March 2013 – Page 4 – Concertologist

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY ZAKK WYLDE UNBLACKENED at CLUB NOKIA 3/6/2013

Teaser Picture

I’m getting old. I remember when Zakk Wylde joined Ozzy in the late 80s and going to several Ozzy concerts at Irvine Meadows over the next few years.

The way he did “chicken-pickin’” along with playing metal with fast, screaming leads was always cool. He often received mixed reviews, from “having a vibrato as wide as the Grand Canyon” to sounding like “Yngwie on acid”. That was always amusing. A guy that shreds that clearly likes the Allman Brothers, Randy Rhoads and Al DiMeola. Good combo. You either got it or you didn’t.

I followed his work with Pride and Glory (great album, BTW) and his solo stuff/Book of Shadows. I remember seeing him do an unplugged show at the Troubadour prior to starting BLS, where he previewed material from the forthcoming album Book of Shadows. That was on August 12, 1995. He also played some Elton John songs on the piano. I was kind of in shock over that.

He left Ozzy around that time and was replaced by Joe Holmes on guitar.

I got the Black Label Society CD the week it came out. That was around the the beginning of when CD burners started ruining record stores.

I think the last BLS I bought was 1919 Eternal. I honestly haven’t heard much of their music since then. And I haven’t listened to a BLS album in forever.

I didn’t see Zakk play with Ozzy again until 2007 and, afterwards, I swore off ever seeing Ozzy again at that point. Ozzy’s vocals sucked and the show sounded horrible.

Here are some BLS pics from NAMM:

This special show was to be filmed for a DVD release at The Mayan last Summer. Then it was rescheduled to January. It finally happened and was broadcast on AXS.TV with the footage to follow on DVD and CD for a later release.

We all showed up a little late (there was a long line to get into the venue) and the band ripped. He played a surprising amount of electric guitar. He also hopped on piano and did some shredding acoustic guitar work. The show was packed, had a great vibe and lots of tunes were played. Zakk and his band are great and this was an excellent concert, as they rocked Pride & Glory, Book of Shadows and BLS tunes. Awesome!

Black Label Society Setlist Club Nokia, Los Angeles, CA, USA 2013, Unblackened

Edit this setlist | More Black Label Society setlists

ULI JON ROTH PALADINOS 40th ANNIVERSARY TOUR 3/2/2013

2013 Concerts

Uli is considered the godfather of neo-classical guitar playing. He’s awesome.

He played a great show a few years back at the Ventura Theater. HIs band had a pretty unbeatable band with Bjorn Englen, Mark Boals, Adrian Galysh and Glen Sobel (blurry old iPhone picture for reference):

He was back with an entirely new line-up and played a late night set that included many old Scorpions classics.

Stone Senate, the opening band from Nashville, was really good. Clint Woolsey has a great voice and the triple guitar parts, along with Mike Thompson and Marcus Brown, were really cool. They played an entertaining set and are definitely worth checking out. http://stonesenate.com.

Uli Jon Roth and band took stage shortly before midnight and almost played until closing. Standing in the same spot for 3 1/2 hours isn’t as fun as it used to be. but in this case…

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Looking Back: Orianthi from FRIDAY, FEB 5, 2010 at HARD ROCK CAFÉ–Universal City Performance and Signing

Looking ahead to Orianthi’s upcoming appearances at the Grammy Museum and The Whisky this month, I thought I would redo one of my very first blog posts from over 3 years ago. 2010 was a good year for concerts, as were the last two years. I also caught the show where Orianthi played with Alice Cooper at the Orpheum (where, unfortunately, the band was joined by Johnny Depp during half the show – bummer!) Anyhow, here’s my look down memory lane.

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FREE SHOW AND CD SIGNING AT THE HARD ROCK CAFÉ

FRIDAY, FEB 5^th AT 8:30PM HARD ROCK CAFE
1000 Universal Studios Blvd
Universal City, CA 91608-1008

Orianthi was supposed to play on the outdoor stage at City Walk, but inclement weather forced her to play inside the Hard Rock Café.

Arriving early to secure wristbands for the meet and greet was a good call, as was getting there early for the performance to get a spot near the stage.

Watching the crummy John Travolta movie in between those times (“From Paris With Love”) was a bad call.

We got right in front of the stage, which was the place to be. From there, I snapped some pics with an iPhone and then found related content out on the web.

I caught a pic in this vid. It’s just a thick green Tortex- nothing fancy. I still have it.

During the show, she signed a blue PRS that now hangs on the wall of the HRC Hollywood (at Hollywood and Highland).

Orianthi is way cool. She was very personable when she did the meet-n-greet/ signing and even let my friend take the event poster home after the show.

Here is the signed guitar and picture of the event at the HRC Hollywood (these pics were taken in December, 2012 when I came upon them near the stage and bar area):

HRC website coverage of the event (very cool!):

http://blog.hardrock.com/post/2010/02/16/Orianthi-Rocks-Hard-Rock-Cafe-Hollywood-CA.aspx