Sepultura / Destruction / Arsis @Ottobar 6/1/2015

I went to see Sepultura ($20) at the Ottobar for their 30th anniversary tour. I Saw Ariel, Gori, Renae and her dude, Jorge, newErin, Nathan and Alie, Marie and Rolland, and John H there. I wasn't sure what the turnout would be as Sepultura is a different band from when the Cavalera brothers were part of the band. I had never seen them before in any form and was also keen on seeing Starkill, Arsis, and Destruction!

Sepultura, with Attitude

Nothing More / Sleepwave / Guns Out at Sundown / Fatally Yours @ Ottobar 8/18/2014

I went to see Nothing More ($8) at the Ottobar (part of 98 Rock's Noise in the Basement). I met up with Josh and Erin, Kris, and Rock and Roll Experience guy.  Also met John T and Stephanie there.  This was going to be a long night, as I noticed the line to get in snaking out into the parking lot from the side door.

Enslaved/ Pallbearer/ Royal Thunder/ Ancient VVisdom @ Ottobar 1/31/2013

Went to see Enslaved last night at the Ottobar in Baltimore with Milla. We saw Ruby and Sarah S. and Heavy Metal Chris there. This show was pretty packed, I think there were about 350 people (including bands) total. I think the high point was during Pallbearer's set. People seemed to thin out a bit as Enslaved went on. we got there a little after 7.

Skeletonwitch @ Ottobar 9/29/2012

Went to see Skeletonwitch @ the Ottobar in godforsakenBaltimore with John last night. Got the hookup from a local band for tix. We got there a little late so didn't get to hear what they sounded like live, but the dude Sean was pretty cool. Parking lot was pretty full when we got there around 8:30. Saw Ruby there a little before Skeletonwitch came on and the Spanish guys who were at Def Leppard/Scorpions/various black metal shows.

Bang Tango @ Empire 6/27/2012

Bang Tango @ Empire 6/27/2012

I went to see Bang Tango last night @ Jaxx/Empire. Max 20 people there. Including me, and maybe some people with the band. I think this was probably the worst attended show (besides Anvil- also at Jaxx) I've been to. King Belvedere, a local band from MD opened for them. They sounded alright. Kind of like a cross between Dangerous Toys, AC/DC, and Sebastian Bach. Nothing amazing, but nothing horrible. It was pretty rough, looking at the crowd (or lack thereof) for Bang Tango, but what could you really expect for a Wednesday night show, not too much promotion, and a um..D level hair band (not to say that I don't love Bang Tango, cause I totally do. Hell I came and paid my $15 to see them!).

Before and as King Belvedere was playing I was sitting at the bar, talking to the cute, busty bartender. And then some guys come up and ask for shots. And I noticed that "hey you're that  guy from that band I came to see!" And I got a quick horrible picture of me and Joe Leste. Not a groundbreaking achievement, but still cool. For us die hard Bang Tango fans. About 5 minutes later, Bang Tango took the stage!

Joe and the band sounded very good, and they had a way better setlist than they did at M3. Joe sounded better also, his usual raspy self. He def had been drinking, and his on stage banter ranged from asking for shots from the busty bartender to her rack to why no Beautiful Creatures songs. one other vocal fan said something about them not playing Dressed up Vamp or Dancin' on Coals (both were highlights for me), and then Joe and Co. played them. I don't know if they were going to play those songs anyway (try finding other people who go to Bang Tango shows and post setlists!), but that seemed pretty cool. Their bass player was def the same one who's been with them for a while, I couldn't really recall about the guitarist or drummer tho. No complaints really sonically. It sounded good to me and I banged my head accordingly. Me and a couple other BT fans were the most energetic.

At one point, Joe announced that they were going to play a song by another band. I shout "is it Beautiful Creatures?" He said NO and proceeded to joke that they would have to play songs from [the guitarists' old band I  presume] if they did that. A bit later, he pointed at my UFO shirt and rambled about talking/drinking/sitting with Phil Mogg. Cool. I do recall them doing a UFO cover (Lights Out) at some previous show, as a side note.

Look, I enjoyed the show, but it seems to me that Jaxx/Empire would loose money on a show like this. Why didn't Bang Tango get on some package deal with another hair band- they would draw at least double the people I would think. On the way out, the advertized $20 Great White tickets ($25 presell, $30 DOS). So I grabbed one (UPDATE: due to the power outages and such, the show was canceled :(  ). The guys in the band were very gracious and I think they really appreciated people coming out to support them. I wish more people came out :/  I wonder how the Ottobar show (the next day) went. 

Bang Tango had some shirts, a new CD ($12, maybe I shoulda got that one?), and a few more items.

Photos:
http://metalcowboy.tumblr.com/post/26424800035/stevesnack-6-27-2012-bang-tango-i-saw-bang
http://metalcowboy.tumblr.com/post/26425033257/stevesnack-6-27-2012-bang-tango-ii-bang-tango
http://metalcowboy.tumblr.com/post/26425007796/stevesnack-6-27-2012-bang-tango-iii-bang-tango

Set List

• Ready to Go
• Attack of Life 
• Love Injection
• Dick in the System
• Our Way
• 20th Century Boy (T. Rex cover)
• Bring On The World
• Dressed Up Vamp
• Dancin' on Coals
• Soul to Soul
• Breaking Up a Heart of Stone
• Live Life
• Highway to Hell (AC/DC cover) 
• Don't stop
• Someone Like You

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bang-tango/2012/empire-west-springfield-va-2bdf78a6.html

Aesthetic Perfection @ Ottobar 6/10/2012

 Went with John n Kate to Ottobar to see Industrial band Aesthetic Perfection. They had X-RX from Germany with them, too. Got there around 9, paid my $12, and X-RX took the stage about 5 minutes later. There was a decent crowd there, not too packed, but decently attended. about 50 or so people? Ottobar seemed smaller than I remembered for Winger years ago. The parking lot seemed way easier and less sketchy this time, too. There was someone sitting out there, monitoring it too.

X-RX I was only familiar with maybe a couple songs (Stage 2), but I thought they sounded great. they played mostly from their new CD ($17- purchased). Songs "Push it" and "Blood On the Dance Floor" were not covers, much to our dismay/chagrin.  Crowd was getting into it, a lot of crowd participation (hey! hey!)  but not as energetic when Aesthetic Perfection came on. X-RX was 2 guys doing live vox over their computers playing the music. They were also good at saying what the song titles were :3

Aesthetic Perfection I also only recognized a couple songs, also played a bit from their album ($13, purchased). I thought X-RX sounded heavier and better, but they were still good. They had a couple plastic flamingos on stage for some reason. Aesthetic Perfection was a vocalist and some live drummer. Pretty cool, the live drums augmented the sound. Their set started out slow, IMO, but picked up speed. People were moving a lot during their set, so I guess they were a hit? I enjoyed their set. The vocalist also had a sweet tattoo of the Universal Studios monsters (Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein's Monster, etc.) on one arm. So badass.


The set times seemed about 15 minutes earlier than the advertized times. ex: Aesthetic Perfection was to go on at 10:30-11:30, but I think they were on around 10:15- 11:15 (def stopped around 11:10 , 11:15). So on a Sunday THAT was nice. I was expecting things to last until like 1 or so.

They had CDs for the opener we missed, shirts ($?) and CD for X-RX ($17 damn), Aesthetic Perfection ($6- single, $13 album, $17 delux album w/ bonus CD of remixes), - a Patch ($5), shirts (?). Small but decent merch selection. Kind of wished they had more CDs, but glad they didn't cause I woulda had to get those too.

Overall a very good show, oddball day for it, but glad I went. My neck was sore the next day from headbanging. Legs fine since they were mostly stationary LOLz

People Uploaded videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6GeL6aEa4E&feature=youtu.be (X-RX)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXmtVQpxcpo&feature=youtu.be (Aesthetic Perfection)
You can see Kate in the shadows on the right on the X-RX one.

Pictures:
http://stevesnack.tumblr.com/post/25183199661/aesthetic-perfection-ottobar-6-10-2012-i-x-rx
http://stevesnack.tumblr.com/post/25183302488/aesthetic-perfection-ottobar-6-10-2012-ii
http://metalcowboy.tumblr.com/post/25183458138/aesthetic-perfection-ottobar-6-10-2012-iii-note

X-RX
Escalate
Activate the machinez
Hard bass hard soundz
Hit the drums
Kein Herz
Blood on dance floor
The Update
Push it
Stage 2


Aesthetic Perfection

All Beauty Destroyed
A Nice Place to Visit
The Devil's in the Details
Inhuman
One and Only
The Little Death
Hit the Streets ( Sounded like La Grange or Spirit in Sky)
The Siren
The Ones
The Great Depression
Spit it out
Living the Wasted Life