It was a perfect day to be in a cemetery to watch a bad ass concert by a bad ass band: Modest Mouse at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
MARILYN MANSON DELIVERS THEATRICS AND SHOCK-ROCK; SMASHING PUMPKINS NOT MUCH FOR TALK, BUT PERFORM MASTERFULLY AT IRVINE MEADOWS
The End Times were happening at Irvine Meadows last Thursday night. I would have never really expected that Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson would tour together. With their past historyand the fact that their shows are very different, it was most definitely an odd pairing.
The first headliner was Manson. It was still light out. The sun, unfortunately, had not set for Manson. He came out as expected, with his face painted goth pale and morbid-looking. The stage was decorated with faux Christian iconography but instead of the image of Jesus Christ painted into the fake stained glass it was Manson, the Anti-Christ Superstar. The music was loud, hard and fast, and Marilyn was mesmerizing. Of course along side of him was long-time bassist Twiggy Ramirez who was absolutely stunning as well. Manson played music spanning his career from his first album Portrait of an American Family to his most recent, The Pale Emperor. I stood below him in awe of his performance as I snapped photos continuously and he at one point reached down and grabbed my lens, I thought he was going to take it out of my hands but instead he moved his hand and put his face directly into my lens and looked dead into my lens as I shot. That was pretty exciting. We only had one song to shoot which was unfortunate because his theatrics proved to be 100 percent photo worthy for the entirety of the show. For example, when he did his cover of The Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)“ he came out in stilts and crutches which gave him somewhat of a demonic-haunted-psycho-ward kinda feel. I was in the stands when I saw this and I was wishing I could have been shooting, but that’s just how it goes.
At the end of Manson’s set he did an encore. A podium was set as if he looked like the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler. He rose high on the podium and lit the Holy Bible on fire and then went into the song “Anti-Christ Superstar.” He then ended his set introducing “Beautiful People” by singing Beatles lyrics “how does it feel to be one of the beautiful people.” Manson put on a spectacular show and my only complaint would be that it would have been nice to see him do his act with the sun completely set.
Smashing Pumpkins was up next. They started the set with “Cherub Rock” and after that it was pretty much one hit after another. Unfortunately there was a douche bag behind me complaining that there was nothing but hits being played. He was loud and obnoxious yelling out “just play hits all night long Billy!” He did not just say this one time, he may have said it about five or six times. Man shut the fuck up bro, and enjoy the show and maybe let the people around you enjoy the show instead of listening to your ignorant ass. Who in the hell complains about that?
The Pumpkins’ set, as expected, was a much different set form opening headliner, Marily Manson. Corgan did not interact much with the crowd. He even said “the more I talk, the worse it gets, so we are just going to play music all the way through”. That was cool and all, but I think people would like to hear the artist, especially one as iconic as Corgan. I hate to say it, since I am huge fan of the Pumpkins, but I do feel a little like Corgan was out there just doing a job and making that money. He and the band played fantastically, but at the same time there was a sense of ambivalence from Corgan. I could be wrong but that’s what I felt.
When the Pumpkins left the stage, I watched Corgan as he as he walked off and he made a facial gesture as though he was a bit disappointed, which I think he was. When they came back out for their encore he made note that he noticed all the people who left after “1979,” which I definitely noticed too. Too bad for those people because the Pumpkins ended the show with “Geek U.S.A,” which was unexpected.
I am not sure what was going on with Corgan, I think he may be jaded on the state of music these days, he has been vocal about it lately and I agree with him.
Regardless, Smashing Pumpkins played fantastically, and Jimmy Chamberlain is a mad man on the drum kit. This is definitely a show to see. If you can see the show in another area, you should definitely do it.
Words & Photography: Wes Marsala
Written for GrimyGoods.com, July 13, 2015
BODIES FLY THROUGH THE AIR AT LOS CRUDOS’ UKRAINIAN CULTURE CENTER SHOW; ALICE BAG MAKES GUEST APPEARANCE
I went into last night’s Los Crudos show at the Ukrainian Culture Center knowing what to expect. I knew that if I placed myself at the front of the pit that I would most likely get kicked in the head numerous times; however, I didn’t fucking care. I knew that there would be some pretty bad ass moments to capture and indeed there were. I would say that this article is more for the fans of Los Crudos, Blazing Eye, Ausencia and Strangers.
MISFITS GIVE NEW AND OLD FANS AT THE OBSERVATORY A MOST MEMORABLE “STATIC AGE”
It was a high-energy show last Thursday at The Observatory. Misfits have been scheduled to play three days and play three classic albums in their entirety. Thursday night was Static Age. It was an all ages show and I would say that it was cool to see all ages actually there. There were some very young teens to people in their 40s and 50s, but there were probably more teens there which was awesome to see that this music still gets to the younger crowd when today, the market is completely saturated with a lot of bad pop/safe music.
ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT, THE BRONX AND DEAD HEAVENS DELIVER KNOCK-OUT PERFORMANCES AT THE OBSERVATORY
It was a night of pure rock n’ roll at the Observatory in Santa Ana, California last night. Three bands would play, Rocket From The Crypt, Los Angeles punk rockers, The Bronx and Dead Heavens. All three bands brought their own style of rock and each kept the crowd engaged.
NOEL GALLAGHER DELIVERS ENDLESSLY WITTY AND ENTHRALLING PERFORMANCE AT THE ORPHEUM
Wednesday was a crazy day, Noel Gallagher and His High Flying Birds were in town but another band was in town as well that had the whole city in an uproar. I will not name the band, but they are huge, they come out of the UK, they are old, they are doing a “zip code” tour, and they were playing in a small venue for just five bucks.
LENNY KRAVITZ DELIVERS SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCE AT FONDA THEATRE, JOINED BY AUDIENCE MEMBER BRUNO MARS
When I was about ten years old I stumbled upon this rocker who seemed a bit odd for the times. He had long dreadlocks and dressed funny. At the time you probably would have only seen reggae artists with this look, but this was Lenny Kravitz (the guy that stole my childhood crush Lisa Bonet), but after hearing his music as a child it was okay with me, I forgave him.
JAMES BAY MAKES IT RAIN “CHAOS AND THE CALM” AT SOLD-OUT FONDA THEATRE SHOW
It was a surprisingly stormy night in Los Angeles this past Thursday, but that did not stop James Bayfrom having a packed house at the Fonda Theatre. Bay’s fans wrapped around Hollywood and Gower last night in the rain just waiting to get into the venue for an up-close-and-personal performance with the artist.
MOS DEF AND INSPECTAH DECK FIRE UP THE MAYAN FOR RHYTHM FEST LOS ANGELES
This past Sunday at the Mayan, Mos Def (aka Yasiin Bey) was the headlining act of Rhythm Fest along with Inspectah Deck of Wu-Tang Clan. It was a show not like any I have covered. Hip hop shows from what I have experienced, do not have a lot of order. The stage tends to be covered with videographers, photographers and other entourage members. Which while crowded and at times uncomfortable, it sure does add to the excitement.
FAITH NO MORE AT THE OBSERVATORY: AN INCREDIBLE PERFORMANCE (REGARDLESS IF MIKE PATTON WAS RUDE AND POMPOUS)
When I was a kid I moved around a lot. I lived in different cities and always had to sever friendships and get new ones. Things were not as well connected as they are now with smartphones and Facebook. So as you can imagine, this could make an eleven to thirteen year old quite angry. Well, in 1989 the album The Real Thing was released by Faith No More and this would become the soundtrack of my youth and pave the way to my teenage angst.
BAD RELIGION, OFF! AND THE INTERRUPTERS ANNIHILATE FONDA THEATRE
Man it has been nearly 20 years since I saw Bad Religion. The last show I saw them was when they opened for Blink 182, which I really thought was weird given that it was mother fuckin’ Bad Religion. Anyway that is beside the point. They were the headliners this past Friday at the Fonda Theatre and they played over 30 songs from their extensive punk library.
ALL THE RAGE (SERIOUSLY, FIGHTS BROKE OUT) WITH INTERPOL AT THE SHRINE
I have been an on-and-off fan of Interpol ever since “Turn on The Bright Lights”. To no fault of their own, Interpol play the style of music that I love. They remind me so much of Joy Division but obviously with their own unique sound, however, I am traditionalist and I have a hard time listening to new styles of what I already like which can be troublesome. I will get on an Interpol kick and then I will say okay that is enough and go back to the old-school post-punk bands.
RANCID, SICK OF IT ALL AND THE INTERRUPTERS KICK OFF THE TATTOOED MADNESS AT MUSINK DAY ONE
It was night one of a weekend music and ink festival. Musink went off without a hitch and the bands of night one really knew how to get the festival started.
I walked around the grounds for awhile while waiting for the music to start. There were two warehouses full of tattoo artists giving tattoos to all who wanted them. The place was filled with people inked from head to toe and many donning beautiful mohawks and hair colors. The best thing I saw, however, were parents who brought their children out to enjoy the punk rock sounds of Rancid, Sick of it All, and the Interrupters.
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS ENTER THE VOID AT ECHOPLEX
So I have seen A Place to Bury Strangers multiple times, in fact, the last time I saw them I was not doing concert photography but I decided to play around on the iPhone and see what I could do with it. That was the night I said, “I gotta do this shit!”. So it was quite a special night for me last Sunday at The Echoplex to photographer APTBS with an actual camera. It was a photographers dream to get this kind of energy from a band, oh wait not just a band, but all bands that were on the bill for the night.
PATTI SMITH, THE GODMOTHER OF PUNK ROCKS THE ACE
Patti Smith came out for two shows at the Theater at the Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Being a photographer they only gave us two songs to shoot, but from what little I did see, it was a great show, and I knew the fans were going to be in for a treat. Smith was gracious to be there, she waved at the crowd when she first came out and said “it’s good to be back” with a smile.
THE MUFFS, INGER LORRE AND SUMMER TWINS PACK THE SATELLITE WITH THREE DIFFERENT STYLES OF ROCK
It was a rockin’ Friday night at The Satellite for The Muffs‘ headlining performance along with supporting acts Inger Lorre and the Summer Twins.
THE ROOTS KICK OFF THE NEW YEAR RIGHT AT THE OBSERVATORY
BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA SERVE UP THE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HOLIDAY SPIRIT AT NOKIA THEATRE
The Brian Setzer Orchestra put on a very festive show this past Sunday at the Nokia Theater in Downtown Los Angeles. Boasting a variety of holiday, swing and classic covers, people of all ages came to see the spectacle. From the adorable toddler in the audience, (yes she had ear protection on) all the way to senior citizen (and everyone in between) — it was a spectacular night for all ages.
SKINNY PUPPY AND YOUTH CODE MESMERIZE FANS AT FOX THEATER POMONA
It was a night of darkness at the Skinny Puppy show at the Fox Theater in Pomona on Saturday December 20, 2014. People of all forms came to the show, dressed like your average Joe, all the way to full on costumes that could have competed with Nivek Ogre of Skinny Puppy.