Sunday, January 25. 2009
De La Soul at the Hi-Ro Music Festival - more photos...
photo by Jaime Butler - staff photographer |
What if you threw a music festival and no one but the bands and crew showed up?.
Incredibly this has now happened not once but twice in Central Texas just in the last 6 months. First there was the inauspiciously named World Music Festival outside of San Marcos, that drew 100+ bands from around the world, but not much else. This 3 day event collapsed before reaching the second of it's 3 days, victim of no headliners, no publicity, and in the end no audience. The repercussions of that show will reverberate through the halls of the Hays county courthouse for months to come.
Then there was the 1 day Hi-Ro Music Festival held at the Austin Music Hall that drew more bartenders and security staff than fans.
Headlined by the group De La Soul, you would have thought that a festival with 15 or so acts of varying genres would have drawn better. It was a sad site when the headliners finally made it to the stage to find an audience of only 75 people by the bands own on-stage estimation. I don't know if it was a marketing issue, an issue of too many genres on one stage, the high ticket cost or just the economic blahs but it seemed that nothing was going to pull the show out of the red.
The one huge up-side was that the opening acts, many of them good local bands, finally got the opportunity to play a big time well lit stage. There must have been 10 to 15 photographers in the pit at any one time taking advantage of the situation. A lot of band photos were taken that day and the bands played the cameras like the house was full. Club kingsnake staff photographers Jeff Barringer and Jaime Butler were both at the show and came back with some great pics.
Most of the bands played like they were working a full house and for the few concertgoers that attended, mostly performers, friends, and family members, the show was great, feeling more like a dress rehearsal than the actual show.
This festival, like the WMF, was an anomalous blip and not a sign of the times for the forthcoming concert season. Other gigs around town are drawing at normal to close to normal rates. I guess the real tests in the end will be SXSW and then ACL Fest.
The Fanatics
01/24/08
Jaime Butler | 
Pimpin Pen
01/24/08
Jaime Butler | 
Big Red Rooster
01/24/08
Jaime Butler | 
Dirty Wormz
01/24/08
Jeff Barringer | 
Zeale
01/24/08
Jaime Butler | 
Dremnt The End
01/24/08
Jeff Barringer |
Saturday, January 24. 2009
Saturday, January 17. 2009
David Draiman of Disturbed at the Rave In Milwaukee - more photos...
photo by Brian Rampacek - staff photographer |
by Brian Rampacek
club kingsnake staff
Are you down with the sickness? Apparently Milwaukee is! Thousands braved the coldest weather in the last 10 years last night to go and see Disturbed kick off their tour in support of their fourth album, “Indestructible”.
I haven't seen Disturbed since "The Sickness" tour, and ten years later they are still one of the best bands to see live. They put on an awesome set, consisting both new, old and even a cover of Phil Collins "Land Of Confusion".
The band seemed to feed of the energy of the crowd. It's great to sit back and watch a venue filled to capacity go ape-shit over every song they played. Singing along word for word, crowd surfing, bouncing and even moshing.
Opening for Disturbed is Destrophy, a hard rock band out of Iowa, and Skindred, which seemed to be a mix of reggae and metal. Both openers put on a great set. Some dates will have Sevendust as an opener. Be sure to check local listings to see who is opening.
Catch Disturbed on tour now.
Foo Fighters
Hometown: Seattle, Washington
http://www.foofighters.com
Taped Monday, September 29th, 2008
KLRU Studio(Austin, Texas)
As I sit here writing this I am watching Dave Grohl and Co. rip through their Austin City Limits performance, this time on a small screen rather than real life, and the show has lost none of the impact that it had live. The best set I saw in all of 2008, the video is a slightly abbreviated and cherry picked version of the set list below, starting with Young Mans Blues.
Best of all, this time there wasn't a packed studio with everyone straining to see over the crowd, the cameras literally putting you in Dave's lap. I can't wait to get the Blu-Ray of this show to watch it again.
Check out when the Foo Fighters Austin City Limits set is playing on your local PBS station at http://www.pbs.org.
No, I didn't see myself in it.
Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters at ACL Fest 2008 |
Austin City Limits Taping Set List
Times Like These
Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)
Learn To Fly
Young Man's Blues
Long Road To Ruin
Let it Die
Stacked Actors
Skin And Bones
Marigold
My Hero
Cold Day In The Sun
But, Honestly
Everlong
Monkey Wrench
All My Life
Aurora
The Pretender
Lucky Foo Fighters ticket holders lined up to enter the KLRU studio  |
Friday, January 16. 2009
 A sign that good things come to those who wait, patiently, seminal American techno-punk band DEVO has annunced that they will be headlining the BMI showcase at SXSW, according to a press release fresh on my desk this morning.
"On Friday, March 20, performing right society BMI will partner with SXSW to present new wave progenitors Devo at Austin Music Hall". To read the press release go to to our Press Release Center
I'm a HUGE DEVO fan going back to their original SNL appearance and that kind of makes SXSW for me. I think I may still even have a rubber yellow suit in one of my closets, but alas the flower pot is long gone.
Now that the first headliner has announced, let the SXSW floodgates open!
Thursday, January 15. 2009
 Ok will everyone please just QUIT FREAKING OUT!
Despite the listing on the Austin American Statesman homepage yesterday and this morning that said "SXSW Releases Complete Band List" or "South By Southwest releases pretty dang complete band list" the list released by SXSW is NOT the final complete band list and by my estimate is far from being even close. Both my sources and SXSW have been saying for months that we should expect between 1600-1700 artists acts and bands, and the list released by SXSW is lacking at least 400-500 acts as yet, including the headliners! So, chill out, the list is not complete, the headliners have not been named, we still have a ways to go. SXSW released this list a full month earlier than last years list and I am certain that many artists have not finalized their schedules and travel arrangements. While the SXSW's list is a great starting point, there will be more bands added, and it will be updated frequently.
Now, to clear up another SXSW rumor, Paul Collin's Beat will NOT, repeat will NOT be appearing at this years SXSW festival. Though they attended both in 2007 and 2008, they will be touring in January and February, and resting in March. Paul says he will miss having cabrito this year but they are planning on returning in 2010. In the meantime he invites everyone out to catch him on his latest tour, and check out his short story " Pete the Fly", which was just published in the New York Press.
Monday, January 12. 2009
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Well our list of confirmed SXSW bands stands at roughly 500, give or take a few. Though not many headline acts have announced so far, the list has a number of tasty morsels. Odds are that this will be my last update to the unofficial list as word is that the official SXSW band list will be released soon, maybe on Thursday when the new Austin Chronicle drops. I was able to move a number of bands from the rumored list to the confirmed list, though once again none of the headliners. I expect some of my headliners, especially the Faces, to confirm, while others will drop away. Additionally I expect more headliners to be announced after the main band list has been posted, as schedules firm up. In the end though you never know who will play SXSW until after it's all over, which is part of the fun. Last year we had the Black Crowes and Dolly Parton announced as headliners, but both canceled as show time drew near. We also had Motorhead show up and play a day party with little notice. You just never know.
I am now gearing up to do phone interviews with SXSW bands. If your a SXSW band and want to give us a heads up on what to expect at your gig, drop us a note and we will schedule you for an interview. To check out our list of bands that are either rumored or confirmed for SXSW09 please go to http://club.kingsnake.com/index.php/pages/SXSWBands09.html
We have been invited to cover SXSW again this year so expect to see lots and lots of pictures.
Saturday, January 10. 2009
AC/DC - January 9, 2009 Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ont.
You know the show is going to be good when the first thing you see is 45,000 AC/DC fans wearing red light-up devil horns!!! A great show to shoot with the photographers placed at the start of the 4 foot high catwalk and bright stage lights that let you shoot at 400 ISO. The show started with a great intro that I won't reveal in case you attend a show on the tour - and you should!
The band rocked out to the first single from Black Ice "Rock 'N ' Roll Train, followed by "Hell Ain't A Bad Place to Be" and "Back In Black". As the photographers were leaving they launched into another new song, "Big Jack". They don\'t show their age for a second, running around the stage and really looking like they're having a great time. Angus should be at an age where putting on the school boy outfit but he pulls it off and looks great. Brian still belts it out just as well as anyone and looks great for 61.
A fantastic start to the 2009 Toronto concert season!
Click here to check out the pics. - photos by Michael Hurcomb - Staff Photographer 
Thursday, January 8. 2009
Kerry King of Slayer at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater - more photos...
photo by jeff barringer - staff photographer |
by jeff barringer
club kingsnake staff
In an exclusive podcast interview by our cold blooded parent site kingsnake.com, Kerry King, founding member of legendary thrash metal band Slayer confirmed that the band is entering the studio in February to work on a new disc, and that Slayer will tour again in July. With a good portion of the 30 minute "reptile" interview dedicated to talking about the band and it's music, both reptile fans and Slayer fans will find something of interest in the broadcast.
Interviewed by kingsnake.com web radio's host, former All Pro Linebacker Chad Brown (Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots), this marks Chad's debut as the host of the long running podcast series. During the interview King discusses such topics as who scoops the poop when he's on the road, how Slayer writes songs, how many times his snakes have copulated this year, and where Slayer used to practice before they got famous. Needless to say it will probably be one of the strangest rock and roll interviews you have listened to, at least this year, at least so far. The year is early and maybe Jonathan Davis wants to call us to talk about his scorpion collection.
Click on the link below to listen to the podcast.
Continue reading "Slayer To Enter Studio In February, Tour In July Says Kerry King"
Sunday, January 4. 2009
Rhett Miller of the Old 97's at La Zona Rosa - more photos...
photo by jeff barringer - staff photographer |
by harrison davis - club kingsnake staff
The Old 97’s show came at extremely late notice for me, so late that by the time I was confirmed to go, the openers were already on stage. Luckily, I had nothing to do and was able to make it down quick enough to catch Old 97’s full set.
I had heard that the band was great live; I have enjoyed a few of their records, so I came in with an expectation, not huge expectations but enough for me to comfortably say that the show wouldn’t suck.
I have never realized how many hardcore fans that this band has. The moment the seminal alt-country band came on stage the entire front section of the room erupted and their enthusiasm never faltered. They spent much of the show pogoing and sometimes going as far as moshing. Even the crowd not crammed up to the front sang along with nearly every tune they played.
The band itself was very tight. They didn’t exude very much stage presence, but they did sound great. I was immediately drawn to the playing of lead guitarist Ken Bethea. His playing was very upbeat and jangly and went nice with Philip Peeples straight backbeat drumming.
It took this show to make me notice just how good of a songwriter Rhett Miller is. He played two solo songs during the encore that I felt were among the best songs played that night.
I’m not going crazy wanting to see the Old 97’s again soon, but they were very good the first time around.
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