live

Blogs, Featured, Gruesome Greg October 28, 2012

The great Witch Mountain gig that nobody saw…

When Witch Mountain first came to town in June, playing on a killer bill with Castle and Blood Ceremony, it went down as one of, if not the best gig I’ve seen in Toronto this year. At the time, Rob Wrong had said something about them coming back in the fall, and thus I was pleased, if not entirely surprised, when I found out they’d be making a return trip in October. But, truth be told, the excitement of seeing them the first time wasn’t equaled by the return visit–and neither was the turnout at the second gig, for that matter.

Blogs, Featured, Gruesome Greg July 14, 2012

Maiden pulls out all the stops to make Seventh Son number one!

Truth be told, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son isn’t my favourite Iron Maiden album, by any stretch. More synth-heavy and progressive-sounding than their previous releases, even singles such as “Can I Play With Madness” or “The Evil That Men Do” fall flat compared to the likes of “2 Minutes to Midnight” and “The Trooper.” But does that mean I’m skipping their Seventh-Son-heavy summer tour? Awwww hell no!

Blogs, Featured, Gruesome Greg April 28, 2012

New venue, same Acid Mothers Temple…

For the past four or five years, I’ve counted on Japanese spaced-out psych merchants Acid Mothers Temple coming through town in April. They always seem to take a trip over here right when spring starts to bloom. Well okay, so spring was a little late this year. Also of note: this gig wasn’t at the El Mocambo, their typical Toronto tour stop for as long as I can remember, but rather at The Garrison, down by Dundas and Ossington.

Blogs, Featured, Gruesome Greg April 7, 2012

Finally, a way to combine football and heavy rock without a single note of “Don’t Stop Believing!”

As a die-hard sports fan, I’m often disappointed by the musical selection at sporting events. For every time that a stadium DJ might play “Run to the Hills” or “Hit the Lights,” there are at least a couple hundred renditions of “Don’t Stop Believing,” “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” “Blitzkrieg Bop” and whatever Nickelback’s latest single happens to be at the moment. I can’t remember the last time any of these songs actually fired me up. And when a football player’s idea of a metal band is Free Reign, well, let’s just say that I was starting to believe that good music and the gridiron don’t mix. But that was before I became tuned in to the greatness of Vince Lombarrdi.

Blogs, Featured, Gruesome Greg January 1, 2012

My Top 10 Albums and Concerts of 2011, now posted for your reading pleasure…

Well, it looks like two of my Top 10 made our overall Top 20 this year, which seems to be more or less on par with last year, if I recall correctly. Still have not heard that 40 Watt Sun album (Metal Blade dropped the ball on distribution, or what?), and I can’t believe that Progpeth took the top spot, with Mastodon not far behind. And here I thought we had more discriminating tastes at Hellbound… At least Lulu was nowhere to be seen!

Blogs, Featured, Gruesome Greg December 17, 2011

Hey, wanna see KYUSS LIVES! on New Year’s Eve? Got 200 bucks to spare?

Anyways, I was looking at Rotate This’ concert tickets page to check if they were selling tix for Deep Purple (negative!), when I saw something interesting. Apparently, Kyuss Lives! is doing a second show in Toronto this year–on New Year’s Eve, no less–at tiny Queen & Bathurst bar Cherry Cola’s. Aye, but here’s the rub. This “once in a lifetime opportunity” will set you back a cool 200 big ones.