Ever since the first time I heard Måneskin’s “I Wanna Be Your Slave” (and their excellent cover of The Four Seasons’ “Beggin’”), I was hooked. There’s something about the sounds of Damiano David’s voice that just captivates me, and the entire band just has a tight, catchy, fantastic sound that I can’t seem to get enough of. I didn’t get to catch them when they played the Masonic last November, so believe me when I say that I was not going to miss the Italian band’s first US arena tour. The Rush! World Tour came to Oakland Arena this past weekend (on Friday the 13th, no less), and I couldn’t have been more excited to hear them live. Continue reading “Show Review: Maneskin at Oakland Arena, 10/13/2023”
Category: Show Reviews
Show Review: Aftershock 2023… West Coast’s Biggest Rock Festival!
- Review by: Alan Ralph @AlanHasPicks and Emily Anderson @wisefoolfilms
- Onstage Photos by: Alan Ralph @AlanHasPicks
- AFI/Avenged/Korn Photos by: Kyle Kellogg @ Kellogg Foto
Discovery Park in Sacramento was once again the site for Danny Wimmer Presents annual Aftershock Festival, a four-day rock and metal music festival featuring four stages of many of today’s bona fide headliners as well as plenty of promising new blood. It is also a bit of an endurance test. There are the crazy fans who run in as soon as the gates open and stand at the barricade for basically 11 hours, with no food or even the means to leave to find a restroom (because they’ll never get their spot back). Security did hand out plenty of water up there though so that nobody passed out in the mid-90° heat! There are others who try to take in as much as possible by going from stage to stage to stage all day long to see as many bands as they can. Many just get drunk and sit around on their picnic blanket or at the VIP section tables, while others take it all in stride and hit up the myriad of food trucks, beer tents, alcohol and cannabis vendors… all while everyone is dealing with a heat wave that much of Northern California happened to fall victim to over this very weekend.
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Show Review: P!nk with Grouplove and KidCutUp at Chase Center, 10/14/2023
When I was nineteen, my friends and I had been known to crash a Hollywood party or two. At one party in particular, there was a beautiful young woman who looked about our age. She had spiky, cool hair dyed a shocking pink, oozed sexy confidence, and could sing like nobody’s business. I became a fan instantly. In the twenty-five years since, my love for Pink has only grown exponentially, not just because I think she has the best voice in the business, but because who she is as a person is someone I truly admire. Suffice it to say, I do everything I can not to miss her when she comes to town. This past weekend, that meant getting myself to Chase Center on Saturday night to catch her Trustfall tour. Continue reading “Show Review: P!nk with Grouplove and KidCutUp at Chase Center, 10/14/2023”
Show Review: Ladytron w/Danz CM @ The Belasco 09-22-23
“Destroy Everything You Touch”
Despite what most of my articles may have you believe, I don’t solely listen to Metal and Punk music. I know, I know, illusion shattered, but I like to believe that despite my inkling towards heavy music, I still have a fairly eclectic taste. The commonality is probably in the thematic songwriting, which almost always leans a bit toward the darker side of things. What I’m trying to say is that I’m a pretty damn big fan of Ladytron, and I have been since my high school days. So of course, I jumped at the chance to catch them at The Belasco Theatre, a venue which is fast becoming my home away from home, in DTLA.
Continue reading “Show Review: Ladytron w/Danz CM @ The Belasco 09-22-23”
Show Review: Mac Sabbath drives thru the Great American Music Hall!
Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @AlanHasPicks
“More Than Meats the Eye” is what happens when McDonald’s worst nightmare Mac Sabbath books a tour with a bunch of Transformers and they all Drive Thru the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on a warm Thursday evening.
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Show Review: Lauren Mayberry with Alaska Reid at August Hall, 9/28/23
Brilliant. Chvrches lead vocalist Lauren Mayberry decided to share her first solo album by touring it BEFORE releasing it. It’s such a brave endeavor- we all know her band’s work, but anyone who bought a ticket to this was taking a risk that this project would be worth their time and money. I decided it was worth my time because the curiosity was killing me. Continue reading “Show Review: Lauren Mayberry with Alaska Reid at August Hall, 9/28/23”
Show Review: Freaks on Parade with Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, Ministry, Filter in Concord!
Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @AlanHasPicks
Alice Cooper for President!
Toyota Pavilion at Concord was the third-to-last stop on this summer’s Freaks on Parade tour. 12,000 devotees traveled far and wide to be in attendance for this rally featuring Cooper, alongside running mates Rob Zombie, Al Jourgensen (Ministry), and Richard Patrick (Filter).
Make no mistake though… while Zombie might play second fiddle on a presidential ticket to the elder Cooper, the spectacle of his production and show easily makes him the final headliner of this co-headline gathering!
Show Review: NOFX Final Tour, Punk in Drublic @ The Cow Palace 09-16-2023
Farewell tours are a strange business. How does a band perform with sincerity and a sense of purpose that feels genuine without the trappings of a cash-grab mentality that us cynical fans have come to expect? I’ve personally never been to a farewell show outside of bands in the local music scene where I grew up, so I wasn’t very sure what to expect aside from what I was seeing on social media. A 40-year-old punk band going on with an absolute bang at each and every show, celebrating not only their longevity but celebrating the music scene that they came up in. What better place than San Francisco, the second home to one of the most iconic bands to come out of the 80s hardcore punk scene in Los Angeles, to wave goodbye to an incredible career?
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Show Review: Dream Wife with Buzzed Lightbeer at Bottom Of The Hill, 9/20/23
There’s nothing more exciting than realizing you’ve reached “fan” status with a band. And after picking up Social Lubrication, followed by their 2020 live album IRL, I’ve gone officially “all in” on the political dance punk stylings of Dream Wife. My turntable has pretty much alternated between both discs all year, reminding me that I need to pick up the two earlier records so I don’t wear out the other ones. This show has been on my calendar for most of the year, and it was also my return to Bottom Of The Hill, one of the most magic venues on the west side of SF Bay.
Continue reading “Show Review: Dream Wife with Buzzed Lightbeer at Bottom Of The Hill, 9/20/23”
Aftershock 2023… and why it will be better than Power Trip!
Show Preview by: Alan Ralph @AlanHasPicks
The extended weekend of October 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the year 2 0 2 3 has been leaving fans of heavy metal music in decision limbo since the beginning of April. In mid-March, the annual heavy metal pilgrimage to Sacramento, called Aftershock Festival, announced another stellar (as always) 4-day lineup for an unforgettable weekend of Rock N Metal. What nobody knew then is that a mere two weeks later, Power Trip (not the band) would announce a killer classic metal lineup for their festival, to take place simultaneously on the same weekend, albeit in the southern California desert. Goldenvoice had just put Danny Wimmer Presents (DWP) on notice, and fans then had to decide which to go to! Now, with t-minus two weeks and counting, Spinning Platters is here to explain why Aftershock Festival is thee festival to attend and how they will not be relinquishing their West Coast Fall Festival crown…
Continue reading “Aftershock 2023… and why it will be better than Power Trip!”