different singers in five years, this band lacked continuity and cohesiveness. They have some great songs and, at one time, had the potential to make a name for themselves. As it is, they were a 6pm band. Find a good singer and stick with him and maybe they'll be better in the future.

UTTERLY FORGETTABLE

Ocean Grove

Shinobi Ninja

Me Talk Pretty

Fools For Rowan

BUCKETLIST BANDS (SAW AND NEVER NEED TO SEE AGAIN)

BoDeans (Not sure they were even on my bucketlist)

Kansas

REO Speedwagon

Styx

BANDS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD SEE

Here Come the Mummies (2 years in a row!)

Flatfoot 56 - Irish punk band that opened for Rise Against

BANDS WITH MOST POTENTIAL

A Heroes Lie - Local Milwaukee band

BIGGEST SURPRISE

Middle Class Rut - Great sound from a two-man band

Hollywood Undead - Wasn't sure what to expect. Awesome!

BEST PERFORMANCE

Rise Against - They always bring it!

TOP 5

5. Saving Abel

4. Sick Puppies

3. Better Than Ezra

2. Hollywood Undead

1. Rise Against

BEST OF THE REST

10 Years

Flatfoot 56

Middle Class Rut

Crash Kings

Take another look at the pictures.

PARTING SHOTS

I'm already looking forward to next year. My brother may make an appearance. There will, however, be concerts between now and then. Stay tuned! Rock on!!