I have moved my music blog to:

http://heavymetaldave.net

 

 

 

Killola, the band that Dave Navarro has picked the #1 indie band of the year, is coming to the House of Blues San Diego on Thursday September 14th.

If you've never seen Killola, then you need to go to this show! The band is fronted by Lisa... the wildest, sexiest female singer that I've seen in a long time! Their music is fresh but sounds familiar at the same time and they ROCK live. It's only $5! What do you have to loose?

Killola - Live in San Diego - June 2006

The new band, Circus Diablo made their debut Sunday night at Canes in Mission Beach, Ca. Circus Diablo features Billy Morrison: Vocals. Billy Duffy (The Cult): Lead Guitar. Ricky Warwick: Rhythm Guitar. Brett Scallions: Bass Guitar. Jeremy Colson: Drums. For those of you that didn't come, you missed a kick ass rock show. For the 75 or so that did... we were treated to a very intimate show! So intimate that before and after their set, you could walk up to any of the band members and get an autograph or just chat. They all were very cool!

The treat for me was chatting with Billy Duffy again. I meet him for the first time backstage at The Cult concert in Vegas this year and it was awesome. He is one of my guitar influences and it was great to find out what a nice guy he is.

Circus Diablo are only playing a few more shows before they take a break until next year. I suggest checking them out before they do. Go to their web site for the very few upcoming shows!

Click here for pictures from the show!

Picture a concert with today's greatest musical talents...a carnival...a celebration of culture...this is STREET SCENE 2006. Headliners Tool and Kanye West top the list of the more than 45 internationally acclaimed performers who are confirmed for this year’s two-day event. The 22nd annual STREET SCENE is set for Friday, August 4 and Saturday, August 5 and will take place in a massive 2.5 million square foot area outside Qualcomm Stadium adjacent to downtown San Diego.

Performing on the six stages, this year’s line-up is a mix of Alternative and Indie to Hip Hop and Reggae artists: Tool, Kanye West, AFI, Social Distortion, Snoop Dogg, Modest Mouse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Queens of the Stone Age, Wu Tang Clan, My Chemical Romance, Sean Paul, Bloc Party, Bad Religion, Yellowcard, Tricky, She Wants Revenge, Steel Pulse, G Love & Special Sauce, Slightly Stoopid, The Subways, The Editors, The Futureheads, Donavon Frankenreiter, Rock Kills Kid, Matchbook Romance, Bedouin Soundclash, Tapes 'n Tapes, West Indian Girl, Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited, Cheb I Sabbah & The 1002 Nights, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, Dirty On Purpose, The Colour, The Shys, Mutaytor, Particle, Yard Dogs, Drag Show, Lydia, Lupe Fiasco, Ska Cubano and others TBA.

Doors open at 3:00 PM, with music getting underway at 4:00 PM and continuing until 12 midnight on both days. The multi-stage event will feature top-of-the line sound and lighting to ensure an incredible music experience for all.

But as previous STREET SCENE attendees know--it’s about more than just the music here. Aside from the longtime partnership with “Southwest Airlines Taste of San Diego” featuring some of the best food from San Diego’s top restaurants, this year’s STREET SCENE is also shaping up to be a virtual feast for the ears and eyes. Concertgoers will also enjoy Mutaytor: a phenomenal, cutting-edge circus act with fire dancers, tribal drums, aerial acrobatics, stunning visual and audio effects; The Yard Dogs Road Show, a critically acclaimed vaudeville/burlesque act; The Dragon House Drag Show; a drum circle; carnival rides; interactive art installations; and arts and craft vendor booths from throughout southern California.

While a special pre-sale of two-day tickets has already sold out (via an email outreach to longtime festival supporters), fans can purchase two day passes beginning Monday, May 22 at noon via the website (www.street-scene.com) or by phone at 877-840-0457. A limited number of weekend passes will be available for $115; once the initial allotment of weekend passes has sold out, the price will increase to $125 and finally $135. Single day tickets will go on sale in July. Onsite parking passes will also be available for $15 per day.

Additionally, “Street Scene VIP Ultra Lounge” packages are available for $700. The two-person (21 and over), two-day package includes: two weekend tickets; a hosted beer & wine bar plus exclusive VIP cocktail specials; delicious catered dinner; VIP parking; a private, nohassle entrance; seating with live video feeds on plasmas from all key stages; private VIP restrooms; and various other surprises.

STREET SCENE was launched in 1984 with two versions of the event (one in May, the other in August). Originally set in a one block area of downtown San Diego (on 5th Avenue between J & K Streets), the event’s first-year performers included Los Lobos and The Blasters in May, and X, Robert Cray, and the Neville Brothers in August. By 1987, Street Scene had become a once-a-year occurrence. The Gaslamp location was utilized for 19 years. In 2004, while celebrating its 20th Anniversary, the annual event moved to a venue adjacent to Petco Park. This enabled festival organizers to allow people to move more freely between the festival’s performance areas while remaining in an easily accessible central San Diego location. The move to the Qualcomm Stadium location in 2005 allowed for an even more expanded area. Throughout the festival’s 20-year history, fans have come to expect a mix of some of the top names in music.

For up-to-the-minute updates, hotel information, transportation, parking and other facts, please visit www.street-scene.com.

In June Heart comes to the Del Mar Fair with their Love Rules Tour. They are awesome live so when tickets went on sale today I went to purchase tickets and was shocked to find out that tickets for floor seats were a whopping $153 each! You have got to be kidding me? That’s too much money to see a band at the fair? I have never heard of this before. The last time they were in San Diego tickets cost around $60. I sure would like to know what caused the jump in ticket cost to see them. I seriously many people will pay the $153, $90 or $50 ticket cost for decent seats. Sorry Heart, I will not see you for that cost.

Disturbed was to play San Diego on 8/6/05 at an undisclosed location. It was just announced that this data has been canceled! What's up with that guys? We would have loved to be the first stop on your tour.

Cheap Trick played at Sycuan Casino on September 23rd 2004 in the Showcase Theater which holds about 450 people. I have to say that this was one of the best Cheap Trick shows I have witnessed. They played a collection of their hits ranging from early in their career to their latest studio album “Special One”. What made this show so good was I have never seen the band (mostly Rick Nielsen) have so much fun and they were full of energy! For a band that has been touring for over 30 years, this was truly amazing.

During the show, Rick was constantly bouncing around the stage and skipping back and forth smiling just about the entire time. Sure, he has always been the character of the group, but I have not seen him like this for a long time. Did he down a case of Red Bull before coming on stage? For most of the show, he was pre-occupied with throwing guitar picks into the audience. Yes, he does this at every show, but never like this. As some points he barely made it to microphone for his backup vocal duties.

There were two security guards positioned at the left and right sides of the stage. Rick would skip over to them and pelt them in the back of the head with a pick (I found this pretty funny). He did this multiple times. Rick also enjoyed spending time launching picks down women’s shirts that happen to be in the first two rows. The riser that Rick stands on during different parts of the show seems to be covered with picks which at various parts he would just swipe thirty or more picks at a time into the audience. I believe he was frustrated that the picks were not coming off his microphone stand correctly and he would rip about ten or more at a time off of it, most went flying straight up into the air. I stood there wondering to myself how many custom picks he has to order a year for the Cheap Trick concerts.

After one song I saw something that I could not believe and made most members in the audience gasp. Before I tell what happened, I need to say that Rick plays a different guitar on every song (you never seem the same guitar twice during a show). I would say that all of them are either custom made or vintage guitars. After this song he walked up to the front of the stage and took off the guitar and handed it to a woman in the front row (this is what made everyone gasp). She actually hesitated to even take it at first. As soon as he walked to the side of the stage to get his next guitar, his guitar rodie came and got it from her. I got the feeling that he knew this woman and her boyfriend. Also at a few points in the show he let people touch his guitar while he was playing it and even strum the strings. I have never seem him do this before.

During the pause between songs, some guy somehow got Robin Zander’s attention and started talking to him. Rick came over and pointed an audience microphone at him (which was not hooked up to the main speakers). I think this guy was saying something about how great Cheap Trick was and it saved his life or something. I’m not really sure. Rick finally walked away twirling his finger around his ear… indicating the guy is crazy. After another song or two this same guy got Tom Peterson's attention and started talking to him too. Both Robin and Tom were very polite about the whole thing.

Rick call the Sycuan theater a “mini theater” one time when he was talking to the audience. During another time, in typical Rick silliness fashion, he made fun of the Sycuan name. He call it “Suck One”. After he said this the second time, some woman in the front row that did not get that was making fun of it, corrected him. It was funny!

The show lasted the typical Cheap Trick length of one hour and seventeen minutes. The only thing negative I could say is that Robin’s voice mix though the speakers could have been better. I really liked the Sycuan theater because the seats were stadium theater style just like at the newer movie theaters and went right up to the stage. This made for a very intimate setting (I was in the 6th row). What I didn’t like about Sycuan is that it’s difficult to get to and if you want to have a beer or two before the show… forget it. They don’t serve alcohol at the casino at all.

I never miss the G3 tour. I believe this was the fourth one and it stared as always Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and this time the third slot was filled by Yngwie Malmsteen. I was curious why Yngwie was on the bill because he has not really been heard from in awhile and his music is quite different from the other two guitarists. I would have thought Eric Johnson, Gary Hoey, Kenny Wayne Sheppard would have been a better fit.

I was never much of a fan of Yngwie so I decided to arrive at Humphrey’s just as the show started. Much to my surprise it actually started a few minutes early and I heard Yngwie’s Marshals blasting from the street! Also to my astonishment when I got into the concert area, the place was almost full… never have seen that during the first act at any concert I have been to. Once I sat down, I saw the aged speed guitarist from the 80’s who has gained a lot of weight and still thinks he is a “metal god”, but isn’t. He strutted around the stage with his long 80’s metal hair wearing tight black leather pants and an oversized silk (type) shirt that was open down to about his navel. Unfortunately, his shirt was not long enough to cover his bulging belly when he would lift up his arms.

Okay, besides how he was dressed and his hugely inflated ego, his playing was horrible. He was constantly making mistakes, stopping, seemingly paying different songs halfway though other songs. I could not really tell when one song ended and another started (except for a few times). I really felt sorry for his supporting band. The thing that really floored me that when he did not have a guitar part (when another band member would have a solo or lead), he would walk over to the side of the stage, take off his guitar and take drink of something from a large cup... generally not paying attention. I have never seen anyone do this before! Usually if someone is doing a solo or a lead, other band members, in this case Yngwie would play rhythm. He NEVER did.

He did this same thing during the “jam” session with Joe and Steve at the end of the show. This is the most unprofessional performance by a musician I have seen in concert. This of course ruined it for me and I would never see him again even if he did this tour again. The thing I found surprising was that his fans were super fanatic. He was so bad but they thought he was the greatest thing in the world… go figure.

Steve Vai was next and for the first time he came out along and did a few songs sitting down with just his guitar. The unfortunate thing was that his guitar was not being put though the house speakers, i.e. it was hard to hear him from just the stage monitors. When the rest of the band joined him around the third song, you could not hear Steve at all!!! I of course immediately became upset that nothing was being done about it. The rest of the crowd did not catch on until the end of the forth song. People starting standing up, turning around and shouting “turn it up” to the sound guy. Finally some time into the fifth song we finally got to hear Steve. The mix for the rest of Steve’s band was bad too, could not hear the other guitarist very well etc.

This was totally unacceptable to me. Was the sound guy stupid? Drunk? I would have never expected this at a G3 concert and never from Steve Vai’s sound guy. I really could not believe that we missed more than a third of Steve’s set (he usually never plays more than an hour). Between Yngwie’s awful performance and this, this was the first concert that I wanted my money back. If I knew how to do it, I would have.

Joe Satriani came on and played totally awesome (as usual) and his sound guy had him totally dialed in! The jam session at the end was kind of disappointing because it was ruined by the presence of Yngwie.

Today Rolling Stone released an article about the Iron Maiden "Dance" back outlining their tour and new album. I personally am going to skip their appearance in San Diego this week. Why? Well... their last album was week, during their last concert Bruce actually had the balls to say that they were going to bring metal back and they played way too many songs from the new album during the show.

Come on Bruce, groups like Disturbed, Tool, Sevendust and others are bringing metal back, not you. Take your place in history... keep touring, keep playing to the old (good) songs with a few (very few) new songs mixed in. That's what we like. Oh, curb the attitude too.

One parting question... does Iron Maiden really need three guitarists?

It has been awhile since Queensrÿche has toured and since their recent release “Tribe” included original guitarist Chris DeGarmo, I was even more excited about this show. I was also looking forward to Dream Theater because I always heard great things about them but for some reason I never seemed to find the time to investigate their music.

Dream Theater hit the stage with the force of thunder (that is saying a lot for playing at Humphrey’s)! They very quickly impressed me. Though the bass player was not turned up high enough in the mix, they sounded great… I guess it helped I was sitting in front of the drummer and guitarist. The drummer is a mad man! His drum set looked like it consisted of two entire sets someone melded into one… very impressive. I believe they beat Tool for length of songs! I was amazed on how they could even remember that many notes for even a single song let alone over an hours worth of them! My only issue was by the end of their set my brain was turning into gelatin… the constant barrage and speed of the notes flooding into it was more than I could take I guess.

One note about the stage setup… both drummers (especially Dream Theater) had massive drum kits on risers (which were on stage during the entire show). Behind them was a video screen that both groups used (mostly Queensrÿche). The problem was that depending on the group on stage, the other drum kit had the typical black cloth covering it that blocked over a quarter of the video screen from my vantage point. I’m sure for many more people most of the screen was blocked. The Dream Theater kit was so big that it left very little usable space on stage left. All but one member of Queensrÿche were bunched up on stage right.

What can I say about the “thinking mans band”, it’s always great to hear them play! Queensrÿche did songs from all of their albums (I think) including “Tribe”. I was glad they played quite a few songs from “Tribe” because I for one really like it. I was a little bothered by their “mystery” guitarist that replaced Chris DeGarmo. They never introduced him and he played the entire site with a hooded sweatshirt on with the hood up.

I think a lot of us were let down that Chris was not there and Queensrÿche did not make that abundantly clear beforehand. Also, the band seemed very stiff and tired. Except for Geoff, they guys pretty much stood in one spot. Their mood did not seem to me to be upbeat. Is this the end of Queensrÿche? Seems most of them have side projects. Chris wrote and played on the new album but then decided not to promote it (I just read he is flying planes most of the time and quit the band one week before the album was done)? I sure hope they will continue as a band. I look forward to seeing them again… soon!

I’ve wanted to see Weird Al for a really long time. He has been a favorite of mine ever since he first showed up on MTV. Anyone that pokes fun at popular music is awesome in my book! Since I saw his live DVD, I really wanted to see him (even though he was at the fair). This was the first show of his tour and we were not disappointed. Weird Al did songs from his entire collection. He did a fantastic job at entertaining by using his infamous costumes such as the fat suit for I’m Fat. He even used multi media videos shown behind the band. He even played hilarious videos between songs poking fun at pop artists while he was doing his costume changes (I think he did more changes than Nsync!).

During the show he stopped and said “Welcome to the first show of the show or what we like to call the sound check!” He was right about that. The sound was okay, but it seemed the guitarist did not have his rig “dialed” in. Other than that, the show seemed fine for being the first of the tour. I can’t wait until he tours again… I’ll be there!

Today our local NBC affiliate decided (for some strange reason) that the lead story of the day would be about the Evangelist Billy Graham holding a four-day mission at Qualcomm Stadium. The segment showed mission goers delighted that they get to hear this great man speak. Isn’t this the same man who said that if we listen to musicians like Ozzy Osbourne we would go to hell? Isn’t this the same man that said that if he does not get six million dollars by a certain date he was going to die?

Enough said!

HeavyMetalDave.NET

I do! On October 25, 2002 (the afternoon of the Creed concert here in San Diego) I took my son to the Wherehouse to pickup an Xbox game. I saw the latest CD from P.O.D. on one of the stands in the middle of the store. Since my son and I both like P.O.D. (We saw them in September at Ozzfest. They were the first band there that made the concert worth the $70 ticket price!), I asked him if we wanted it and of course he said yes! I also (for some reason) left my digital camera in my car, even though I knew I could not use it later that night at the Creed concert.

So, that evening I went to see the rescheduled Creed show at Cox Arena (the same place that P.O.D. shot their Boom video). After the show we decided to go to McGregor's Grill in Mission Valley to see what was going on there. The front area of the place was of course way to packed so we went to the back area (we where there before the Creed show to grab a bite to eat). The waitress we had earlier in the day told me Sonny from P.O.D. was just a few feet away from me. I could not believe it since I just bought their CD that day!

I told my friend that I have to go over and get his autograph for my son (since he could not be there). I went over to Sonny and introduced myself and asked if he could sign the back of one of my HeavyMetalDave.Net business cards for my son. Sonny asked his name and was more than happy to! While he was doing so, one of the girls in his group asked if I had a camera. I was about to say no and I remembered I left my camera in my car. I told her I could go to my car and get it and she said that she would take a picture of Sonny and I! Then Sonny gave me the signed business card and told me he signed it with his "real" name. He did this because he and my son have the same name and he loves that name!!!!

So I dashed out to my car as fast as I could to retrieve my camera. When I came back I kinda had to wait in line for the picture behind some female fans. Then his friend took the picture you see to the left of Sonny and I. Then I had a few minutes to talk to him. Asked him what the band is up to and told him I really like their Satellite video. Told him I really like the part at the end when they pan up from San Diego! He seemed to like that part too! Also told him that I think it's great his band is bringing attention to music being created in San Diego. He also mentioned that they are going to be on a song on the new Santana CD!

Sonny is one of the most down to earth, "non-rock star mentality" musicians I have ever meet! It's nice to see that even though their latest CD went triple platinum, he is just a normal guy and has time for his fans! Thanks Sonny!

I saw The Cult last year and I think they were even better this time at 4th & B! I think the show was almost sold out if not totally sold out and they rocked the socks off of everyone! They played songs off over every album, even way back to the Southern Death Cult days. I never saw the Ian sing so well and Billy play so well! It's amazing a group like The Cult gets better with age. I thought their last album, Beyond Good and Evil was awesome! 

Missing was their normal drummer, Matt Sorum and bassist Billy Morrison. I was also curious why they were even touring… no new album out, Ian is reportedly getting ready to sing for the Doors tour. Also, this very small number of concert dates were not posted on their web site. The only conclusion I could come up with was that they were just recording a live album, but there was no mention of it. Oh well, I hope and pray to the Indian gods that The Cult will release a new album soon followed up by a tour!

This is the second time I have seen Creed and they were awesome! (I was let down that Sevendust did not come to the rescheduled date) They put on the best concert/show that I have seen so far this year. They had an impressive stage with torches, towers of flames, very cool lighting effects, three LCD video screens and pyrotechnics. As you would expect, if you weren't wearing ear protection, they were so loud you would have had some major damage that night!

Scott Stapp seemed to have a sluggish start to the night. The first 45 minutes he seemed to be going through the motions. I realize that this has been a difficult tour for them and this is towards the end of the over yearlong tour, so I can only imagine that they want to go home as soon as possible. He did seem to warm up the second half of the concert and seemed more into it... talked to the crowd more. The other members of the band seemed to put out as much energy as usual.

One of my favorite parts of the show was beginning to the "Who's Got My Back?" song from their Weathered cd. The use of visual effects, video and audio was just purely amazing.

I can't wait until they come back again. I sure hope they put out a DVD of this tour!

After the 2001 Street Scene, I vowed never to go again. Why? Easy… there were so damn many people that I could not really see any band after 8pm on the Friday night that I went. But I could not pass up on seeing Sprung Monkey, STP and Sevendust this year!

So I was hoping this year would be better, even though they projected a larger attendance. The promoters were smart (finally) and put two giant video screens at each of the larger stages. So basically, no matter where you stood, you could see the band! This prevented people from pushing and shoving as bad has they have in years past. Everyone had a much better time! I hope the screens will be there every year!

Friday

My friends and I always get there when they open up on Friday. But as in past years, they always open late. Every year they give us the same excuse… "the Fire Marshall is not done doing the final inspection". Either this is bull-shit or the Fire Marshall can't get his shit together and get to the event a little earlier? I don't get it.

Anyway, the first band I went to see was Sprung Monkey (the greatest band to ever come out of San Diego). They were great but for some reason played too many new songs no one knew. Come on guys, at an event like this, you need to play all the popular songs! They also did not play their full allotted amount of time? What's up with that?

Next we caught a few songs from Flogging Molly (a band my friends and I know well) before we headed over to stake out a good spot for Stone Temple Pilots! After the band Live, STP came on and really tore it up! It was great to see a band of the caliber at an event like this. Scott Weiland was not as wild as he was when they played the Del Mar Fair but still put on an excellent show! Made it well worth the high price to get into Street Scene.

I noticed at the Best Buy stage the sound mix really sucked. It was distorted for some reason. Luckily this was not the case over at the Ford stage. There also were not any speakers for the fans at the front of the stage. We could hardly hear the singers and only heard some of the music coming from the musicians monitors. That really sucked!

Sunday

The only reason I came on Sunday was to see one of my favorite bands, Sevendust. Okay, I might be slight biased, but someone really screwed up the line up on the Ford Stage where Sevendust played! For some reason they scheduled Sevendust to play first @ 2:40pm when there was hardly anyone there. They were followed by Default, Unwritten Law then Nickelback. If it were me making the lineup, it would have been Default, Unwritten Law, Nickelback then Sevendust! I'm not sure if Sevendust has ever played a headlining show in San Diego and it would have been nice to see an entire set from them. Who cares that Nickelback has a few lame videos on MTV?

Even though Sevendust was first, they kicked ass (as seen in the photos I took of them). They put on a great show and got the San Diego crowd going. When Lajon (the singer) saw us singing their songs and raising our fists in the air, I think he realized that they have more fans in San Diego then they thought! I hope they come back soon, often and headline!!!

Next came the Canadian group Default. These guys started over 20 minutes late because of not being able to get their equipment to work. Then during the first song, the bass players rig went out and the singers microphone kept going out for most of the first two songs! Guess they choose their sound techs poorly. I was not impressed with Default at all. The guitarist seemed like a complete ass-hole and thought he was a guitar god (he was not). So what would a professional band do if they started late to keep the rest of the show on schedule? Well Default didn't do it! Sure they could have cut out a lame song or two. They could have really cut out the lame guitar solo for sure! But no, they did their entire set and ended up 20 minutes late. This not only caused all the bands on the Ford stage to start late for the rest of the evening, but also the Fox Rox stage also! This made Street Scene end late… could have been a problem for people using public transit. I wish I had a "default" button to send these guys back from where they came from! The person in charge of the bands at Street Scene should have cut them off at their ending time!

Next came Unwritten Law. This band really got the crowd going. Don't know why. The best moment was when the drunk singer sang a song with his daughter? Go figure.

Nickelback ended the night and finished up the 2002 Street Scene music festival. They put on the best stage show I have ever seen at Street Scene. Complete with awesome lighting and fire! I heard the singer does not drink to do drugs… sure talked about pot a lot! Also, most of their songs sound the same. Listen to a few and you could have gone home!

The Ozzman cometh and he left and I doubt that this festival will ever come to San Diego again. This was the first time ever that Ozzfest has come to San Diego but as Rob Zombie noted (out loud) that this was the smallest crowd for this years Ozzfest. I have always wanted to see Ozzfest but was never willing to make the drive to the L.A. smog ridden area, so I was very excited that it was finally coming to San Diego! Now that I have gone, I will never go again and I seriously doubt that most of the "newer" bands that played will ever come to San Diego again due to the way that San Diego fans acted!

Why? Easy... it was by far the lamest "metal" concert I have ever gone to. Oh there are many reasons. Maybe it was the unseasonably hot weather that most of us whippy San Diegans are not use to. Maybe it was the $8 crappy beer that Coors Amphitheatre continues to pour (along with the crappiest food known to man kind). Maybe it was the $32 Ozzfest t-shirts that you could buy on the web site for $17)! It could have been the endless line up of new completely un-original bands on the second stage (either Incubus wanna bees or metal bands that the singer had a growling voice so bad that you could not understand a word he was singing). All of the bands on the second stage lacked the talent to get the crowd going. Instead they relied on insults. I doubt that most of these bands will ever make it big! (at least I hope not)

Also, there was no beer even allowed into the second stage area! What was that all about? Anyway, most of the metal heads were still waking up and just stood there. Of course there were a few drunk and stoned ones burning in the hot sun (bet the regretted it the next day). Then came the main stage...

The Main Stage Bands

The main stage finally got underway (so we could sit down) at about 4:20 with some band I never heard of (or ever want to hear from again) called Otep. Lead by a woman with some definite anger management issues! This was followed by the Black Label Society which is lead by Ozzy's guitarist Zakk Wild. They were pretty good, but Zakk is still better when he plays for Ozzy.

The energetic Adema was next, which still failed to get the crowd going. Man, I never knew that singer from Adema was so short from those MTV videos! Anyway, Tommy Lee proved that he should stick to drumming and knocking up Playboy centerfolds. Then finally our home town boys, P.O.D. came on stage! Finally the crowd woke up! I kinda wished the video cameras were working for them. They were great! I wish they would come back and headline a show.

Next was the famous demon Rob Zombie! I was looking forward to seeing Rob, since I have not seen him before. He was totally unimpressive. He sang horribly, missed words all the time and seemed very bored with the entire show after he announced that this was the smallest Ozzfest audience. It seemed to me that he walked back behind his set and cut his show short (but that is just my opinion). The best part about Rob Zombie was his band. They kicked ass and picked up his slack!

Next came System of a Down. They were pretty good but I kept wondering what drug they were on! Also, there was no video of them, just a lot of very irritating pre-canned video images behind them. I guess you would have to be taking what they were to understand it.

Ozzy Osborne

I was of course looking forward to seeing the godfather of metal! I have not seen him in awhile and now that he is getting up there in age, I don't know how long he will be touring. I reflected back to when he first started out on his own and I saw him like four time in one year! That was a long time ago! His band is great but the old man is... well just old. His singing has gone down hill, he relies heavily on a teleprompter and now is even using the microphone stand to keep upright. His hands and arms are shaking pretty bad now (even worse then in the Osborne TV show).  When Zakk went into his guitar solo, he had to be helped off the stage. My son told me the he though that Zakk had to extend his solo because Ozzy did not make it back on time.

On another note, Zakk Wild kicked ass! He was just awesome! In the new world of metal where guitarist just play heavy riffs, it's nice to see that someone can still shred like a wild man! I was completely impressed and so was my son! I am still completely in awe of Zakk's sound.

So in the end, it was great to see Ozzy. I got the sense that he really does love it and didn't want to leave the stage. But please SHARON, please don't let him tour any more. Please let him enjoy his life with his family before his condition worsens. It will be a loss to the music world, but I think he and Sharon need to think of Ozzy for a change.

Impressive Band Changes

One thing was really impressed with was how fast the they changed the stage from one band to another. On the second stage it took about five minutes tops! I have never seen that in my life! On the main stage it was five to ten minutes! Wow! How did they do that. And I mean a complete stage change too including the next band playing! The band that actually took the longest to change was P.O.D. for some reason. They had these big silly looking animal statue things that the video screen had to be lifted for so they could fit under it.

San Diego Fans Were Lame

One thing I noted earlier that the crowd at Ozzfest was pretty tame (for a metal concert). I stated many reasons but I must put some blame on the fans. This was the first hard rock/metal concert that has rolled in to San Diego all year and most of the people just stood there?!?!?! 

It came to an all time low for me when the fans were more interested in drunk stupid idiots fighting with security guards or drunk stupid idiots starting fires in the lawn area! At one point during the Ozzy show I had to yell at some people to get off of their chairs so I could see Ozzy! That's right, they would rather watch a fight then watch Ozzy and Zakk!!!! After that I just hung my head in shame that I live in San Diego.

While the fans were a little better at Street Scene the next weekend, this was a pitiful performance and I know we can do better then that. But don't expect many hard rock/metal bands to come to here after this word gets out San Diego! You did it to yourself!

I have not seen Heart in a very long time (since the 80's). So long in fact that I actually thought I never saw them until I was going through an old picture album recently (after the concert). I was very excited to see them at Humphrey's at one of the only sold out concerts there this year. I was unprepared on how good Ann and Nancy were going to be! They bowled me over with their music. I can't believe that Ann ever sounded as good as she did that night. She also seemed to be having so much fun! It was great to watch.

The crowed did not seem to wake up until they played a Led Zeppelin cover song, which of course, they always play extremely well. I did not recognize any of the other band members, meaning they were all new. They did a new song that Nancy said will be on their new album and it blew me away! On that song, Nancy played an acoustic guitar with a violin bow like a cello while sitting on a stool. I will purchase that CD just for that song!

Can't wait to see Heart again. I don't think I will never miss them again!

Their set was full of oldies, no new songs at all (like The Flame or newer). In addition, as usual, it was only about 1 hour and 10 minutes long. I always wish they would play longer.

Since none of my (lame) friends wanted to go, I ended up taking my 14 year old son (who knows I'm a huge Cheap Trick fan). He loved the show and wants to see them again! He told me that all my friends are crazy for not wanting to go! I managed to catch one of Ricks' flying picks (pictured to the left) and gave it to my son as a souvenir.

I can't wait until their new CD comes out so they will hopefully tour so I can see them again.

I would just like to give my two cents about the recent events of When Bands Attack III. When Godsmack dropped yesterday the bottom dropped out for me. I'm a hard working single dad and I have been looking forward to this concert for weeks. I could take Qzzy backing out because I had Godsmack to fallback on, but now there is no big named band left on the bill.

I can tell you the reason why these to big acts dropped... its San Diego! I have lived here for 21 years and we have always been treaded unfairly (for the most part) by big bands. Many don't come here (like Ozzy) or they only come during inconvenient times of the week. Do you think if this concert were in Los Angeles these bands would have backed out? I don't think so! L.A. is too important, we aren't.

Godsmack knew about Ozzy backing out. They even had contact with you after 9/11 to donate money to charity and 1 ½ days before they back out leaving us without a headlining act! This is just bad. They can't make this up to us.

So we are left with three sort of popular bands (Staind, Linkin Park, Deftones) that have singers that just stand there on stage whining with their eyes closed most of the time. Boring! Plus Deftones were at When Bands Attack II. Your station rarely even plays Deftones!

Also, I would like to complain about the ticket prices. In the past WBA was really cheap to go to but this year I was willing to pay $71.95 because Ozzy and Godsmack was on the bill. They are big, they are worth it! But now, that cost seems hardly worth it to see the bands that on the bill now. BC and Woody says to be patriotic and go to the concert have fun? well how is KIOZ going to be patriotic and make this up to it's listeners? How about donating the money you were going to pay Ozzy and Godsmack to the Redcross? That would make me feel better.

So am I going? No, my friends and I decided that at this cost is just not worth it. We got our many back!

Well, the year started of with going back to the basics. I heard Buddy Guy was the king of blues and groups like the Stones use to go see him. So I thought I’d go check it out. He was fantastic! Even though he is pretty old now, you could not really tell. He is full of positive energy (not something you see from a lot of bands these days). If you ever want to see the roots of rock and roll, go check out Buddy Guy the next time he’s in town. If you ever get to Chicago, he has a club there and plays often. Go to www.buddyguy.com for more information.