Tag: Anthrax

Show Review: The. Best. Aftershock. Ever.

Review and All Photos by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF 
Additional interviews and content here by: Emily Anderson @wisefoolfilms

For decades, Europe has led the way in the heavy metal and loud rock music festival space. Monsters of Rock (the originator, which started in 1980!), Wacken Open Air, Dynamo Open Air, Hellfest, Graspop, Copenhell, Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, Summer Breeze, Sweden Rock Fest and Download have always dominated the landscape with their amazing lineups year after year. 

United States was never close in offering an equivalent heavy metal experience. Sure, there was Ozzfest and Mayhem Festival, but those have been gone since 2017 and 2015 and Americans have always leaned more towards indie rock music festivals like Lollapalooza, Coachella, Bonaroo, and Outside Lands anyway.

For the last twelve or so years, Danny Wimmer Presents (DWP) has been chipping away at the supremacy of the European heavy metal festivals, with Welcome To Rockville, Louder Than Life, Sonic Temple, Inkcarceration, Rock on the Range, Rocklahoma, Carolina Rebellion, and Northern California’s very own Aftershock Festival. With the best lineup it has ever had, West Coast’s Biggest Rock Festival definitely lived up to its name in 2024!

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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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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 3/28/13-4/3/13

Appearing this April Fool's Day at Bottom Of The Hill!
Appearing this April Fool’s Day at Bottom Of The Hill!

Hello there, Bay Area live music lover. As we reach April, we know that the next 30 days will be quite busy. We haven’t even started with the Coachella bands coming to town, and, well, I’m already exhausted just looking at this thing!

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Show Review: Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival at Shoreline Amphitheater, 7/1/12

I think these guys may have been part of the Christian organization protesting the show from the parking lot. (All Photos by Alan Ralph)

 

I don’t listen to heavy metal music very often. There are two or three records that I pull out on rare occasion to fill a certain void, but at no time would I consider myself part of the movement. So, when the opportunity fell in my lap to cover Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival, I wasn’t entirely sure if I was the right man for the job. But, I do really like Motörhead, and life isn’t about doing the safe thing. So, I decided to throw caution to the wind and see what happens when I spend an entire day absorbed in the metallic crunch of a heavy metal show. I put on my most “metal” of t-shirts, which was, most ironically, a Yelle T-shirt that was all black and had “Dance Or Die” written in bold red.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 6/28/12 – 7/4/12

Appearing at the Mountain Winery on Thursday

Happy Independence Day! That’s why you are getting the rare list where nearly every band is from the US. And the only English band has an umlaut in it’s name.  Alright, enough chatter:

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 10/20/11-10/26/11

PORTIS Hat & Coat Rack from IKEA. $29.99. Current average price of Portishead tickets on Stubhub? $150.00

This is another week where you just have to feel lucky living in the bay… It’s a great combination of living legends and awesome low profile gigs, so I hope you have some money and sick time, because this one is gonna be busy!

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