Concerts 2015 & The Reasons For My Obsession

[Hammer]

1 hour ago, buccaneers37 said:

# 4

I went to a rare country concert. I drifted away from country when my wife died & went back to my roots of rock, punk, new wave & alternative. I think this was my 3rd pure county concert in the last 10 years. I went to see Travis Tritt, and I was very impressed. He did an acoustic set, and it was just him & his guitar on stage for an hour and fifteen minutes. His voice is still as good as it was when he started & he is an excellent guitar player. I enjoy acoustic music for a change of pace. I have my four favorite "modern" male country singers (last 25 years) that I follow, and he was the only one I hadn't seen (Clint Black, Garth Brooks & Brad Paisley being the others).

I really enjoy those small venue, unplugged deals.  Really separates the men from the boys so to speak.  The really great musicians shine in that environment.  It's amazing how good some are and their talent can get lost in the distractions of a big production. 

[buccaneers37]

# 5 & # 6

Friday & Saturday I went to see Less Than Jake at The State Theatre. One of my favorite Ska bands. They have been doing back to back concerts that include playing an entire album each night. I love this concept because you get to hear the deep album cuts that are never played in concert; I saw The Offspring do the same thing in 2014. Friday night they played Losing Streak and Saturday night they played Hello Rockview. The additional songs they played were different, along with two different opening bands each night (Saturday, Beebs & Her Money Makers played, which is another great Ska band), so it was two completely different concerts. I had a fantastic time each night and stood in front of the stage on Saturday rocking out with the band.

[Josh-O]

On 3/4/2016, 12:40:33, buccaneers37 said:

# 5 & # 6

Friday & Saturday I went to see Less Than Jake at The State Theatre. One of my favorite Ska bands. They have been doing back to back concerts that include playing an entire album each night. I love this concept because you get to hear the deep album cuts that are never played in concert; I saw The Offspring do the same thing in 2014. Friday night they played Losing Streak and Saturday night they played Hello Rockview. The additional songs they played were different, along with two different opening bands each night (Saturday, Beebs & Her Money Makers played, which is another great Ska band), so it was two completely different concerts. I had a fantastic time each night and stood in front of the stage on Saturday rocking out with the band.

When I read your post it brought me back in time a bit. I saw  Less Than Jake, save ferris, and the aqua bats about 13yrs ago ant a small venue in San Bernadino ca.

I was a big rude boy back in the day.

skank

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[buccaneers37]

# 7

Went to see something outside my normal tastes on Wednesday, a little metalcore. It was the first show for Underoath on their reunion tour. A friend of mine has seen them several times and suggested that I go. It was a packed house. I don't know if I have ever seen Jannus so full before. I very much enjoyed the show. I was afraid there would be too much of the "guttural screaming" for my taste, but they were quite good. They are a Christian metal band that formed back in the late '90s in Tampa and they have a big national following. I really enjoyed the opening act, too. A two piece rock band from Atlanta called '68. The have a very heavy acidy rock mixed with a Bluesy feel. Only been around for a couple of years, but definitely someone to keep an eye on. I'm going to venture a little further out there tonight, I'll see how that goes.......

 

[buccaneers37]

# 8

Ventured even further out last Saturday & went to see a Death Metal show from some of the originators of the genera. Cannibal Corpse played realy well and I enjoyed their music, however, the whole time it was just grunts, growls & gutteral rumbles. I can take some of it, but almoast 1 1/2 hours was a little overwhelming for my ears. I never knock any music since there are so many varied tastes, but I can only take that in short bursts. Now I really enjoyed Obituary, they mixed up the lyrics and did verry little "unintelligible growling". One of the legends of Tampa Death Metal (I think they started the last year I was in high school). I wish their set was longer. I always have liked certain extremely heavy, well played metal, just never could get into a lot of that growling.

[buccaneers37]

# 9

Back to my roots. Saturday night I went to see Duran Duran. What an awesome night. Duran Duran was fantastic. I listened to a handful of British New Wave bands back in the early '80s, and they were 1 of 2 that were influential on that genre of music that I would be attracted to. I'm glad I finally got to see them. But NO REFLEX?!?? The highlight of the night is when they did Planet Earth, followed up by Space Oddity while a big picture of Bowie was on the screen behind the stage. Opening for them was Nile Rogers & Chic and it was pretty awesome. They did a few of the songs he wrote for other people. The crowd went wild for his versions of Get Lucky & Let's Dance. They finished out with Le Freak and Good Times. He even went old school with some Sugar Hill Gang. That was a very impressive opening act!

[buccaneers37]

# 10

Last night I went to see They Might Be Giants at the State Theater. It was just them with no opening act. They played for a close to 2 1/2 hours with a 20minute break between sets. It was a very fun show with their quirky alternative style. They did a few of their children oriented songs, but that's what helped make it entertaining. Not too often you see the accordion come out during a show. You could tell they were having a good time & it translated to the sold out crowd. They still have a really big following.

 

 

[buccaneers37]

#11

Wednesday night I went to see Living Colour @ The Orpheum. The last time I saw them was 1989, and with the exception of them looking much older, they still sound fantastic. Corey glover still has a great voice. Of course, the highlight of the night was when they sang an extended version of Cult Of Personality and had the audience sing along with the chorus. It was amazing to hear Vernon Reid, who is an awesome guitar player, trade riffs with their bass player (Doug Wimbish). I was impressed, one of the best jobs on the bass that I have heard in a long time. He played lead on one of the songs and it was amazing the sounds that he coaxed out of that thing. On a side note, while I was in the Orpheum, there was a three alarm fire 2 blocks down the street. The Amphitheater was gutted by a massive fire. Apparently, someone was welding a bracket for a disco ball and a spark caught the ceiling on fire. Total loss.

 

 

[buccaneers37]

#12

Saturday night @ The Orpheum. One of the largest crowds I have ever seen there. Even the balcony looked packed.

The headliner was Napalm Death, an English speed/thrash metal band that started way back in the early '80s. Rather enjoyed them. As I said before, not really into this type of music, although it was good, fast metal and you could (mostly) understand the singer, as he screamed most of the lyrics, rather than the typical "death metal growl". He talked & joked with the crowd between songs, but when the songs came on, he became one seriously pissed off Brit. It also might have been the most intense mosh pit I have seen in a long time. The opening band was a group from Tokyo called Melt-Banana. I knew nothing about them when I got the tickets, but I listened to them on YouTube. After watching a few videos, I was looking forward to seeing them and they did not disappoint. They are hard to explain - Japanese noise/experiments/electronica/grindcore music with a little pop-metal thrown in (?). I was so impressed with their show, I bought a couple of CDs.

Now for the pièce de résistance: Melvins. This may be the best individual performance I have seen in years. They completely blew me away. All I could do after they finished was turn to my friend and say "Whoa". The mix of metal and melodic sludge rock along with King Buzzo's haunting/piercing vocals was awe-inspiring. I have listened to them off and on before, but nothing was EVER like their live performance. If you have a chance to see them, DO NOT pass it up. You won't be disappointed.

[buccaneers37]

# 13

Monday I went to go see Pearl Jam. One of the "Big 3" of grunge bands that produced the Seattle Sound that I really got into back in "the day". They hadn't played Tampa in 24 years and I didn't go see them the last time they were here, so I was really looking forward to this show. They sounded fantastic, pounding through a 32 song set that was 2 hours and 45 minutes long. They did almost all their hits plus a couple of great covers (Imagine, Baba O'Rilley, Little Wing), Eddie Vedder even smashed the crap out of his guitar on the stage! They played to near-capacity Amalie Arena and no one went home disappointed. This is another band that you MUST see live if you have the opportunity.

[buccaneers37]

# 14

 

Friday I went to the Mahaffey Theater with some friends of mine and saw The Cult. Ian Astbury still has a strong voice & Billy Duffy is an excellent technical guitarist. I haven't followed them much since their original breakup in 1995, but they were one of my favorite dark wave/post punk bands of the '80s and She Sells Sanctuary was one of my favorite songs from the '80s. They did an awesome job of it, with the entire audience singing along with the song; Fire Woman was just as popular with the crowd, with everyone belting out the chorus. So far, this month has basically been an 80s music throwback.