Eyes Set To Kill- 8/6/17- Webster Hall: The Final Shows

On August 8, 2017, I was present for the final metal shows to be held at the legendary Webster Hall in New York City, before it undergoes renovation (it closes tomorrow, Thurs. the 10th). One of the performers, I had the pleasure to catch and report on also happens to be one of my favorites acts: Eyes Set To Kill (ESTK).

I have watched ESTK perform here on two other occasions so it felt fitting that I would catch them on one of the venue's final shows. Led by the always beautiful and extremely talented Alexia Rodriguez, they are always a fun, energetic, and kick ass live band. This night was no different. As they always do, ESTK gave us one hell of a fucking performance!

ESTK began the set with their most recent single the catchy ''Break''. They played a good mix of different eras in the band's history. The set consisted of two songs came from their excellent last album Masks: ''Infected'' and ''Little Liar''. They also played one more new track in the form of the ass kicking ''Survive''. To close off the set, they played two older releases, the classic tracks ''Broken Frames'' and the crushing fan favorite ''Darling''.

Throughout their set the band had the crowd rocking, signing, jumping, and plain rocking out to their kick ass brand of hard rock/ metal/ post-hardcore. I was completely caught up in the moment as I always tend to be at their shows.

Webster Hall will be missed. While, we don't know what the venue will be like when it returns, there is no doubt that we were part of history on this night. And, I am very happy that it involved one of my favorite bands of all time, and that I was there to experience and capture it for all of you.

Where any of you at the show? What are some of your favorite bands that you saw perform at Webster Hall? What are some of your favorite memories from the venue? Let me know in the comments section below.

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The Return of Charetta- Gramercy Theatre NYC 1/13/17

This past Jan, Friday the 13th was definitely not a day of bad luck for fans of hard rock and metal in New York City. In fact, it was a night of fucking awesome luck as Charetta returned, after not having played for a couple of years, as part of the Bound by Substance show at Gramercy Theatre. As a matter of fact, I was at one of their last shows when they opened up for Flyleaf back in Oct, 17, 2014. At that very show, their bassist Rich Mollo played what was then his last show with them. Low and behlod, he is back with them and played on this, their big return. You can see him in the pic below playing the red colored bass guitar.

Now I should mention that I have been a HUGE fan of the band since I first caught them earlier that very year, and declared them to be one of the best, if not THE best, opening act that I have ever seen. I firmly stand by that statement, to this very day. In fact, they are one of New York's best rock bands, period! And, this night further cemented that in stone!

Before they came, their new video for "We Will Survive" off of their latest album, Fate Strikes Twice, had its world premiere. The video has some splatter FX and the horror fan in me loved it! Angelina DelCarmen, the band's beautiful, extremely sweet, and down to earth signer, would later tell me that shooting the video and working with the gore FX opened up her love for horror in a way she hadn't felt before. This makes it extra awesome!
You can see the video directly below:

From then the band came onstage and rocked the fucking house! They played a bunch of songs that spanned the history of the band. Included among them many of my favorites like "This Is Your Fall", "The Apocalypse Is Here", the beautiful and moving ballad "Not Made of Stone"', "I'm not Your Bitch" which is my personal favorite track by them, and many more. We, the audience, sang along to their songs and had a total blast!

And, that's cause the band just sounded tight as hell; as they were killing it onstage. The music was rocking and lead by the beautiful vocals of Angelina, who might just be the best signer in hard rock music that you haven't heard (unless you have, in which case you know what I am talking about!) Charetta is just such an awesome and kick ass live experience and truly deserve to have all the success in the world.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 In one of the coolest moments of their set, Angelina came out in a trench-coat for one of the songs.

For the final song of the night, the band played "We Will Survive". That is, of course, the video that was played at the start of their set, which bought the concert to full circle. Angelina came out in the blood-spattered outfit that she actually wore in the video! That was just so fucking cool and insured an awesome ending to one hell of a show!

Welcome back, Charetta, you were missed by your fans! We are so glad to have you back. Here is to many more shows!

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New Years Day with Eyes Set to Kill at NYC 10-16-15

This past Friday, Oct. 16, 2015, New Years Day hit Santos Party House in New York City as part of their first ever headlining tour. The result was a kick ass show that was fun as hell!

There were a couple of opening acts, but they had to cut their performances short, due to a 10PM curfew enforced by the venue. Hence, I didn't catch them all or all of their sets, save for that of one of my personal favorite bands, Eyes Set To Kill.

This actually marks my now third time seeing the band live making them the band that I have seen the most live. And, I would see them a million times again! Despite being limited to only playing a twenty minute set, the beautiful and talented Rodriguez sisters, signer and guitarist Alexia and bassist Anissa, and company killed it (pun not intended) like only they can on set. They played songs mostly of off their last release Masks (an album I picked as one of the best of 2013), as well as a new song off of the album they are currently working on.

 

 

 

 

As always they are very fan friendly and love talking and taking pics with them, and signing autographes. I met them before and after their set and fans were always coming up them. One of them even gave them some really cool drawing that he did of them.

 

 

Eventually it was time for the headliners, New Years Day, to come onstage. Now I have been a huge fan of theirs for a while, as I really love their hard rock/ alternative metal sound, as well as their stunning and amazing front-woman, Ash Costello. Though, I had wanted to see them in concert before, for one reason or another it just didn't work out. Thank the fucking rock gods that this time it did.

From the moment they came on stage to their return to close off the night with "Angel Eyes" off of Victim to Villain, they simply played great music and seemed to be having as awesome a time playing it as we were having listening to it. The song list came from that aforementioned album, as well as Epidemic, their EP from last year. Of course, they also played songs of their brand new album Malevolence, which just came out this month. This is their best work yet, and I can't stop listening to it, since I got it at their show.

New Years Day are  phenomenal band, and I think they are blowing up. You really need to see them live since they sound every bit as good as they do on their recodings. And, it's very clear that they love their fans. So, be sure to check them out when they come to your town for this tour!

 

 

 

 At one point Ash asked her fans to put their middle fingers up.

 

 

 

 

 

Ash is a genuine sweetheart and even more beautiful in person. I had the pleasure of meeting her outside of Santos Party House. She really seemed happy to meet and talk to everyone. This pretty much put that stamp of extra awesomeness on the night made it totally fucking epic!

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