Bad Religion – Spinning Platters

Aftershock 2022: What you do not want to miss!

It’s not often that we leave the breezy confines of the San Francisco Bay Area, but on occasion, we like to venture outside of our comfort zone, and the annual Fall festival in Sacramento known as Aftershock is one huge reason to do so. They definitely didn’t hold back on the lineup this year, and it looks like a great opportunity to go and show off all the black t-shirts that we’ve collected over the past year of catching up on live events. Like any other music festival with multiple stages and dozens of bands, Aftershock doesn’t happen without a bit of scheduling conflicts that will make it impossible to try to decide which barricade to consider posting up on. Fear not though, as Spinning Platters will attempt to breakdown any major conflicts and present reasonably valid reasons to choose one band over another throughout the four-day weekend.

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Show Review: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes at Slim’s, 12/7/18

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

For the uninitiated, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are a punk rock cover band, made up of luminaries from other well-known punk rock bands such as NOFX, Lagwagon, Swingin’ Utters, Bad Religion, Face to Face, Social Distortion, and Foo Fighters.

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Festival Review: Punk Rock Bowling – Day 2 (Las Vegas, NV)

“Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!”

Choking Victim-8

Despite, or maybe in spite, of the heat I woke up for day two feeling refreshed and ready to go. The usual first day kinks had been worked out and entrance into the venue was faster, although I heard some rumor about ISIS threatening to bomb Las Vegas was flying around, which may have accounted for the somewhat increased security at the venue. Punks don’t take too well to the authoritarian attitude of aggressive security guards, so you can probably imagine a lot of grumbling and arguments were to be heard from the lines. Regardless I made it inside with plenty of time to grab a water bottle and head to the stage for the opening act of the day.

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Festival Preview: Punk Rock Bowling (Las Vegas)

Punk’s Not Dead Yet!

If you grew up in local punk rock scenes, it is impossible to not have heard about Punk Rock Bowling. The three-day festival has been bringing together a menagerie of fantastic punk bands in downtown Las Vegas for 19 years strong – that’s over half my lifetime – and this year’s line-up may be one of the best to date.

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Show Review + Photo Gallery: Aftershock Music Festival – September 13-14, 2014

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

Across the Midwest and Southeast United States, from the last weekend of April through May 31, were seven Monster Energy Drink sponsored rock music festivals dubbed “The World’s Loudest Month”. Rock on the Range, Carolina Rebellion, Welcome to Rockville, Fort Rock, RockFest, River City Rockfest, and Rocklahoma collectively entertained hundreds of thousands of hard rock and heavy metal fans in Columbus, Charlotte, Jacksonville, Ft. Myers, Kansas City, San Antonio, and Pryor (OK), respectively. Music fans most certainly traveled long distances to attend these festivals, with their amazing 1-3 day lineups featuring the likes of Rob Zombie, Korn, Five Finger Death Punch, Guns N Roses, Limp Bizkit, Avenged Sevenfold, Kid Rock, Slayer, Deftones, Twisted Sister, Staind, and Godsmack, just to name a few.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 8/28/14-9/4/14

The Offspring are coming to town on Sunday!

Summer is nearly over, but there is still plenty to do. Including two really inexpensive, all day music events in the Bay Area for you to celebrate this holiday weekend.

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BottleRock 2013 Review: Napa’s Inaugural Music, Wine, and Food Festival

A brand new festival just outside my front door.

When rumors about the first ever BottleRock Napa festival began to circulate, they were impressive: early flyers listed Dave Matthews Band and Pearl Jam as headliners (neither was ever confirmed). Still, the festival had the attention of the Napa Valley and surrounding music lovers long ago.

Once the final lineup had been released and tickets purchased, however, it was time to finally see what all the hype had been about. Because my home is in such a central location within “Napa proper,” as we all call the city of Napa (so as not to confuse it with the rest of “the Valley”), I didn’t actually experience the crazy traffic so many locals worried about. And while I did hear on one of the first few days (Weds or Thurs, though I’m not 100% certain which) that it took someone approximately 90 minutes to reach the Napa Expo from Fairfield (normally a 25-30 minute drive), I know for sure that the traffic relaxed and was relatively comparable to any other holiday weekend. (Which is to say, not insane as predicted.) The parking situation was the same as it usually is, I know for sure. The first three days, I arrived well before noon. As such, I beat the crowds and was able to find nearby parking with such ease that I chalked that up to my knowledge of the neighborhood, vs. all those who were coming in from out of area who didn’t know where to look (and as a result, were paying $25-40 to park much farther away). Continue reading “BottleRock 2013 Review: Napa’s Inaugural Music, Wine, and Food Festival”