Concert Annoucements - June 7, 2013

Thanks again for your patience! Here's the overdue post with all of the latest concert news and updates. This is a lengthy post, and I'll probably need to follow this up with a shorter list of updates in a couple days.

Christian alternative rock band Abandon Kansas plays at Station 4 in St. Paul on Wednesday, June 13 with support from Marah In The Mainsail, American Youth, and Bora Tork.

Death metal comes to the What’s Up Lounge in Mankato on Friday, June 14 with Shawn Whitaker, Face Of Oblivion, Mastiff, and Fetus Heist.

The Hëssler show scheduled to take place Saturday, June 15 at the Hi 5 Bar in Burnsville will now happen at Pov’s 65 in Spring Lake Park on the same day. Also on the bill are Metal Witch, Electric Eye, Black Rainbow, and Def Replica.

Saliva returns to the area for a show Saturday, June 15 at Buster’s in Mankato.

Rock band Hurt plays Pov’s 65 in Spring Lake Park on Tuesday, June 18 with support from Tool Injection.

Extreme hardcore band and Southern Lord recording artist Enabler from Milwaukee brings their crushing sound to the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis on Friday, June 28 with support from Morality Crisis, Svoboda, Nerves, and Hardcore Crayons.

Alternative rock/punk innovator Sioux City Pete brings his unique brand of noise rock to the What’s Up Lounge in Mankato on Friday, June 28 with First Against The Wall, Bangarang, and Beast Noire.

Industrial metal band Thira plays the Wicked Moose in Rochester on Friday, June 28.

The next night Thira tops a huge bill of local bands at Station 4 in St. Paul on Saturday, June 29. This one starts early – there’s 11 other bands: Solar Slaughter, Lithic Guild, Strange Forest, Mommy Sez No, I Am Vengeance, Harariri, Trigger Armada, Frostbourne, Ithomlid, Orion, and In The Line Of Duty.

Alternative rock duo Middle Class Rut brings with them American Fangs to the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis for a show on Saturday, June 29.

Also on Saturday, June 29, locals Black Flood Diesel will perform at Club Underground in Minneapolis with Screaming Mechanical Brain, Harsh Reality, and Jealous Jester.

Finally for Saturday, June 29, locals Blue Felix are having a video release party show at Neisen’s in Savage.

Local punk heroes Dillinger Four aren’t just doing their annual Fourth of July show at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis. They are now headlining one of three nights of a diverse set of hardcore and punk bands over three nights. Thursday, July 4 has Banner Pilot, A Wilhelm Scream, The Flatliners, Arms Aloft, Such Gold, and Our Own End playing. Dillinger Four plays Friday, July 5 with The Riverboat Gamblers, Toys That Kill, Tenement, The Treasure Fleet, and Bitch City. The final night, Saturday, July 6 features Off With Their Heads, Pegboy, The Arrivals, In Defence, and Neutral Boy. Advance tickets are only available as a three-day pass for $45 through Ticketfly. Dillinger Four’s show here is always a sellout, so if the three-day passes don’t sell out in advance you can get in for $15 at the door for each show.

Electro-industrial band Leaether Strip brings their 25th Anniversary Tour to Ground Zero in Minneapolis on Thursday, July 11 with support from Cynergy⁶⁷ and Promidal.

Punk side-project Scorpios plays the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis on Friday, July 12.

On Friday, July 19 death metal band Misery Signals plays The Garage in Burnsville with support from The Color Morale, Elitist, Intervals, and The Kindred.

Rock band Shinedown performs Saturday, July 20 at the Events & Convention Center at the Grand Casino in Hinckley. No support bands have been announced yet, and note that this show is not part of their recently announced Carnival of Madness tour with Papa Roach, Skillet, In This Moment and We As Human.

Singer Phil Anselmo (Down, Pantera, Superjoint Ritual, Viking Crown) embarks on his first solo tour as Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals this summer, which includes a stop at First Avenue in Minneapolis on Saturday, August 3. No support bands have been announced at this time.

Rock band Vampire Weekend arrives at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis on Monday, August 5.

The Cult show at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis originally announced for Monday, August 5 has been moved to Tuesday, August 6. On this tour, dubbed the Electric 13 Tour, The Cult will perform the Electric album in its entirety.

The Edgar Winter Band tops the bill for the Rock ‘N’ Blues Fest with Canned Heat, Rick Derringer, and Pat Travers at the Weesner Family Amphitheater at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley on Wednesday, August 7.

The Monster Energy Rock Allegiance Tour with an international lineup of Volbeat, HIM, and Airbourne hits Myth in St. Paul on Friday, August 23. This is an early all ages show, and it will sell out.

As revealed here back about a month ago, confirmed details about 70s rock legends Blue Öyster Cult playing at the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul are now available. On Saturday, August 24 and Sunday, August 25 they will perform for FREE (with fair admission) on the Bandshell Tonight! stage at 8:30 pm both nights.

Sammy Hagar brings his Four Decades of Rock tour to the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand in St. Paul on Saturday, August 24. This show will feature his Chickenfoot and ex-Van Halen bandmate Michael Anthony on bass, but no ticket information is available at this time. The obvious question is: Why not move BOC to the Grandstand stage to open the show?

In what is likely to wind up being a bizarre and unfortunate situation similar to the drama within the Dead Kennedys, essentially two versions of legendary punk band Black Flag have reformed and announced touring and recording plans this year. One version, simply called Flag, will play First Avenue in Minneapolis on Friday, September 13. Flag features former (and some original) members of Black Flag: Keith Morris, Chuck Dukowski, Dez Cadena and Bill Stevenson with Descendents and All guitarist Stephen Egerton. Notably missing is the sole constant member of Black Flag, guitarist Greg Ginn, who recently reformed his own version of the band. Although Henry Rollins is the most famous Black Flag vocalist, he was one of four singers in the band’s history and not the original frontman; Henry is not taking part in either Black Flag or Flag. If your expectations are in check and you want to hear a night of faithfully executed Black Flag classics then you will not want to miss Flag.

Christian rock band Switchfoot plays the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis on Thursday, September 22.

Tonight - VOLBEAT in Minneapolis, CRASHDIET in Fridley

Tonight's a big night European metal as Denmark's Volbeat play a sold-out show at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis with support from Danko Jones and Spoken. Doors open at 7:30 and the show starts at 8:00.

Watch the video for "Cape Of Our Hero" from the new Volbeat album, Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies, that will be released in North America on April 9.

Sweden's sleeze rockers Crashdiet perform tonight with Crucified Barbara and Snakeskyn Whiskey at G.B. Leighton's Pickle Park in Fridley. Doors open at 7:00 and it's only $10 at the door. Read the review of the new Crashdiet album The Savage Playground (7/10) here.

Watch the video for "Cocaine Cowboys" from the new Crashdiet album The Savage Playground.

Lastly, Minneapolis-based sludge band Witchden starts tonight their Wednesday night residency for the month of April at Cause Spirits & Soundbar in Minneapolis. Also on the bill are Vulgaari and Buzzard. This is a free 21+ show that gets underway at 9:00.

In Concert This Week - March 29, 2013

The crush of concerts continues over the next week, so pick and choose wisely!

Tomorrow, Friday, March 29, industrial/dance band I:Scintilla plays Ground Zero in Minneapolis with Gabriel And The Apocalypse, Go Fight, and Goodnight Criminals.

Saturday, March 30 is a big night starting with As I Lay Dying, The Devil Wears Prada, For Today, and The Chariot at First Avenue in Minneapolis. The same night pop-punk band Sum 41 plays Mill City Nights in Minneapolis with Hollerado. Also on Saturday, Station 4 in St. Paul has local shock masters Impaler with Mordwolf, Mastiff, and Compassion Dies.

Sunday, March 31 may be Easter, but there’s still some great live music to be heard. Rapcore crew (hed)p.e. returns to Station 4 in St. Paul with Nuisance, Strate-Jak-It, and Angry Room. Local industrial metal band Screaming Mechanical Brain plays the What’s Up Lounge in Mankato with Milwaukee’s Candy Machine Guns and Evasive Maneuver. Also on Easter Sunday, you can catch Apocalypse Theatre and their Revolution Circus show at G.B. Leighton’s Pickle Park in Fridley.

Candy Machine Guns stick around the area for another show on Tuesday, April 2 at G.B. Leighton’s Pickle Park in Fridley.

Candy Machine Guns performing March 24, 2013 at Station 4 in St. Paul.

Denmark’s Volbeat return for another sold-out show, this time at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis on Wednesday, April 3 with support from Danko Jones and Spoken. Swedish sleeze rockers Crashdiet play the same night at G.B. Leighton’s Pickle Park in Fridley with Crucified Barbara and Snakeskyn Whiskey. Wednesday is also the start of the weekly, month-long residency for sludge band Witchden at Cause Spirits & Soundbar in Minneapolis with openers Vulgaari and Buzzard.

If that isn’t enough, then Thursday, April 4 has one what should be one of the biggest thrash shows of the year with Anthrax, Exodus, High On Fire, Municipal Waste, and Holy Grail at First Avenue in Minneapolis.

From the Vault: ICED EARTH in 1999

Iced Earth recently played at Myth in St. Paul on July 26 as support for Volbeat and Hellyeah, so I thought it’d be a good time to dig out some thoughts and pictures from Iced Earth on the Something Wicked This Way Comes tour on February 15, 1999. Touring was pretty limited for Iced Earth in the 90s, so a couple friends and I made a road trip from Kansas City to St. Louis to catch this strong bill that also had Anvil, Jag Panzer, and The Quiet Room. The biggest draw for me was the chance to see Jag Panzer, whose classic cult album Ample Destruction had been a favorite of mine since the mid-80s. Little did we know that this night would also come to feature to two future members of Megadeth!

As a disclaimer, cut me some slack on the pictures from this show. These were taken on an old point-and-shoot film camera before I had any clue as to how to properly shoot live bands. Nevertheless, their fan-quality charm captures the mood and fun of the show.

Promotional shot of Iced Earth from 1999. Click on any of the photos to see additional live pictures (8).

Promotional shot of Demons & Wizards, the side project of Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer and Blind Guardian vocalist Hansi Kürsch from 2000.

Before getting into the St. Louis show, the only other time I’ve seen Iced Earth was another headlining show with In Flames at The Lab (now Station 4) in St. Paul on April 22, 2002 in support of Horror Show. Jag Panzer was also on this tour, but we arrived late and completely missed them. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures from this show or remember too much about it. I went to this show with Slipknot guitarist Mick Thompson, who drove up from Des Moines to see Iced Earth drummer Richard Christy. I caught a bit of In Flames’ set, but we mainly hung out in the “backstage” basement chatting with Richard while In Flames was playing. Iced Earth put on a typically great show and watching Richard drum up close with the rest of the band was a treat. After the show, I took Mick and most of the In Flames guys to eat at Village Wok in Minneapolis, the only late-night Chinese place I could think of. I don’t remember who all went with us on that late-night food run, but In Flames vocalist Anders Fridén (who was pretty ill that night), and guitarists Björn Gelotte and Jesper Strömblad joined Mick and I, along with a couple crew members. Hopefully the food there didn’t make Anders more ill, haha!

Okay, back to St. Louis in 1999. This show took place at Creepy Crawl, one of the dumpiest, run-down clubs I’ve ever been to. Attendance was sparse – perhaps 100–200 people were there. The Quiet Room had a great debut album, Introspect, out on Metal Blade at the time. They were a very promising progressive metal band in the vein of latter-day Fates Warning, and they made the most of their short set to deliver a few songs in impressive fashion.

Promotional shot of The Quiet Room from 1998. Click on any of the photos to see additional live pictures (8).

Next up was Jag Panzer who completely floored me and delivered on every expectation I had. I loved their current album at the time, The Age Of Mastery, and guitarists Mark Briody and Chris Broderick (now in Megadeth) really brought the songs to life. Chris was especially phenomenal, with some amazing solos that left no doubt as to why he’s in Megadeth. They were not to be outdone on stage by vocalist Harry “The Tyrant” Conklin, who took the stage clad head to toe in black leather and screaming his head off. Harry was completely absorbed in the show and during guitar solos he moved back behind a stack of amps to headbang and thrash in almost comical fashion. Their set was also too short, and I remember “Iron Eagle”, “Licensed To Kill”, and “Generally Hostile” being the standout numbers. Never did I think I’d get to see songs from Ample Destruction performed live, so I was pretty happy at this point.

Promotional shot of Jag Panzer from 1998. Click on any of the photos to see additional live pictures (13).

Back in 1999 it was already apparent that Chris Broderick (now in Megadeth) was a guitar god.

Harry "The Tyrant" Conklin raging on the side of the stage.

Guitarist Mark Briody.

Guitarist Chris Broderick.

The 90s were a rough time for Anvil, and most diehard metal fans were surprised they were still around. Despite their overlooked status, Anvil shocked the crowd and blew through a whirlwind set that had everyone wondering how things went so wrong for these former thrash gods. Older classics such as “Metal On Metal” were mixed in with newer songs from Absolutely No Alternative, Speed Of Sound, and Plugged In Permanent. Of course, the documentary Anvil!: The Story Of Anvil have made Lips and Robb Reiner virtual household names. If you’ve seen the movie or read their great autobiography you know that these were some of the darkest days for Anvil, but even then, as they proved in St. Louis that night, Anvil was a powerful as ever as a live force.

Guitarist/vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow and bassist Glenn Five. Click on any picture to see more live photos of Anvil (6).

Lips jumps into the crowd for a solo.

What is Lips playing his guitar with?

1999 was arguably the best time to see Iced Earth, right as they were on the cusp of finally achieving widespread recognition and acclaim as one of America’s leading power metal bands. I don’t recall the exact songs that were played, but I do remember it being primarily selections from Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Dark Saga. They had a tough act to follow in Anvil, but the band held their own and guitarist Jon Schaffer and vocalist Matt Barlow delivered the goods. Bassist James MacDonough later went on to join Megadeth from 2004–2006. Following Something Wicked This Way Comes, Iced Earth went on to greater heights with Horror Show and subsequent releases. All in all, this was a rare show where every band on the bill was phenomenal and each did a great job showcasing their talents.

Guitarist and band lead Jon Schaffer. Click on any picture to see more live photos of Iced Earth (8).

Drummer Brent Smedley gives his best.

Vocalist Matt Barlow belts one out.

Matt lets the band take over, including bassist James MacDonough (right, who went on to join Megadeth).