The Full Metal Racket Show: August 2015

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Heavy Montreal 2015 Dokken, Marky Ramone, Sanctuary

Sunday's lineup of Heavy Montreal 2015 to me personally, was the weakest, though, as I entered the Berri Metro station, I realized that metal has morphed into something greater in numbers than I expected, or at least was unsure of 'til then. The last two days, turn out for the greatest fest in North America was shit, and leave it to us to be frank- It speaks volumes- Hot Topic metal is the only draw, (?) wow and how, do stoic, time tested and true- bands could garner such irreverence is beyond me, especially to be replaced by /for gimmicky chug a lug showboating lamesville pop music. As I heard Rollins once call it "Candy Bar Metal" "Hard outer coating, with soft sweet nugat center." Lamb of God and Slipknot were headliners, and you knew it. We have nothing against these bands, they are great guys, and we have seen them several times live, etc. Just not our cup of tea....which leads to...Dokken...
Dokken is highly revered here at Full Metal Racket Show, well, early George Lynch Dokken anyway. We even celebrate Lynch Mob, Wicked Sensation, George Lynch did us a station ID way back in 2000. Anyway, Don Dokken followed suit along with other vocalists of the 80's hair bands that we have seen live in recent years, (namely Vince Neil), who barely sings their songs, and never hit the notes. It's sad to see and hear, especially when some of my parents favorite singers of the 70's still hit every note. Mick Brown is the only other original member, and he seemed well, ALIVE- Don seemed, I don't know? anemic, indifferent, tired, something... Their latest guitar player I guess, played for Doro, and is their old attorney.... Anyway, here's some Dokken pics!

Marky Ramone got himself an Andrew W.K., and it works. Though Marky could really have an all star band like George Clinton at this point in his career, I guess it's a start. They blazed though their set, in standard Ramones fashion, and, like Iggy the night before, (I don't know if it's an old punk guy thing or what) Marky ended his set, got up and walked off stage as if the crowd wasn't there....Check out my interview with Marky, here on our blog, here's some shots of their show.

Sanctuary rocked one of the side stages to a pretty full crowd.The Metal Pig, here at Full Metal Racket is a huge fan of these dudes, from way back. Jeff Loomis, former member, was in the house with Arch Enemy earlier in the week, so between that, it was good to see the Seattle metal crew (Nevermore) represent in Montreal. Here's some photos I took of Sanctuary, dig it!

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

More Photos From Heavy Montreal 2015 with Iggy Pop & Faith No More

Iggy Pop is the godfather, and I was grateful to finally catch him live. His set started off strong, with some Stooges songs in the mix with his own hit Lust For Life, things seemed to be moving right along. He sang The Passenger which was the highlight gem of the set, in my opinion. Then, things seemed to drift, with long strange songs that was unfamiliar territory to most of the people at the event. I don't remember an encore or even a good bye......anyway, no hard feelings, I got some really good shots of Iggy, doing his shirtless contortion act, check it out!

Iggy Pop is a living legend and his voice still sounds just the same, which more than I can say for most of the 80's LA rockers that played Heavy Montreal 2015.
Big props to Iggy from the Full Metal Racket Show. He's been rockin that stage since before most of us were born.

Faith No More headlined Saturday night, right after Iggy, making it old guy night at Heavy Montreal. Faith No More sounded impeccable and their setlist spanned from From Out of Nowhere to this year's album Sol Invictus.
I must say, I am a huge fan since way back, and I'm not too fond of the new record. Superhero is the only FNM sounding song on that record. Sunny Side Up for a close second.
At Heavy Montreal, they played 5 songs off it, and it didn't sound any better. One song I could swear was a B-52's song. They covered "This Guy is in Love With You" which also isn't one of my favorites. It was great, they did their version of "Easy" and it occurred to me that every ear at Heavy Montreal was consumed by the styling of Lionel Ritchie.
Their stage setup was immaculate, check out the few shots I got between screaming along to Mike Patton. It's been great, I saw King Diamond and Mike Patton within the last few months, now I just gotta see Judas Priest, and that'll seal my trifecta of favorite vocalists! Here's the 3 photos I took, I was too busy trying to getting cross eyed, and completely rocking out.....

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Venom Inc Interview @ Heavy Montreal 2015

Venom rules. So stoked to meet these dudes, and as you will see, they are really nice and quite funny, check it out!

More photos from Heavy Montreal 2015 Lita, Testament, Swingin Utters

Lita Ford rocked Heavy Montreal 2015, I worshipped Lita as a teen, and, well, kinda still do. It was great to finally see her live.

My brother and I as kids, grew up with bunk beds, and I was on the bottom bunk, and I used to have her centerfold photo from a Hit Parader on the bottom side of the top bunk, so when laid down and looked up, under my brothers springs, was Lita, every day, Lita, every night, Lita.

Lita can still rip at the guitar, though I noticed her singing has lost a little, but not much. She would pull the mic away when hitting those long breath high notes she used to pull off on the regular. She played a couple Runaways songs, and that rules, I wish they would mend the fences, that would be a hell of a comeback. Anyway, she didn't play my favorite song of her's, a little salsa-y jam called "Back to the Cave." Here's some sweet shots of Lita, care of yours truly.......

She put the guitar down for a few
songs, and sang, with big smiles.
That black widow tattoo
is huge!

Classic Runaways Look

Fuck yeah Lita rooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuullllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeessssssss!!!!!!!

Swingin' Utters did some punky Swingin'

Seeing these guys for the 3rd time in 6 months, and still blowing me away, TESTAMENT rocked Heavy Montreal. Shattered Sun's drummer filled in, and did an excellent job!!!