Tag: Vampires Everywhere!

Warped Tour Diary: AT&T Park, Lot A, 6/23/2012

Crowd surfing will never die.

The Warped Tour found a new home in San Francisco this year, parking itself in Lot A of AT&T Park. Like its old home at Pier 30/32, there was a view of the water, and the Bay Bridge. Unlike Pier 30, there was not plenty of room to move around. This running of the Warped Tour was a hot, crowded mess; a maze of sponsor tents, clothing companies, and band merch. Interspersed throughout were several stages with bands giving their all, often to thousands of revelers, and other times to a mere handful. My goal, as always, was to sample as many bands as possible in 7 hours. Let’s see how I did. Continue reading “Warped Tour Diary: AT&T Park, Lot A, 6/23/2012”

Show Review: X Japan with Vampires Everywhere! at The Fox Oakland, 9/28/2010

Toshi (vocals), Sugizo (guitar) and Yoshiki (drums) of X Japan
Toshi (vocals), Sugizo (guitar) and Yoshiki (drums) of X Japan

While there are many international artists who have made their way, as the expression goes, “across the pond” and have done well in America, most of them do so by bringing a similar formula of what is popular in today’s music and blending in before anyone realizes that they’re “not from ’round here.” The artists who stick to their own form of a creative mold and are unique and unchanging in their ways can either make or break their careers when they land on U.S. soil; some of them, indeed, will stay on the other side of the world for their entire career, despite the cult following that might have simmered into existence on this side of the States. Tonight, however, one of these artists not only came to this country for their first stateside tour, but it was on the tails of an incredible reunion tour after almost twelve years of absence from the musical world. For the first time in their career, X Japan, arguably one of the biggest acts in the country’s history, has come to the U.S. to tour — and boy, were we ready for them!

Continue reading “Show Review: X Japan with Vampires Everywhere! at The Fox Oakland, 9/28/2010”