In Concert This Week

This week starts off with a bang as DevilDriver, Whitechapel, Carnifex, and Revocation invade Mill City Nights in Minneapolis tonight, Monday, June 2. Rivers of Nihil and Fit For An Autopsy start the night off early downstairs in The Nether Bar. One ticket gets you into both rooms. It all started at 5:45, and tickets for this 15+ show will be available at the door for $25.

If you'd rather catch some great local bands tonight, head over to Memory Lanes in Minneapolis for a free 21+ show with Pestifere, Gar, and Lockgnar that starts around 10:00. Technical metalcore band The Crinn had to drop off the bill due to a work conflict. We haven't heard much from The Crinn recently, but they are in the midst of recording a new album.

Stoner rock band Red Fang joins forces with punk band Big Business and American Sharks for a show at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis on Wednesday, June 4. This is an 18+ show, and advance tickets are still available for $15 through AXS.

Also on Wednesday, West Virginia's Bobaflex play Pov's 65 in Spring Lake Park with Romantic Rebel and LA Madness. Advance tickets are only $5 through Vitalculture, and it's an 18+ show.

On Thursday, June 5 metalcore giants Unearth bring Texas In July, Cruel Hand, and Armed For Apocalypse to Skyway Theatre Studio B. This is an early 15+ show; tickets are $15 in advance through Ticketfly. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of their second album The Ongoing Storm, Unearth will be playing the album in its entirety.

The Triple Rock Social Club has alternative rock band Local H performing Friday, June 6 with support from Bad Veins and Young And Tender. It's an 18+ shows, and advance tickets are available from Ticketfly for $13.

Static-X frontman Wayne Static and Minneapolis's metal heroes American Head Charge have two area shows this weekend, the first being Friday night at the Wicked Moose in Rochester. The Friday night bill is rounded out by Smile Empty Soul, Thira, and Embrace The Ending. It's a 21+ show that starts early, and advance tickets are $25 through Ticketfly.

On Saturday June 6, Wayne Static and American Head Charge top a massive bill at the Skyway Theatre and Studio B in Minneapolis with Smile Empty Soul, Thira, Nuisance, Black Flood Diesel, Gabriel And The Apocalypse, Emergent, and Tepetricy. This show is 15+ and starts really early (12:00 noon doors), and only $25 in advance through Ticketfly. At both shows, Wayne Static will perform the complete Wisconsin Death Trip album to celebrate its 15th anniversary.

Lastly, punk band The Menzingers take over the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis on Saturday with support from Lemuria, Pup, and Cayetana. It's an 18+ show, and get advance tickets for $15 through AXS.

Concert Announcements - July 6, 2012: BANSHEE Reunion, FEAR FACTORY/VOIVOD Shockwaves Tour Cancelled

Minneapolis-based Tooth & Nail recording artist Write This Down have scheduled a show at Station 4 in St. Paul on Tuesday, July 10 with support from Red Moring Voyage, Harp & Lyre, Awaken, Imagine The Silence, and Sick Of Talking About It. Write This Down released their new album, Lost Weekend, last month.

Following the announcement a couple weeks ago of major lineup changes to the Shockwave 2012 Tour and co-headliner’s Voivod July 3 cancellation, Blabbermouth reported two days ago that the other headliner, Fear Factory, has also dropped out resulting in the whole tour having the plug pulled. The tour was supposed to start tonight, July 6 in Seattle, and pull into Station 4 in St. Paul on Thursday, July 12.

Hard rockers 12 Stones return to the area on Monday, July 23 for an all ages show at the North Star Room in Mounds View with Blameshift, Digital Summer, Throwing Gravity, and Sinful Angel.

As Blabbermouthreported earlier this week, the revamped Queensrÿche with new lead singer Todd La Torre will still be playing their scheduled show at Halfway Jam in Royalton, Minnesota on Saturday, July 28. This lineup has played two shows as Rising West, but apparently this will be their first appearance officially as Queenrÿche.

Hardcore/crossover band Media Blitz from California will storm the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis for a special half-room show on Wednesday, July 25 with In Defence, Triple Crossed, Rivit, and Total Trash.

Local metal band Tomorrow Brings New Blood are having a record release show on Friday, July 27 at Station 4 in St. Paul with Beastface, The Atlantis Theorem, Element, and Apothecary. This is an early 18+ show. Tomorrow Brings New Blood will be selling their new, self-titled album for only $5 at the show.

Support for the Taproot and Smile Empty Soul show announced last week at Station 4 in St. Paul on Monday, July 30 has been set. Opening the show will be Severah, 14 Clicks, Requiems’s End, and Terror Overising. This is a 16+ show that starts early at 6:00 pm.

Totally underrated technical power metal band Banshee has reformed with a new singer, George Call (Omen, Aska), and released a new album, Mindslave. Original guitarist Terry Dunn is taking the band out on the road, and they will be playing Station 4 in St. Paul on Wednesday, August 1. I witnessed the first Banshee reunion concert with original vocalist Tommy Lee Flood in 1999 at America’s Pub in Kansas City, and they guys blew down the house. This promises to be another killer show.

Rock band The Classic Crime is making a stop at the North Star Room in Mounds View on Saturday, August 18 for an early all ages show.

Black metal band Abigail Williams has booked a final, lengthy U.S. tour that circles the continent from July 26 in Santa Barbara, California to September 15 in Portland, Oregon. Right now they are slated to play in St. Paul on Thursday, September 6. This show is unconfirmed, but I would guess that it will happen at Station 4. Additional details will be posted when they become available.

Norwegian industrial/electronic band Icon Of Coil are touring North America this fall and hit Ground Zero in Minneapolis on Wednesday, September 12 with [:SITD:}, Gabriel And The Apocalypse, and Dissociate.

Stoner-sludge band Big Business will hit the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis on Monday, September 17. This is an 18+ show, and tickets go on sale Monday, July 16 at 12:00 noon.

Write This Down was recently added to the list of artists performing on the Shiprocked cruise from November 27 to December 1. The cruise departs Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the Bahamas with an impressive roster of hard rock bands including Godsmack, Five Finger Death Punch, P.O.D., Sevendust, Filter, Fuel, Geoff Tate, Gilby Clarke, Lit, Black Stone Cherry, and In This Moment. You find more information at the Shiprocked website.