Reviews

Against Me Show Review

Published

7 years ago

October 21, 2017

Elena Bottles

Against Me!

Mr. Smalls, Pittsburgh, PA
10/8/17

By Damien Bottles
Photos by Elena Bottles

Music is personal. and all music, performance art, and acts of creativity have their place and a right to exist. Not everything is for everyone, and not everything hits its stride every night. This is a single review, of a single night, in a single venue, stacked with variables, expressed through a single person doing their best to give an honest opinion of what was experienced.

The air is tense with excitement as the lights dim. The capacity crowd is as excited as any crowd I’ve ever seen, and it is truly genuine. The sneering, snotty punks are few and far between, and the crowd it self is decidedly more mixed with punks, hipsters, and commoners than expected. The music starts, and the room explodes as the band takes the stage, a writhing ball of energy barely contained by the stage. The audience and musicians seem to have a connection far beyond the music and lyrics, something devoid of labels or judgement. The fearless, but very human, leader of the Against Me! movement welcomes all, and the show takes off.

The band itself is very well rehearsed, seemingly never missing a beat, each musician having a light and a place without crowding or undermining the lead. The set, in it’s entirety, was carefully planned, each tuning break, each song introduction, down to the last cymbal crash was nearly perfect. Special props go to the stage hands, as there were instrument changes a plenty, seemingly every other song. The stage crew were ready for every one, leaving no delays or dead air that can bring a show to a grinding halt.

The lighting was good, the sound was good, the set was good, but there was something more going on. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know what to expect with this show, would it be preachy because the singer/guitarist is transgender? Would it be pretentious and unwelcoming to someone like me, a straight male punk? Would it be contentious, with one group only there for the music, and the other only there for the message? It was none of those. It was just fun. The few talking points that were present were concise, and were not divisive but inclusive. The band held true to the old school punk adage “be yourself” and be happy. In the end, the show was impressive musically, and visually, but the intangible sense of community and belonging was what took the show to the next level. I would suggest anyone with an open mind attend the show, and just watch. Watch the band, watch the crowd, watch the eyes of the younger kids light up because for just a little while they can be themselves, they can dance, they can mosh, they can feel safe.

About Author

Elena Bottles

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Related Topics:Against Me Mr Smalls Pittsburgh

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Announcement/News

W.A.S.P. Album One Alive 2024 US Tour

Published

3 months ago

August 21, 2024

Josh Drespling

Hollywood, CA (August 20, 2024) — It is 2024, and W.A.S.P. is celebrating 1984! 40 years ago, the landmark debut album from W.A.S.P. was released on August 17, 1984, and the metal world was knocked on their ass!

The W.A.S.P. “Album ONE Alive” Tour celebrates the debut album by playing the album in its entirety, from start to finish.

To give the fans something every week to celebrate W.A.S.P. is giving away…

• 10 pairs of tickets a week for the length of the US tour.

• Silver Award – Blackie is also giving away each week of the tour two personal meet and greets in his dressing room. In HIS dressing room!

• Gold Award – One lucky fan will win Blackie’s personal certified RIAA award for the debut album.

• Platinum Award – And the Grand Prize, one fan and a guest will be provided airfare and a luxury Hollywood hotel to the final show in Los Angeles, meet the band and stay for the after show, end of tour party.

W.A.S.P. can only celebrate 1984 once and they want to do it big!

To enter all you have to do is visit and enter your email address:
https://forms.gle/WU5wE3K4BbmaBSQv9

It was recently announced that Armored Saint will be replacing Death Angel on the tour. W.A.S.P. issued the following statement: “W.A.S.P. is pleased to announce that Armored Saint will now be joining the “Album One Alive” Fall 2024 U.S. Tour. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Death Angel will no longer be able to be a part of this tour. We all wish them the best going forward.”

Tickets and VIP packages available at WASPnati on.com/tour

THE ALBUM ONE ALIVE WORLD TOUR 2024 DATES:

10/26/24 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Fremont Theater*

10/28/24 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater

10/29/24 Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre

10/30/24 Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre

11/01/24 Calgary, AB The Palace Theatre

11/02/24 Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory

11/03/24 Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory

11/04/24 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot

11/05/24 Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre

11/07/24 Minneapolis, MN @ The Fillmore

11/08/24 St Charles, IL @ The Arcada Theatre

11/09/24 St Charles, IL @ The Arcada Theatre

11/10/24 Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre

11/11/24 Toronto, ON @ History

11/13/24 Montreal, QC @ MTELUS

11/14/24 Quebec City, QC @ Theatre Capitole

11/15/24 Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre

11/16/24 New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom At Manhattan Center

11/17/24 Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall

11/19/24 Cleveland, OH @ The Agora Theater

11/20/24 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE

11/21/24 Stroudsburg, PA @ The Sherman Theater

11/22/24 Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore

11/23/24 Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore

11/24/24 Orlando, FL @ The Plaza Live

11/26/24 Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium

11/27/24 Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern

11/29/24 Houston, TX @ House Of Blues

11/30/24 San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theatre

12/01/24 Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum

12/03/24 Little Rock, AR @ The Hall

12/04/24 Wichita, KS @ The Cotillion

12/06/24 Albuquerque, NM @ REVEL

12/07/24 Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee Theatre

12/09/24 Tucson, AZ @ The Rialto Theatre

12/10/24 San Diego, CA @ House Of Blues

12/11/24 Reno, NV @ Grand Sierra Resort and Casino

12/12/24 Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl

12/13/24 San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield

12/14/24 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium

* No support acts.

About W.A.S.P.

Few bands in the history of rock n roll have ever incited the love, the hate, and the raw emotional effect this band has had on the world. From the very beginning, in the small venues of Los Angeles, California, and later to the numerous countries worldwide that banned these Winged Assassins from performing live, the band’s unique style of shock and rock caused religious organizations, local city councils, parliaments, and the Washington D.C. Senate to hold hearings in an effort to bar this group from selling records and trashing stages everywhere they played.

The band’s founding member, frontman Blackie Lawless, has led the group as its lead vocalist and primary songwriter since its beginning. His unique brand of visual, social, and political comment took the group to worldwide heights and sold millions of records alongside a legacy of sold-out shows across the globe for 4 decades.

https://www.waspnation.co m

https://www.facebook.com/W.A.S.P.Nati on

https://www.facebook.com/groups/waspnationofficialgroup/
https://twitter.com/waspofficial
https://instagram.com/waspnationofficial

https://youtube.com/@WASPNationOfficial

@waspnationofficial

https://www.threads.net/@waspnationofficial
https://www.bandsintown.com/a/7553

About Author

Josh Drespling

Josh is the Publisher and creator of Empire Extreme and it’s sister publication Kingdom Extreme Magazine. He is an accomplished writer, photographer and graphic designer. He is always conjuring up new ideas and has a amazing passion for the music industry and all the things that surround it.

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CD Reviews

Them Damn Kings “Shown With A Fist”

Published

6 months ago

May 20, 2024

Ron

Them Damn Kings from NJ just released a new single “Shown With a Fist”.
If you like your music in your face with a touch of old school rock and roll this is the band for you. It’s got gritty vocals and pounding drums adding in some killer guitar shreds.
It’s a song that you listen to when you want to get into a bar fight or want to drive your car really fast down the highway.
It’s worth a listen, check out the lyric video below with a little bonus guitar mortal kombat shred off.

THIS IS A SPONSORED REVIEW BROUGHT TO YOU BY TAG PUBLICITY

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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CD Reviews

Ashes to Omens “Feed Me More”

Published

6 months ago

May 8, 2024

Ron

Ashes To Omens are a band from Georgia who’s latest single “Feed Me More” has a great sound to it. It reminds me of bands around the mid to late 2000s. They have a good mixture of sound. The song is a perfect blend of hard rock and metal with the vocals very crisp and delivered with passion.

The song “Feed Me More” has a great melody and works well with the bands style and genre of music. It also is a great title to a song because after listening to it I wanted more of the band.

Some will say that it’s very radio rock/metal and sometimes I do have issues with that but I felt that this song even though it does have that feel to it, isn’t just a radio rock song for the sake of being a radio rock song. I think this single is worth a listen to and could possibly be a track that might make your playlist.

THIS IS A SPONSORED REVIEW BROUGHT TO YOU BY TAG PUBLICITY