.The 3rd Annual Revolver Magazine Golden God Awards – Club Nokia Theater – Los Angeles – April 20th
So after some strategic parking we make our way to the sprawling downtown complex that was waaay more over the top than I had anticipated. I grew up in a small town in Texas, so for a city to have multiple arenas is one thing, but to have several on the same block was intense. I’ve been coming to Los Angeles for years but have never made it down to the Staples Center complex. I tried to attend MJ’s funeral a couple of years back so we were seeing all of this for the first time. The show was held over at the Club Nokia Theater and we walk over there and grab our tickets at Will Call. I turn around after not seeing it the first time, to see a full on Red Carpet (or in keeping with the Metal motif, black carpet in this instance) event going on behind us.
The Show – It starts with another entry into:
Interactions with Dave Grohl in 2011 #3
Dave Grohl starts the night coming out and hitting play on a jukebox, which for some reason played Justin Bieber. And then walked off, and that was his entire contribution to the show. Was hoping he was gonna stick around and rock.
Then the perfect host for the show, Chris Jericho proceeds to come out and crush the boombox with a baseball bat. Primarily known as a WWE wrestler (and a recent ill-advised stint on Dancing with the Stars) Jericho is known as a devoted fan of all things Metal and he’s great on the mic.
So after he bashes the boombox, does a brief (but awesome) monologue introducing the show before his cover band, Fozzy opens the show with a metal medley (which will air on Vh1)
Setlist:
Children of the Grave/Black Sabbath
Stand Up and Shout/Dio
Wrathchild/Iron Maiden
No More Tears/Ozzy
For Whom the Bell Tolls/Metallica
Freewheel Burning/Judas Priest
Primal Concrete Sledge/Pantera
God Pounds His Nails/Fozzy
After another monologue, Jericho introduced Robb Flynn and Wayne Static to give away the Epiphone Best Guitarist Award:
– WINNERS: Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance (Avenged Sevenfold)
Nominees
– John 5 (Rob Zombie)
– Dan Donegan (Disturbed)
–Gus G (Ozzy Osbourne, Firewind)
– Janick Gers, Dave Murray, and Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden)
– Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom)
To show what a freaking square I am, and how foreign the Hot Topic generation is to me, I had never even heard of Avenged Sevenfold, and they looked like Emo douchebags so I didn’t really care, but what was intriguing was the groundswell of support. Every freaking kid here was wearing an A7X shirt, and when the nominees list was named everyone gave each nominee a courtesy clap, but when A7X was announced, the place went batshit.
Next up, David Coverdale comes out to award the Comeback of the Year: – It was awesome to hear that guy say the words Faith No More, who of course I was rooting for, if for nothing to see them make an appearance which they surely wouldn’t have even if they had won and I’m quite sure they didn’t know/care they were even nominated.
– Winners: Murderdolls
Nominees
– Accept
– Faith No More
– A Perfect Circle
– Soundgarden
– System of a Down
Right after accepting their award, the band introduced the Alice Cooper Group. I have always wanted to see Alice Cooper live, and have never had the chance to. Now, much like KISS, the music of Alice Cooper will prob not be historically revered, but his live show is something of legend, not to mention, I’ve always thought he was real sharp and I have alot of respect for him so I was pleased to be finally seeing him live, even if it was in such a sterile environment. Obvious fan Rob Zombie joined him for the inevitable School’s Out:
Setlist:
Under My Wheels
Eighteen
Is It My Body
Schools Out (with Rob Zombie)
Rob Zombie presented Alice Cooper with The Golden God Award.
Next up, Mike Portnoy and Charlie Benante came out to present the Best Live Band award: – Though Avenged Sevenfold was a nominee, and again the fans shook the rafters when their name was mentioned, I think the only thing that prevented them from revolting at their loss was that presenter Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) filled in on drums on their recent tour.
– Winners: Rammstein
Nominees
– Avenged Sevenfold
– Gwar
– Iron Maiden
– Megadeth
– Sevendust
This was followed by Jamey Jasta coming out to introduce Asking Alexandria who were the epitome of everything I hate right now with popular rock music. This was total mall shit – They were all really young dudes, so I give it up to them for doing their thing, that I’m sure they will grow out of eventually but for now, shitty name, shitty sound, and just all around generic and forgettable.
Early on in the set, the singer actually dropped his mic and if rolled under the drum riser. Dude dodged for it as fast as he could, it was hilarious. They did bring out Sebastian Bach for a rendition of Youth Gone Wild however suffering another embarrassing moment, was they kept missing the opening cue from Bach. When he introduces the song by going “We are the Youth (drum break) – Gone (another drum break) – Wild!! – (song starts) – the drummer wouldn’t respond with the drum break so he could continue the intro and Bach kept looking over at him, and it took like 4 tries to get it right. Luckily for them the show was not airing live.
Setlist:
The Next Episode
Morte et Dabo
Youth Gone Wild (Skid Row cover w/ Sebastian Bach)
This was followed by a tribute to the fallen heroes of metal, which in turn brought out Wendy Dio and Geezer Butler. This was to be expected, but what followed was kinda confusing/unnecessary. Corey Taylor (Slipknot) just seems like this super likable dude that everyone shoots pool with and is just everywhere. So I guess to have him involved they found him something to do and that was to give The Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award to Motley Crue. So Wendy Dio and Geezer Butler came out to introduce someone else to give the award that bears her late husband’s name on it, to them?? – Why couldn’t/wouldn’t they have given it to the Crue themselves? – Taylor’s speech was really great and clearly inspired, I just thought it was unnecessary.
Another example of me underestimating this event was knowing that most of the Crue hate each other, I was thinking like only a single member would be here to accept and which one? Probably Vince since he’s such a famewhore, but as Corey Taylor was doing his speech, I could see all four members lining up behind us, getting ready to take the stage!
Mötley Crüe received the first Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award – whose final public appearance was at last year’s ceremony. “It really means a lot to me because Ronnie was one of the biggest influences on my life since I was a kid,” said Crüe singer Vince Neil. “Heaven and Hell was with us last summer in Europe, and every single night I watched, going, ‘Where does that voice come from?'”
Vince Neil always seems to be isolated from the other members of Motley. Nikki, Tommy and Mick showed up together, all dressed in metal black, and looked like had just come from a speakeasy around the corner, where as Vince showed up alone and in a tux, looking a little out of place even for him as someone who is notorious for having zero self-awareness. Erin and I were making bets that the other three guys were pulling a practical joke and told him: “Dude, its an awards show, you gotta wear a tux, we are all wearing ours”. But ultimately we decided that he came to that decision all on his own.
Next up, Max Cavalera introduced Volbeat. We had missed them when we went to Austin to hook up with Clutch and Motorhead on my birthday, as they were the first band. I thought they were pretty cool, not really my thing, but I couldn’t help but stand up and notice when Scott Ian joined them for the last song, an odd cover of Dusty Springfield’s I Only Wanna Be With You.
Setlist:
Fallen
Sad Man’s Tongue
I Only Wanna Be With You (Dusty Springfield cover w/ Scott Ian of Anthrax)
Then in another awesome moment Scott Ian was then joined by comedian Brian Posehn, who is known for his love of Metal to present the aforementioned Shatner with the Honorary Headbanger award. Ian had a funny line about the shortage of Canadian Metalheads, when Jericho (who is Canadian) does a lilting refrain, for which Ian simply retorts ” Dancing with the Stars…”
This was followed by Brendon Small and Dino Cazares introducing Devildriver‘s set. They were awesome, and after doing one original launched into a four-song Black Flag set:
Setlist:
Dead To Rights
Black Flag set: –
Rise Above
Nervous Breakdown (with Mike Valley)
Thirsty & Miserable (with Jamey Jasta)
Six Pack (with Max Cavalera)
Next up, Duff McKagan then presented Best New Band: Of course I was rooting for Taylor Momsen and her band The Pretty Reckless who have just blown me away this year-
but sadly they lost to some total cheesy Nu Metal band they won’t be around next year.
-Winner: Black Veil Brides
Nominees
– Asking Alexandria
– The Damned Things
– The Pretty Reckless
– Times of Grace
– We Are the Fallen
Right after, Mckagan stayed onstage as Dave Navarro came out and introduced Duff McKagan’s band Loaded: who played a quick but cool three song set, ending with a great version of Judas Priests’ Electric Eye where they were joined by Corey Taylor & Steve Jones.
Setlist:
Executioner’s Song
Dead Skin
Electric Eye (Judas Priest cover w/ Corey Taylor & Steve Jones (Sex Pistols)
Next up, Vinnie Paul presented the Best Drummer Award: And again when Portnoy’s name was listed as the nominee and then eventually the winner, the place was going ape shit – it was almost like they were afraid to not give it to him by their reaction. It was like being at an Avenged Sevenfold concert, with little award interruptions thrown in:
– WINNER: Mike Portnoy
– Tommy Clufetos (Ozzy Osbourne)
– Abe Cunningham (Deftones)
– Joey Jordison (Rob Zombie)
– Roy Mayorga (Stone Sour)
– Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden)
I could see Sebastian Bach & Taylor Momsen lining up behind me to go on as the next presenters to give the award for Best Vocalist:
Didn’t wanna be creepy fanboy, but she was standing literally right next to me, so we chatted briefly while she was waiting for her cue.
Dude, she literally glowed, and looked ridiculously hot – like wildest rock and roll fanboy dreams are made of kinda hot –
They had a fun little rapport making the presentation for Best Male Vocalist –
Of course a member of A7X was nominated, and the singer no less, but was he really gonna win over that list? – Look at the competition – I was then convinced they were afraid to not give him the award for fear of 3k mall kids revolting:
-Winner: M. Shadows (Avenged Sevenfold)
Nominees
– Glenn Danzig (Danzig)
– Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)
– Chino Moreno (Deftones)
– Ozzy Osbourne
– Corey Taylor (Stone Sour)
So now this made me think I was correct in not taking this event very seriously – I mean cmon on, it was like they were giving the awards to whoever showed up. I also learned that A7X are from here, so they also had that hometown support and the rest of the night just seemed like the Avenged Sevenfold show.
Jerry Cantrell and Mike Inez came out to award the Album of the Year: Guess who won this? If you guessed A7X, you would be correct.
– WINNER: Avenged Sevenfold, Nightmare
Nominees
– Black Label Society, Order of the Black
– Deftones, Diamond Eyes
– Ozzy Osbourne, Scream
– Stone Sour, Audio Secrecy
– Volbeat, Beyond Hell/Above Heaven
It should also be noted that every member of Iron Maiden, including all three guitarists were nominated for awards and didn’t take home any.
Then, in an another pointless appearance, but yet still awesome and cool, was right after A7X won the big award and went backstage to gear up for their show ending set, suddenly I see
Lars Ulrich and
Robert Trujillo (
Metallica) – It seemed their only purpose was to announce that A7X was about to come out and play a set – but I was still impressed that this event got these two heavyweights out here. Not to mention, I was thinking of my friend Ryan, who thinks of Metallica as more of a religion than a band, and how excited he would be for this moment.
Lars says: “In 2005, I heard a song on the radio called Bat Country that blew me away and I found out later that the band was Avenged Sevenfold” –
Then A7X took the stage and the place just fucking exploded –
They looked kinda douchy and the singer was still wearing Aviator shades indoors and kinda moved like
Axl Rose if Axl was the manager of a Hot Topic at a mall somewhere in southern California. But I was totally getting off on the crowd and how super into it they were. I was really enjoying these two young dudes next to us, both about 15, and both clad in A7X t-shirts, just going for it. You could tell also that this band was their gateway to something, and being someone that has spent plenty of time making sure he is fully aware of the bands that the girls wanna fuck, I could relate and envied their excitement.
Clearly the
Guns N Roses influence wasn’t too far off as on the third song here comes Duff Mckgan out to do
It’s So Easy with them.
I thought this was a cool choice of song –
I finally leaned over to one of them and said, “
Who ARE these guys?” – and he gave me a brief summary without missing a beat of rocking. Then one of
my hometown heroes, Vinnie Paul (
Pantera) came out to play drums on a track. This was winning me over, and I thought it was cool that the singer acknowledged how tired playing
Walk has become, so he insisted on changing it up and they played
Mouth For War and the crowd responded in kind. I did as well as seeing Vinnie play a
Pantera song again was excellent. I leaned back over to the dude and said “
I know THIS song” – and we exchanged high-fives as nerds are prone to do.
They also played the song
Bat Country that Lars mentioned that was six years old and I’m just hearing it for the first time, but he was right, the song kicked ass and the guitarist played a solo that melted me and Erin’s faces off, so by the end of the set I was into it.
I seriously doubt I will ever be a member of the tribe, but it was fun to get such a crash course and live no less. I always say that the crowd is more interesting than the band, and this was a genuine, die-hard fanbase.
Setlist:
– Nightmare
– Beast and the Harlot
– It’s So Easy (Guns N Roses cover w/ Duff Mcgakan)
– Bat Country
– Mouth For War (Pantera cover w/ Vinnie Paul)
– Almost Easy
Ok, so Jericho returns to say goodnight,signaling the end of the evening, and that closes the show. We stick around for just a bit, but keep in mind we had flown all day and basically came straight here, so we wanted to eat before hitting the after-party.
I hadn’t heard of any official announcement of an after-party but with all of these people in town, we were certain their had to be a few happening somewhere regardless that it was a Wednesday night. I figured the Rainbow Bar & Grill would be the best place to go. They ironically had held the press conference there regarding the Awards show, just a few weeks back.
After grabbing a quick bite and dealing with the impossible mission that is parking on Sunset Blvd, we get out in front of the Whiskey-A-Go-Go,
But then we had some competition as we were approaching the Rainbow, out front Vince Neil was stealing the show. I didn’t even see it at first, she did and got my attention and pointed. I was so happy cause I’ve been to the Rainbow on nights where Lemmy is there and it looks MTV 1984, and other nights where their is more action at the Applebee’s around the corner, so on her first time here, I wanted it to be outrageous, and here is Vince Neil making a huge spectacle in front of a ridiculous car, with two blondes that looked like Super Heroes.
We make it inside and the place is rawking pretty hard but since it was close to 1am it was also starting to die down, as we realized that Vince was actually making his exit instead of his entrance. Regardless we had a good time sitting on the patio and me showing her the place and telling her stories till closing. Finally we headed back to the hotel, after a long day of traveling and rawking. Not bad for the first day eh? And we had actual weeks to go.
