Happy Holidays! It’s been a very Metal December as we caught some really fun shows from Metal’s past & present including finally seeing a holiday favorite steeped deeply in Metal lore.
Enjoy & Merry Christmas!
Hair Metal Holiday w/ Great White, Slaughter, L.A. Guns & Dangerous Toys – December 4th – The Bomb Factory – Dallas, TX
Ahh, a show that proudly declares itself Hair Metal is a show that will get my patronage. I also had been wanting to see the newly refurbished Bomb Factory, a building I saw some of my favorite shows ever in, that I hadn’t stepped foot since it closed in 1996, only to reopen earlier this year.
Now I’m definitely Metal to the bone & while purists take exception to Hair Metal, I LOVE it, but admittedly I love the first wave of it, Motley, RATT etc.
I even love some of the second wave that came in the mid 80s, CInderella, Faster Pussycat etc – But by the end of the decade my allegiance to Thrash kept all of the rest that came after off my radar. For good reason mostly as by that time that whole scene had completely exhausting itself.
I mention this because as for the lineup of this show, this was definitely from that late era – I couldn’t name one song from Dangerous Toys & L.A. Guns – Only knew the two singles from Slaughter & just the one cover from Great White, yet I was still very excited to bear witness to some 80’s Hair Metal & their fans.
Dangerous Toys
Austin-based Dangerous Toys only got a few songs, but they made the most of their time on stage. Definitely enjoyable, however their songs as dumb an offensive as Steel Panther but ironically not tongue-in-cheek enough as when SP does it, it feels fun & satirical but when these guys do it who were really from that time, it feels sad & uncomfortable – Go figure.
L.A. Guns
The only thing I know about L.A. Guns, is that it’s founder Tracii Guns was a co-creator of an early version of Guns & Roses and that one song.
What I didn’t know was the band we were seeing was doing that thing were the original band can’t get along so they split into two touring versions dividing it’s sound (& usually it’s audience). Hell Tracii Guns wasn’t even in this band nor I think was any original member. Enjoyable but this was a cover band not L.A. Guns.
Slaughter
This was the band that took me the most by surprise as Slaughter were absolutely thrilling – So fun & seemed like the act the crowd wanted to see the most as they really came alive when they took stage.
Mark Slaughter still has the hair and still has the rock and roll voice, although he now looks healthy instead of malnourished. The real highlight unexpectedly was drummer Zoltan Chaney, on some Keith Moon shit, jumping around everywhere just destroying his kit.
At times the set was a noisy mess but it felt very Rock N Roll – even the ballad Fly To The Angels, lived up to expectations, showcasing Mark Slaughter’s resonant voice. Then it was time for their finale. Up All Night rawked as the crowd sang most of the song & Zoltan played the drums with a crutch before jumping off a speaker to bang the last cymbal of their set.
Great White
This actually was the band I was most looking forward to seeing only to be told right before they came on that this version of Great White was pulling the same shit as I mentioned above about L.A. Guns where their was no original members of the band or at least no one you would recognize or care about. Yet another cover band.
After watching less than two songs, we decided to call it a night.
Though several members of the audience chose to bring back the 80’s in dress, it still wasn’t enough to get us to stay, though their were some great fans in the crowd. Here are a few of our faves:
Happy Holidays! – Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Photos –
Roy Turner
GuzPix
Roderick Pulum
