Concert Reviews

Avatar: Dance Devil Dance Tour Silver Spring MD Review

Published

1 year ago

May 27, 2023

Ron

The Filmore at Silver Spring MD smelled like a freakshow last night with Avatar being the ringleaders.

Avatar returned to Maryland bringing with them fellow Swedes Orbit Culture and Chicago’s Veil of Maya.

Orbit Culture opened up the show with their unique blend of heavy, melodic, and atmospheric elements. Their captivating live performance and energetic stage presence was lead by vocalist Niklas Karlsson. These Swedes did not disappoint and showcased their ability to engage the audience. Orbit Culture’s lyrical exploration of human nature, the state of the world, and existential contemplation was the perfect fit for the tour support slot.

Veil of Maya were up next and got the crowd all nice and rowdy waking up the crowd surfers. Veil of Maya were a great mix of super heavy and melodic clean vocals. Their newest album [m]other was just released on May 12th via Sumerian Records. They pulled three songs from this new release for this performance including: “Red Fur”, “Godhead”, and “Synthwave Vegan”. They preformed a set that was fun to watch and great to see the crowd digging them. Closing out their set was the crowd favorite “Makasa” form their 2015 album Matriarch.

Avatar is always a fun show to watch, between the great lighting, the crazy antics on stage, and how each member of the band are so unique and weird, it is just a great time. Led by Johannes, who is one of the best front-man in all music at this point. He embodies what a showman should be and has gotten his interaction with both the band and the fans down to an art form.

At one point during the show Johannes appeared in the balcony and played a little trumpet and made a balloon animal. He also played on a piano and drank from his infamous “trust” gasoline container. Avatar played a set that clocked in at just over two hours, which I believe is the longest set I’ve seen them play. It kicked off with “Dance Devil Dance” and “The Eagle Has Landed”. The songs were a good mix of all their albums. During the songs “Colossus” and “Let it Burn” they brought out the small drum kit to the edge of the stage which amped up the stage show even more.

As an encore the chose “The Dirt I’m Buried In”, “Smells Like Freakshow”, and Hail The Apocalypse.

This was perhaps one of my favorite Avatar shows to date, and I’ve seen them at-least seven, or maybe eight times now. We had all things you would expect (or maybe not expect) from and Avatar show: crazy stage antics, balloons, confetti, a masked man, a dance party that ended very oddly with an appearance from the King and even a little strip tease action.

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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Concert Reviews

King Diamond brought the Halloween party to Silver Spring MD

Published

2 days ago

November 2, 2024

Ron

King Diamond who’s on tour now with Overkill and Night Demon.

Overkill always puts on a great show and shows that face pace thrash metal is still kick ass. Led by NJ’s Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth Overkill has that distinctive sound with Bobby’s high pitched and raspy vocals. With songs like “Scorched”, “ Rotten to the Core” and “Hello From the Gutter”, Overkill got the crowd into a frenzy and warmed up the stage before the king.

You know it’s gonna be a good night when it’s 3 days before Halloween and you get to see a kick ass set from King Diamond. King Diamond who’s 68 right now still commands that stage and sounds amazing with his insanely falsettos. The stage show at a King Diamond show is always such a great sight to see. With a multilayer setup of stairs and little pieces of elaborate set all over it’s such a great view and perfect setting to watch a King Diamond set.

The set list was amazing too we got to hear songs from such a great career like “A Mansion in the Darkness”, “Halloween “, “Spider Lilly”, “Welcome Home”, and “Eye of the Witch” and of course ending the night with “Abagail”.

If you’re a fan of King Diamond or just a fan of great music that adds that Halloween haunted asylum themed stage performances then you need to go out and check this tour now. King Diamond never disappoints and always puts on one hell of a show.

About Author

Ron

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Concert Reviews

ITS TIME TO GET YOUR BODY BEAT AND LET THE BLOOD FLOW

Published

6 days ago

October 29, 2024

Ron

Combichrist came into Lovedrafts in Mechanicsburg with an old school electronic set and the return of PA’s own DeathMaschine.

Combichrist took the dark stage armed with Eric on the synths/sampler and Andy on Vocals and an open stage to rampage on. I got to hear some killer kick ass songs I haven’t heard in a while like “Today I woke to the rain of blood”, “This is My Rifle” and This shit will fuck you up”.

The crowd were super excited to watch the set and everyone was having a good time, dancing to the beats, and singing all the songs and having an amazing time. I’ve been wanting to see Combichrist do these old school sets and have always loved that era of the band. We also got to hear “Like to Thank My Buddies” and “Shut up and Swallow”. We also got a super rare treat for an encore Andy went back even further in his musically roots and pulled out an Icon of Coil song “Dead Enough For Life”, which got the crowd in a frenzy.

About Author

Ron

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Concert Reviews

LUDACRIS : THE HALL AT LIVE

Published

2 weeks ago

October 21, 2024

Ron

ATL IS IN THE HOUSE.

Ludacris came into Maryland at the Hall in Live Casino and brought with him the masses that were ready for a good time, good fun and good tunes.

Ludacris said it’s been a long time since he’s been back to Maryland and DC area. I loved that he just came out with his dj and his hype man and himself nothing else was needed when you entertain like Ludacris does. Whether you’re a fan from back in the day or a fan of his movies, Ludacris made everyone happy and made sure they were fully entertained.

Of course Ludacris played some of his hits songs like “Act a Fool”, “Move Bitch”, “What’s your fantasy”, “Get Back” and “Area Codes” but he also played some old school tracks and a few covers like “Holiday Inn” and “Yeah”. The crowd was hitting that good weed as well and threw some blunts up to the stage during “BlueBerry Yum Yum”.

Ludacris made a statement that his first album came out in 2000 and this next year is the 25th anniversary of the album. It was a great night and a great time, Ludacris knows how to keep the fans engaged and entertained all night. He’s very fan friendly and charismatic which makes sense that he’s also a great actor.