Smile Empty Soul - Pretty lame, But I noticed the Jane's Addiction reference on the lead singer's shirt. Didn't wanna see the show, but I wanted to be with an old friend... Oh, and catch the flu! Before that, though...

Black Label Society - always a good time to be had when these fellas roll into town. Saw them last year on the same exact day (Nov. 5th) but managed to go by luck, this year. Met a fella at that show who finds it a ritual to see Zakk every time he's around. Well, he needed a ride, so he gave me the extra ticket for it . This time around, it wasn't so "Dime" which didn't bother me, just one of those things. Zakk himself was lookin' alright, too - not all fat and stuff. The shreding was everything you'd expect, and the pit was alright. Priestess were with, real friendly fellas. That Red Stone Cherry band was with, other than their Muddy Waters cover, I couldn't stand them.

That's been it for me, lately.

I saw Smashing Pumpkins two days ago in Santa Cruz. The venue was the civic center and it was really tiny. Maybe 300 people. I was about 5 or 6 people from the stage. I actually thought it was a good show. Siamese Dream was the first cd I ever bought, so it was pretty nostalgic getting to see them finally. That being said the new songs weren't that great (I havn't heard the new cd yet, but I'm pretty sure there aren't that many memorable songs on it). They played for over two and a half hours which was nice. Overall it was a pretty good setlist. They played all the hits. I have tickets to see them in a week and I'll probably go. I understand that people aren't excited about them reforming but it was nice to see them at least once.

Last night:
Josh Owen
Reckless Kelly
Wade Hayes

Yea, country.

Please take notes there will be a quiz.

Well, the Waits show was beyond killer. The audience was one of the most mixed I'd ever seen. Young hippies, middle-aged hippies, old hippies, hippies with nice hats, hippies with tattoos, guy hippies, lots more lady hippies than I expected, hippies dressed to the nines, hippies with not much on at all, drunk hippies, stoned hippies, sober hippies (by far the smallest group).... Really there was all kinds of folks pretty amazing at the variety.

I think the earliest material was from Blue Valentine. He did a couple off of Frank's Wild Years including,"Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)," and a couple each off of Rain Dogs, Mule Variations, Blood Money, and Real Gone. Which was the audience participation song. Really cool. Most of the stuff was off of Orphans.

Tom himself was stomping around, clapping, flailing his arms, and twitching the entire time. His suit coat was soaked at the end of the night. His trademark voice was very powerful, but didn't hear much of the crooner voice. That one may be lost.

No Larry Taylor.

Overall he told some stories, sang a bunch of songs, did a couple of spoken word pieces, and heckled the people asking for specific songs.

At one point the audience started to clap along with a song as it started up and he stopped everything and told the audience they were clapping behind the beat and that if they wanted to do it right to follow his lead.

I don't know when I was on here last and posting, but umm, I saw Mastodon in February 2007, with Priestess and Converge supporting them. It was nice. I'm not too huge into Mastodon but I've heard everything they've released, and they did a real good job. Priestess also was excellent as far as live music goes, I had not heard them or Converge prior to this event. Converge sounded like shit and put on a shitty show. They were awful, but hey, different strokes for different folks. I will admit I still haven't heard any studio Converge, but honestly, after seeing them live, I have no desire to.

I saw Buckethead for the 3rd time in October 2006. He had That 1 Guy supporting him, and he was very entertaining.

I saw That 1 Guy again in March of 2007, just a solo show, real personal like. I sat in a couch in the front at the Grey Eagle in Ashville, NC. It was great.
He does his best every time.

I saw Secret Chiefs 3 and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum a week later at the same venue. UNBELIEVABLE. That's all I really need to say about that.

I saw Opeth in May 2008 at Myrtle Beach with Three and some local band supporting. I believe the local band was called "Circles of Autumn" but I could be wrong. I could have cared less about the supporting acts going in, but they were entertaining, and Three was especially fun to watch. I was just there for Opeth though, and it was great. I have the setlist although I don't know if anyone really cares.
demon of the fall
masters apprentices
baying of the hounds
in my time of need
serenity painted death
wreath
to rid the disease
heir apparent
the drapery falls
It was wonderful.

That would be Sept. 5th, 2007.

A llama sighting!

Oh I also went to a "Women of Metal" show that came through my Knoxville 2007 while I was at UT. It was headlined by Lacuna Coil, but also had In This Moment or, hot blonde-fronted Killswitch Engaged, aka, pretty awful. Within Temptation played as well, and I was amazed by the vocalislts range. She was very good. I actually went to see the first band though, Stolen Babies. I heard them through Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and ended up buying their cd. It was catchy stuff sometimes and fun to watch.

I enjoyed Within Temptation and Stolen Babies, the other stuff was kinda "ehh, it's only $15 and I have nothing to do tonight."

I recently saw David Byrne in concert. That was a ton of fun.

And a few weeks ago I saw Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds with Spiritualized and Cat Power as supporting acts.

Nice, I've never listened to Cat Power, heard they're good, but Cave and Spiritualized would make an awesome concert on their own.