Author: Alan Ralph

Concert Photographer + Concert Stagehand + Concert Security + Concert reviewer since 2003... and with Spinning Platters since the beginning!

A local stagehand’s review of Slipknot’s Knotfest Roadshow at Shoreline, 7/26/19

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

After a few days of rehearsals at Toyota Amphitheatre in nearby Wheatland to figure out how to put together their massive stage set, Slipknot‘s Knotfest Roadshow officially kicked off at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View on July 26. Joining Slipknot was an international array of metal including Volbeat (Denmark), Gojira (France), and Behemoth (Poland).

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Film and Show Review: Murder in the Front Row -and- Metal Allegiance on 4-20

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

April 20 in San Francisco is celebrated annually like a national holiday. Commonly known simply as 420, the day consists of 15-20,000 people basically sitting on a hill in Golden Gate Park smoking pot all day. Coincidentally, the 2019 version actually was a national holiday, as Good Friday preceded, Passover started, and Easter Sunday was the next day. This year’s 420 also had one more reason for San Franciscans to celebrate, and that was the world premiere screening of the documentary Murder in the Front Row: The San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Metal Story.

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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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Show Review: Korn: Follow the Leader 20 Years! at The Masonic, 9/12/18

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

For the whole month of October in 2015, KoRn embarked on their 20th Anniversary tour and performed their debut album in its entirety. The local show at Fox Theater in Oakland was the final show of that tour, on the night before Halloween, and for which the band dressed appropriately for the occasion. It doesn’t get much better than that, and this show was one of their best.

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Show Review: The Final U.S. Slayer Show! (of this Leg of the Tour)

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

January 22, 2018. Slayer announced their “farewell” tour. After over 35 years of yelling “Die By the Sword”, singer and bass player Tom Araya wants to scream no more. As much as the fans would want Slayer to keep performing forever, Tom and the only other original member, guitar player Kerry King, deserve to go out on top and begin collecting their 401k. Gary Holt, the 2nd guitar player, will always have his primary band Exodus, and certainly bands will be lining up for drummer Paul Bostaph’s services once he becomes available again. In the meanwhile, though, according to a press release issued the morning after The. Final. U.S. Slayer. Show., this “farewell” tour still has another year to go!

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Show Review: Ghost, The Warfield, July 2, 2017

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

Swedish band Ghost has returned to the US and is currently on a 7 week tour as the sole support act for the mighty Iron Maiden!  In addition to those 26 shows, Ghost booked 14 headliner theater shows, including The Warfield in San Francisco.

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Show Review: Disturbed w/Nonpoint at The Fillmore, 3/16/2016

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

Hiatus. hi·a·tus. noun. A pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process.

Staind, The Gaslight Anthem, The Academy Is…, A Static Lullaby, Armor For Sleep, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, System of a Down, Underoath… just a few examples of bands that are on a hiatus, have taken one, or broke up and then reformed (kind of the same thing as a hiatus).  After a 4-year hiatus, in which all 4 of its members worked on other musical projects, Disturbed is back.

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Show Reviews: Mid-November (2014) METAL Overload with Slayer, Exodus, Suicidal, and Judas Priest!

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

There really is no such thing as “metal overload”.  If there was this many epic metal shows per week every week of the year, that would be more like “metal heaven” (except all metalheads are Satanic, right? So, “metal hell”?) …

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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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Photo Gallery: Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival – July 6, 2014

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

As it has every summer for the past 6 years, the Rockstar Energy Drink MAYHEM Festival rocked Shoreline Amphitheater on July 6, 2014.

While it was nearly impossible to photograph all 18 bands that performed on 4 stages, and due to not yet being able to be in two places at one time, I missed King 810, Texas Hippie Coalition, Miss May I, Veil of Maya, and all of the bands on the Victory Records stage (Wretched, Islander, Erimha; Emmure started the tour on the next show).

Below are photo galleries from Avenged Sevenfold, KoRn, Asking Alexandria, Trivium, Cannibal Corpse, Body Count w/Ice-T, Suicide Silence, Mushroomhead, Darkest Hour, and Upon a Burning Body.

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