Congress Theater

Having been at many interesting and really cool places to see concerts, it almost seems like when I hear of a concert being held at a venue I have never been too before, I jump on the opportunity.  With a concert of the magnitude of Anthrax, Testament and Death Angel in addition to the chance at a new venue well, I just had to go.

Congress Theater - Anthrax

Anthrax: "an infectious disease of warm-blooded animals (as cattle and sheep) caused by a spore-forming bacterium (Bacillus anthracis), transmissible to humans especially by the handling of infected products (as wool), and characterized by cutaneous ulcerating nodules or by often fatal lesions in the lungs." (courtesy of Merriam - Webster dictionary).  Nothing about that vile disease sounds cool nor does it sound the least bit entertaining.  Why would I want to discuss a transmissible disease on a music blog you may ask, keep reading.

Congress Theater - Testament

During the '80's public perception was that anything related to heavy metal music involved Aqua-Net, 6 inch heels, spandex and trashy looking girls (I do miss the '80's).  Sure there were hair bands popping up all over the place like a Butterball turkey on Thanksgiving, but that wasn't metal, it was hair metal.  Although the hair metal appeared to have taken the hearts and minds of every teenager in North America (Tipper wasn't happy by that comment), that really wasn't the case.  While hair metal tried to thrive, bands like Guns n' Roses, Metallica, Megadeth and Testament grew.  Sure hair metal had its day (and to some extent it still does), but bands like Testament remained.

Congress Theater - Death Angel

When I was presented with the opportunity to see Anthrax, Testament and Death Angel on the 15th of October I was overwhelmed with anticipation (I know that sounds dumb, but keep reading).  Individually these bands would be excellent in concert but with the option of seeing Death Angel was one of those blasts from the past.  Could Death Angel meet or exceed the expectations that I had for the band?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Chickenfoot - III

Bands are made up of a plethora of characters and sometimes that witches brew creates combinations that leaves everyone (often themselves) scratching their heads.  That witches brew can also create a supergroup like no one has seen before but through it all there is one constant that must be achieved: Respect amongst bandmates.  Often these supergroups are chastised and are the butt of oh so many jokes, but occasionally its the punchline that helps make sense of it all.  For example, have you heard the one about the band made up of a Red Rocker, a Surfin' Alien, the guy with two first names and a hot pepper?

Sarah Blackwood

Punk rock by its very definition is not mainstream and if one examines it Punk is much like pork (the Other White Meat) thus punk is the "other type of music".  But how can that be true?  Punk gave us cutting edge bands like the Clash, Ramones and the Sex Pistols and those bands have been the influence of thousands of bands and some of those bands gave us some really amazing music.  Can punk still be the cutting edge for music, or is it really the "other type of music"?  To find out, I entered the realm of "The Creepshow", but more importantly, "Sarah Blackwood".

Sandness

Hair metal, that era of music which bands seemed to follow a nice, formatted formula that helped throw further chaff into the hearts and minds of pubescent boys and masses of hairspray coated females.  Hair metal WAS a very important time in music whether we agree or agree to disagree, but you might ask "Wasn't that killed off by grunge?", uhm no and I can prove it even.

Gift of Destiny

Thrash metal is perhaps one of the most interesting of all forms of the metal genres, its loud, brash, violent and just plain angry.  Thrash metal is a type of music that is so much more than those four descriptive words but to the person that listens to, and understands the music form can expand that list to frightening heights.  Arizona has become the proud parent of a band called "Gift of Destiny" and they may actually be a band that can destroy all of the stereotypes.