Opeth Concert Live Stream

Roadrunner Records announced that Opeth's set at the Sonisphere Festival in the UK will be available as a live stream for us heavy metal music fans on July 10th.  You won't have to sign up for anything to be able to stream it.  It'll be at 11:50 AM EST/8:50 AM PST (if you're in the US).  Just click here: OPETH LIVE

If the link doesn't work, copy and paste the following to your browser and bookmark it so you can go back to it directly on July 10th.  http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/news/Opeth-Sonisphere-Set-Streaming-Live-July-10-UPDATED-23095.aspx/?eml=20110709/opeth/Roadrunner/opethnews/liveatsonishpere&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=live%2Bat%2Bsonisphere 

30 Seconds To Mars Concert Review

Last night the Norva concert hall was filled with Jared Leto worshippers. His band, 30 Seconds to Mars, took hold of the stage at this sold out show and it seemed like Earth disappeared.  This was the second concert for the band at the popular NorVa in Norfolk, Virginia.

If short people like me weren't wearing at least 5 inch heels (I wore 5 inch high wedge sandals), you could barely see over everyone who were already standing shoulder to shoulder. When Jared Leto told everyone to jump up and down during several moments of the show, the ground was thumping and the sweat of the mass was pumping. You had to keep moving along with everyone or risk your toes getting stomped on by the excited and energetic"Mars army" in front of you.

The band played all their major hits (and more) between all the screams and adorations of the fans.  Jared Leto kept the fans in high spirits with non-stop interaction and calls for audience participation in the form of jumping, hand waving, marching forward and marching backward, and singing.  In the middle of the show, he disappeared from the stage and reappeared in the balcony area where he drew the crowds' attention to some of the fans there, including one young fellow named Ryan who was probably having the time of his life though wishing he could get out of his wheelchair and jump like the rest of the fans in the arena were doing.

Leto, who gave constant praise and appreciation to the concert-goers throughout the night, even dedicated a song to Ryan later.  What a touching moment that was!

For the final moments of the concert, Jared Leto picked a handful of 30 Seconds to Mars "worshippers" from the audience and took them up on stage to sing along and lead the rest of the concert hall during the final song of the night.  I'm sure there were jealous people left below but with the undying enthusiasm demonstrated by the crowds, you could never tell... 

This was an awesome concert!  If you had never been to a 30 Seconds to Mars concert, you'll be in for an amazing ride when you go...

Block Party With Excess Baggage

 
The City of Hampton (in Virginia) hosts block parties every week-end during the summer months. Actually, I don't frequent those parties since I don't live in that city but my family and I went there last night to check out the free show there featuring EXCESS BAGGAGE.

If you've been following my blog, you might've noticed my frequent posts about VANQUISH - my favorite local metal band. Well, you know that the band bade us farewell at the very end of 2009 (yes, it still breaks my heart). But Greer Cawthon, who sang lead for Vanquish, has been very busy with his new band EXCESS BAGGAGE. I took a few pictures which I thought I'd share here.

The band was awesome! Greer's voice is so versatile. He was excellent with Vanquish, but the variety of songs that he sang last night with Excess Baggage really demonstrates the range of his vocal talents. The backing vocals provided by the other band members blended in really well with his voice, too. I must say, the audience was really getting into the groove. You could see people of all ages having fun dancing and singing along. The energy of the band seemed endless.

If you get the opportunity to catch a show with EXCESS BAGGAGE, I can guarantee you will enjoy the performance and have a great time, too. You probably won't be able to sit still because their rocking sound is gonna make you wanna get up there and sing or dance (or both!). Check out the band schedule at Excess Baggage Rocks on Myspace. You can also find them on Facebook.

Heart in Concert

Yes, my hubby and I did go to the HEART concert that I mentioned in last Tuesday's post. The show was at the NTELOS Pavillion in Portsmouth, VA. It was a great show. Heart is still an awesome band after all these years. They are ageless!!! 

They played mostly songs we've heard from previous hit albums, but they also performed a few tracks from their upcoming album, Red Velvet Car, scheduled for release at the end of this month. The tracks they played are reminiscent of the band's 70's and early 80's sound, providing a wonderfully relaxing retreat from the heavy rock sounds that permeated the 80's and the hip-hop sounds (which I'm not really into) that followed. 

There were a lot of fans there, too, all getting into the music and dancing in their seats and in the aisles. I wanted to take a lot more pictures than I did, but couldn't because of all the people moving up and about in the amphitheater.  Every time I thought I'd get a good shot (or video), there would be a random fan moving around the seating area.  They would go back and forth with their drinks like the place was one huge outdoor bar.  Seriously, I don't know why so many people couldn't just stay in their seats and just enjoy the show.  Other than that little bit, everyone seemed to enjoy the concert and cheered so loudly my husband said his ears were ringing after the show.  It was awesome!!!

My passions for holiday week-ends

On this week's Top Sites Tuesday, BlogDumps asks us: What is Your Favorite Thing About Holiday Weekends? I suppose that most family-oriented folks like myself would typically answer "more time with the family" (instead of at work). But I have to be honest...ever since I can remember, it's the abundance of food that I've always looked forward to on holiday week-ends. And if you're invited to celebrate at other people's homes, then it's free food! Haha! That's even better! Yes, I love food!

That's me waving at the camera. Can you tell I love being around food?
As I was saying... let's take this past week-end. It was Labor Day Week-end in the U.S. and a nice long week-end for many of us. For once, my family and I got to enjoy two days in a row of outdoor grilling and company. On Sunday, my husband's friend had a housewarming/Labor Day celebration at his home. So we all went over to his house, enjoyed some grilled burgers and hot dogs, macaroni salad, chips-n-salsa, and a lot of finger foods to keep us busy (busy eating!) while we hung out with everyone there the whole afternoon.

No, no, that wasn't all I had. Actually that's just a picture my son took while he was playing around with my camera. LOL!
Then came Monday, Labor Day Holiday. No work, no school! It rained where I live but that didn't stop us from having my two sisters and their families, as well as my mom and stepdad from coming over to my house and enjoying an afternoon of (more) grilled foods. There was plenty of other food as well. While the boys hung out in the family room discussing various anime movies, the rest of us ate our food while watching the Dido Live DVD that I received for my birthday earlier this year. (She's a very pleasant performer to watch, by the way. If you ever feel stressed out, her music is quite calming).

Dido Live (DVD/CD Set)
Anyway, I'm going to put in a music CD to listen to while I grab some celery sticks to munch on before I head off to bed. Thinking about food made me hungry again. Why does Wolfbernz always think up topics that make me think of food?

Have a good day, everyone! And don't forget to click the button below to let BlogDumps know you read my post and help me make it to the Top Sites! :) Thanks!!!

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Chasing Corona Opening For Creed

I hope this message isn't too late for those who live in the Hampton Roads area and want to see Creed. The reunited band is coming to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Virginia Beach this Saturday, August 22, 2009! And guess who's opening for them? One of our own beloved local-based bands, Chasing Corona, whom I posted a blog entry about on July 4th.



I wonder if it's not too late to get tickets...

Vanquish at the National

May 2nd marked the last live show for a Richmond-based band called Separation. The Separation band members are close friends of my favorite local musicians, Vanquish so it was no surprise that Vanquish was one of the bands to open the show for them. I put together some awesome pictures taken by photographer (and fellow Vanquish fan) Dylan Patterson. With his Canon Rebel XS Digital SLR Camera, Dylan was able to capture a lot of great shots that my older model Sony Cybershot just can't quite do. (I'm hoping to be able to upgrade to a digital SLR model later this year but since I'm focused on my art and writing at this time, my photography ambitions can wait...)

Anyway, I used Scrapblog to make the following collages. Scrapblog is a fun (and free) way to put together scrapbook-like pages for your pictures. It even provides you with all the templates and add-ons you can imagine. You can even customize the premade layouts! My sister, Ophelia, introduced me to the free web-based service a couple of years ago. (Thank you, Ophelia!)

VanquishFanGraphics™ worships guitarist, Mark DiVito. He gets a scrapblog page of his own!

Vanquish, with Brian Berry (third pic) filling in for Nick Johnson on bass.

For more pictures and Vanquish graphics, please visit the VanquishFanGraphics™ Myspace Page. To learn more about Vanquish and hear their music, check out the Official Vanquish Band Myspace Page.

...and by the way, rock on!!!

Heavy Metal Music Videos

I was checking out the bulletins posted by my myspace friends and I came across one from RichieDude with a link to his underground music website. I decided to check it out and liked what I saw. The page has tons of videos (both artist made and fan made videos) for many major-label rock and heavy metal musicians. I even viewed a live concert footage video of Disturbed taken by a fan during a show they did as recently as last month (April 15th in Lowell, Massachusetts, to be exact). Not bad!

White Knuckle Battery

Gil's Bar and Grill in Virginia Beach was rocking on Friday night, April the 10th. There were four bands playing, including my favorite local boys - Vanquish. Other bands included a progressive metal band, Scarz Within and a southern rock band, Steelshot. The headlining act was a band called White Knuckle Battery whom I got to see for the first time...and they were awesome! No wonder they're a very talked about band in Virginia. Every member of the band carried along a very high spirit of energy, especially their lead vocalist, Joey Mauceri (that's a picture I took of him on the left).

So I don't plagiarize a biography anyone else has written about this rising band, you can visit White Knuckle Battery's myspace page to learn more about them:

White Knuckle Battery Official Myspace

There's also a very cool article about them published in the March/April 2009 issue of Tool & Die Magazine. Here's a link below:

Tool & Die Magazine - Interview with White Knuckle Battery


Photo collage courtesy of Berserkerradio


By the way, here's a picture of me with Ed Savoy, White Knuckle Battery's very talented guitarist. If you think Eddie Van Halen rules the strings, you should check out Ed Savoy - he can really make those strings scream! On the right of this picture is Anita Ibanez, Scarz Within's hot female lead singer.


Have a rockin' week ahead, everyone! Support local music!!!

Vanquish Comeback Show

I blogged about an upcoming show that I was all excited about last week. Well, I went there and had a great time at the Vanquish Comeback Show last Friday, May 23rd, at Buddas Place in Newport News, Virginia. This was their first show back after recording their second album. The new album hasn't been released yet. According to Anthony, their drummer, some tracks still needs some mixing done and a few other finishing touches. I can't wait to hear the next album. I bought my friends copies of the first album because I thought it was worth sharing. Yes, I love this band and I tell everyone that!!!

Back to the show...I took a bunch of pictures and a few video clips of their performance so I could relive the moment. It wasn't a major concert, but it was definitely a fun show which a lot of people attended. We were surprised by the crowd that was there on a Friday night. They were all ready to rock!

Here's a clip from the show that I uploaded on google videos. I thought I'd share it so more people can hear Vanquish...enjoy!



And here are a few stills from the show...these guys are just awesome!!!







By the way, more videos of past Vanquish shows and performances can be found on the band's myspace page and on google videos (posted by videos another music lover in Hampton Roads).