FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Aside from the bands, the most memorable thing about the Silver Dollar was that it used to serve four-dollar pints of Buzz Beer…although this is no longer the case. But when it comes to bands, the act that I most associate with this venue is Blood Ceremony.
It’s been a little while since I’ve flown halfway across the continent for a one-off, non-festival gig, but when I saw the lineup for this one, I knew I had to be there.
Fast-forward a couple years, and they’re playing a proper venue with proper touring support in support of a somewhat low-key record. But I’ll be damned if that wasn’t the biggest crowd I’ve even seen at the Hard Luck, dude!
This shindig was billed Farewell to Accept, and it was a proper farewell tour–with a 90-minute set and a four-song encore that covered all the classics from I’m a Rebel to Russian Roulette.
Though I seem to have seen fewer concerts this year, what 2016 lacked in concert quantity, it more than made up for in quality. In any given year, any of this year’s Top Six could have easily been Number One, but when it comes to the overall best live concert experience, the winner was undisputed.
Now, I’ve seen Saint Vitus a couple times before, but when I got word that Scott Reagers was rejoining the band for this tour, I felt it was worth the trip to Cleveland.
If there’s one good thing that’s come out of Donald Trump’s run for president, it’s that his campaign finally gave me the opportunity to see Brujeria in concert. (And yes, I even bought the t-shirt!)
Though they’ve been building quite a name for themselves in Europe and on the underground sludge/doom scene, Montreal’s Dopethrone had never actually played Toronto until last Friday.
The Joint was definitely the place to be at Psycho fest on Sunday. From 4:20 onwards, you had a hard-to-top lineup of Fu Manchu, Dead Meadow, Candlemass, Baroness, Sleep…and some not-so-nice guy named Alice.
Electric Wizard was the biggest draw of Day Two–and perhaps the entire festival, with the possible exception of Sleep. But I was looking forward to seeing SoCal stoner legends Acid King just as much, if not more…