Billy Idol – August 24th – 2010 The Palladium Ballroom – Dallas, TX
Ok so this was very last minute as I hadn’t planned on going to this show nor do I prioritize Billy Idol (at least not since I was 11). Singer-dude, has to throw a bone to his wife every once in awhile and needed my assistance to do so, so last minute I scored 3 tickets and met them up at the show. Idol’s people were cool enough and gave me the full backstage ride with my tickets. I meet up with married-rawker-couple and Idol was about 3 songs in. I had no idea he still kicked this much ass. Now, I wouldn’t even have considered going if he hadn’t reunited with his long-time guitarist, Steve Stevens, who still rules.
I was so surprised at how fun this was, and how legit it seemed. Billy Idol holds an important place in annals of my story-telling as he should have been my first concert. When his biggest LP. Rebel Yell was having its run, I was barely 10, though mature for my age, and I literally worshiped Billy Idol. You should have seen my amalgamation of trying to emulate my heroes, it was like MTV had thrown up on me. I had the Union Jack t-shirt of Def Leppard’s Joe Elliot, the blonde spikes of Billy Idol, the leather spikes of Judas Priest, and for whatever reason…Parachute Pants (look ’em up kids) however in my defense in the Photograph video Elliot does appear to be wearing something similar, so maybe that was my inspiration. Of course I was completely unaware of how silly I looked, but I didn’t care, I thought I was cool haha. So it was this kid that was pumping his fist, finally in the midnight howl.
Something kinda funny happened, while we were standing there, this couple and a third girl were standing in front of us, when literally out of nowhere, I guess the solo gal felt lonely/jealous, she grabs me violently and leads me off to go dance with her. Not that I had much choice, but ok I thought, but when we were dancing it was soon apparent that she was so drunk she could barely stand, and completely unaware of the crowd around us, which caused her to do very unpredictable things. Not to mention she looked like that situation at the strip club where from afar the dancer looks ok, but as you approach you are like “Oh fuck!”. I got the hell out of there after half a song.
After the show I went backstage, and met Billy, but very briefly as they were on their way out. Everyone seemed to be going to this bar in Deep Ellum called Reno’s so we decided to head there.(later that evening) Harptallica – The Nightmare – Dallas, TXOk so we wind up at this metal bar called Reno’s, and we are not there very long before I’m hearing that a few streets over their is something called Harptallica about to perform. It was exactly what your thinking, and it was freaking awesome.
Something kinda funny happened, while we were standing there, this couple and a third girl were standing in front of us, when literally out of nowhere, I guess the solo gal felt lonely/jealous, she grabs me violently and leads me off to go dance with her. Not that I had much choice, but ok I thought, but when we were dancing it was soon apparent that she was so drunk she could barely stand, and completely unaware of the crowd around us, which caused her to do very unpredictable things. Not to mention she looked like that situation at the strip club where from afar the dancer looks ok, but as you approach you are like “Oh fuck!”. I got the hell out of there after half a song.
After the show I went backstage, and met Billy, but very briefly as they were on their way out. Everyone seemed to be going to this bar in Deep Ellum called Reno’s so we decided to head there.(later that evening) Harptallica – The Nightmare – Dallas, TXOk so we wind up at this metal bar called Reno’s, and we are not there very long before I’m hearing that a few streets over their is something called Harptallica about to perform. It was exactly what your thinking, and it was freaking awesome.
I didn’t even know this existed and I was prepared to not take such a thing very seriously at all. Its sensibilities attracted an anything but metal crowd, but rather that hipster, ironic thing. You know the guy that wears Iron Maiden t-shirts, ironically?. Few things get under my skin as much as this, and by the looks of the performers, they looked like vegans from Portland who birthed the idea of this from a late night bong rip, but when they started to play, all bets were off. This was real, and these girls could play, and they played like a couple of freaking angels. I was mesmerized, by the sound, their prowess and how complicated the arrangements were, that it sounded like 20 people on stage, and it was just these two young girls. I hit the merch booth afterwords with a vengeance, buying one of everything, and also for Ryan, my bff and Metallica fanatic, who I was texting throughout the show saying “You are missing out!”.
Afterwords I walked back to Reno’s where my car was and I hear someone calling my name and its Paris (see Rock N America).
Wearing the tightest jeans I’ve ever seen and a freaking tube top, her sexuality was just relentless (and she’s only 19).
But I’m not one of those dudes that hits on her constantly (their were a couple of those dudes standing around, clearly disappointed by my arrival) so she was genuinely happy to see me as I was of her and we had a nice catchup and I told her about the upcoming Ween tour.
Afterwords I walked back to Reno’s where my car was and I hear someone calling my name and its Paris (see Rock N America).
Wearing the tightest jeans I’ve ever seen and a freaking tube top, her sexuality was just relentless (and she’s only 19).
But I’m not one of those dudes that hits on her constantly (their were a couple of those dudes standing around, clearly disappointed by my arrival) so she was genuinely happy to see me as I was of her and we had a nice catchup and I told her about the upcoming Ween tour.
The Cult – House of Blues – Dallas, TX – September 27thThe show starts, and its clear right off the bat, that singer Ian Astbury has permanently lost the plot. Whatever has happened to this guy is still happening and looks like it will continue as he was even more embarrassing than the last time I saw them.
Let me walk you through a brief history:
Now the Cult have never been one of MY bands, but I do like them, and mainly cause I was so inspired by a performance I saw of theirs my Senior year of High School, that to this day is still in my Top 5 shows I’ve ever seen. So, like a sap, I still cling to that memory and go see the Cult every year. But how did it get so bad and to this point?
Shortly after that legendary performance, the band took a break and Astbury did a solo record and tour and that’s probably where the problems began. I remember seeing that tour and Astbury was drunk and embarrassing and falling all over the place.
He really is like a drunker, Liam Gallagher. A few years after that, I saw them reclaim it a bit, but then I didn’t see them for a really long time until I moved to NYC and about 3 years ago so them play at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
I was impressed that they could still play a place that large and prestigious, had free tickets and have always wanted to see this building.
The night was memorable for several things:
1) It was one of the first dates with this craazzy Chinese girl I dated very briefly, who only weighed 90 lbs, covered in tattoos, and showed up in a skin tight catsuit, and was a scary, drunken disaster the whole night.
2) After the show we went backstage, and while back there, no matter how much Chinese girl tried to embarrass us, I met one of the most interesting, funny, stylish, stupid-gorgeous and just ridiculously awesome individuals I can ever recall. She totally saved me from the embarrassment of Chinese Girls’ antics, and was just so much fun to talk to and be around. She looked like a movie star, and since then we have become friends, and she has gone on to become the famous porn star, Ryan Keely.
3) This was one of the worst shows I have ever seen.To come full circle in this post, the drummer for the band for the last few years (and also that NYC show) is John Tempesta, who I mentioned earlier in the Exodus portion of this post. But that was about the only cool thing about his show. Astbury, couldn’t hit the notes, was behind the beat, and openly criticized his band, which is so unprofessional and makes everyone uncomfortable. His between-song-spiels were cringe inducing.
Let me walk you through a brief history:
Now the Cult have never been one of MY bands, but I do like them, and mainly cause I was so inspired by a performance I saw of theirs my Senior year of High School, that to this day is still in my Top 5 shows I’ve ever seen. So, like a sap, I still cling to that memory and go see the Cult every year. But how did it get so bad and to this point?
Shortly after that legendary performance, the band took a break and Astbury did a solo record and tour and that’s probably where the problems began. I remember seeing that tour and Astbury was drunk and embarrassing and falling all over the place.
He really is like a drunker, Liam Gallagher. A few years after that, I saw them reclaim it a bit, but then I didn’t see them for a really long time until I moved to NYC and about 3 years ago so them play at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
I was impressed that they could still play a place that large and prestigious, had free tickets and have always wanted to see this building.
The night was memorable for several things:
1) It was one of the first dates with this craazzy Chinese girl I dated very briefly, who only weighed 90 lbs, covered in tattoos, and showed up in a skin tight catsuit, and was a scary, drunken disaster the whole night.
2) After the show we went backstage, and while back there, no matter how much Chinese girl tried to embarrass us, I met one of the most interesting, funny, stylish, stupid-gorgeous and just ridiculously awesome individuals I can ever recall. She totally saved me from the embarrassment of Chinese Girls’ antics, and was just so much fun to talk to and be around. She looked like a movie star, and since then we have become friends, and she has gone on to become the famous porn star, Ryan Keely.
3) This was one of the worst shows I have ever seen.To come full circle in this post, the drummer for the band for the last few years (and also that NYC show) is John Tempesta, who I mentioned earlier in the Exodus portion of this post. But that was about the only cool thing about his show. Astbury, couldn’t hit the notes, was behind the beat, and openly criticized his band, which is so unprofessional and makes everyone uncomfortable. His between-song-spiels were cringe inducing.
They also did that thing where they started the show playing way too many songs in a row off of a new, mediocre album. I’m all for relevancy, and wasn’t here to just hear the hits, but when a band has been in pieces for this long, its arrogant to walk out and play 8 songs in a row from a record that most in the audience don’t own. Astbury just seems clueless and a total prick.
