Texas Rock Report

The Midwest Rock-N-Roll Express Tour with REO Speedwagon, Styx and Pat Travers pulled into Houston

Posted: 14th May 2012 by admin in Pat Travers, REO Speedwagon, Styx
Tags: Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, Houston

Styx - Ricky Philips (L), James Young (C) and Tommy Shaw (R) © Manuel Nauta

Houston, Texas – May 12, 2012: Rock ‘n Roll hit masters REO Speedwagon and Styx were the co-headliners on the Midwest Rock ‘N Roll Express Tour that stopped over at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Saturday night. The show opener was the Pat Travers Band who had the famous party rock ‘n roll hit “Snorting Whiskey and Drinking Cocaine” and the memorable “Boom Boom” songs that all of use know from high school parties. The sun was setting in the beautiful pavilion and Pat Travers was lit up nicely by sun and a full set of stage lights, fog and a giant video screen behind him. It turns out that all three band used the same screen. It was nice that the opening band was allowed to use the same stage setup, usually they don’t get to play with the toys the headliner brings in. Pat Travers ripped through song after song and the crowd kept yelling “Snorting Whiskey”, they just wanted to hear the hit songs. Looks like pat has not missed a beat for decades!

Pat Travers @ Manuel Nauta

While waiting in the parking lot to the side of the pavilion to take photos of the next set, we see Tommy Shaw from Styx with his shirt off, throwing a football with his people. Not often does a star of his caliber come out of their luxury buses to just hang out before their show, not afraid of photographers or fans.

REO Speedwagon - Kevin Cronin © Manuel Nauta

After the sun set, REO Speedwagon was up next. I must admit I was really looking forward to see and hear this REO. The lyrics and songs might be corny, but we all know them and love to secretly sing along with them. This was a high school flashback moment for me. They started of with “Don’t Let Him Go” with Kevin Cronin (1972) on vocals, Neal Doughty (1966) on keyboards, Bruce Hall (1977) on bass, Dave Amato (1989) on guitar and Bryan Hitt (1989) on drums. As they played the hit songs, the album names were displayed on the screen behind, alternating with fireworks displays and a giant American Flag.

REO Speedwagon - Neal Doughty © Manuel Nauta

REO Speedwagon set list: Don’t Let Him Go, Take It On The Run Baby, Keep Pushing, Golden Country, Can’t Fight, That Ain’t Love, Poor Man, Fly, Back on the Road, Roll With The Changes, Keep on Lovin’ You, Ridin The Storm Out.

Styx - James Young (L) and Tommy Shaw (R) © Manuel Nauta

Next up was Styx with James Young (1970) on guitar, Tommy Shaw (1975) on lead vocals and guitar, Lawrence Gowan (1999) on keyboard, Ricky Phillips (2003) on bass and Todd Sucherman (1995) on drums. These guys are veterans on stage, they love to entertain their fans and they love the cameras as they give you pose after pose. Many artists could learn from these guys how they use the photographers to their benefit to get the best possible photos out in the news media. The songs, of course, were fantastic as they started with “Blue Collar Man”, “Grand Illusion” and “Too Much Time” as openers. There is not much that has not already been said about Styx during the past few decades. All I can add to this is that Styx still rocks big time and go see them if you get a chance, you won’t regret it.

Styx - Tommy Shaw © Manuel Nauta

The complete set list included: Blue Collar Man, Grand Illusion, Too Much Time, Lady, Lorelei, Man in the Wilderness, Fooling Yourself, Miss America, Come Sail Away, Rocking the Paradise, Renegade.

Roger Waters “The Wall Live” 2012 Tour in Austin, Texas

Posted: 4th May 2012 by admin in Roger Waters
Tags: Austin, Frank Erwin Center

Roger Waters "The Wall Live" tour 2012 © Manuel Nauta

Austin, Texas – May 3, 2012: Roger Waters, the iconic founding member of the British progressive rock band Pink Floyd, once again has taken his brain child “The Wall” on a world wide tour this year. The tour started in 2010, played 150 shows and grossed $218 million dollares. Due to this phenomenal success “The Wall Live” is once again on a world tour. It takes a lot to put this show on, when I walked up to the arena, I counted at least 25 trailer trucks and maybe eight or nine luxury coaches. The stage for the evening was almost 6 feet tall and divided down the middle with a higher part of the stage toward the back. This separation was the line were The Wall was build up during the show, until it completely stretched from one end of the stage to the other. The Wall was used to display elaborate projections with slogans and images as the songs progressed. I did notice a malfunction with one of the stage effects, the small airplane that was supposed to crash into one part of The Wall did not go off as expected. When I saw the show in 2010, that crash with the pyrotechnic effects was great. If you have not seen this show, make sure you get to see it when it comes to your area, this is a must see rock and roll event.

Korn, Evanescence and others rock Buzz Fest 2012 at The Woodlands in Houston

Posted: 21st April 2012 by admin in Amy Lee, Blue October, Buzz Fest, Evanescence, Jonathan Davis, Justin Furstenfeld, Korn, Mutemath
Tags: Buzz Fest, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, Houston

Jonathan Davis with Korn at Buzz Fest 2012 © Manuel Nauta

Buzz Fest 2012, presented by Houston’s 94.5 FM The Buzz, once again rocked the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion for 10 hours on Saturday April 21, 2012. Fourteen bands performed on two stages starting at 1:20 in the afternoon and the last band wrapped up at 10:45 in the evening. The line up was as follows:

Eric Sean Nally with Foxy Shazam © Manuel Nauta

Main Stage
The Features 1:20 to 1:50pm
Foxy Shazam 2:20 to 2:50pm
MuteMath 3:20 to 4:00pm
Cage the Elephant 4:35 to 5:20pm
Blue October 5:55 to 7:00pm
Evanescence 7:40 to 8:40pm
Korn 9:25 to 10:45pm

Side Stage
Aranda 1:00 to 1:20pm
Hurt 1:50 to 2:20 pm
Dead Sara 2:50 to 3:20pm
Band of Skulls 4:00 to 4:35pm
Neon Trees 5:20 to 5:55pm
The Dirty Heads 7:00 to 7:40pm
Evans Blue 8:40 to 9:25pm

The weather was amazing, a clear blue sky, cool in the shade and warm in the sun. The band Foxy Shazam is showing up at almost every music festival you can imagine. The lead singer Sean Nally seems to have perfected the trick of standing on his head, rolling on stage and other contortions. The keyboard player, Sky White, is equally entertaining as he moves and slides over, up, down and across his keyboard with amazing style and technique. Non of the songs are that memorable, but it sure is a fun band to have around. Since they played early in the day at the Main Stage, there were not that many people, this is an extremely large space to fill.

Emily Armstrong with Dead Sara at Buzz Fest 2012 © Manuel Nauta

On the Side Stage, Dead Sara performed to a pumped up crowd. The Side Stage seemed to be where the action was. Beer was flying in the air, non stop crowd surfing, lots of smoke rising up filling the air with a sweet party scent. The lead singer for Dead Sara, Emily Armstrong seemed to have fallen in favor with the likes of Garce Slick and Courtney Love for whom she did some backup singing. Emily whales and screams out her lyrics and works up a sweat while doing this. Here popularity has rising among the fans ever since her hot single “Weatherman” has been out. Look out for Dead sara to be on many festival stages this year.

Darren King with Mutemath at Buzz Fest 2012 © Manuel Nauta

As usual, the drummer for Mutemath, Darren King, walked out on stage and demonstratively took duct tape and taped his headphones to his head! Since Darren has a full beard, it must be painful to remove the tape, kinda like a facial wax situation. Mutemath’s first music video “Typical” (2007) was anything but typical because they played the whole song backwards. Since then the band has made numerous festival appearances and concert tours. I recall seeing them at ACL 2009 and was blown away by their songs from “Armistice.” What did surprise me at Buzz Fest was that they did not have the overwhelming “wall of sound” quality during their set. I am not sure if this was due to the sound engineer or if the speakers were way to high up and all the sound went over my head while in the photo pit. Regardless, this band gives an amazing rock performance with heavy emphasis on the rhythm section with amazing beats and tempos.

Band Of Skulls © Manuel Nauta

Band of Skulls, the British alternative rock band from Southampton, has been on tour and also made a successful showing at SXSW 2012. Band of Skulls consists of Russell Marsden on guitar and vocals, Emma Richardson on bass and vocals with Matt Hayward on drums. I might be uninitiated about the latest alternative rock trends, but they seemed positively boring to me. Judging form the crowd, I must be wrong because they went nuts with cheering, crowd surfing and screaming.

Cage the Elephant with hyper active front man Matthew Shultz made a reappearance at the Buzz Fest, but this time at the Main Stage. Again, this band would have generated way more crowd support if they would have played the Side Stage were the energy was way HIGH. Next on the Main Stage was Blue October, the band which is quickly turning in to “Where Are They Now” VH1 subject matter. Justin Furstenfeld the master of man-liner, might not be able to out do “Hate Me”, the 2006 platinum hit. Justin still puts on a great show with loads of angst and power. Buzz Fest’s headliners were about to take the Main Stage. First came Amy Lee the 5 ft 3 inches lead singer with Evanescence. The Main Stage outdoor area was sold out with fans as far as the eye could see. It’s by no means easy to photograph an Evanescence show, because the light is low with unpredictable bursts, and Amy Lee moves around the stage with feverish passion and energy. However, she gave an awesome show in her Phoenix like outfit, rising form the ashes to proclaim the glory of Rock.

Amy Lee with Evanescence at Buzz Fest 2012 © Manuel Nauta

Korn clossed out Buzz Fest 2012 with an awesome brooding and macabre nu metal show. Korn is the reincarnation of the metal band L.A.P.D. with current lead singer Jonathan Davis, guitarist James ‘Munky’ Shaffer, bass player Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu and drummer Raymond Lee “Ray” Luzier. With 35 million album sales world wide, Korn knows how to do metal and it was fantastic. Jonathan’s custom mic stand is an amazing work of art that incorporates sensuality and myth in one hell of a swinging microphone (http://www.hrgiger.com/music/korn.htm). and The tour in support of The Path Of Totality is rocking through the U.S. and eastern european music festivals.

James Shaffer with Korn at Buzz Fest 2012 © Manuel Nauta

Perez Hilton’s “One Night in Austin” during SXSW 2012

Posted: 18th March 2012 by admin in DEV, Ed Sheeran, Kat Graham, Kimbra, Miguel, Perez Hilton, Timbaland
Tags: Austin, Austin Music Hall, SXSW

Perez Hilton "One Night In Austin" at SXSW 2012 © Manuel Nauta

Austin, Texas – March 17, 2012: Once again the gossip queen Perez Hilton brought his “One Night in Austin” music show to South by Southwest (SXSW) this year. His forte is to showcase talent from the U.S. and overseas that he feels will become the next big thing in music.

The Perez SXSW party used to have a tremendous cache, it was the must see party of the week. People would line up around the venue for hours to get in. In the past check-in was chaotic as people pushed and shoved to get ahead of the line. This all has changed now that SXSW has been taken over by the MEGA sponsors with bottom-less pockets like Doritos, GM, Microsoft, Fiat and others. The festival pretends to promote new talent by stuffing small venues with bands that won’t be around one year from now and at the same time exploiting super stars like Jay-Z and Bruce Springsteen to promote the SXSW brand and sell $1000 badges. Then it turns out you can’t even get in the venue with your badge because the place is full of people with “special” invitations. Regardless what you think of Perez, he is truly committed and knowledgeable about pop culture and trends. The SXSW badge wearing, skinny jeans vision impaired hipsters (they all wear think rimed glasses) only flock to the super star shows as directed by their iPhone app via an unknown faceless 2.0 tweeter. Hence, Perez’s show is no longer the hot ticket in town for SXSW.

However, if you do want to see new talent and be old school SXSW, Perez Hilton’s “One Night In Austin” is THE place to be.The line up included Miguel, Cris Cab, Rosi Golan, Kimbra, Kat Graham, Ed Sheeran, Cher Lloyd, Dragonette, Kreayshawn, DEV and Timbaland.

Here is the one-line review solely based upon my shallow photog impressions of the night. Miguel was so, so.. lyrics and music not very inspiring. When he asked the crowed if he could sing adult lyrics, it became very lame. Lines like “take your pants off..take your skirt off…” just don’t do it for me. Cris Cab was good, liked his voice and style. Rosi Golan, intersting and good voice, an artist that will grow on you. Kimbra, awesome stage presence, great showmanship, not sure about staying power. Kat Graham, awesome, she’s a Janet Jackson in spirit, body and soul! After standing on my feet for hours, she woke me up with both her wonderful frivolous pop urban dance music and stage performance. Ed Sheeran, not sure what to make of him. He seems to be the darling of the moment. I did find myself walking out of the photo pit after two song even though I could stay for three. There is quality in his performance, but I don’t get it at all, very bland indeed. Cher Loyd, pure pop-music fun with energy and hip style. Dragonette, not sure, can’t recall a thing about her, kinda like wall paper. Kreayshawn, she must like cocaine, wonder why I say that, maybe she mentioned it? Strange girl, but she sure is entertaining. Make sure to put her on your playlist for your next party. DEV, one-hit wonder and feature star on VH1 Were Are They Now. This is a complement, because there are an amazing number of famous one hit wonders around. Timbaland, he was the star that set the place on FIRE. Timbaland started of somewhat in a controlled manner while singing with DEV. However that did not last long, as soon as DEV was off the stage, he let it go all the way. The positive energy, free flowing rap beats, cool style and over the top genuine interaction with the audience was PHENOMENAL. After the third song, the PR staff signaled the 30 photogs and press people to get out of the photo pit, at which point Timbaland said “hey where are you guys going…. don’t leave now…… come back in…….. I want more pictures ….” This was a first for me.

As a photog, my fingers are getting tired of typing and I wish I could stop. However, I do feel I need to comment some more on the general theme of the night. Perez donated more than $40,000 from the evening tickets proceeds to the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. I might be wrong, but I don’t think there was any other show at SXSW who donated the proceeds to a good cause other than their liquor budget. Perez seems extremely involved in his show, he personally presents each artists, he poses with them on the red carpet and he actually sits in the photo pit to watch and listen to each artist as they perform.

The Cult at Waterloo Records, SXSW 2012

Posted: 17th March 2012 by admin in The Cult
Tags: Austin, SXSW, Waterloo Records

Billy Duffy at SXSW 2012 Waterloo Records © Manuel Nauta

Austin, Texas – March 16, 2012: To my great amazement, the British post punk rock band The Cult, did a parking lot show at Waterloo Records during South by Southwest (SXSW) this year. Each year, Waterloo Records, the best independent record store still in business, hosts free concerts during SXSW in the parking lot of the strip mall they are in which is on the corner of 6th Street and Lamar. This is a small parking lot, but people love to come out here every year and listen to quality music. This year 32 bands played during the four day festival, including Foxy Shazam, Howler, Lucero, Jimmy Cliff, Howlin Rain and The Cult to name but a few (complete listing here: Waterloo Records).

Thousands of fans packed the parking lot late Friday afternoon to hear the Cult. First they did not agree to allow live video streaming or photographers to shoot the show, but then they graciously changed their mind and gave approval. They must have seen that this was not a run of the mill show. The incredible mini-festival atmosphere must have impressed them and caused them to change their mind. Then there was a long delay because of some technical difficulties, standing at the front of the stage waiting to take photos, I heard dozens of F bombs being thrown around. The manager was frustrated and said “we are going on no matter what, I don’t care if some mic or bass amp is not working, F this and F that.” Once the music started, all seemed fine and the boys rocked it all the way. Billy Duffy loves to pose for the camera! We got to shoot the whole show, not just the first 3 songs. The Waterloo Records’ party is probably one of the best places to be for SXSW.