This year, I was lucky enough to get approved for a media/photo pass for the first weekend of Coachella. The photo pass allows me to take pictures from the photo pit of each stage, and being armed with an incredible lens, I’ve taken some pretty amazing pictures so far, and I can’t wait to sift through them all and post what I’ve been able to capture.
There were a few acts that I wish could have snapped pictures for (Muse, Queens of the Stone Age, Beck and Arcade Fire), but being a “newby” in the world of concert photography, I wasn’t selected to by artist management to have the privilege of taking pictures. Hopefully, the pics I post of the bands I saw here will help change their opinion of me for the future.
Each entry will contain a little bulb of my overall thoughts of what I was able to see, with a Instagram video post that I posted (my Instagram account is @Methodman13 … you may as well go there now while you’re waiting for the post to go up) and a photo slideshow. I hope you enjoy the moments I captured as much as I enjoyed shooting it. Click on the name of the artist you want to check out to see the blog entry I put up.
UPDATE: 5/9/14: It was a long, glorious, music-filled weekend of music. I think I may have ruined all of the future music festivals I attend because there really is nothing like being in the photo pit, even for only the first 3 songs, trying to capture “moments” of musicians practicing their craft and giving the audience all that they have. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity. Thank you, Goldenvoice. Thank you, Snoop. You made this music dweeb very, very happy.
I don’t know what they are feeding their kids across the pond, but I would suggest that we bring whatever they have over there and start feeding it to our kids in the States.
It was a last minute decision, but having missed out on seeing Jake Bugg perform at The Wiltern, I decided that I wouldn’t miss out on catching The Strypes, a four piece blues/garage rock band from Cavan, Ireland , finish up their U.S. tour with a stop at the El Rey. Their music is a throwback to some of the great rock bands of the 60s and 70s … and they are only 16-18 years old.
The crazy thing is, if you didn’t know how old they were, I guarantee that you would have never guessed that they were so young. Their music is fast and loud, and they carried an attitude on stage that made them appear older than they actually are. It was an 18+ show, but it didn’t surprise me that that their audience was equally split between those still in high school, and those who grew up with music from bands like The Kinks (whose rendition of “Louie, Louie” they faithfully covered as their finale) and the Yardbirds. It no surprise that legacy artists like Elton John (full disclaimer, Elton is managed by the same company that manages The Strypes) have been raving about the group for some time.
Their music is accessible by disparate age groups because though they perform with their naturally youthful energy and swagger that could make any pre-teen girl squeal, they also have the musical chops to impressively sound like that music form the glory days of classic rock-and-roll. I mean, the lead singer, Ross Farrelly (who I understand is only 16 years old) has a voice that quite faithfully covered classic by Bo Diddley, The Specials, Ramones and Kinks.
These kids are impressive. Their stage present and their seems to indicated that they have the potential to keep on making great sounding rock-and-roll for years to come. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that their sound doesn’t change too much with puberty.
Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos. If the slide show below isn’t working, then Flickr has disabled their embed option for WordPress and hasn’t yet updated their HTML code, which totally BLOWS! If you can see the slide show below, hooray!
On March 30, 2014, Cody ChesnuTT restored my faith in R&B music.
Over a decade ago, I first learned about Cody ChesnuTT when he was featured on The Roots cover of his own recording titled “The Seed.” I made a mental note then to keep an ear out for more music from him, but for whatever reason, his music and my ears just didn’t cross paths.
Fast forward over a decade, and somehow I stumble on a live, radio-station, video performance of Cody performing songs off his latest release titled “Landing On A Hundred” without a backing band. I’m immediately amazed.
It was a sound so raw and soulful, it made me think of all of those legendary R&B and soul singers of the 70s. Music from the heart. Music from the soul. I absolutely fell in love with the music. Some people have compared Cody to Marvin Gaye. After listening to “Landing On A Hundred”, I’m willing to make that comparison as well.
As soon as my iPhone notified me that tickets for a show of his at the Troubadour were on sale (god-bless concert related iPhone apps!), I purchased tickets. Having gotten permission from Cody’s management to snap pics of the gig, I got to the venue early with a friend to get up close and personal. I just knew, in my gut, that it was going to be a mind-blowing performance. I was right.
When Cody, with his trademark helmet cocked on his head, and his band took to the stage, the audience erupted with a joy that I haven’t felt from an audience in a good while. A sudden emotional warmth enveloped The Troubadour, almost as if the venue itself exhaled at that moment. It was, at least for me, a surreal moment.
Cody’s performance was beyond enjoyable. In fact, with the breadth of emotion he revealed during his time on the stage; from pain, frustration and struggle, to joy, love and hope, I can truly say his performance is on my list of “favorites of all time”. Being able to capture some of those moments with my camera, gave me visual proof after the fact that I wasn’t just imagining it.
What made the performance so real was Cody’s interaction with the crowd. He engaged us. He talked TO us. He made us understand why the music he was singing meant so much to him. For example, he told us how the music on The Headphone Masterpiece saved his life; and though the music from that album came from a different time and space, having its own unique vibe, he could sing some of those tracks in the present because they matched and marched with his current vibe. He explained that “Love Is More Than A Wedding Day” was his favorite song off “Landing On A Hundred”, further preaching to the audience that it takes effort to overcome martial struggles. He openly reminisced about the story of how his wife bought him his first guitar from a pawnshop; and how her belief in him and his dreams makes him want work that much harder to keep the relationship fresh.
Before he performed “5 On A Joyride,” he explained that that track was written after he had gotten dropped by Hollywood Records and ended up in a car with four friends tripping on magical mushrooms cruising the streets of Los Angeles. He even took a moment to give a shoutout to Suge Knight for being a man who actually gave him the creative freedom to create during his stint on Death Row Records.
I was blown away with Cody’s live show. If you are a fan of R&B and Soul music that speaks from the heart, I beg you to attend one of his shows. You won’t regret it.
For the setlist, please click through the slideshow.
Sharon Jones. My, my, my … that woman is a force of nature.
I’m a big fan of the classic R&B sound. There are a good number of male recording artists that I follow (i.e. Charles Bradley, Lee Fields, etc.), but there really is only one female R&B artist that really knocks it out of the park for me, and that’s Sharon Jones.
In June of 2013, when I heard that the release of her album “Give The People What They Want” was going to be delayed because she had been diagnosed with Stage II pancreatic cancer, my heart broke. Though I didn’t know her on a personal level, I can say that her fun and funky album “100 Days, 100 Nights” (released late 2007) helped relieve a lot of stress I was dealing with at the time. I mean, “Be Easy”, with the hook “Oh, just be easy, baby/ That girl will come a runnin’ to you/ If you just be easy, baby/ Ah, she’ll be easy too”, has 32 plays registered on my iTunes. Though “she” never came runnin’ to me, that song still stands out as a pretty particular part of my life.
When I had read that she beat the cancer that threatened her life, I was relieved. When I heard she was touring to support the album, I went out and bought a ticket.
After having the band warm the crowd up for 15-20 minutes, the indomitable Ms. Sharon Jones grooved onto the stage to the Dap-Kings big band sound, her head shaved and her face beaming. The crowd went wild. Clearly, everybody was as excited to see her grace the stage as I was.
It was my first time seeing her perform live, and it was every bit as funky, and soulful as her albums. If she had had it difficult recovering after her chemotherapy, you would have never guessed it. Her voice was as powerful as it was on her albums, and her stage presence was overwhelmingly energetic, even giving the audience a little lesson in dance history as she demonstrated every “old-school” dance in the book from The Jerk to The Twist. Towards the end of her set, she even allowed fans, who were lucky enough to score bracelets to the orchestra pit, a chance to dance on stage with her.
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings gave it everything they got, and it truly blew mind. If you are lucky enough to see them perform live, I guarantee your mind will be blown too.
Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos. If the slide show below isn’t working, then Flickr has disabled their embed option for WordPress and hasn’t yet updated their HTML code, which totally BLOWS! If you can see the slide show below, hooray!
What intially hooked me to How To Dress Well’s music was twofold. First, the music leaned dark, simple and atmospheric; the kind of music you could press play on a rainy day, lie on a couch and let it sooth you to sleep. Second, I was very partial to Tom’s tender and vulnerable vocals stylings. A lot of male singers can use their falsetto, but not all male singers can use it the way Tom does.
Before the set started, I scanned the room to see what kind of audience was in attendance. I didn’t have to ask. By the looks of it, I may have been the oldest one in the room. I was a bit impressed insofar as the music that’s been released thus far is quite mature (both lyrically and musically). I asked the two fresh faced kids standing to the right of me (who weren’t wearing drinking bracelets) how they got into How To Dress Well’s music, and they said Spotify. I asked the young girl standing to my right the same question. She said Spotify. A quick non-sequitor … even if major recording artists are complaining about the amount they get paid from streaming services like Spotify, it would appear that Spotify led at least 3 kids to spend their extra cash to buy a ticket to see an act like How To Dress Well perform at a Hollywood club on a Tuesday night. Just saying …
The music of the evening was stellar. I knew that Tom was in the process of recording new material, but I wasn’t expecting that he’d be showcasing a lot of the new songs at the gig. It was truly a pleasant surprise for me. He had the drummer from Broken Social Scene play with him (he used a drum machine at FYF Festival) and that added a new life to the music’s live effect. I was again impressed with the way he used his two-mic set up (one mic without reverb and one mic with) to give his songs layers of depth and feeling.
And I was right about wanting to see him perform in an intimate venue. The concert-going experience was magnified 10 fold for me. For How To Dress Well’s music, you want to be captivated. You want to focus on the emotion that Tom is purging from his body and hang on very word/note. Being in an intimate venue afforded Tom the ability to interact and really connect with the audience. When introducing songs, I really got the sense that Tom wanted the audience to connect with its meaning, and it’s a lot easier to do so when the audience is captivated rather than tent-hopping at a festival. When I say intimate, I don’t necessarily mean a small club venue. In fact, if could pick another venue for Tom to perform in, I’d love to see him perform at The Orpheum.
I didn’t quite catch the names of all of the new songs (some of them were still untitled) but I did my best to list them below, together with little concert notes that I took.
“Two Years” (?): A song about his father
“The Power” (?)
“What You Wanted” (?): A song about how you feel when you have a desire that you can’t control
“Cold Nites”: After he sang this song, he told that audience that he got shivers while he was singing it stating, “That felt really good”
“If You Were My Girl” (?): A dance song
“No More Death” (?): He asked for the venue to turn the lights down since it was a “really dark song”
“I Don’t Know What’s Best For Me” (?)
“Suicide Dream 1”: A song about a friend
“Childhood Faith in Love” (?): Inspired by “You Can Have The Best Of Me” by the Starting Line
“Repeat Pleasure”: A song about controlling emotions even though you know that “if you do something once, you’ll probably do it again”, Tom suggested that this was perhaps the most “poppy” songs he’s written and that it was going to be a big hit
“Words I Don’t Remember” (?)
“Set It Right”
Encore
“Baby” (?): Tom mentioned that in the next part of his life, he wants a baby, but that this song is his fear of the fragility of babies, derived from a fear of wondering if a baby is alive while its sleeping (A cappella)
“Lovers Start” (A cappella)
Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos. If the slide show below isn’t working, then Flickr has disabled their embed option for WordPress and hasn’t yet updated their HTML code, which totally BLOWS! If you can see the slide show below, hooray!
I had asked for permission to take some pictures during their sound check and show using a DSLR camera a buddy loaned me, and the day before the scheduled event, Alex “Admiral” Collier (the keyboardist), texted me letting me know that I was good to go. Making the hour and a half long drive in traffic, I thought that I had arrived too late for sound check, but luckily the band was still setting up. Upon retrospect, I’m glad that the band let me come early to snap some pics because the lighting during the show was extremely low. Even with a decent camera, you still need light.
A couple of the fellas seemed to have remembered me from their last L.A. gig, and that was a pleasant surprise. What was even more of a surprise was that they let me hang out with them and their friends after the sound check, before the show. Admiral got me an “all-access” sticker, presumably left over from their international touring dates with the Kings of Leon, and I slapped it on my chest with pride.
The guys treated me like one of the crew and it revealed to me how down to earth and gracious they were. They included me in their group conversations, lit my cigarettes and had me laughing with some of their observations about California living. While waiting in line for tacos at the taco-truck parked outside with Dee Bone (the bassist), I found out that my after-show taco excursion with them the last time out was not an anomaly, since Dee Bone truly loves tacos and gets them whenever he has the chance. I found out that Admiral’s hand was in a cast because of a car accident he was in (not his fault), and only recently joined the band on tour as he was recouperating. I wished Uel-Dee (the guitarist) a happy birthday as he autographed my vinyl copy of “Dear Bo Jackson” (their latest album) and I found out that Shelly Colvin was getting into town to perform with the band coming from a gig she had in San Diego the night before, making me giddy with the possibility that she’d perform her duet with the Weeks titled “Bad Enough”, which is one of my favorite cuts from the album.
By the time the band got on stage for their set, I was glad that I had staked out, and stood in, my spot up front. The packed crowd was tipsy with eager anticipation for the southern rockers to take the stage. A girl, and her friend, squeezed in next to me, as she professed her love of the band’s music to me with her alcohol tinged, warm breath watering my eyes. The couple right behind me told me that they had travelled from Ohio to catch the band play in Los Angeles.
Most of their set came from “Dear Bo Jackson”, but they did include songs from their critically lauded album “Gutter Gaunt Gangster” and “Rumspringa”.
Lawman’s Daughter
King-Sized Death Bed
The House We Grew Up In
Gobi Blues
Brother In The Night
Bad Enough
Slave To The South
Ain’t My Stop
Chickahominy
Wo Is I
White Ash
Steamboat
The music rocked big and loud, with everyone in attendance throwing up their hands and dancing in what space they could find. The vocal mix could have been a little louder, at least from where I was standing, but it really didn’t matter all too much since the concert-goers around me seemed to know all the lyrics to the songs anyways, singing along when they could. Funky, steady and thumping, once again, like that night at the The Three Clubs, I was particularly impressed with Dee Bone’s bass playing. Equally impressive was Admiral’s playing on the keys with essentially one hand. His work on “Slave To The South” sounded superb.
After the set, I snagged a setlist from the stage, and shmoozed a bit with some of my friends that had attended the show. On my way out, I had the band members, and Shelly, sign the setlist. I had a long drive ahead of me, so I stepped outside to take off when I noticed that the taco-truck was still parked out front. I wasn’t drunk, so I wasn’t in the mood to eat, but I decided to buy an assorted plate of tacos for Dee Bone. When it was presented to him, his eyes widened with joy.
So I didn’t get taco’s with the band after show, but my parting words to them was, “Next time.” And I certainly hope there will be a next time sooner rather than later. The taco-trucks are waiting.
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When I first started this blog in January 2013, one of the first blog entries I put up was a list of my favorite concerts of 2012. Breaking the Top 10 was Allen Stone’s performance at the Fonda Theatre, Friday, October 19th, 2012. I only wrote a couple of sentences about the performance (below … which I should have proofread), but being an avid fan of soul and R&B music, I was particularly impressed.
His performance at The Fonda made me an instant fan, so much so that I reviewed his first album “Last To Speak”, tried (but missed) his set at Coachella, and bought VIP tickets to see him perform at The Beach Ball Festival: Soul Revue, even hanging out with him and his manager afterwards at my favorite bar in Santa Monica. When I heard that he had a gig scheduled at The Echo (a venue, ironically enough, that I hadn’t seen a show in), I snapped a ticket up immediately. Knowing that he was currently writing and recording music for his next album, I anticipated a mix of both old and new songs.
When I arrived at the venue, there was a line at least 30 people deep. Knowing that the event had sold out, I asked the bouncer whether I had to wait in line if my ticket was at will call. He indicated that the people waiting in line were waiting to see if any extra tickets would become available. I was glad that I got my ticket way in advance.
As soon as I stepped into the 350 person capacity venue, I felt a warmth overcome me. Yeah, it was packed, and I kinda felt sorry for anybody hoping to score a ticket last minute. I became somewhat resigned insofar as I knew that I got there a little too late to find and stake out a good vantage point to take pictures, but I did what I could.
An as aside, and a concert going tip, at The Echo there isn’t any reserved seating. The booths that line the walls are first come, first served. As I was walking through the venue during Allen’s set, I noticed there was space between an older man and his wife at a booth. In between songs, I kindly asked if I could stand there for a song or two to take some picture, and he pointed his finger at me saying that I was blocking his wife’s view, and that the section was “reserved” for him. After the show, on my way out, I asked the the employees working the ticket office about “reserved seating”, and they told me that there was no such thing at The Echo. Even old people are mean.
That little rude blip didn’t get me down though. How could it when the music was so good? His setlist was a mix of tracks from his first album (“Figured It Out”), self titled album (“What I’ve Seen”, “Unaware”, “Contact High” and an acoustic version of “Satisfaction”), covers (Tingsek’s “Six Years”, Chaka Khan’s “Tell Me Something Good” and Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know”) and newly written material (“Momma Gonna Punish You”, “Million” and “Voodoo”).
He sang the Gotye cover for his encore, and I must say that his vocal rendition, and arrangement, of it blew my mind. For a song that has been covered by everyone and their mom, he breathed a new life into it. His voice forceful, and longing, it was a performance that gave me chills, making me fall in love with a song that, truthfully, I never cared for.
The only thing that would have topped the Gotye cover would have been if Allen Stone performed the song that got me interested in his music and sound in the first place: “Another Break Up Song”. That didn’t happen, but I ain’t complaining.
After the gig, I bumped into a mutual friend who writes for the Los Angeles Times. He was with Allen’s publicist and I exchanged some pleasantries adding that I was happy to hear that Allen would be playing at the Playboy Jazz Festival this year. I didn’t tell her that I actually predicted that he would be performing at the Hollywood Bowl, but I did tell her that I’d buy a ticket for the day Allen performs if he puts “Another Break Up Song” on the setlist. I wonder if my mutual friend can find out if that song gets put on the setlist … hmm ….
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What band in Europe is big enough to headline over Nine Inch Nails at the world’s oldest music festival in 2013? Biffy Clyro. Never heard of them? Well, you should.
Formed back in 1995 in Kilmarnock, Scotland, Biffy Clyro has released 6 albums, and sold over 1.1 millions copies of their albums in the United Kingdom. Back in the United Kingdrom, they sell out venues as large as the Staples Center which seats 20,000. On Valentine’s day, they played a venue with a capacity of 771; but they rocked it like it was an arena show.
Waiting for the band to take the stage, I noticed a couple standing in front of me wearing home made shirts that had the words “MON THE BIFFY” emblazoned on the back. I asked them about the shirts, and as soon as they started explaining the meaning of the phrase (a popular saying originated by fans which essentially is short for “C’mon Biffy Clyro”), I noticed their thick European accents.
As it turns out, they were loyal fans from Scotland who decided to follow the band to the states to catch their gigs. They are engaged to get married, and as it turns out they actually met at a Biffy Clyro show. I told them that this was my first time I watching the band perform live, and they assured me that it would not disappoint. They were right.
When the lights of the venue dimmed, and Sister Sledge’s song “We Are Family” (a song that the band plays before every live show) pumped through the house speakers, the audience erupted in cheers. The band took the stage, and immediately exploded into their set with such a fierce energy that it was quite exhilarating to watch. It was almost as if they were playing to prove to those in attendance that they were a band that needed to be noticed. And I noticed.
The band consists of five players (with Simon Neil on lead vocals and guitar, James Johnston on bass and vocals, and Ben Johnston on drums in the forefront, and Mike Vennart on additional guitar and Richard Ingram on keyboard in the shadows), and their sound was full, lush and expertly played. Both Simon and James demonstrated their masterful showmanship using the entire stage, and engaging all parts of the audience throughout the set. These guys know how to put on a live show and their repertoire was filled with raucous, pop-friendly, crowd pleasing anthems. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are performing in venues bigger than the El Rey the next time they visit Los Angeles. Not at all.
I would say that the highlight(s) of the evening was when the audience, who were all much better versed in the band’s music than I, sang along and Neil let the crowd do the singing. Being in the audience, engulfed in the sound of voices all around singing (rather well I may add) music unfamiliar to me, sent shivers down my spine. I hope that the next time I see the band perform live, I’ll be singing along with them.
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If you are visiting Los Angeles, and music is your thing, hitting up a show at the Troubadour (or another iconic performance venue) should be on your list of things to do. If you are a Los Angeles resident, and you haven’t been to the Troubadour … shame on you. I kid … kind of.
With a maximum capacity of 400, the Troubadour has hosted music royalty like Elton John, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Guns N’ Roses, Radiohead, Prince, Nine Inch Nails, and the list goes on. Hell, even John Lennon and Harry Nilsson were kicked out of the club for heckling the Smothers Brothers back in the 70s. Needless to say, the tiny, iconic venue has a lot of history. As soon as I heard that The Robert Glasper Experiment was playing a gig there the Friday before the 2014 Grammy Awards, I immediately purchased a ticket.
Now, I was lucky enough to catch his performance at the Roxy in 2013, so I knew that it was a going to be a show filled with musicianship (and a special guest or two) that couldn’t be missed. That show at the Roxy was amazing, and my only regret was that I didn’t have a camera good enough to take pictures in a low lighted setting. That experience made me invest in a new camera that could.
Armed with a capable camera (you can check out some of my concert pics at my Instagram account [@Methodman13]), I got to the Troubadour with the hopes of staking out some prime real estate for the show, only to be told by the bouncers that I couldn’t’ bring my pocket sized, point and shoot camera into the venue. I could respect the policy for the show as they apparently were filming the evening for Robert’s forthcoming documentary titled “Of Dreams To Come: Robert Glasper” [To learn more about that project, head over to the website www.ofdreamstocome.com for more info]. Of course, the first thing I noticed when I got inside were people who had snuck their cameras into the venue, using the their flash no less. A bit of a bummer, as I literally had front row “seats”; but I learned that if I’m ever asked if I have a camera on my person, I am going to say, “No.” Little white lies never killed anybody, right?
I wasn’t going to let my not being able to bring the camera into the venue put a damper on the evening, and apparently the music gods saw fit to bless me with some great music karma. Let’s see ..
1. For the first time … ever … a group of three taller gentlemen, standing at least 6 feet tall each, offered to move around to give me an unobstructed view of the stage. Yeah, I’m short, and yeah, I totally appreciated that. It was a very cool gesture.
2. As expected, the music was beyond amazing, and special guests like Javier Starks, Algebra Blessett (who sang “Calls”), Wayne Brady (who covered an amazing version of Coldplay’s “Yellow”), Grammy Award winning songwriter PJ Morton (performing a song he co-wrote with Robert called “No Worries”), an amazing vocalist and Grammy nominated artist B. Slade, prolific trumpeter Keyon Harrold, and Malcolm Jamal Warner joining the incomproble Lalah Hathaway to perform a moving and powerful cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Jesus Children of America”, made the evening’s performance that much more memorable.
3. I stood next to a pair of wonderful ladies who grooved with me throughout the set, even nudging my shoulder when songs hit magic moments of musicality, and who Robert poured drinks to from the stage (more to come on them later).
4. As soon as Robert ended his set, I took a chance, called out his name and asked for the small piece of paper that I noticed was resting on one of his keyboards. That small piece of paper was his “partial setlist”, and he gladly gave it to me.
5. My friend Terrace Martin was at the show, and happened to be on stage at the end of Robert’s set after I received the setlist, and I was personally introduced to him.
6. Robert spent time after the set greeting his fans, friends and family, so I waited until the crowd dispersed a bit before I approached him to ask for his signatures on my three Robert Glasper LPs. I started to apologize for interrupting him, when one of the wonderful ladies, who happened to be standing next to Robert at that moment, looked at him and basically vouched for me. THAT was freaking awesome.
If there are forces that control the destiny of musicians and those who love music, they were definitely watching over me that evening. Word can’t describe my glee when it was all said and done, and it’ll take a lot for the other concerts I plan on going to this year to compare. Hopefully, the music gods will be keeping an eye out on me …
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How do you get me to go to a show for a band that I know nothing about? Offer me a free ticket.
The buddy of mine who went to the Nine Inch Nails concert with me last year gave me a call and invited me to see a band that he enjoyed listening to named Falling In Reverse. The band’s name rang a bell, so I looked them up online and came across the name of their lead singer, Ronnie Radke. I vaguely recalled reading some article in a music trade magazine about him starting his career up again, but that was years ago. The more research I did, I found out that in 2011 Ronnie had been named one of Revolver Magazine’s “Greatest Living Rock Stars” and in 2012 was on the shortlist both Kerrang’s “50 Greatest Rock Stars in the World Today”, “Villain of the Year” and “Hero of the Year”. I also read about his work in Escape The Fate, his issues with drug addiction, the family tragedy he went through, and his incarceration. Yeah, I had to see this guy perform live.
My buddy and I got to The Wiltern in time to see Escape The Fate, now fronted by Craig Mabbitt. Truth be told, the set was a little bit of a let down. For the first half of the set, technical issues seemed to plague the Mabbitt’s microphone as his vocals were hardly audible. It was a shame, as the band seemed on point and heavy. Truth be told though, it really didn’t seem to matter too much as a good portion of the crowd sang along with most of the songs. It was a set that could have been better, but I’ll chalk the deficiencies up to the sound problems.
Thankfully, the sound for Falling In Reverse was just fine.
The crowd’s energy was electric, and they were screaming and singing louder than they had for Escape The Fate. The music was more “friendly” than that of Escape The Fate’s insofar as it felt and sound like Falling In Reverse’s music had more catchy pop-hooks. “Good Girls, Bad Guys”, “Bad Girls Club” and “The Drug In Me Is You” are all solid, fun songs that had me shaking my groove thing with the twenty somethings standing around me.
Ronnie Radke commanded the stage with his presence, using his seemingly boundless energy to stride across the stage throughout the evening. In between songs he would address the audience, revealing both his goofy and humble side; reflecting on the weight he has gained since his career started grabbing at his non-existent fat during the following song, and thanking the audience for hanging in there with him through his tough times and being there, at The Wiltern, for the evening. All the accolades he received that I read about online … yeah, I can see why he got them. He’s a terrific performer and he sounded good.
I’ll be honest with you, I probably wouldn’t have known about, or gone to see, Falling In Reverse without my buddy inviting me. I’m still on the fence as to whether I’d buy their latest CD, but I’m leaning towards yes because it’s really fun guilty pleasure, rock and roll music that I wouldn’t mind having shuffled into my iTunes playlist while I’m driving around town now and again. But I know for sure that if my friend were to invite me to another of their gigs, I’d gladly go.
Falling In Reverse Setlist:
Rolling Stone
I’m Not a Vampire
Fashionably Late
Champion
Sink or Swim
Goodbye Graceful
Bad Girls Club
Born To Lead
Self-Destruct Personality (new song)
Good Girls, Bad Guys
Tragic Magic
Raised By Wolves
Alone
The Drug In Me Is You
Not Good Enough For The Truth In Cliche (with Escape The Fate)
Situations (with Escape The Fate)
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