Archive for July, 2009

*Footage by Kenny Howell & photos by Susan Koutalakis

Since their emergence from Seattle in the early 1980s, QUEENSRYCHE has set themselves apart from other artists by epic concept albums and on the AMERICAN SOLDIER tour they will highlight three of those albums including, RAGE FOR ORDER, AMERICAN SOLDIER and EMPIRE.

The show opened with a suite from the 1986 classic RAGE FOR ORDER, including tracks the band has not played live in over 20 years. This was definitely my favorite of the three suites because the Rage For Order tour was one of my first concerts in 1986 when they opened for OZZY on the Ultimate Sin tour.  They replaced METALLICA due to the tragic death of Cliff Burton.

The momentum became a bit stilted for the second suite of the new epic concept album AMERICAN SOLDIER, which features guest vocal by GEOFF TATE’s daughter Emily who joined him on stage for the poignant ballad “Home Again.” Though there were vivid counterpoints I felt like I was being force-fed having to sit through eight new tracks in a row.

The final suite revisits 1990’s triple platinum opus EMPIRE with performances of some of the band’s most iconic tracks including “Jet City Woman,” “The Thin Line,” and “Best I Can.” The EMPIRE suite seemed to garner the strongest crowd reaction and participation.

For a band that had its commercial heyday in the mid-’90s, QUEENSRYCHE has maintained a steady touring schedule and loyal following. The concert  reinforced the point that they are comfortable at revisiting the past, but very much prove to be relevant and current within their twenty plus years as a unit.

SETLIST:

RAGE FOR ORDER

• Neue Regel
• The Whisper
• The Killing Words
• London
• Walk In The Shadows
• Gonna Get Close To You

AMERICAN SOLDIER

• Sliver
• Unafraid
• If I Were King
• Hundred Mile Stare
• A Dead Man’s Words
• At 30,000 Ft
• Home Again
• Remember Me

EMPIRE

• Best I Can
• The Thin Line
• One and Only
• Della Brown
• Jet City Woman
• Anybody Listening?
• Another Rainy Night (Without You)

ENCORE

• Empire

For more information visit QUEENSRYCHE

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I got the chance to check out an advance copy of this book and it is AMAZING! A must for any Crue fan – the ‘Shout At The Devil’ era photos are reminiscent of the Circus magazine glory days.

MOTLEY CRUE: A Visual History 1983-1990 by Neil Zlozower
(Chronicle Books; August 2009; $35.00)

Motley Crue’s gleeful glam debauchery and unstoppable anthems have made them metal gods selling over 72 million album copies worldwide and landing their band biography The Dirt on bestseller lists around the country. Motley Crue is amazingly the first photographic history of the band. Legendary rock photographer Neil Zlozower’s images capture the band’s rise from their breakthrough album Shout at the Devil through rock ‘n’ roll excesses to follow with the unprecedented all-access candor of a friend to the band. In hundreds of photographs and stories from the band and those close to them Motley Crue reveals them onstage backstage on tour hanging out and in studio a must-have album of photos and testimony on one of the most powerful and controversial bands in rock history.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
NEIL ZLOZOWER has been photographing bands for more than 30 years over a long and storied career and is the author of Van Halen: A Visual History and Fuck You: Rock and Roll Portraits. He lives in Los Angeles.

Nikki Sixx is a founding member of Motley Crue and the author of the best-selling The Heroin Diaries. He lives in Los Angeles.

For more information visit NEIL ZLOZOWER

WOODSTOCK: Three Days That Rocked the World
by Mike Evans & Paul Kingsbury Foreword by Martin Scorsese
(Sterling; Hardcover; July 2009; $35.00)

It defined a generation, exemplified an era: Woodstock was unlike anything that has ever happened before or since—and August 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of this seminal event. Relive the moment and “get back to the garden” with this day-by-day, act-by-act account of everything that went down on Yasgur’s Farm. With interviews and quotes from those who were there—the musicians, the fans, the organizers—and a wealth of photographs and graphic memorabilia, Woodstock is the ultimate celebration of a landmark in modern cultural history.

Woodstock is organized in three parts:
- Origins sets the stage by describing the counterculture of the time, along with the festival’s organization,    fundraising, buzz-building tactics, ticket selling and publicity, and site building.

- The Event—the heart of the project—includes a log with a run-down of each of the 32 acts, in the order they appeared, one spread to each name. Fans and politics are also featured prominently here.
- The Aftermath focuses on media coverage, follow-up festivals, Michael Wadleigh and Thelma Schoonmaker’s documentary, and Woodstock’s enduring legacy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A musician on the 60’s rock scene, Mike Evans began writing about popular music in the ’70s as a broadcaster on local radio, freelance author and regular contributor to Melody Maker. Since the late ’80s he has worked in book publishing, commissioning and editing titles on rock ‘n’ roll, jazz and popular culture. Paul Kingsbury is a freelance writer and editor specialising in music journalism. He is the author or co-author of several books.

For more information visit AMAZON.COM

RECKLESS ROAD: Guns N’ Roses and the Making of Appetite For Destruction

By Marc Canter

(Omnibus Press; April 2007; $32.45)

RECKLESS ROAD is the only authorized book documenting the beginning of the legendary band Guns ‘n’ Roses and the creation of their seminal groundbreaking album “Appetite for Destruction.” Timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the release of this multi platinum album, “Reckless Road” offers unprecedented access to hundreds of previously unreleased images and stories about the early days of Guns n Roses. It contains interviews with Slash, former guitarist Duff McKagen, former bassis Steve Adler, former drummer as well as their old managers and roadies. This book also contains original gig memorabilia, including show flyers, ticket stubs, set lists, press clippings and hand written song lyrics.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MARC CANTER is an amateur photographer and the owner and general manager of the legendary rock ‘n’ roll hangout Canter’s Deli in Los Angeles. He’s been friends with Slash for over 30 years and had unlimited access to the formative years of the band.

For more information visit RECKLESS ROAD

VAN HALEN: A Visual History: 1978-1984

by Neil Zlozower, Foreword by David Lee Roth

(Chronicle Books; November 2007; $35.00)

From their eponymous 1978 debut through their colossal 1984 album (they’ve sold over 75 million albums worldwide), Van Halen rewrote all the rules. Nobody rocked—or partied—harder. Photographer Neil Zlozower first met the band in 1978, worked with them again on Van Halen II, and soon became their friend, hanging out in L.A. and hitting the road on tour with them. Van Halen collects more than 250 backstage, candid, and full rock-out photos of the all-powerful, spandexed, high-kicking, guitar blazing, stadium-shaking, original Van Halen lineup. Accompanying Zlozower’s amazing photos are an introduction about his wild ride with VH, a foreword by David Lee Roth, and testimony from the rock pantheon paying homage to the band, including members of Led Zeppelin, Guns N’ Roses, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, KISS, Motley Crüe, and more. Turn it up!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
NEIL ZLOZOWER’slegendary rock photography spans more than 30 years and includes work with the Rolling Stones, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Motörhead, Tom Waits, Slipknot, and many others. He lives in Los Angeles.

David Lee Roth was founding member and vocalist for Van Halen from the band’s inception through their diamond platinum album 1984. He lives in New York City.

For more information visit NEIL ZLOZOWER

*Footage & photos by Kenny Howell

When Paul Revere took his midnight ride to bellow “The British are coming” who would have thought that those words would be welcomed by Bostonians over two hundred years later.

JUDAS PRIEST invaded Boston to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their epic BRITISH STEEL album — which they played in its entirety, front to back, “Rapid Fire” to “Steeler” — the Priest set a furious clip.

It seems unfeasible that a band who formed in 1969 with members in their mid-50s could still deliver an impressive set in pristine form. ROB HALFORD can still hit and hold all the operatic hell-hound notes that make metalheads swoon. He growled through “Breaking the Law,” rattled the rafters during “You Don’t Have to Be Old to Be Wise” and chanted party anthem “Living After Midnight.”

The show felt intimate thanks to the inclement weather. The capacity was roughly 5,000, less than a third the shed’s capacity. But no one could care less, it was like having Priest play a college frat party. A thoroughly impressive two hour long display of supremacy came to a conclusion with the metal classic staple “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.”

SETLIST:

• Rapid Fire
• Metal Gods
• Breaking The Law
• Grinder
• United
• You Don’t Have to Be Old to Be Wise
• Living After Midnight
• The Rage
• Steeler
• The Ripper
• Prophecy
• Victim Of Changes
• Freewheel Burning
• Diamonds & Rust
• You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’

For more  information visit JUDAS PRIEST

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