Abroad in Toronto: Dropkick Murphys, Hanabie., Hatebreed, Carcass, and more!

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

Occasionally, the dedicated staff of Spinning Platters gets the opportunity to watch, photograph, and/or review shows from outside of our comfortable Bay Area confines. A few previous trips have included Chicago, Dallas, and Las Vegas, to cover Deftones, Gojira, New Found Glory, Suffocation, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage, Mercyful Fate, Kreator, and August Burns Red. This time around, one of Spinning Platters’ two resident metalheads was somehow allowed into Canada eh and spent the week in the 416, where we saw Jinjer, Hanabie., Born of Osiris, Scream, Dropkick Murphys, Pennywise, Hatebreed, Carcass, Harm’s Way, and Crypta!

(Korn + Gojira, Benighted + Cognitive, Gatecreeper + Frozen Soul, Galactic Empire + Powerglove were also here during our week-long stay but was not able to attend any of these for various reasons, but mostly due to them being on the same night as another show!)

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Show Review: Aftershock 2023… West Coast’s Biggest Rock Festival!

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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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…

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Show Review: Korn + Staind, MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa, 8/07/2021

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

After the first couple months of 2020, as the music industry began to shutdown due to a worldwide pandemic, Korn was one of the few bands still on the road that was lucky enough to not have had the remainder of their tour cancelled.  Staind didn’t have to worry at all about that, as they have been on an extended hiatus, aside from a handful of shows and festivals here and there that they reconvened for.  This show at MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre was the second stop of their current summer tour together as co-headliners.

Spinning Platters had to get creative at the last minute to photograph and review this show as our press request was not replied to due to a publicist change (Korn) and press access was retracted due to growing COVID concerns (Staind).  Thankfully, Live Nation had their annual summer $20 lawn ticket special the week prior, and since our metal music writer + photographer (who has been in Florida for most of 2021) is a seasoned concert veteran, he was smart enough to know to bring a decent camera without a detachable lens (Nikon Coolpix P80), and was cunning enough to know how to sneak on down to the main floor in order to get these photos (they are definitely not as good as what we usually get from the Canon DSLR)!

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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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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, ErimhaEmmure 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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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 3/1/12-3/7/12

 

Appearing tonight at Rickshaw Stop

As we near SXSW, we find that the quality of touring acts increases dramatically. This week is full of difficult decisions, and even a farewell tour by one of the most underrated and innovative bands of all time.

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