https://SpinningPlatters.com/show-review-maiden-dt-concord/

Despite being approved for a photo pass and not allowed to photograph Iron Maiden (I photographed opening band Dream Theater), I still would not have missed this show for ANY reason. That said, this show is not higher on the list because the setlist that the band chose was nearly 70% newer material and only 30% classics. Sure, I've seen Iron Maiden play 'Run To the Hills' and 'Powerslave' a dozen or so times, but it never gets old, and those are the songs I want to hear!

How can you NOT enjoy a GWAR show?! They dress up like creatures from Antarctica (because if you haven't heard, that's where they are from), they cut open and defile Sarah Palin, they dismember Lady Gaga, and they cut open and disfigure other Inter-galactic creatures, all the while spraying down their yearning audience with a colorful array of fake blood and other similar liquids!

This show was actually supposed to happen in January 2010, band surgery occurred, and so it was postponed for 7 months... but was worth the wait! Megadeth played 'Rust in Peace' (1990) and Slayer played 'Seasons in the Abyss' (1990) in its entirety! If Anthrax had played instead of Testament, it would have been June 1991 all over again, when I saw 'Clash of the Titans' in Baltimore, MD. (Anthrax actually replaced Testament on the 2nd half of this "American Carnage" tour). My good friend who works for Slayer brought me backstage after the show and my good friend who works for Megadeth would not let me leave without taking their entire unused lunch deli tray! I had so much ham, salami, roast beef, turkey, and cheese that after a week's worth of lunches, I dropped the rest off to some homeless in the Tenderloin.

https://SpinningPlatters.com/show-review-AiC-fox-oakland/

Where Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax was 75% of 1991's 'Clash of the Titans' tour, a then-unknown Alice in Chains was the other 25%. They were literally booed off the stage, although they did play their whole set. At that time, 'Man in the Box' was a huge hit on MTV, but Alice in Chains were definitely not a "Titan" and not in the cassette players of probably everyone at the show who were there to see some serious thrash metal. 19 years later, Alice in Chains, Inc. is probably worth more than Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax combined!

The nice thing about these AiC shows is they were each different. At the Fox Theater, AiC played more songs, and the stage and visuals was not too over-the-top. At the Events Center, AiC played a shorter set and had 2 headline-worthy opening bands, each that had their own big productions with huge LED screens and crazy lights and the whole over-the-top arena show feel. Overall, though, each show was great on its own merits.

This was the final US show on Green Day's '21st Century Breakdown' World Tour. In August 2009, Green Day brought this giant production to HP Pavilion in San Jose, and this time it was at the totally-sold-out and double-the-capacity Shoreline Amphitheater. It was basically the same show (minus the catwalk), but the stage production, those lights, the pyro... it was still exactly what you would expect! Green Day still made it spontaneous and fun by shooting water, T-shirts, and toilet paper into the crowd, as well as having numerous audience members on stage -- singing, playing guitar, jumping around, or even just for a quick stagedive! I also worked the stage build and breakdown, and personally helped hang the huge 'Green Day' letters at the back of the stage!

Hank III is Shelton Hank Williams III. Hank Williams Jr. is dad and country music legend Hank Williams is granddad. Hank III plays more than country music though. He plays rockabilly/punk music --and-- he plays heavy metal --and-- he does all 3 genres in the same show! One of the things that I found interesting was watching the transition. For his 90 minute country set, he played an acoustic guitar and wore a cowboy hat with his hair braided. With barely an intermission, he jumped right into his 30 minute rockabilly/punk set, where he played an electric guitar and wore a baseball cap with his hair down. The biggest transition though was the short intermission before his 30 minute heavy metal (Assjack) set. The crowd had really thinned out, and all of the cowboy hats exited the building. By this time, Hank III's own hat came off so he could headbang and thrash around. Amazing show!

I'm not a Pink Floyd fan. I know the songs that classic rock radio play every hour of every day. I have 'Dark Side of the Moon', and well, who doesn't?! But with photo pass in hand, I was more than ready to photograph the first 5 songs of this amazing stage production and show. Aside from 'Another Brick in the Wall' and 'Comfortably Numb' though, I really couldn't even tell you what else Roger played. Despite that, it was time well spent... I mean, they spent the 1st 45 minute set building 'The Wall', 40 feet high and 200 feet across the arena! After it was built, though, I got kind of bored and left midway through the 2nd set.

I'll admit that I listened to Weird Al Yankovic... 25 years ago! His music videos were all over MTV. I watched his movie UHF in 1989 (and probably a few times since then). How can you not like his parody songs -- "Eat It", "Fat", "Money for Nothing / Beverly Hillbillies", "Amish Paradise", "Like a Surgeon"?! I couldn't tell you what his recent parodies are, so he played quite a few that I didn't know... and most were equally as entertaining as the ones that I do know! Between almost every song was a costume change, and Weird Al showed extremely funny video clips from Al TV, UHF, and MTV, in order to have time to change.

https://SpinningPlatters.com/show-review-muse-oracle-arena/

The biggest concert decision of the year was on April 14. Faith No More show #3 or Muse? Muse or Faith No More show #3? I had a photo pass for Muse and just saw Faith No More twice, so decision was made! Unfortunately, photographers had to shoot from the soundboard, and that really sucked. Despite that, this show was amazing... Muse had 3 vertical moving platforms with LED walls built into their stage! Muse had lasers! Muse had a spinning drum set built into one of the platforms! Muse has great songs too! If Muse had zero stage production and nothing flashy, they would STILL sit at the top of this list.

https://SpinningPlatters.com/show-review-fnm-warfield-0412/
https://SpinningPlatters.com/show-review-fnm-warfield-0413/
https://SpinningPlatters.com/show-review-fnm-warfield-0414/

When Show #1 was announced, it was destined to be the Show of the Year. That immediately sold out, so Show #2 was put on sale. When that also immediately sold out, Show #3 was put on sale. So now, Faith No More was destined to be the Shows of the Year! As excited as I was to see all three of these shows, Muse would be the same day as Show #3. I equally wanted to see Muse, so there was a 50/50 chance I would miss Show #3, which I did. But to make it even better for the 2 shows that I did see, I was approved to photograph Show #2! All I can say is that if you weren't there, you have no idea what you missed!