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 LifeSonic Temple, Inkcarceration, Rock on the RangeRocklahoma, 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!

Continue reading “Show Review: The. Best. Aftershock. Ever.”

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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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-07-05 – 2017-07-09

Sports!
Sports!

Do you know what today is? You do. It’s July 5. That means that here in the Bay Area, it’s Huey Lewis’s birthday.

Speaking of the heart of rock and roll, let’s talk about this week’s concerts. Here’s what we’ve got coming up this week in the Bay Area: symphonies, troopers, and remembrances.

So, we’ll preview this now. Previewing now. Let’s preview and go ahead and preview. Preview go!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2017-07-05 – 2017-07-09”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 8/2/12 – 8/8/12

Coming to Shoreline Amphitheater on August 3rd

The final week before Outside Lands, and we have a whole lot on our docket. We’ve got no less than 8 bona fide rock legends coming to town, as well as 3 of SpinningPlatters’ all time favorite acts. Consider this your warm up for Golden Gate Park.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 8/2/12 – 8/8/12”

Show Review: Iron Maiden with Dream Theater at Concord Pavilion, 6/20/2010

He not only sings, he also flies the plane from gig to gig. Really.

Bruce Dickinson, British Airways pilot and lead singer of Iron Maiden, looked out into the crowd and commented on how many people were there at this sold out show.

“They told me there’s 12,500 people here tonight. Last night, we had 25,000. That’s a lot of people for an Iron Maiden concert. Perhaps we’re getting some spillover from Christina Aguilera canceling her tour.” Some laughed while other booed. It’s not spillover. For reasons that are apparent if you’re a fan, and ones I’ll explain to you, Iron Maiden has survived as a huge draw long after other metal bands have faded away. Continue reading “Show Review: Iron Maiden with Dream Theater at Concord Pavilion, 6/20/2010”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 6/17/10-6/23/10

Playing with the Dum Dum Girls next Wednesday at The New Parish

This is a really full week. There are multiple nights where I am trying really hard to figure out how to be in two places at once… Has anyone invented an easy way to clone oneself?

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 6/17/10-6/23/10”