The Pretty Reckless Live at The Bowery Ballroom- NYC 12/13/22

On December 13. 2022, I attended the last of three sold-out nights of The Pretty Reckless (TPR) at The Bowery Ballroom in New York City. This was a smaller and more intimate shows that ones that they usually play. As they are a native NYC band, they wanted to play some for their hometown fans. This is a concert that TPR had tried to play multiple times since their excellent album Death by Rock N' Roll had come out back in 2021. But, between COVID and bunch of other shit, they had to cancel and reschedule a bunch of times. Until, they finally got what at first was two nights. With both of those sold-out, they added a third night, which in turn sold-out, as well! 

I actually missed it, due to a myriad of reasons. But, for once, in these last couple of years, shit turned in my favor, and I found a really good deal on a ticket for the Tuesday night show. And, so I went to see one of my personal favorite bands for a third time (fourth if you count the time I saw Taylor Momsen play a little acoustic show in Best Buy in Union Square, NY).

They got onstage a little bit after 9PM and rocked the house, hard! At first, lead signer Taylor Momsen came on with a biker stage. But, it didn't take long for her to reveal her sexy one piece dress. She looked gorgeous, but that goes without saying. Her voice sounded incredible. And, as she always does she ruled that stage. Energetic, charismatic, sexy, and badass, she is a true rock star. Backed up by her immensely talented bandmates, they played rocker after rocker. The audience was red hot and loved everything the band did. They left and came back for the encore, at which point Momsen donned a plaid shirt perfect to play their kick ass cover to Soundgarden's classic "Loud Love". By the time the show ended, we all had had a fucking killer time!

Setlist:

Death by Rock and Roll

Since You're Gone

Only Love Can Save Me Now

And So It Went

Make Me Wanna Die

Turning Gold

Sweet Things

Witches Burn

My Medicine

My Bones

Going to Hell

Heaven Knows

Take Me Down

Encore:

Loud Love (Soundgarden cover) 

Rockin' in the Free World (Neil Young cover)

Fucked Up World

Did of you guys catch them on either of these three nights? Or did you catch them on another part of this tour? Let me know in the comments section below.

Also, I would like to wish you all a very Merry (and warm!) Christmas/ happy holidays, whatever it is you may celebrate!

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Cannibal Corpse/ Thy Art Is Murder Live at Warsaw - Brooklyn, NY 11/22/19

On November 22, 2019. death metal legends Cannibal Corpse played a fucking killer show at the Warsaw in Brooklyn, New York and yours truly was on-hand to bring you all the brutal details.

When I got there, it was mere minutes before deathcore masters Thy Art Is Murder came onstage, From the get-go they played a savage and merciless set. Full of energy and brutality, they had the fans and the pit going. At about two or three songs into the set, their singer, Chris "C.J." McMahon, got off the stage and went into the crowd. It seems as their were problems with him hearing things well. The result was awesome, as a pit formed around him as he played the rest of the entire set among us fans. This was a surprise and one of the coolest moments in a concert, that I have ever seen, in person!

Setlist:

Death Squad Anthem

Make America Hate Again

Fur and Claw

Slaves Beyond Death

Holy War

No Absolution

Human Target

The Son of Misery

New Gods

Reign of Darkness

Puppet Master

As the time drew closer for Cannibal Corpse to hit the stage you could feel the anticipation of the fans, and then when they hit the place went fucking nuts. Throughout their set there was a sick pit and people flying as they crowd surfed. The fans let their love for these legends be fucking known! 

And, Cannibal Corpse more than proved that after all these years, they are still without a shadow of a doubt one of the greatest death metal acts in all of death metal. As they gave us a heavy, unrelenting, and brutal performance.

It was also really fun, especially with their front-man George " Corpsegrinder" Fisher, who is cool as fucking hell. He and the rest of the band a have shit load of energy, headbanging hard as fuck. I don't think anyone can keep up up with Fisher, least of all his sick-ass windmils. Even, though he dared us to keep up with him, as they ripped through the classic "I Cum Blood"!

They played both classics and newer songs, off of their killer and most recent release Red Before Black. If it was up the audience they would've played all fucking night. But, alas, all good things must come to an end. Still, even though Fisher told the audience that the brutal, and my favorite song of theirs, "Stripped, Raped, and Strangled" was the last tune, he lied! Nope, it was actually the classic "Hammer Smashed Face"! What a killer way to end a killer show!

Setlist:

Code of the Slashers

Only One Will Die

Red Before Black

Scourge of Iron

Staring Through the Eyes of the Dead

The Wretched Spawn

Devoured by Vermin

Unleashing the Bloodthirsty

Gutted

Kill or Become

A Skull Full of Maggots

Evisceration Plague

Firestorm Vengeance

Death Walking Terror

I Cum Blood

Make Them Suffer

Stripped, Raped and Strangled

Hammer Smashed Face

Where any of you at this show? Or did catch Cannibal Corpse on this tour? If so, let me know in the comments section below!

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Rivers of Nihil/ Entheos Live at Saint Vitus- Brooklyn, NY 04/06/19

On April 6, 2019, Rivers of Nihil/ Entheos had a sold out and truly killer show at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, NY, and I was on hand to bring you all the brutal details! Both bands played, in entirety, their last releases resulting in an absolute ass kicker of a night!

Entheos, the first band I got to catch on this night, is a progressive death metal act comprised of members of various other metal bands. I have been a huge fan of them since their excellent debut album The Infinite Nothing . Their second and latest release is the complex, yet groove laden Dark Future (2017). It is an album that gets better and better with every listening, and one which they played all of, on this night.

The band totally decimates live! They are fierce and superbly talented, playing music that is incredibly technical with true proficiency. Singer Chaney Crabb is one of the best vocalists in extreme metal, today. She has an awesome sounding variety of screams, which drive the musically brutality further (even more so live!). And, she has one hell of stage presence with a ton of energy to spare. The audience responded in spades with a brutal as fucking hell mosh pit!

 

Up next were the headliners, Rivers of Nihil. Finally the band that had been the opening acting for countless of other bands are headlining. This is thanks to the modern masterwork that is Where Owls Know My Name. This absolutely amazing and spectacular work of technical death metal made mine and many others lists of the best metal of last year. Like the Entheos album, it, too, was played in its entirety om this night (as it has been during this whole tour). They even bought their saxophone player which makes them sound and look so unique in the death metal world.




Rivers it is not hyper-boil when I say that Rivers is one of the very best live acts in metal, today. They also inspired one of the greatest pits that I have ever been in or seen, and perhaps the greatest ever in a small venue. It is very likely the best pit that Saint Vitus has ever had, in fact, every single person there that night was a part of it. There was even a fucking wall of death! Your intrepid reporter has bruises all over my right leg, and I can fucking tell that it was well worth them! Why? Because, I had an absolute motherfucking blast at the show.

And, that's the thing about Rivers. For despite how unquestionably heavy they are, they're also a lot of fun. And, it is clear that they, themselves are having a good time. Despite the complexity of their music, they never come off as pretentious. The fact is that everybody, from fan to band to press, had an awesome time.

   

 This fan got onstage with both Entheos and Rivers of Nihil and sang with both band's respective signers. 

In all, this ranks as one of my favorite live shows that I have ever attended. If you are a fan of either band or love extreme metal, you need to catch Rivers of Nihil and Entheos, the first chance that you get!

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