#MikePatton

August of Metal: Iron Maiden Book of Souls Tour, Dead Cross make their live debut + checking in w/ Primus, Clutch & much more (Aug/2017)

This summer saw the return of some of the biggest names in Rock to the road doing massive tours. As well as the debut of some powerhouses that are sure to keep things rocking for years to come.

Iron Maiden – June 23rd – American Airlines Center – Dallas, TX 

The most amazing thing here that was obvious from the opening notes to the encore is that there are no obvious signs of rust on Iron Maiden. Still one of the world’s most popular bands, with a tour schedule that would give much younger men heart attacks  This latest trek visiited more than 100 cities, and singer Bruce Dickinson is even flying the band between them on their own plane, Ed Force One. At 58, he’s not quite ready for a bus pass, but a brush with cancer seems to have underlined his mortality and rejuvenated the frontman and the band, who perform as if it’s their last but with no end in sight.

Show begins with Dickinson climbing out of a steaming cauldron, leaps off the drum riser & later dons a monkey head mask, battles a giant Ed (the band’s death’s head mascot)

Some songs from 2015’s globally chart-steamrollering The Book of Souls  are so long that it takes the band two hours to play 14. And yet, there’s something touching in Maiden’s relentless rocking and the way bassist Steve Harris and the band’s three guitarists grin at each other while perfecting their “machine gun” poses for the millionth time.

The none-more-rugged singer makes a speech about the “blithering idiots, now running the world, with their fingers on the nuclear button”, and when he points to flags showing where fans have come from, there are people from as far afield as Japan and Argentina. “We don’t care where you come from or what you do in your spare time If you come to an Iron Maiden show, you’re family.”

Impossible to overstate how amazing & just life-affirming this show was. Watching your heroes not as most are but still AS THEY were, at the top of their game, firing on all cylanders & kicking ass the world over.

Who would have thought that in such crazy times a grizzly old rock band in bullet belts singing about demons, warfare, apocalypse and mass murder would emerge as a beacon of unity, peace, love and understanding? Bless them.

Setlist –

If Eternity Should Fail
Speed of Light
Wrathchild
Children of the Damned
Death or Glory
The Red and the Black
The Trooper
Powerslave
The Great Unknown
The Book of Souls
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden

Encore: 

The Number of the Beast
Blood Brothers
Wasted Years

Faster Pussycat 30th Anniversary Tour – July 7th – Trees – Dallas, TX

Earlier in the Summer during 4th of July Weekend the Faster Pussycat 30th Anniversary tour rolled on visiting the DFW area for the third time in less than a year (& no one is complaining). While they too have had their numerous lineup changes over the years & only frontman Taime Downs remains from the bands late 80’s heyday, much like Foreigner above the current lineup has been solid longer than the original one was & this version of Faster Pussycat is still kicking much ass.

Downe’s is no spring chicken from the spandex-wearing, high-hair glory days, but can still sing with the nasally cat-scratch shriek like he did back in the late-’80s. At this point that’s all the fans want, even if they all look like sleazy biker dudes with a million miles on their tires.

Songs like Cathouse and Slip of the Tongue still retain their immature sexed-up charm & power ballad House of Pain (with Downe crouched down on a litup arrow) may have been the best thing heard all night – “Enjoy them while they are here, because when their gone, their gone” – Glad these guys are still here.

Setlist –

Jack the Bastard
Cathouse
Slip of the Tongue
Number 1 With a Bullet
The Power and the Glory Hole
Shooting You Down
Don’t Change That Song
House of Pain
You’re So Vain (Carly Simon cover)
Bathroom Wall (w/Deep in the Heart of Texas – Alvino Rey cover)
Sin City (AC/DC cover) (Chad Stewart on vocals)
Chinese Rocks (The Heartbreakers cover) (Ace Von Johnson on vocals)
Pretty Fucked Up (Supersuckers cover) (Danny Nordhal on vocals)
Shut Up and Fuck (Betty Blowtorch cover)
Babylon

Primus/Clutch – August 6th – South Side Ballroom – Dallas,TX:

Two heavy-hitters, Clutch & Primus, teamed up for a bonkers tour that anyone in attendance won’t forget any time soon.
Clutch, my brothers from Maryland & sometimes tour mates got the party started hitting the stage hard with their profound but yet anything fancy, increasingly blues-rock formula.

“The plan is to record a new record in January,” singer Neil Fallon announced. “We’re gonna practice some for ya … Don’t record it. It’s gonna sound terrible.”  Maybe on your cellphone, not live. The most striking was How to Shake Hands, written from the perspective of a presidential candidate promising to “put Bill Hicks on a five note.” “I don’t need secret service, ‘cause I know how to work a room,” Awesome!

Setlist – 

Cyborg Bette
Crucial Velocity
You Can’t Stop Progress
Power Player
Zep Funk 2x
Passive Restraints
Earth Rocker
Sucker for the Witch
The Face
How to Shake Hands
We Love a Good Fire
A Quick Death in Texas
Your Love Is Incarceration
Vision Quest
Big News I (with Mike Dillon)
D.C. Sound Attack! (with Mike Dillon)
Electric Worry
X-Ray Visions

(Much thanks to Jack & Oscar for the amazing hospitality)

Now let me tell you a little story: It’s called The Curse of Primus – Not because I’m not a fan of Primus, just the opposite but for some reason their odd msyticism has somehow bled into (my) real life as every time I’ve attempted to witness them perform, something bizarre happens to prevent it. While I managed to catch a few shows in the early to mid-90s somewhere around 1995’s Tales From the Punchbowl is where the curse began. It was that tour that Patrick Collins & I arrived so late that we caught the END of the encore due to forces beyond our control. In 22 years I’ve managed to see them only once since that night successfully after SIX failed attempts. I’m pleased to say that thanks to my new love Jocelyn & my brothers Clutch, the curse has finally been lifted.

It started with anti-war anthem Too Many Puppies wrapped around Sgt. Baker, with images of troops marching on screen. Les Claypool showed off his unusual chops early with a solo low on the neck that sounded like a rubbery guitar.

The weirdness carried right into Over the Falls & the hits just kept coming among various dark, sluggish noodling around in the middle.
A long, patient Southbound Pachyderm, sounding like the soundtrack for an apocalyptic Western film and emphasizing why Primus is beloved in the jam as well as the metal scene. The last section was all killer, though, starting with the backwoods bludgeoning of My Name is Mud and the giddy set-closing stomp of Jerry Was a Race Car Driver. 

Both sets featured beloved New Orleans Jack-of-All-trades Mike Dillon sitting in on a few songs on percussion adding his infectious energy & spot-on rhythm giving every song he touched that special feel.

Setlist – 

Too Many Puppies
Sgt. Baker (with “Too Many Puppies” reprise)
Moron TV
Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver
Southbound Pachyderm (with Mike Dillon)
Over the Falls
Lee Van Cleef
Candy Man (Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley cover)
Mr. Krinkle
Welcome to This World (Shortened, into “Mrs. Blaileen)
My Name Is Mud
Jerry Was a Race Car Driver
Harold of the Rocks

Encore: 

The Seven
Mr. Knowitall

Dead Cross – August 14th – Gas Monkey Bar & Grill – Dallas, TX

Ok so just in case you haven’t heard, prolific sound vault Mike Patton has yet another project he is fronting, Dead Cross, this time once again with legendary speed drummer, Slayer’s Dave Lombardo (whom Patton also formed the esoteric project Fantomas at the turn of the millennium). Patton apparently doesn’t know how to say to no & we are all better for it as this LP kicks ass & was ready to see it live.

When Dead Cross’ debut album hit shelves on Aug. 4, its four members had never even all played music together in the same room.

In November 2015, Lombardo — best known as a founding member of Huntington Park thrash-metal juggernaut Slayer — disbanded his longtime side project Philm, but had studio time and SoCal concerts booked for the band. Not one to renege, but with just two weeks before the first show, he desperately needed a fill-in act. When he ran into The Locust/Retox bassist Justin Pearson (with whom he’d toured while drumming for Fantômas) and Retox guitarist Michael Crain at the studio of metal mega-producer Ross Robinson (Korn, At the Drive-In), Lombardo seized the moment.

An album’s worth of Dead Cross material had been recorded and was set to be released on Ipecac Recordings — the label co-founded by Faith No More/Mr. Bungle frontman Mike Patton — when Serbian stepped aside to focus on family, Lombardo’s asked Patton,who is widely regarded as one of hard rock’s most innovative vocalists, to become Dead Cross’ new singer. And here we are on Night #2 of the tour.

The result evokes both classic, pissed-off hardcore punk and its crossover thrash offshoot, all updated with rhythmic about-turns and sonic heft.  Patton’s oft-intertwining layers of eccentric, theatrically unhinged vocals that twist Dead Cross’ instantly familiar instrumental backbone into a defiantly, perversely uncategorizable experience. A restless romp through ADHD rhythms and riffs & carnivalesque air by Patton’s unsettling, multipersonality performances.

Patton’s impressively elastic, immediately recognizable crooning, punctuated with garbled scatting, yelps and rants, will be familiar to anyone aware of his projects from Mr. Bungle’s 1991 debut onward, but he’s never sung atop anything so throat-grabbing and relentlessly aggressive. It was amazing to see Patton re-creating his elaborate studio vocal arrangements onstage, and stretching a sub-28-minute album into a headline-length live set.

Opening was the incomparable Secret Chiefs 3 fronted by Patton co-hort Trey Spruance formerly of also Mr. Bungle & Faith No More.

A rare sighting in these parts & only the second time I’ve ever seen the band live, last time being six years ago in NYC.
Secret Chiefs 3 have existed in various incarnations over the course of the past eight years, and have served as the funnel for Spruance’s remarkably far-flung studies of the hermetic mysteries and musical traditions of unknown and underappreciated subgenres. Live it’s an alchemical fusion of Morricone-esque cinematic grandeur, midnight surf guitar, traditional Middle Eastern rhythms and time signatures, demonic death metal, and electronic deviance that yields a work of undeniable force.

 

Photos – 

Roy Turner
Tony Wann
Steve Principato
Jeremy Williams

Tomahawk, The Sword & more (Oct 2012)

This was a pretty eventful month full of activity, fun and work. I had just started seeing someone new and we had a great time attending Halloween parties, fesitvals and of course October means post-season baseball.

Corrosion of Conformity – Trees – March 12th – Dallas, TX

A brief history lesson of C.O.C. – For the first ten years of their existence their were a three-piece (sometimes four) punk juggernaut with a blistering sound and a downright frightening image. In the early 1990’s they acquired new member Pepper Keenan, who not only took over on vocals but on the later albums, his taste/persona seemed to take over the whole band. His first record with them, Blind turned them into a straight up Heavy Metal band and then with the next three (and finally commercial success) they became this southern fried, blues-y Pantera-ish entity that made them completely unrecognizable from the former years, especially after drummer Reed Mullin left the band.
If I was being truthful, even though the purest will condemn this, when I want to listen to C.O.C. its those three southern rock albums I like the best, and probably haven’t purposely listened to those early records since I first heard them as a kid.
Well for this tour, Pepper Keenan is absent, (actually in the band Down with Pantera member Phil Anselmo) – Reed Mullin is back, C.O.C. are once again a three piece, just released a new album that’s a complete return to its punk rock roots and this tour they will be playing that stuff and only that stuff to celebrate its full-circle return.
I walked in right as they were starting –

This didn’t feel like some half-baked reunion or an example of diminishing returns, but a testament to immense talent and the elusive endowment of their staying power. They kicked serious ass. I thought I would miss Keenan more than I did, but in fact Mike Dean as I learned is actually a better front man and can engage the crowd better.
Towards the end of their set, a drunkish fratboy came up to me excited having just arrived, asking me of they had played Albatross yet, their one singular hit from the height of the Pepper Keenan era.
Clearly uninformed of the intent of what this tour is all about, while simultaneously appearing as the kind of fan that only knows the band’s biggest hit – this kid was lost. I tried to explain to him that they are not playing this stuff on this tour but his intoxication level prevented him from seeing the big picture. It did not prevent, in fact seemed to encourage his need to make me his new best friend and he literally pinned me to the wall with conversation that I couldn’t get away from. Nice kid, he was there with some other dudes in a completely unknown band who’s name escapes me from Florida on their way to Austin for SXSW on some first-time excitement shit.

Setlist:

Bottom Feeder
Psychic Vampire
Loss for Words
Mad World
Consumed
Seven Days
Your Tomorrow
The Doom
Vote With a Bullet
The Moneychangers
Deliverance
Rat City
Holier

Encore:

Hungry Child
Leeches
Technocracy

The Supersuckers – Lagrange – Dallas,TX

So we finish up our pizza and head across the street to La Grange and guess what? I’m not on the list – That’s two in one night! – I called Jess double-trouble after this. Actually I was on the list but this older woman working the door for some reason refused to look at the list. I can actually see my name on it, but this is my buddy Scott’s place and I wasn’t gonna ruffle any feathers. This night isn’t going so well is it?
Thankfully La Grange has a floor to ceiling front window so we just stood outside and watched as Speedealer were already on.
Great as always and we ran into their drummer Harden who’s an old friend afterwards. After a quick set change, the Supersuckers come out full force –

 

 

 

 

A band that at one time I thought was a local band I’ve seen them so many times, but Jess hadn’t so we endured the cold a little longer until I was freezing and felt ridicoulous for standing out there, so we retreated back over to Trees but inside this time.

 

Dan Deacon – Oct 12th – Club Dada – Dallas

Ok so the following weekend I invited Jess out again for another date – this time to see Dan Deacon. And once again, when we get to Will Call – The guy does NOT see my name on the list – I’m really sweeping this girl off of her feet. We joke that it’s her fault and I call her my good luck charm henceforth.
Finally the guy finds it and in we go.

Dan Deacon’s live performances defy any type of categorization. He does much more than sit on a stage and play music for you to watch. He forces engagement and interaction between attendees. Now I am by no means a committed fan of his – I couldn’t tell you the name of a single song or album – I’ve only seen him at festivals and only then becasue he was going on right before or after someone that I was originally interested in seeing, so I wouldn’t even know him at all if not attending those festivals. His look is one that vehemently annoys me: That overweight, bearded, hipster thing that drives me crazy and the kind of fans he attracts annoy me ever worse.
However, the shows that I witnesssed at the festivals were unique and enjoyable and I thought I’d like to see it when he had more time and was the focus.
In 20 years of coming to Deep Ellum I believe this was only my third time ever coming to Club Dada so that was also an incentive.

Finally taking the stage at 12:10 am after a lot of troubleshooting of the mess of cables known as Dan Deacon’s DIY music making table, the show was really on the road. But the ride was anything but what you could expect.

 

 

Dan Deacon does play live shows for you to hear his music, but for his audience to interact and be challenged… while hearing his music and dancing uncontrollably. Before a single note was played, he asked the audience to get down on one knee while pointing at the spot on the (nonexistent) mural on the ceiling. This was supposedley to represent each individual’s cowardice. Once the point was found, everyone redirected it toward a photographer in the middle of the room. This was supposed to be designed to free you and prepare you to lose yourself in the cacophony of sounds and release that the music provides.
Normally I would have been barfing over this kinda nonsense, but it actually worked! haha

After instructing the crowd to make a large circle in the middle of the room, he gave the rules for the Fight Club style dance off that was about to take place:

1. You have to be sassy.

2. You choose the next dancer when you are done dancing.

3. No cowards – if you are chosen you will dance.

He effectively removed all inhibition and self-consciousness that prevents people from letting go until the song is over. The whole audience is going to participate, everyone looks a fool, why not join in on the fun?

The community created by Dan Deacon within the audience was immense. During one song he split the room into two groups for a Michael Jackson Beat It style dance off. Everyone mimicked the moves of the leader of their “gang”, and the leaders cycled. The activity simultaneously bonded everyone together and allowed for the support of and immense enjoyment for the current leader of the gang. During another song, he instructed everyone to get out their phones and launch his app. The room was transformed into an engulfing light show as the technology that so often isolates and inhibits live interaction facilitated it in a great way.

Finall, he instructed the audience, with hands raised, to look to the center of the room. Once everyone took two steps forward, he had everyone lower their hands onto the head of the individual in front of them. After a brief lecture, he instructed the giant cone of people to slowly rotate to the left. As the song built and the pace grew,  the cone began to slowly get smaller and smaller. When the final build of the song hit, the floor finally disintegrated into a mass of individually dancing bodies.

Throughout his live human interaction experiment, he never forced his opinions on the audience. What he did force was thought and consideration of how we interact as humans. He stole the audience’s pointless self-conscious sense of image, if only for an hour and a half, and allowed us to enjoy the music together.
I was very impressed.

 

 

Do For It Records Halloween Show – Oct 27th – Rubber Gloves – Denton, TX

Every year on or around Halloween, awesome local collective Do For It Records stages an inspired show with the bands on their roster performing as tribute bands of their choosing for one night. It’s always inspired and never obvious – It’s acutally how the House Harkonnen first appeared on my radar, they had performed as Ween one year and someone showed me the video of it.
I’ve never had the pleasure to attend one of these soirees so I was very excited about tonight. Especially after I heard what bands were being paid tribute:

Mothership as Motorhead
The Spectacle as White Zombie
Red Light Kills as Black Sabbath
Shaolin Death Squad as Weird Al Yankovic

Starting off the night was also supposed to be The Phuss as Alkaline Trio but for whatever reason they didn’t play or something happend, not sure the story.
Jess and I get there and were there to meet up with my buddy Patrick and his girl who were in costume as Cowboy & Indian which was pretty cool.
The place was literally buzzing with excitement and a joyous vibe in the air and it felt good.

We walked into the main room to see Shaolin setup and do their set as Weird Al –

 

 

 

 


 

 

This was so unbeliveably awesome and so super inspired – If you’ve never seen Shaolin before, the normally do dress in weird Kabuki-like outfits but this was just dedication. Think about it –  they had the most work to do – to learn the songs, but with the parodied lyrics which was probably difficult not to say the lyrics they are used to hearing and then they decided to wear the appropriate costumes…for each corresponding song! – Just awesome and they should have gone on last and given the most time. They were the most prepared and dedicated and what they were doing just screamed the vibe of the night not to mention the humor it brought.

Next up was a band that I wasn’t familar with – Red Light Kills who had a tall order doing the mighty Black Sabbath to a room full of music snobs and metal kids –

…and I’m happy to report that amazingly they totally pulled it off!! – Their was just a great vibe tonight – Songs I’ve heard a million times and have heard a million others cover were suddenly breathing new life from a crowd that was just really into it. When they did the “Ooohh lord yeah!!” of War Pigs I actually got a chill and was just so caught up in it – they sounded that good.
We went back in and took a little break and that became extended due to the congestion at the bar and running into people that seemed like an old familiar face every 10 ft. We ran into the Phuss guys and tons of others but in doing so we actually missed the Spectacle doing White Zombie.

But we ran back into the show room for what I was originally anticipating as the highlight of the evening of Mothership doing Motorhead –



Think about how fun it was to sing those Black Sabbath songs, I couldn’t wait to do the same with the Motorhead catalogue – They started with Bomber and the place went nuts – The House Harkonnen guys were down front and singing every word right along side of us. Their set was sorta plagued with sound issues and quite honestly, nothing was going to top that one-two punch at the start of the evening, but they still kicked ass and we had a great time. One of the best nights of the year hands down.
 

 

 

The Sword – Oct 30th – Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios – Denton, TX

Ok so just three nights removed, I’m back in Denton, right back at the same place – arriving just as the Sword was wrapping up their first song.
I kinda new tonight that though we had only been dating for like a month that I was totally into Jess. Normally I’m happy to be with the boys at Metal shows and I met up with Ryan of course (and later Patrick and his girl again) – but having her here three nights prior and not having her here tonight made me miss her and I don’t normally do that.
I would have liked to have got here earlier – they had a pretty killer lineup with some great openers like Gypsyhawk who I’ve been wanting to see but I just couldn’t make it and was lucky to got here and only miss one song.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love how this band really doesn’t have to play here or at a venue of this size but still does out of a simple joy of doing so – that’s pretty much the spirit of this band. That you not only really enjoy their music but you identify deeply with the members of the band as people and they command such a deep respect in that manner. They just released their killer new album Apocryphon –with all of the cool imagery and fun packaging their known for and came to kick ass as usual.

Setlist –

Veil of Isis
Codex Corvidae
Hammer of Heaven
Tres Brujas
Maiden, Mother & Crone
The Horned Goddess
Cloak of Feathers
The Hidden Masters
Seven Sisters
Freya
To Take the Black
Eyes of the Stormwitch
Apocryphon
The Chronomancer I: Hubris

Encore:

Barael’s Blade
Winter’s Wolves

 

Tomahawk – Oct 31st – Granada Theater – Dallas,TX

I love Halloween but I’m not one of those people you would equate with Halloween – I love it less for the horror movies and more in a It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown sorta way.
For me, Halloween is being at my mom’s house carving pumpkins & watching the World Series while we take turns answering the door for the trick-or-treaters of the neighborhood and enjoying their enthusiasm and costumes. She gets a big turnout at her house of usually averaging around 100 kids or so during the night.
Speaking of costumes, after the kids were all gone, she changed into this for our night out, so was already starting out as the best Halloween ever.

We had a fun and ambitious night planned of going to see the return of one of my fave of Mike Patton’s projects – Tomahawk, and then going to a Halloween Party after. Their is something inherently cool about seeing Mike Patton doing his thing on Halloween.

Up the road Marilyn Manson & Rob Zombie were having what I’m sure would be considered a dream combo on Halloween for some but this was definitely more my speed.
Tomahawk is about to release Oddfellows, their long-awaited fourth album and first in six years. The supergroup (Mike Patton, Jesus Lizard’s Duane Denison, and Battles drummer John Stainer) have replaced bassist Kevin Rutmanis with Fantômas/ Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn.
Oddfellows is easily Tomahawk’s most diverse to date: There’s groany, smoky, Morricone-jazz; there’s twisty AmRep-gone-R&B bludgeon; and, most notably, there’s the types of epic, majestic choruses that Patton diehards might remember from the final Faith No More LP, Album of the Year.
We haul ass to the venue – staying late at my mom’s as not to miss out there – we were sure we had missed a considerable amount of the show, however when we got there (and my tickets were actually there this time haha) we learned they were only into their third song.

Jess had absolutely no idea who they were or their rich, individual histories so I was surprised by how much she was really getting off to it – It just shows you when its good its good and this was very good. They had such an effective punch with everything they pulled out along with that unpredictable nervous energy that Mike Patton always brings as its still always a thrill for me to see him perform. It being Halloween and all defintely added to the mystique and I don’t know if you can tell from my shitty camera phone but some guy dressed as a unicorn made it on to the stage and was welcomed instead of being hauled off.
As a special treat for the holiday as an encore they returned and did all Bad Brains covers. Fucking awesome

Setlist –

God Hates a Coward
Flashback
Oddfellows
101 North
Stone Letter
Point and Click
Birdsong
Rape This Day
Honeymoon
Capt. Midnight
Baby Let’s Play
White Hats / Black Hats
Rotgut
Mayday
Laredo

Encore:

Stalkin (Duane Eddy cover)
Waratorium
Pay To Cum (Bad Brains cover)
How Low Can a Punk Get (Bad Brains cover)

 

Photos –

Roy Turner
Jim Riddle
Dane Walters

 

Concert For Japan Benefits w/ Yoko Ono, Lou Reed & More (March/2011)

An astonishing couple of days that I’m still in total disbelief that even happened let alone twice and the fact that I got to attend both is nothing short of a miracle so I am so grateful for. Sad for the reasons behind the events but something wonderful truly came out of it.

Concert for Japan w/ John Zorn, Mike Patton, Sonic Youth and the return of Cibo Matto & more –
Miller Theater at Columbia University – March 27th – New York, NY

This was an event that was put together in just a matter of days and look at what these amazing people were able to accomplish in that short amount of  time. Sadly, what necessitated the event, Tohoku, the devastating earthquake & tsunami that devastated Japan a few days earlier, what heartbreaking and tragic, however after hearing of this benefit concert I couldn’t have been more excited and it was for such a great cause, and inspiring how quickly they took action.
It was organized by the legendary saxophonist and composer John Zorn, who has lived and performed in Japan and for decades has collaborated with, promoted and released albums by Japanese musicians.
The program, rounded out by Yoko Ono and Sonic Youth, reaffirmed longstanding ties between what were (in the 1970s and ’80s) known as New York’s downtown improvisers and their Japanese counterparts and co-conspirators. Sold out in two hours, the concert was also broadcast on Japanese television and to Columbia students. It raised $34,000 for Japan Society’s Earthquake Relief Fund.

The musicians have stationed themselves where genres blur: noise, jazz, rock, funk, electronics. The program juxtaposed straightforward songs with open-ended improvisations. And, from Sonic Youth, an amalgam of both, as terse, punky verses dissolved into scrabbling, squalling, ringing guitar passages, cataclysmic and monumental.

The show fittingly started with Zorn and a trumpet player, introducing the event and playing an incredible but brief set. That’s what made this so cool, was their were no egos, no silly headliners or bullshit, just great music for a great cause, each playing brief sets. It was amazing to see not only the camaraderie between them all, but you could detect long establishing relationships, personally, professionally, musically, etc.
So much so that alot of the acts were very incestuous, using each other’s members, or whoever was available to get this done.

Next up was something that outside of the reasons we were all here, was something I had completely different (and admittedly selfish) reasons for being so excited for – the return of Cibo Matto.
One of favorite bands of the last 15 years and perhaps ever, who broke up over 10 years ago, and I never got a chance to see them.
I have been fortunate to see their two core members Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda perform separately in different projects (of course never breaching the Matto catalog) and it was kinda understood that their was some bitterness that would prevent them from ever reforming as Cibo Matto. Their was so hope on the horizon however last Fall, when for Honda’s 50th birthday they played a brief set at a private party. So when something this tragic happens, it puts things into perspective of what truly matters. Motivated by the cause and surely wanted to represent Japan as they are both Japanese obviously and having just played together a few months prior, the choice to play publicly though for the first time in over 10 years was an easy choice I’m sure. And boy was I happy they did.

 

Though the set was only three songs, it was three songs more than I had ever seen live, and I had been waiting soooo long for this.

Setlist:

Birthday Cake
Le Pain Perdu
Aguas de Marco

They were keeping it tight at this place, as their was a strict understanding of no pictures/cell-phones, that when I went to move my phone from one pocket to the other for comfort reasons, their were two ushers on me like stink on shit, really intense.

Up next was Mephista — Sylvie Courvoisier on piano, Susie Ibarra on drums and Ikue Mori on laptop (who’s in a legendary band with Mike Patton and John Zorn called Hemophiliac) — played the concert’s most abstract set. Their intent improvisations had  Courvoisier plucking inside the piano when she wasn’t’t riffling impressionistic chords and ostinatos against the whistles, clanks, rustles and crackles from Ibarra and Mori. Their pieces had a moment-by-moment suspense; each plunk counted.

 

Speaking of Patton (and if you know anything about me, I’m totally one of those Patton is God dudes haha)  was backed by the redoubtable pianist Uri Caine in old Italian pop tunes — sung with tongue-in-cheek melodrama — like those on Patton’s 2010 album, Mondo Cane. Caine’s opening solo took Honeysuckle Rose through kaleidoscopic transformations, from ragtime to free-jazz clusters.

The guitarist Marc Ribot accompanied Akiko Yano, one of Japan’s best-known rock and jazz singers. With Yano on piano, they performed a playfully splintered version of the Gershwins’ Our Love Is Here to Stay. But their second song was serious: Funamachi (Waiting for the Ship), which is based on a folk song from the region of Japan hit hardest by the tsunami. It had a sea-chantey-like drive and a chorus that was a fervent exhortation: to persevere.

Probably the act people seemed to be most familiar with (besides Yoko Ono of course) were NYC noise legends Sonic Youth. One of my all-time favorite bands, and again I know what we were here for, and I’ve seen this band all over the world, but their is just something about seeing them in NYC that is always so special.

 

Setlist:

The Sprawl (Daydream Nation)
The World Looks Red (Confusion is Sex)
Hey Joni (Daydream Nation)
Shaking Hell (Confusion is Sex)

Zorn returned,  and unexpectedly, gave one of the concert’s least noisy performances. His Aleph Trio — with Trevor Dunn (from Mr. Bungle) on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums — delivered a Latin-flavored, two-chord vamp as Zorn revealed his melodic side: bluesy, agile, genial, dramatic and thoroughly swinging.

 

 

 

If their was a headliner, it would be the final act Yoko Ono, and whatever your opinions of her might be, it did feel appropriate. I don’t necessarily have a negative preconception of her and if fact think its pretty cool that at her age she is still getting up there and doing it.
However the results are certainly left up to interpretation.

Starting with this totally weird song, seemingly called It Happened, I was a bit put off as it seemed the first thing out of her mouth was not the current tragedy and why we are all here, but the tragedy she is known for, the death of John Lennon. Think about it, everything you have ever heard or seen her do as long as you have been alive, all seems to stem from that and her perpetuation of it is what defines her and her in her first song, was she really recounting the death of John Lennon? here?? – I don’t know, it was totally weird. She was flashing peace signs as she entered and exited.
Seemingly fragile at first, she was anything but as she strutted across the stage and turned into an electronically looped banshee, and was in a world totally only known to her.

 

I guess she’s used to being backed by such incredible musicians, but it felt lost on her. She had Trevor Dunn, her son Sean, Yuka Honda and the drummer for Cibo Matto, she could not fail with that lineup. But I wasn’t here to judge.

just to enjoy and support a great cause, while seeing an incredible night of music, in the perfect building for it. The Miller Theater is inside the Columbia University campus and so I had some fun strolling the grounds before and after the show.

  To Japan with Love w/ Yoko Ono & Sean Lennon, Cibo Matto, Patti Smith and surprise guest Lou Reed – Le Poisson Rouge – March 29th – New York City

What’s this?, no Cibo Matto for over 10 years and now I’m seeing them twice in three days? I could never get tired or used to that.
This, in a series of events around NYC to aid the relief effort for Japan, though she performed at the quickly assembled hodgepodge just a few days earlier (see above) was totally curated by Yoko One and you could totally tell. Her tastes and John Zorn’s vary quite differently as gone were the younger, noisier acts and in place where heavy-hitters of old.

As I mentioned, one act that remained was Cibo Matto,(and for good reason, they are Japanese and three of its members make up Ono’s live band, one namely her son Sean). What a difference venues make, and maybe they got some rust off with their show a few days earlier, but where as the Miller Theater revue was extremely formal and sedate on all accounts, now we were in a small club in the West Village, now I was at the very front of the stage, dancing my ass off right in front of Miho Hatori, and they went ballistic!

Setlist:

Birthday Cake
Le Pain Perdu
Aguas de Marco
Beef Jerky
Sugar Water

This was a show like I had heard about, and they were fucking shit up and got to a play a longer set with adding two extra songs from the show two days ago, and were even joined by Honda’s husband Nels Cline of Wilco, who is a total badass.

Up next was Patti Smith, a NYC institution that embodies an event like this, and someone that I have always wanted to see, but not a member of the tribe enough to every really do anything about it. I have nothing but respect for her and at times have been fascinated by her. I was at CBGB’s on their very last night, but like most people I was standing outside with a droves of people and watching what I could as they kept the door open. She also represents a demographic that I’ve always been quite annoyed by, a bygone generation before me, that seems to think they can affect real change by reading poetry and eating vegan food and high on pseudo-intellectualism.
Now I was gonna have a chance to decide for myself, and let me tell you something, people in NYC freaking love Patti Smith.

She appeared raggedly yet regally with her full band, including Lenny Kaye, and people were losing their shit. She spoke a heartfelt dedication to the Japanese people, and began the evangelic Peaceable Kingdom. And naturally ending with People Have the Power  that she dedicated ‘‘To Sean and his mom, who have done so much work for the people, and whose family has always had so much care for the people“.Setlist:

Peaceable Kingdom
Beneath The Southern Cross
Ghost Dance
Pissing in a River
People Have the Power

Kinda douchy, but clearly proud Sean announced, “Yoko Ono has entered the building!’” Within seconds, she appeared, singing that crazy fucking acapella song It Happened just like she did at the show a few days ago. Her delicate singing abruptly morphed into screams of terror and convulsions, and scared the shit out of me and everyone there, just so bizarre and almost humorous, but yet anything but.

She told a funny story about how the next song Mind Train originated. It was about 16 minutes long and she mentioned that John Lennon insisted on playing it for an unnamed famous musician, and Yoko expressed her regret of having this person endure the whole 16 minutes. Another special guest, Antony Haggarty, came crooning along.

Ono also performed the hopeful Rising, and the blues jam It’s Been Very Hard and – Why? – an intense rocker featuring a free form guitar/vocal duet between Sean and Yoko, that is eerily similar to the John & Yoko version. Greg Saunier from Deerhoof was on drums just for this song and Sean’s girlfriend, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, who is one of the most attractive people I think I’ve ever seen, played bass all night.

Yoko and Haggarty, who is hermaphroditic is speech and appearance performed this cringe inducing song, I Love You Earth because as Ono explained it, “The earth is angry now and needs to hear it” – ummm…sure. Yoko had Haggarty sing it, but then the two of them got into an I-Love-You fest that just wouldn’t’t quit.

Everyone sang and spoke something heartfelt and respectful in dedication to the people of Japan. All night the show had been directed like a conductor by Sean, who kept hinting/hoping of a final/major guest appearance that deemed too unpredictable to guarantee was now getting excited and now it was a reality as he could now announce the next person walking up to the stage, that being Lou Reed. Holy fucking shit –

He shuffled onstage, cranked up his guitar to eleven and blasted out Leave Me Alone. You may remember my criticisms of anyone that uses lyric monitors, and I totally called Reed out in my post about his performance/behavior at Lollapalooza a few years ago. Tonight, he brought along an iPad with a scrolling TelePrompter – which was hilarious and pretentious because all he sings is, “Leave me leave me leave me leave me leave me alone’!” (Yoko had sheets of musical notations too – when most of her songs are purely improvisational one-word mantras like ‘Why?’!)Lou’s song was ear splitting. He worked Yoko’s band to the bone – making them play louder and harder. It was as if he was telling Yoko, “Look! I’m even crazier than YOU are!” She stood beside him, glancing at his TelePrompTer, chiming in with a few inaudible screams, but she politely surrendered as Lou hijacked her band. He mumbled something about how we all must be shocked, but to the contrary, it’s just what one would expect from Lou Reed. I am not saying that it wasn’t’t great. I just hate to admit it because Lou is so damned arrogant.
Sean stood between Lou and Yoko, watching in awe, as if he’d bought a ticket to the show himself and forgot that he was in it. He seemed amazed at organizing and pulling this off and how spontaneous, chaotic, and enthralling it felt.

Sean jokingly introduced the final song as a great one written by Neil Diamond…Give Peace A Chance.
While it seemed a bit silly, it was designed as a simple song to reassemble everyone who had performed tonight to sing a song all together and it was the most practical and somewhat perfect.

As I was exited the venue, Yoko was handing everyone a cool little gift:– a piece of sky (jigsaw puzzle piece) in a drawstring pouch with a card inscribed:

The sky is cracked now above Japan.Let’s come together in our dreams to heal.

A dream you dream alone is only a dream But a dream you dream together Is reality.

I love you!

Yoko Spring, 2011

A pretty unforgettable couple of days, that I will not soon forget.
Photos – 

Roy Turner
Eric Sanders
Shawn Brackbill
Bob Gruen

The Second Coming of Faith No More (Spring/Summer2010)

Well I was coming off a pretty crazy weekend already with my layover in Dallas for a few days. And now I was going right into the San Francisco trip. I had some business in town, and also had been offered a few DJ gigs that were not really all that important but they were at the same time as a string of hometown shows from my favorite band in the world Faith No More. To dork out for a sec, the importance of these shows if you are into it, was huge. First off, just a chance to see them in San Francisco, let alone at the Warfield, but as you may already know, that this was reunion tour – not in the KISS/Cher variety that go on forever, but in a dignified we are gonna do a few shows and that’s that sorta way. To further up the ante these were the first American shows since they reformed over a year ago. The looming question of after awhile (in true FNM fashion) was well ARE they gonna be in the States? The answer was, kinda. They were gonna do a three night stand at the Warfield in their hometown, followed by a high-profile show at Coachella, then two shows in Brooklyn, NY and one in Philly…then goodbye. So only 6 shows in 4 cities, well I already had tickets to Coachella and I live in NYC so why not catch them all? haha I know I’m a dork
So that was the plan but American Airlines had other plans for me sadly. I had tickets to all three shows, and was leaving the morning of the first show when I get to the airport to see that their are a ton of canceled flights. What followed was an excruciating day of sitting at the airport watching my tickets become worthless and an awareness that everyone that travels have zero self-awareness. So all of that anticipation was shot down and back to my family’s home I trot. Try again tomorrow?
So, the next day I get a First Class seat (that was nice) and make my way to San Francisco with a quick layover in Los Angeles. I’m not a big drinker, but I also grew up poor so when someone is offering you free champagne, the fact that it’s ten ‘o clock in the morning is of no consequence to me. I get to LAX and am waiting for the next flight to SF when the ill-advised decision of drinking champagne with airline breakfast was probably a mistake, not to mention I hadn’t got any sleep the night before. Point being, I was probably quite the sight as I was so desperate to fall asleep, even just for a second that I was willing to do all of those positions that you do on airports that make you look homeless. As I’m sitting there in a half-slumper, somebody mentions FNM and it gets my attention and they ask me if I’m going. As odd as that was, the person to my left hears my voice and asks “hey…are you Roy Turner?” – WTF? I thought, and as I confusingly nodded, he reminded me of who he was and come to find out he was an old friend I hadn’t had any contact with in over 12 years. At one time I was close with his brother, who as I find out lives in SF and he was going there to visit him with the sole purpose that they could catch these shows together. We have a nice talk and exchange numbers and I looked forward to seeing him and his brother the next day. Small fucking world eh?

Faith No More – April 13th – 14th  – Warfield – San Francisco, CA

I get to SF and other than the obvious I’m very excited – I adore SF as its one of my favorite cities in the world and I’ve even seriously considered living here, and if and when I ever retire, I just might. The promoter put me up in this shithole downtown but it was within walking distance of the club and the Warfield. Again I love this town but the homeless situation is so out of control here and I live in freaking NYC and I’m shocked how everytime I come here it seems worse. I couldn’t walk a half a block without someone aggressively asking me for something.
I secure the hotel and call a few friends and let them know I’m in town. I already had plans to go to the show tonight with an old friend from Texas who lives here and let her know that I would meet her at the show. I get something to eat, walk by the ol’ OFarrell Theater, and head to the Warfield.
I see my friend straight-away and we excitedly catch up and head in to the show were openers Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine had already started doing their thing. How appropriate I thought, another weird and local legend to get things started.

Jello was as awesome as The Dead Kennedy’s without him are embarrassing. Now I know this motherfucker is crazy and I don’t always agree with everything he says, but they killed. Biafra had the whole School of Medicine thing going with the lab coat, and covered in blood and the band was just super tight, and as I looked closer I knew why. I recognized a familiar face from Ween-world in Andrew Weiss on bass and his brother Eric on drums. I called Claude from Ween right after to tell him what I was seeing, it was incredible. Of course they tore thru California Uber Alles, and Holiday in Cambodia and the crowd went nuts.
Neil Hamburger acted as the MC and this meant he told a few of his jokes, and then introduced each act. His act is pretty fascinating: he tells some of the most offensive jokes possible, and the crowd tends to react strongly to him. Sometimes people cheer the rape and drug addiction humor; sometimes, people boo and throw things at him. It’s interesting to watch a crowd respond to him that has never seen him before, but I don’t know why anyone would actually buy a ticket to see his own show. If everyone in the audience is in on the joke, there is no joke.
 What came next literally defies description – even by Faith No More standards of weirdness and perversity – but keeping the San Francisco vaudeville spirit going
was something called the Barbary Coast Cloggers. Fred Schneider of the B-52s in his wildest, homosexual dreams could not come up with a concept that was this gay. All I could think of was Roddy Bottum watching videos of them on YouTube and thinking “they must open for us!!”. Though a supporter, I’m not a member of the gay community but I don’t think even my gay friends have ventured into clogging. Think square dancing with the loudest country and western outfits ever. It was the opposite of vulgar, very upbeat and fun and the dancers were so queer they seemed to shoot rainbows out of their faces.
As I watched their first number, with my mouth wide open in a giant smile, I worried about the crowd reaction, but when the song finished, only half a breath passed before the audience broke into spontaneous, overwhelming applause. It was amazing. I looked over at my friend and said “This is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, and Faith No More hasn’t even started!”
But now that time was upon us – I was finally seeing Faith No More in San Francisco and these were their first shows in the States in over 12 years. I had been lucky to see their first show back period over a year ago when I was in London at that was really something.
After all we had already seen, their was the definite anything goes vibe that is usually prevalent when these guys are involved. Given what was at stake I had a feeling that the set-list could be full of surprises. Starting with Midnight Cowboy and then right into The Real Thing you would have thought Slayer was onstage. A more fanatical crowd I have yet to see, and the music doesn’t exactly inspire the whole moshing thing in my mind, but it is chaotic and the place completely lost their shit, like the whole time.
A band known for also their odd choices of songs to cover, I was wondering what this would hold or how it would be different than London, or how the shows would differ setlist wise over the three nights, as I had confidence that they would change it up a bit each night and make each one special and they did just that.
Some of the rarities were: Michael Jackson‘s Ben and they finally did their cover of Sparks‘ This town ain’t big enough for the both of us.
Here’s the full setlist:Midnight Cowboy (John Barry cover)
The Real Thing
Land of Sunshine
Be Aggressive
Evidence
Surprise! You’re Dead!
Last Cup of Sorrow
Ricochet
Ben (Michael Jackson cover)
Midlife Crisis (included a section of Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke)
Epic
I Started a Joke (Bee Gees cover)
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Ashes to Ashes
Just a ManEncore 1 :Stripsearch (w/ Chariots of Fire)
We Care a LotEncore 2 :

This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us (Sparks cover)
Pristina

A freaking incredible show and one of the best shows I’ve ever seen period. What a weird, long strange trip, even for them.

Night 2

  Without giving anything away, I had told them a bit about the weirdness (and awesomeness) of last night’s vaudeville-style show. What surreal form of entertainment were we in store for tonight? The first act was called the White Trash Débutantes, I’m only assuming are from San Francisco, who did what you would think a band with that moniker would do, and alot of covers. Without too much calculation I’m sure FNM wanted something local, fun and legit.

Next in the “wild card” slot was yet another one of those things that could only happen at a FNM show, where when you tell your friends about it later, they shriek in laughter and go “gawd I wish I was there” but in the moment all you can do is shake your head and laugh and think: “What the fuck?”. 
That moment came with the fucking El Camino High School Cheerleaders came out to do routines. About 20 high school girls in full cheer regalia marched onto the stage. A pulsing techno number boomed its way through the theater, and the girls danced, made pyramids, leaped and bounded across the stage.
Now it was that time once again, the place seemed way more packed than the night before and we had trouble getting down to the floor. Neil Hamburger had been keeping his in-between-acts sets mercifully short; He tried to incite the crowd to bellow out “Smash Mouth!” repeatedly, and about 30 attempts at this went on before Hamburger suddenly stopped, paused for the smallest of moments, and growled out, “Ladies and gentlemen… FAITH NO MORE!” The resulting cheer, especially when the band was joined by Mike Patton — tonight clad in deep red, still sporting his cane — was almost earsplitting.
Starting with the Peaches and Herb cover, the appropriate Reunited like they did in London last year, and then when they finished that and went into From Out of Nowhere the place exploded into an absolute frenzy as we did right along with them. Looking at my friends as the crowd tore us apart with that smile of “See you after the show dude”.

Their were a few changes in the setlist for this show but the real surprise came, when they started the opening keyboard line to As the Worm Turns, when Patton was about to sing the first verse, he runs offstage, as he is simultaneously replaced by…Chuck Mosley – Holy shit, that crackhead who was the original singer before Patton took his place? Yes that one. How historic? to wrap up the history of this band to completion, didn’t see that one coming, and to be honest wasn’t even sure that Mosely was still alive. Now, not to be a cynic and who can really compete with Patton anyway, and I was excited by this gesture, he kinda overstayed as the planned four-song Mosely set was probably about two too many. Mosely was in bad shape, but not embarrassingly so, and it was awesome to hear some rare stuff and even kinda cool to hear the original sing it.
Patton returned and they did the Chariots of Fire/Stripsearch from the night before, but not before verbalizing what was on everyone’s mind as Mosely exited by saying into the mic “Chuck fucking Mosley?” but with great appreciation and a shared awestruck. Mosely returns at the end to close the set with Patton to trade off with Introduce Yourself. How insanely historic and totally fitting to end this never-to-be-repeated hometown swing. Just a honor to be a part of it.

Here is the setlist:

Reunited (Peaches and Herb cover)
From Out of Nowhere
Land of Sunshine
Caffeine
Evidence
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Chinese Arithmetic (with a bit of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face)
Last Cup of Sorrow
Cuckoo for Caca
Ben (Michael Jackson cover)
Ashes to Ashes
Midlife Crisis
Digging the Grave
King For A Day
Epic
Just a ManEncore 1 – Chuck Mosley on vocals

As the Worm Turns
Death March
We Care A Lot
Mark BowenEncore 2 – Mike Patton on vocals

Chariots of Fire / Stripsearch
Introduce Yourself (with Chuck Mosely)

So I met back up with Brothers Mitchell after the show outside, and we excitedly recanted the night’s events and surprises. I invited them to join me as my friend Gina, whom I went to the first night with, she was only a few blocks away and had invited me to a dance party with this DJ that was gonna be playing Coachella, whose name escapes me. The boys agreed and we headed uphill the 10 blocks or so, catching up and totally high from the night. Hipsters be damned, the minute we saw the velvet rope, we had doubts. I stayed and talked with them so more before they decided to bail. I thought I would go in and hang for few songs and say goodbye to Gina since I was leaving in the morning. Got totally raked over the coals by these pretentious doublefucks at the door and considered leaving. Finally made it in, and had a great time dancing and laughing with Gina before calling it a night and walking back to my hotel. On to Los Angeles in the morning.

 

Faith No More – Williamsburg Waterfront – Brooklyn, NY – July 2nd & 5th

So I’m finally back home in Brooklyn, after an almost month long adventure. NYC in the Summer time is so fantastic and I don’t care where I am or what I am doing I make it a priority to be back here for the 4th of July. It’s my favorite time to be in NYC. I love, love, love, the holidays in NYC for sure (though I despise the cold).

There is just something majestic about NYC in the Summer, the rooftop parties, and all the Summer fashion that the girl’s wear, and the outdoor bazaars and the parks are so alive with activity, I love it. My first night back, I go to my haunt (and sometimes DJ residency) Lit, for a party with VHS or Beta. I had’nt talked to those dudes since my Astralwerks days, so it was a fun first night back. But the next night continued my year long hard on for my all time favorite band:

This show was historic for a battery of reasons, for one, it was the first (and possibly the only) shows in NYC for FNM in over 12 years. Also it was the first of a series of shows at the awe-inspiring Williamsburg Waterfront, from Jelly NYC that replace their famed Summer Concert Series to this new area instead of Mccarren Pool. And if the shows I saw in San Francisco are of any indication, tonight was gonna be something special.
It was the first of two shows at this location with a show in Philly in between them, and the only scheduled shows other than the ones in SF and LA.
It felt like a pilgrimage making my way down there because after you got off the subway, and walked a few blocks down, their was no reason anyone would be down there if they were going to the show, so suddenly you were walking amongst like-minded people exclusively.
I get there, and check in and the FNM organization (i.e. Roddy Bottum) were gracious to leave me a VIP pass.
I get to my area and Rahzel was already on. The amount of bass he was able to produce was impressive, and his beats shook the speakers. . He somehow managed to do the verse and chorus of a song simultaneously. He spent a lot of time talking about hip-hop, the importance of women not getting impregnated by poor men, and why dudes should be sure to keep themselves wrapped. Some of the talking got old, but it was fun when he brought his youngest son up and told the crowd about him. His son alternated between looking like he was going to laugh and cry.

 

Next was Neil Hamburger, who I familiar with before I saw the SF shows and then got real familar with because of those shows, did the same as before as more of an extended introduction with his anti-humor thing. A big part of his act is chastising the hecklers that he knows he’s going to get. A lot of his taunts at the audience were funnier than his jokes, per usual.  He did that same joke he did in SF with the threatening that the band wouldn’t come out till the crowd yelled Smashmouth a hundred times.

It was still light out when Faith No More finally hit stage, but the crowd went freaking crazy. And that’s good as I’ve been to too many good shows in this town, only to watch the jaded, too-cool crowd just stand there. This time they were ready, as was I, and opening with From Out of Nowhere , after they did their now customary cover of Peaches & Herb cover Reunited was perfect.
What was not perfect was the way the “beer-drinkers” were sectioned far off from the rest of the audience. It seemed there were many unnecessary barricades, and all the grass near the stage was sectioned off, removing the only comfortable option for anyone who wanted to sit and watch the show. And did there really need to be separate lines for beer tickets and beer?
Mike Patton instructed the crowd several times to turn around and check out the incredible view by enviously saying “You fuckers live here!”

An unbelievable show in such an amazing setting on a perfect night. Weather was great, band was incredible. I’ve seen a few of these now, and they didn’t play anything too different from the other ones, but it didn’t matter, they could have played whatever they wanted, and that’s exactly what they do, and makes them so great. They play again on Monday and I’m just as excited about that one too.

Here’s the setlist:

Reunited (Peaches & Herb cover)
From Out of Nowhere
Land of Sunshine
Caffeine
Evidence
Surprise! You’re Dead!
Last Cup of Sorrow
Cuckoo for Caca
Easy (Commodores cover)
Midlife Crisis
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Ashes to Ashes
I Started a Joke (Bee Gees cover)
King for a Day
Epic
Just a Man

Encore:

Stripsearch (w/ Chariots of Fire)
Be Aggressive

Encore 2:

We Care a Lot

Faith No More (night 2) – Williamsburg Waterfront – Brooklyn, NY – July 5th

Here is a tweet from my Twitter feed to start the day:

“Oh Faith No More again? Tonight? Don’t mind if I do – this could perhaps be the last American performance of this band ever.”
But it was another Tweet by Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum, who in his ever helpful ways, sent this Tweet – that serendipitously changed everything:
“Faith No More play Brooklyn tonight (NO L TRAIN)”
Now normally this wouldn’t mean much, Brooklynites are accustomed to that piece of shit L train never running properly, but and I don’t believe in fate or that things happen for any particular reason, the cause of this would result in re-route, that would yield a meeting with another stranded concert-goer of epic proportions.
The detour was ridiculous even by NYC standards and took me to parts of Brooklyn that I didn’t even know existed on trains that I didn’t know still ran.
I was coming down the steps from an above ground J train to locate what I was told would be a shuttle bus that would take me sorta to the venue, at this point now surrounded by obvious other Faith No More fans, when this striking woman was making the same confused gesticulations that I was and actually in sync.
Clearly we were both looking for the same thing, but now I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Without a thought and I couldn’t even tell you why, I just looked at her and with a smile on my face said “Where is this fucking bus?!” – She smiled and I suggested we cross the street to find it. After some seriously comedic trial and error, we finally locate the bus and learn that we have to make two transfers. It was clear that we were both alone so we kinda formed our own little crew with immediate rapport. From her accent and minimal English, I learned that she was from Barcelona and was in NYC for the first time, having just arrived a few days ago and would be here for a month on an internship to the consulate of Spain.
We get to Will Call, and she already has her ticket, and of course their’s a problem with my ticket. She waited a great while patiently with me and I didn’t want the fun to end, so as I could hear the openers going on, I told her to go ahead and I would find her inside. What was I thinking?? as she walked away, I’ll never find her in this mob” Is what I was thinking regretably. Oh well, I tried to comfort myself with, I only knew her for an hour, sucks I didn’t get her number, hope I find her, but for now let’s focus on what will probably be the last time I ever see my favorite band of all time, as they finally locate my ticket just as I’m hearing the opening notes to their cover of Midnight Cowboy.

 

So like a fanboy teenager, I run as fast as I can to get situated. This time I didn’t have the luxury of the whole VIP nonsense, which was fine because I had planned to really flame out and go to the front and just be 14 again for one last time for as long as I could.
Now this band of course doesn’t have the sound or image of a band that you would equate with having crazy moshpits, and the like, but let me tell you this was my 6th of the reunion shows and 10th of their shows overall and they have some of the most brutal shit to handle at their shows.
I was in total bring-it-on mode, and made my way to the front.

This lasted for about half of the set, before I was so winded and close to puking, and so sick of people stepping on my feet and looking down and seeing my jeans ripped and my shoes a mangled, unrecognizable shape. Yes I am getting old haha.
Totally worth it – here is another one of my Tweets to capture the moment:
“After seeing 6 of these reunion shows 2night might have been the best – FINALLY As the Worm Turns w/Patton”

Their was just something about this show and I feel sorta high from it even after all these months removed.
Here is the setlist:

Midnight Cowboy (John Barry cover)
The Real Thing
Be Aggressive
Land of Sunshine
The Crab Song
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Last Cup of Sorrow
Chinese Arithmetic (w/ Rahzel)
Easy (The Commodores cover)
Midlife Crisis
Digging the Grave
Ashes to Ashes
Ben (Michael Jackson cover)
King for a Day
Epic
Just a ManEncore:
I Started a Joke (Bee Gees cover)
As the Worm Turns
We Care a Lot (w/ Rahzel)

Encore 2:
Stripsearch

So after the last note ended, I just didn’t wanna leave right away, and soak in what had just happened, take in the great view one more time, and then fall into my usual love of people watching. Then it occured to me, “wait a minute, that Spanish girl, I never found her” – Knowing that it was futile, and sorta silly to be furiously looking for a stranger and what would be the result even if I found her, but I had to satisfy the notion of at least trying. So I went and stood by the exit (like a loser) logically everyone must pass thru here, if she hasn’t already. And like in the movies, just as I was about to give up, she taps me on the shoulder from behind.
This was a good sign as she could have walked on by after seeing me and I would never have known. Both really excited about the show we had just seen and in desperate need for hydration, I ask her if she wants to grab a drink. She agrees, and we go to the Charleston and talk for what must have been hours.
We realize early that communicating through our phones isn’t really an option so we exchange email addresses with the promise to get together again in a few days. We get on the train together and her stop was before mine, so I offer her a hug to say goodbye. What is it between me and this girl? The second she was gone, I began to wonder if I have seen too many movies.

UK Adventures: Return of Faith No More + Clutch & Anthrax rawk the HMS & more (July/2009)

I hadn’t been to London in almost 5 years, and this one my first time over there as a new business owner. I have friends there that I hadn’t seen in way too long, so the work kept mounting, and the pressing need to do some biz over there became too much and off went, to the allure of fresh fish and alot of great shows.

Faith No More – July 10th – Brixton Academy – London, England U.K.

Well I slept in pretty late as you can imagine, but then I got it together to make my way to Brixton for something I’ve been greatly anticipating, the Faith No More reunion. This was their first show anywhere in 11 years, and also the venue from their much beloved  Live at the Brixton Academy LP.  The show was incredible and I was totally in awe of getting to see these guys again. I haven’t felt compelled to let it all hang out like that in some time, but I went ballistic and was one of the wilder ones down front. Bonded with these three rad Polish girls, who kept looking over at me to see if I knew the words, and when I consistently did, apparently I had passed initiation. I can’t remember the last time I was this excited. Felt good. Afterwards, my new Polish crew invited me to have some post-show drinks with them. Took a bus to Liverpool St. in the constant rain, and then caught the overground back to Eric Clapton.
The show was unbelievable without any kind of partisan. There was just something in the air, and the crowd was so appreciative and grateful that I (along with the band was taken aback) this went very very well.

Setlist –

Reunited (Peaches & Herb cover)
The Real Thing
From Out of Nowhere
Land of Sunshine
Caffeine
Evidence
Chinese Arithmetic
Surprise! You’re Dead!
Easy (Commodores cover)
Last Cup of Sorrow
Midlife Crisis
Cuckoo for Caca
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
RV
King for a Day
Malpractice/Jizzlobber
Be Aggressive
Epic
Mark Bowen

Encore:

Stripsearch (Chariots of Fire Intro)
Just a Man

Encore 2:

I Started a Joke (Bee Gees cover)
Pristina

I had wished I had remembered to take a pic of the marquee at Brixton, as I logged into Blabbermouth the next day that problem was solved and I was even in the pic. How embarassing?

 

Metal Hammer Cruise w/ Clutch & Anthrax – July 15 – River Thames – London, England U.K.

This day will go do in history as one of the best musical days of my entire life. Had meetings all morning with Rough Trade, but then I made my way to the pier for the Metal Hammer Cruise with Clutch and Anthrax. I arrived and barely made it on the boat in time before it sailed. To gain access to the boat, everyone was given samurai headbands and you’ve not lived until you’ve seen 300 metalheads banging their heads while looking like Daniel Laruso. This was incredible. floating down the River Thames on a boat seeing my old friends do their thing, and I hadn’t seen an Anthrax show in over 10 years so that was fun too.

 

After a three hour tour (see what I did there?) it docks at the 02 Arena for that night’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards. It was cool see this already famed arena from the outside, where Prince did his 21 night run, Led Zeppelin had their reunion and to see all of the hoopla for the upcoming unthinkable 50 date run from Michael Jackson (R.I.P. MJ WE LOVE YOU)
I had an invitation and would normally have attended but I had bigger fish to fry.

( Tues July 15th

Still in utter disbelief over the events of the previous day, I set out to continue the adventure. I had meeting in Knightsbridge in the morning and then I made my way to the University of London Union, where I met with the professors of their Music Business Program. Given the current state of the Music Industry, the old model as we now understand is obsolete and the students of these Universities who have been studying the old model for the last several years need to be re-educated via crash course. I’ve spent the last year and a half speaking at Universities and at Music Conferences around the world speaking on a variety of specific topics as well as the Music Industry as a whole. ((for more info and how you can book Roy Turner for a speaking engagement you can click here)
Unexpectedly they gave me a full tour of the campus, treated me to a generous lunch , and even introduced me to a Summer session in progress and I spoke to the class unscheduled (and unprepared) briefly, as I will be back in London in the Fall to speak formally and conduct a few workshops there and other Universities all over Europe.
Now, back to the Rock N Roll, also at their invitation, Anthrax was playing on campus that evening. This was one of their first shows featuring their new singer and he totally sucked (UPDATE: APPARENTLY THEY THOUGHT SO TOO, AND HE HAS SINCE BEEN Fired

 

 

 

 

 I had a few hours to kill before the show started, and I had promised my new Irish friend that we would get together at some point and I was within walking distance of her place of employment. So I go over and pick her up, and she is a delight.  I always the class act, take her to a sweaty metal show at a college campus with cheap beer and even cheaper Chinese food afterwards. Ran into this guy who had the entire Faith No More King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime cover tattooed into an entire sleeve. Although not perhaps her first choice of musical fare, Irish girl is a total trooper, and was totally down and we had a great time.

Setlist –

Indians
Got the Time (Joe Jackson cover)
Madhouse
Antisocial (Trust cover)
Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t
Caught in a Mosh
Safe Home
Room for One More
Only
What Doesn’t Die
I Am the Law
Whole Lotta Rosie (AC/DC cover)
Earth On Hell

After we ate she gave me a nice tour around Soho London before we called it a night. It takes forever to get anywhere in this town and the cabs are just too outrageous and the subway stops running at 11pm and only has routes in less than 10% of the city, so its another hour + bus ride back to Eric Clapton.

So tonight it was back to the rock n roll, as I made my way to Queen Elizabeth’s Hall to see a rare Mike Patton performance as part of the Meltdown Festival. On a night off from the Faith No More reunion (see above) the alway prolific Patton decided to spend his doing a one-off with Fred Frith. the show was really bizarre as expected; and a real treat. The were almost upstaged when they were joined by the U.K Beatboxing Champ, Shlomo After the show, I started chatting with some Italianl that had come over 2 hours by train just for this show (for the uniniatiated, Patton fans tend to be obsessive) and they were showing me the pics they took, that later they were kind enough to email to me (thanks Liu).

 

It was a great night and again I was facing the River Thames. I went inside to see the Patti Smith film Dream of Life, which was really interesting. I’ve never been an obsessive over her, and the film was as abstract and uncomfortable as she comes off sometimes. These old punks from waaaay back chatted me up after the movie and invited me to go have some tea across the bridge. After two glasses and a nice conversation discussing the film, at an outdoor cafe I headed to the bus stop. What I thought would be a routine ride back to the Clapton actually turned violent and could have been alot worse.
I tend to have more than my fair share of inherent male bullshit, where I think I’m exempt from most things. Pickpocketing and flat out mugging seem to be at the top of my male Darwinian mind. I had been warned about the violence in London, especially in the neighborhood where I was currently presiding. However in NYC I just put in my Ipod and let shuffle shield me from harm or direct eye contact. I was on the top level of a double-decker bus rocking the fuck out, when I looked to my right and saw a young vargrant mocking my enthusiasm. Innocently I took my earphones out and embarrasingly asked if he could hear it. Right then, a much older, much scarier vagrant pops up from the seat behind me. I realize I am on the only one up here besides my now potential assailants. He answers for the other by threateningly saying in thick cockney accent (right into my )ear ” If we could fooking hear it, I would tell you to turn it off because it sounds like doo doo” Its then I realize their’s a third stick-up kid who is now blocking my path to exit/safety. I stood up and right then, scary guy behind me grabs the cord to my earphones that thankfullly were under my shirt. I instictively pulled away, and just bamboozled the kid in my way by pushing him as hard as I could, as I ran down the stairs like a little bitch. If you know me, you know that I’m a skinny bitch, with a big mouth, who does dumb shit like this often as I prob should have just handed it over and saved the risk, but I just got the new Atmosphere album uploaded and wasn’t ready to part with it 🙂 I run toward the busdriver and cool it as the bus rolls to a stop. The Boondock Saints upstairs come running down and out the bus to catch me, not realizing I’m still on the bus as we roll away. They yell to stop the bus as I yell even louder not to and off we go. One problem, THAT WAS MY STOP. So I had to get off at the next one, double back and hope I didn’t run into them. Thankfully I didn’t and I and my Ipod lived to rock another day.

Thanks London, Ill be back soon.

Photos –

Roy Turner