Paul DiAnno lives up to his word

I saw Paul DiAnno last night at BB Kings, and that man lived up to his word.  On Monday night he declared a few things- 
1. That his knee is fucked and he needs a cane to walk comfortably (check!)
2. That he always uses a local band as his backing band- this keeps costs down and ticket prices way cheaper than they would be if a whole band had to travel. (check!  He used Pennsylvania's Icarus Witch- I gotta say they sounded pretty good.  They also had about 10x the amount of merch that DiAnno had.)
3. He plays the old Maiden shit - only faster.  (Major check on this one)
4. He'll stay after at any show and sign everything- no extra price for that. (Check!  My friend Paul had him sign 23 things!!!  The man had 2 Iron Maiden albums.... how is this ever possible!?)


All in a all, a great show- fast, heavy, and pretty much targeted to the old school Maiden fan.  He lost the crowd a little bit when going off on his solo material, but thats to expected.  His voice was a little rough, but nothing that killed the show.

Richie Kotzen last night at BB Kings - AWESOME

Richie Kotzen:

-Amazing guitarist, incredible songwriter and even better vocalist.
-He's hot.
-It's actually not a cliche to say he is huge in Japan (and Europe, too).
-Somehow this guy still goes under the radar here in the USA. [The fact that he played with Poison (replaced CC and recorded Native Tongue) and Mr. Big (replaced Paul Gilbert and recorded Get Over It) probably did not help him. Trust me, his music is nothing like Poison.]

So, after more than 10 years, Richie finally returned to NYC last night to play a show at BB Kings in Times Square. The joint had a unique little setup going on - tables filled the the main floor, and the usual booth above that. Besides a row and folks at the bar in the back, all 650 or so folks in attendance were sitting the entire gig.

Richie took the stage after Eddie Trunk hyped up the crowd a bit and played for a solid 2 hours. Most of the songs in the set were off of Richies more recent cds (he has over 20 in his catalog- all produced, written and entirely played on by him), with just a few oldies thrown in. His blend of rock, r&b and jazz was perfectly matched by his soulful voice. Seriously, this fucker can sing. He sounds a bit like Chris Cornell, but even better. Lots of songs were improvised with some extra guitar thrown in for good measure. It seemed like there was nothing Richie couldnt do, the crowd was completely blown away. A few covers were thrown in during the encore in addition to
One drawback was that a lot of his stuff does sound very similiar. Heavy grooves but not too much in your face rock. At times some of the guitar solos were unmemorable, but he made up for it the second he opened his mouth and that voice came out. Great show.

On a sidenote- during the concert, I sat & watched it for a bit with Rob Caggianno and Frankie Bello of Anthrax. Both big fans, but Rob was definetely the bigger one. They told me about the Rock of Ages (the musical) after party at the China Club so we all headed there along with Eddie Trunk and his two comedian boys from That Metal Show, Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine. Once we got there we saw Constintine and guitarist Joel Hoekstra from the play. Shortly after that all of Extreme showed up. They were playing a show with Ratt just a block away from Kotzen's show. Kotzen also showed with his girlfriend and her twin (the Bella twins- they are WWE divas who I mistook for porno chicks), so it was a a good place for 80s hair band kids to geek out and get photos. Anyway, Extreme took to the stage and Nuno got up and rocked out some old Van Halen. After a bit of ripping it up on 'Aint Talk Bout Love' and 'Mean Streets', he called Kotzen to the stage. Yea, it would have been every girl in attendances' wet dream to see the very beautiful Nuno and Kotzen jam together- and and they did- only Nuno took to the drums and let Kotzen handle the guitar. Extreme bassist Pat Badger was up there at one point also for a few other VH songs.

Richie @ BB Kings

Richie @ BB Kings

Richie @ BB Kings

Richie @ BB Kings

Richie @ BB Kings

Richie @ BB Kings

Richie @ China Club

Richie @ China Club

Richie @ China Club

Richie @ China Club

Richie @ China Club

Richie @ China Club

Saxon rocks the old farts at BB Kings last night, 5/19/09

Trust me, I say 'old farts' with much affection.  Biff Byfford and gang were even better than I had anticipated them to be last night at BB Kings.  They hit the stage a bit late - around 9:15, but played for a solid hour & 45 minutes.  Eddie Trunk came out on stage and tossed out some free shirts to keep the crowd patient before the Brits hit the stage.  The crowd was packed with mostly older "I saw them back in '84" kind of people, but a few youngins' enjoying their first Saxon show sprinkled the mix.  I caught glimpse of Matt Barlow sitting and enjoying the show from the elevated section above the floor.  His wife and I had met at the most recent Iced Earth show in NYC and when she introduced me to him, I tried to think quick and asked him how working with Yngwie Malmsteen was.  "I've never worked with him".  Hmm, after thinking for a second I realized to myself that "Fuck, that was the other Iced Earth singer, Ripper Owens".  I awkwardly pretended I read it on Blabbermouth and how you cant trust anything on the internet these days before quickly excusing myself.   

Next encounter was with Chris Caffery and that was somewhat less awkward, since I actually knew who he was and called him by the right name.  He informed me that our mutual buddy, Mark "Gus" Scott from Trixter was in the crowd, but I never saw him.  Yes, Trixter... feel free to laugh.

Back to the good stuff - seriously, the Saxon boys still have got it goin' on. They opened the show with the very theatrical 'Battalions Of Steel' which is the opening track off of their latest album, Into The Labyrinth.  They played 13 songs before taking a break for the encore (yes, I counted).  Some highlights included 'Dallas 1pm', 'The Eagle Has Landed' and 'Wheels of Steel.The crowd chanted "Saxon" over and over with such zest that the guys came out for not just one encore, but two.  Each one included a solid 3 songs.  'Denim & Leather' was the finale (or so I thought until they played and ended with 'Princess Of The Night' directly after it) and got a such a great anthemic response from the crowd that I thought I should buy stock in Levi. It's amazing how some shit just can not get old. 

 

Destruction with Krisiun - BB Kings (4/7/09)

Call 'em 'German Thrash Gods' or 'cheese-ball extraordinaires', either way there is no disputing that Destruction was on top form at BB Kings (NYC) last night (4/7/09). After taking a breather from the US, this was their first time back in a bit, and with them they brought a new album, D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N.

Opening for the foreign metal trio was... another foreign metal trio. Krisiun, a Brazilian death/thrash band. When I got to the venue Krisiun were midway through their set and I immediately bumped into Marc, the drummer of Destruction, before I could get through the door. Marc got me and my friend into the show, and after an awkward exchange let me politely know that my other friend would have to buy her own ticket. I guess considering that I met this guy for approximetely 10 minutes one year prior to this show it was a bit much to ask for 3 tickets, but fuck it, its worth a shot anyway. As we made our way and straight to the bar, I can honestly say that the joint wasn't sold out but everyone there seemed to be very into Krisiuns set. As a metal diehard, I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I didn't know too much of of their stuff, but I had given the new album, Southern Storm a few spins and liked what I heard. 'Combustion Inferno' was the song of night from them and got the crowd juiced. Brutal, thrashy, classic.

Destruction, who were set to hit the stage at 9, didn't make it on till closer till 9:30, which made everyone in the crowd a bit drunker. It seems I am not the only metal fan that hits the bar during even the briefest moments of boredom. Big shocker there. The Germans opened up with 'Soul Collector', an interesting choice from the Inventor of Evil album out in 2005. Not my favorite, but points for being fast.as.fuck. With basically no banter in between songs, the band sped right into the title track off of D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N., which is also easily the heaviest and most brutal of the album. The set was fast, clean, and bare-bones thrash metal. Since the current lineup consists of only one original member (guitarist - Mike Sifringer) a few of the older songs were ditched to make room for the material played by the 'new boys' onstage. I use the term 'new boys' loosely, since both frontman, Shmier, and drummer, Marc, have been in the band nearly 10 years. Still, in some sense that is just a drop in the bucket to Destructions 25-years-and-still-going run. I ditched my friends to push my way up to the baracade for the end of the show, catching a flaunty drum solo, and the encore up close. I couldn't help but notice I appeared to be 1 of the 5 women in attendance, and yet still taller than the majority of the crowd.

After the show I stuck around to thank Marc for getting us in and he invited me and my friends backstage. I got to chat with the boys, who were all drinking and in good spirits. Being that it was the last date on the tour, everyones guard was down and ready to let loose. Marc quickly thanked me for coming and then rushed off to the bus with a lady friend he picked up. Although I had no interest in pulling a groupie-type-thang with him, I should have left after that. Of course I decided to stay and drink their beer and eat their food. Bless these boys.