Thursday night I went over to House of Blues to catch Ministry on what they are billing as their final tour. this was the first of a four night run of shows they are playing at the venue. Seeing as Chicago was their hometown for most of their career, it made sense that they’d more than one night here.

Hemlock

Hemlock

Hemlock

When I got there the place was already pretty full and it wasn’t long before the sold out show was completely filled in beyond capacity. Hemlock took the stage promptly at the scheduled start time. They played some pretty thick and powerful metal complete with guttural, aggressive vocals. In between songs the singer would talk to the crowd and it seemed they were pretty happy to be playing these shows. The crowd seemed to be pretty responsive to them too. They played about a half hour and the time seemed to go by very quickly.

Meshuggah

Meshuggah

Meshuggah

Meshuggah

Next up were Meshuggah. I never heard of them before this show and now I’m kicking myself for not having discovered them sooner. They came out on stage and instantly tore into this churning, powerful song and the singer took front and center and just stared down the crowd in between his intense delivery of the English language. They had this great underlying sound with just the right amount of repetition like some sort of industrial strength bulldozer plowing through the senses. The lights were flashing in time to the cycles of noise bellowing from the stage and I was mesmerized. The crowd obviously were a lot more familiar with them than I was because they were roaring with approval when certain songs were played and heads were banging all over the place as well as the prerequisite moshing. There was not a dull moment in their set and I absolutely want to own their records and see them again.

Ministry

When the stage was clear, setup began for Ministry. After all the gear was setup, the crew started erecting a chain link fence in front of the stage. This was an obvious homage to Ministry’s 1989 tour where they did the same thing. I wonder how the could have saved this fence since Martin Atkins had chopped up the alleged original and sold pieces of it on ebay. Did they buy the pieces back and reassemble it? Times have changed since 1989 however as not only was the 2008 version not structurally sound where insane crowds could climb up it and jump off into the crowd, but now there are barricades between the stage and crowd to prevent just such activities from taking place. The ironic thing was that likely at least 60 percent of the audience were too young to have been there for the original steel cage tour or would even get the reference. It certainly made for a shooting nightmare but it still looked kind of cool.

Ministry

After playing a pre-recorded version of their theme for the Chicago Blackhawks and then a Revolting Cocks video for “I’m Not Gay”, the band stormed out on stage, picked up their gear and began commencement. They opened with “Let’s Go” which is as good and as energetic of a starting song as you could ask for, which is why it’s the first song on their final album, The Last Sucker. It wasn’t but a couple of minutes before the crowd started going nuts and security guards were pushing me out of the way while I’m struggling with focusing through the fence so they can catch a crowd surfer about to be tossed into the barricade. Those guys certainly had their hands full this evening!

Ministry

The band wasted very little time between songs and followed up with “Watch Yourself”. As the band operated on their instruments with the precision of a top surgeon, Al Jourgensen conducting this demented orchestra of the criminally insane by delivering a near perfect vocal performance. In between his vocal lines, he was rattling the fence, and making arm gestures like he was somehow controlling the insane crowd of moshers and crowd surfers. He was the ringleader, the puppet master pulling the strings of the overcrowded legion of fans witnessing the spectacle of carnage that “Uncle Al” has been delivering for now two decades.

Ministry

Their main set consisted of a few songs each from the past few albums including “LiesLiesLies”, “No W”, “Worthless”, “Rio Grande Blood”, and more. Strangely for being their last tour, there was nothing in the main set from any of my favorite Ministry records (Land of Rape and Honey, The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste, and Psalm 69). I found that odd that their main set wasn’t more of a retrospective one since they wouldn’t be taking this show on the road ever again. They closed the main set with “Khyber Pass” which is a pretty good way to end a set.

Ministry

About three minutes later they came back for the first of two encores. This one was comprised of four songs and I finally got a bit of what I was hoping for. The started it out with “So What” and the crowd went absolutely nuts with approval. Nearly the entire crowd were singing along and the floor was flexing from the weight of them all bouncing up and down. From there they brought out the singer(?) from Fear Factory who sang “N.W.O.” and “Just One Fix”. I was thrilled for the former and the crowd went completely out of control for the latter, so much so I thought the floor was going to give way and we’d end up in the restaurant below! They closed the encore with “Thieves” which the crowd loved and I was happier than a pig in shit to be hearing.

Ministry

After that they did another three song encore, which included a cover of “Under My Thumb” and two newer songs. I was shocked and disappointed that they played absolutely nothing off of Land of Rape and Honey. I mean how about “Stigmata” and also what about “Burning Inside” from Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste?! I would have gladly traded in those three final songs for the two I wished they played and it would have felt more like they covered most of the bases as far as their post industrial-dance career goes.

Ministry

Ministry

Questionable set-list decisions aside, the band put on one hell of a show and proved they still had it one last time. My last experience viewing Ministry live was that of a band that came on stage and delivered the goods spotlessly for nearly two full hours and left the people exhausted and pretty satisfied. I’m gonna miss having Ministry around, they had one hell of a diverse and interesting run and have certainly earned their upcoming retirement.

Wednesday night I went over to House of Blues for a night of metal. It was a beautiful day outside and it was an early show so I skated over to the club from the train station instead of taking the bus. After having to check my skateboard at the hotel next door, I went into the club, got my passes and made my way to the front to set up my gear.

Toxic Holocaust

Toxic Holocaust

Toxic Holocaust

The place was pretty empty when I got there which was to be expected as it was only 5:30pm. After about a half hour wait, Toxic Holocaust took the stage and the small amount of people crowded up front were really excited to see them. With the reception they got you’d have thought that as many people came out to see them as any of the other bands. They played about a half hour’s worth of metalcore that was fast and furious and pretty damn enjoyable. The crowd was way into it too.

Skeletonwitch

Skeletonwitch

Skeletonwitch

Skeletonwitch

Skeletonwitch

After what seemed like only a few minutes, Skeletonwitch got up on the stage and the crowd had increased in size and enthusiasm. I am pretty sure there was a good portion of the audience who came just to see them. They played a really intense black/thrash metal and the singer seldom stood still for more than a half second. There was hair flying all over the stage, mostly by him flailing about. They played super tight and I think they stole the show, they were amazing. I wanted to buy their LP as they had the vinyl but by the time I went to get one on my way out after the show they were sold out of them

Soilent Green

Soilent Green

Soilent Green

Soilent Green

Soilent Green

After some equipment changing, Soilent Green were next and they were the band I was most excited about seeing. Their delivery of their sludgey thrash was better than I hoped it would be. They played a bunch of new songs, a few from Sewn Mouth Secrets and one from Pussysoul. The crowd were pretty psyched and I swear the entire crowd’s heads were banging in unison, or at least the heads of those who weren’t in the mosh pit. They played a lengthy and satisfying set.

Hate Eternal

Hate Eternal

Hate Eternal

Hate Eternal

Hate Eternal

This just left Hate Eternal and it didn’t take long for them to get set up. I just saw them play a couple months ago and was impressed and the past couple months of shows has only made them tighter and even more aggressive. They blasted out song after song (many new ones mixed with some older ones) and barely stopped in between except to occasionally say what they were going to assault the crowd with next. The kids in the crowd ate it up like candy and heads were banging and a mosh pit was going during each song. The band never let up, they were a finely tuned instrument of brutality and were a very satisfying finish to a night full of excellent bands.

Some additional shots and larger versions of these can be found later tonight on MXV’s Flickr Stream.

Dead Boys -Return of the Living Dead Boys DVD
MVD Visual

In the 1970s, the Dead Boys were among the first punk rock bands in the United States and they also rank among the best. They only put two albums out before breaking up and moving on to other things so they never stuck around long enough to go sour or tarnish their legacy, if anything they broke up too soon and left people wanting more.

In 1986 the people go more in the form of a few reunion shows and an EP of new studio songs. The EP was good, and after seeing this DVD I can say the reunion show was even better. This DVD documents the reunion show they did at the Ritz in New York City on Halloween 1986. They played nearly everything you’d want to hear from them, including opening and closing the show with “Sonic Reducer”!

The show starts with Joey Ramone introducing the band and they tear into “Sonic Reducer” and from there they play song after song with some banter and stopping between songs. The performance itself was top-notch, you’d be hard pressed to think they had been broken up for years before this show.

The show was shot on one camera that was a fair distance from the stage. It had good zoom though. The footage isn’t the best but it’s not awful either. If you were ever a bootleg video trader back in the day you’d know what to expect. When the camera is zoomed in (which is most of the time) you can see the action good, but when it pulls all the way back it is pretty far and a bit blurry. The sound is pretty good with a couple of quick dropouts here and there but nothing major. Since this stands as the only document of their reunion and another one is impossible it’s way better than nothing.

The show is about 40 minutes long. Bonus footage consists of a “Sonic Reducer” video and Stiv Bators TV interview which was a pretty amazing relic to dig up. If you are a hardcore Dead Boys fan, you might want to pick this up as any footage of this band is a rare thing to find. If you’ve never heard the Dead Boys before you might want to start with picking up their records first as your initiation to the band but it is certainly good that this rare footage was preserved.

Order this DVD from amazon.com

MVD Visual 

Last week I went to see the Anti-Nowhere League at Reggie’s here in Chicago. The band’s first album, We Are… The League, ranks extremely high on my list of favorite punk rock albums of all time so I was very excited to get a chance to see the band play. I took the bus and walked in the rain and got to the club before the doors opened so I killed some time chatting with friends and perusing the record store above the club.

Everybody Out!

Everybody Out!

Everybody Out!

After a pretty good sized line of people went in I made my way to the front to try and get a good vantage point to shoot photos from. I staked out a spot and soon after Everybody Out! took the stage and started playing. Some members of the audience seemed to have arrived at the show pre-inebriated and started slamming and pushing into everyone around them and were generally pissing off everyone around them. Eventually they calmed down and as the band continued playing their energetic brand of UK punk, the crowd really took a liking to them and started going nuts. People were singing along and the band’s singer often hopped off stage and sang from inside the crowd. In between songs he would talk a lot but I swear you needed subtitles to understand a word that he was saying other than asking people to move up closer. The band were very entertaining overall and their set seemed to go by fairly quickly.

Flatfoot 56

Flatfoot 56

Flatfoot 56

Flatfoot 56

Flatfoot 56 were next. They are pretty popular around these parts quickly got the crowd going blasting out one anthemic punk song after the next. Their songs are often peppered with bagpipes played buy a guy wearing a kilt. They always put on a good show but I could do without the religious overtones and the needless Cro-Mags cover. The sad thing was the Cro-Mags cover got a bigger pop than the rest of their set, even though their original songs were far more enjoyable.

Anti-Nowhere League

Anti-Nowhere League

Anti-Nowhere League

As the crowd seemed to increase in size, the Anti-Nowhere League got on stage to find a pretty full room roaring with approval. They immediately started playing a song from their classic first album, then followed it up with another one. Animal announced to the crowd that they planned on playing pretty much all the old material because they know that’s what the people want to hear and he couldn’t have been more right!

Anti-Nowhere League

Anti-Nowhere League

Anti-Nowhere League

They played pretty much the entire, We Are… The League album! Songs like “Snowman”, “Woman”, “I Hate People” and others got the crowd going completely apeshit. People were jumping all over the place and the security couldn’t keep up with trying to prevent all the stage divers from climbing up on stage. They also played, “For You” which is easily one of the band’s best songs ever as well as a couple of newer songs. They sounded great and for an old-punker Animal looked to be in great shape and has held up a lot better than some of his peers.

Anti-Nowhere League

Anti-Nowhere League

Anti-Nowhere League

The crowd were so chaotic that I was forced to shoot from the front corner of the stage to avoid being crushed, or worse having my camera gear crushed. Every single song the band played sounded great and the crowd ate it all up and sang along. I was very happy to witness such a great performance of a band that has been around in one form or another for a quarter century! After a lengthy set which included two encores, the band left the stage and the crowd emptied out sweaty, tired and satisfied. If you missed this show you missed out on a really good time!

Larger photos and some additional shots can be found starting tomorrow on MXV’s flickr stream.

The “new season” of LFCM has officially kicked off with a freshly recorded, brand-new episode! We finally got together and recorded new shows and I have to say they are better than ever. This is the first episode to feature special guests, something that will become a regular feature starting with this season.

You can head over to the LFCM site and grab the new episode, or you can subscribe to the podcast through your favorite audio program right here. If you want to save yourself a click the new episode can be downloaded by right clicking here. Be sure and let us know what yo think and tell your friends!

Along with reissuing the classic D.I. album I posted about last week, Nickel and Dime records also reissued another O.C. punk album that has been long out of print on vinyl.

Adolescents - Brats in Battalions LP on clear vinyl

The second Adolescents album, which came out around 1986 has finally been reissued on vinyl. This was originally released on vinyl and cassette on the long defunct SOS Records. It never got the exposure that the band’s first album got and the lineup wasn’t exactly the same as that first album either. I can’t recall the story as to why the lineup change. It is a pretty solid album though and is easily worth owning and placing next to your copy of the “blue album”.

Nickel and Dime pressed up 1000 of these; 500 on clear vinyl (shown) and 500 on red vinyl. They did a quality job on the thing too. Want one for yourself? Check out the label’s website.