It’s been far too long since I’ve made a post here.
Which is exactly why I’ve labeled this blog “Why Blogs Suck”! Because they need constant posting!
Let’s see, where to begin…
Just before Turkey Day and the holidays, Lethy and I went to see LORDI!
Lizzy Borden (the band not the murderer!) was one of the opening acts. For being some real old dudes, they had a really interesting stage show. The highlight of it was when the lead singer came face first through a TV set that had a rubber film where the screen was. The weird stretching and face imprinting was reminiscent of Alien through stomach.
Lordi put on a pretty good show, but for whatever reason, the crowd wasn’t super into it. I think being indoors and not having their usual pyro took away from the show a little bit. The guitarist did have an AWESOME mirror guitar which he played with the spotlight reflecting off of it. Also, the guitarist from Twisted Sister joined them on stage for the encore.
Then Thanksgiving. Mary Ethel hosted and the food was excellent as always.
Ken really knows how to cook a turkey and everyone else chipped in with side dishes and deserts.
Mary Ethel could easily start a second career as a baker. Her pies and cakes… take the cake.
After Tthanksgiving, work took over. Mom, Dad, Jane and Ken took off for Chile and Easter Island so I kept the ball rolling at the office. Ken teased me with daily email updates of their AWESOME sounding trip.
Around this time, Steve was in town and that meant we had a 4 person band. We learned that having 4 people and picking a song to excel at can yield some awesome results – good and bad!
We had hopes of getting #1, but a super hardcore players band has dashed those hopes since.
And then there was the discussion of just how poorly can you do on a song and still pass? Here’s the answer:
Second christmas was hosted at our house. Mom, Dad and Jane were grossly late making it a little difficult for the chef of the day (yours truly) but I think everything came out fairly well. Spiral ham, stromboli, pancakes, etc. Deserts provided by Mom and Mary Ethel.
Not too long after New Years, Paul and Jen became parents. Dun Dun Dun. Ayden Paul Heskestad made his entrance on the scene. We haven’t gotten to stop by and meet the little guy, but we’re looking forward to it!
On Jan 24th Lethy and I made a trip down to Starland Ballroom to see Scott Weiland solo. He had totally rocked our socks off with STP over the summer at Jones Beach, so we had to give his solo tour a go. Doors were listed at 7 so we got there at 6. Turns out they changed it. Doors were at 8. It was 12 degrees out. Youch. So anyhow, once we got inside and the openers (Hello Eden) did their thing including a pretty decent Led Zep cover, we awaited Weiland.
Contrary to reports from other shows, he was on time and seemed to be himself. Now, you may be thinking that “being himself” would make him normal, exhuberant, outgoing… but nothing could be further from the truth. Doing his solo stuff, he is doing it for himself. He has a lot of energy and he puts it into his music. Unlike with STP where he shines a lot of that energy back at the crowd, his solo stuff seems to bring out the introspective. Granted, I like his solo music and his stage presence / dancing / etc is always great entertainment. Others at the show were dissapointed he only did 3 STP songs (2 more than he normally does!). Lethy and I were happy with the setlist. In fact, lethy got the actual setlist, who the tour manager / guitarist signed for her!
Again on the concert kick, Feb 1 we scoffed at watching the Super Bowl and instead headed to The Rock in Newark for Metallica.
METALLICA! HELL YEAH.
I won’t go into the venue too much, but honestly anyone wanting the Nets to move their permanently is wrong.
Some band who didn’t even say who they were started off the show with 3 or 4 songs. Weak vocals. Good headbanging style.
Motorhead was up next. They had great energy and some catchy beats and rhythms, but they lacked any variety in sound. Every song sounded the same… and the death metal growl vocals just never suite my fancy. The one ballad they did really exposed their weak vocals.
And then there was Metallica. Say what you will about their greed, arrogance, etc. They put on a great show.
Lethy did the picture taking for this show on her new Blackberry Curve as well as some video which I hope to post… eventually!
The production for Metallica really is top notch. The lighting, the massive hanging coffins stuffed full of lights that move up and down, rotate, etc. The synchronized pyrotechnics that warmed our faces all the way in the nosebleed section…
Here’s the setlist:
That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
Creeping Death
Harvester Of Sorrow
One
Broken, Beat And Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
All Nightmare Long
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Blackened
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
———————————-
The Judas Kiss Teaser
Die, Die My Darling
Breadfan
Seek And Destroy
If you’re a classic Metallica fan you’ll notice a ton of songs off the new album and several live show classics are missing. Well, they wanted to promote their new stuff.
They muddled through “Sad But True” and at times Kirk and Het were out of sync on “End of the Line”, but all in all, they put on a VERY good show. They interacted with the crowd quite a bit. I can’t say it enough… their production team is really good.
Before I end this extremely lengthy post, you may be wondering… what about Leif! He’s usually the star of the posts…
Well he has been hard at work on becoming TRULY housebroken:
Seriously, we didn’t stage that photo at all. He was waiting for someone to turn on the shower so he could take a drink of water (yeah, he’s weird).
