So I found out recently that the big four of thrash metal are going to tour together. This is huge news for any metalheads out there. The big four - Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer! All on the same stage! Here's the kicker, though. Right now, they're only scheduled to tour Europe. I don't get it, guys. You're all American bands, get over here and do that tour! Metallica did a similar thing last year. The big summer, outdoor portion of their Death Magnetic tour was Europe-only, and we in the States only got a short arena tour in the fall. I guess we can only hope that the tour will be such a success that they'll bring it home for the summer. I've seen Metallica and Megadeth once each before, but I'd love to see them again, and I've never gotten to see Anthrax or Slayer. And to see them all on one night would be amazing!
According to an e-mail I got from Live Nation today, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, and Flyleaf will be in Evansville, IN on Friday. I'm a big fan of all of those bands, I've seen each of them a couple of times, and I'd love to get to see them again. Too bad I'm dead poor right now and can't go. Plus, Evansville's a good three or four hour drive from me. Not like I haven't driven further than that for a concert before, but now is just not a good time. If anyone out there gets to see that show, let me know how it goes.
Flaw will be coming to Dayton in March. Apparently they've got a new album in the works. My brother Sawdust is a huge Flaw fan, so he's going nuts for this. I hope we can make it to the show. Everybody should get to see their favorite band at least once.
Lastly, Swedish power metal giants Hammerfall will be coming back to the US for the first time in a number of years this spring. As usual with any big European band, they won't be coming anywhere close to me, so if I want to see them I'll have to make the trip up to Cleveland. I've done it a few times before, and usually enjoy the trip, so I'm actually looking forward to it. It's an expensive trip, though, between gas, food, and hotel costs, not to mention the actual concert ticket. And it's tough not to buy a shirt when you get to see one of those bands. My buddy Shin DT, who I go to virtually every concert with, has already bought us tickets for the show. I just hope I can afford to actually go when the time comes.
That's all I have for now. If any of you out there know of any cool concerts coming up in the Cincinnati area, or within a day's drive or so, let me know!
Showing posts with label rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rock. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
My history: Music
Everybody likes music, right? Well, I never used to. Not growing up. I think it may have to do with the fact that my parents did their best to keep me away from any contemporary music as a child. The only thing I was ever allowed to listen to was talk radio and the oldies station. And honestly, I didn't have much of a problem with this. I heard other kids at school talking about the latest rap song or dance song and knew I didn't want to be like them.
But two things happened to me in the eighth grade that changed things. First, I saw the movie Highlander, and subsequently started watching the syndicated Highlander TV show. Second, I saw the movie Wayne's World. What do these two things have in common? The answer is Queen. My parents had recently bought a new stereo with a CD player, our first one, and I begged them to let me buy a Queen CD. And so my dad took me to the music store and I bought my first album, Queen's A Kind of Magic, featuring the song Princes of the Universe, the theme to Highlander.
This had my curiosity piqued, but I wasn't ready to dive into the ocean of rock music just yet. The next little push I got came from being left alone at home. With both my parents working after school, and my younger siblings being at our cousin's house, I had the place to myself for an hour or so in the afternoons, and so I could check out some music videos on TV. It just so happened that Green Jelly's Three Little Pigs video was hot right then. I thought it was pretty funny, and also dug the music. I showed it to my parents, and fortunately it was cutesy enough to get them to agree to letting me buy the Green Jelly album.
Now, I can't say in all honesty that it was Green Jelly's music that actually pushed me over the edge. What it actually was that did it was seeing that, upon bringing the Green Jelly album to school on the last day of eighth grade and listening to it in class, this kind of music could open some doors for me. All the "cool", hip hop loving kids, the jocks and popular people, looked at me with distaste, which was cool because I hated them anyway. And suddenly there were all these other kids, which I had never really talked to before, who were into a lot of the same kinds of things I were, who wanted to hang out and listen to rock music! This is what tipped the scale and got me to dive headfirst into rock music.
Since then my love of rock and metal has grown without stopping. I discovered some of my all-time favorite bands soon thereafter, Aerosmith, Metallica, and Nirvana (only just before Kurt died). I developed a deep appreciation of the early days of rock, from Chuck Berry and Elvis up through the Woodstock era, and learned how wide the rock umbrella stretched, encompassing everything from The Cranberries to Cannibal Corpse. And I happily give all of it a chance, even to this day. When it comes down to it though my favorite genres are straight up rock like Aerosmith and Kiss, thrash metal like Metallica, and power metal like Blind Guardian and Edguy.
I've been to a number of concerts in my time, seeing well over 100 different acts live. I keep a database of who I see, just like I catalog my video game and comic book collections. My love of music has developed to the point where I now see music as the highest form of art, and seeing live music is almost the same to me as other people see going to church.
Oh, and I might as well add that I do listen to some other things besides rock/metal. I enjoy the occasional bit of classical music (if Beethoven and Bach had lived today, they'd be metalheads, guarantee it!), especially at night. And then there's my guilty pleasure, J-pop. I was actually listening to Japanese pop the entire time I was writing this post. ^_^;
But two things happened to me in the eighth grade that changed things. First, I saw the movie Highlander, and subsequently started watching the syndicated Highlander TV show. Second, I saw the movie Wayne's World. What do these two things have in common? The answer is Queen. My parents had recently bought a new stereo with a CD player, our first one, and I begged them to let me buy a Queen CD. And so my dad took me to the music store and I bought my first album, Queen's A Kind of Magic, featuring the song Princes of the Universe, the theme to Highlander.
This had my curiosity piqued, but I wasn't ready to dive into the ocean of rock music just yet. The next little push I got came from being left alone at home. With both my parents working after school, and my younger siblings being at our cousin's house, I had the place to myself for an hour or so in the afternoons, and so I could check out some music videos on TV. It just so happened that Green Jelly's Three Little Pigs video was hot right then. I thought it was pretty funny, and also dug the music. I showed it to my parents, and fortunately it was cutesy enough to get them to agree to letting me buy the Green Jelly album.
Now, I can't say in all honesty that it was Green Jelly's music that actually pushed me over the edge. What it actually was that did it was seeing that, upon bringing the Green Jelly album to school on the last day of eighth grade and listening to it in class, this kind of music could open some doors for me. All the "cool", hip hop loving kids, the jocks and popular people, looked at me with distaste, which was cool because I hated them anyway. And suddenly there were all these other kids, which I had never really talked to before, who were into a lot of the same kinds of things I were, who wanted to hang out and listen to rock music! This is what tipped the scale and got me to dive headfirst into rock music.
Since then my love of rock and metal has grown without stopping. I discovered some of my all-time favorite bands soon thereafter, Aerosmith, Metallica, and Nirvana (only just before Kurt died). I developed a deep appreciation of the early days of rock, from Chuck Berry and Elvis up through the Woodstock era, and learned how wide the rock umbrella stretched, encompassing everything from The Cranberries to Cannibal Corpse. And I happily give all of it a chance, even to this day. When it comes down to it though my favorite genres are straight up rock like Aerosmith and Kiss, thrash metal like Metallica, and power metal like Blind Guardian and Edguy.
I've been to a number of concerts in my time, seeing well over 100 different acts live. I keep a database of who I see, just like I catalog my video game and comic book collections. My love of music has developed to the point where I now see music as the highest form of art, and seeing live music is almost the same to me as other people see going to church.
Oh, and I might as well add that I do listen to some other things besides rock/metal. I enjoy the occasional bit of classical music (if Beethoven and Bach had lived today, they'd be metalheads, guarantee it!), especially at night. And then there's my guilty pleasure, J-pop. I was actually listening to Japanese pop the entire time I was writing this post. ^_^;
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