Iced Earth / Sabaton / Revamp 2014 Tour

I love going to shows at Empire. It's just a shame so many tours have bypassed it in favor of Baltimore since the new owners have taken over.

Very true. I'll be going to the Fates Warning show the day after Thanksgiving. The only other show I've seen there this year was the Pain of Salvation/Kingcrow show this past May.

It seems that the new owners have been booking a lot less metal acts these days. Not necessarily a bad thing from a business standpoint, but from a metal fan it's not as good.
 
Never been a fan of Jaxx.....stopped making the trip from Raleigh for shows there long before the name change, hated the place.

Richmond, Charlotte, maybe Ashville...that is the extent of my road trips these days and even then, just too much cost to take two days off of work, hotel and travel for a show.
 
It's not impossible they simply had an off night or maybe they'd caught a tour plague, or some such.

That's an extremely good point. I'm just so used to the entire band racing around even the smallest stage all show to think that they could have an off-night. :)

That's what I really like about Sabaton, though - the energy you see in the Woodstock DVD playing for half a million fans is exactly the same as I saw in Dallas with 75 fans. And Joakim has a long memory - I mentioned the Dallas show when I met him at PP, and he remembered the small crowd, the unseasonably warm night for February, and how into the show the crowd was.
 
Time for a New Orleans rant:

I can echo the feelings about New Orleans being a complete black hole. We used to have a decent metal club called the Hangar. They were starting to poke and prod people about bands like Symphony X and Iced Earth. Main issue was it is in a really rough part of town. Shows there werent well attended. Just when that was happening, the owner got arrested and the club was shut down because a wrestling event was held there and it's technically a bar, minors were let in.

We have a small hole in the wall that books extreme metal shows (Watain just played, Skeletonwitch is coming in January) but that stuff really isnt my cup of tea.

House of Blues has been RUINED by live nation. Every now and then something suprises me, we got the Nightwish tour in 2012, and luckily was one of the dates with Floor. Lacuna Coil came through in 2012 on their headline run. It's taken 10 years, but Trivium will be here in a week. It's their first time playing in New Orleans. That is unbelievable to me.

There is a new/renovated theater that just opened called the Civic. I just saw Coheed and Cambria there. Pretty much all shows are geared towards hipster kids. This would be a perfect venue for Dream Theater to play, however I am not holding my breath. They havent been here since 2000.

Iced Earth was last here in 2003-2004 on the Glorious Burden tour. Place was packed. House of Blues here just books smaller acts and tribute bands, it's a smaller HOB so I think the companies focus is in larger markets with larger venues.

The lack of a decent rock radio station means I have to go to Biloxi, MS to see bands like Shinedown, Godsmack. Even Volbeat played there as part of a festival (I skipped due to horrible rain that day)

We used to get a decent show about once a month. The music business has changed, bands don't tour like they used to and now are looking for a guaranteed payday. I even was in touch with a local promoter who said he couldn't book Nonpoint because they were asking for too much money.

New Orleans is indeed a black hole for rock and metal.
 
Yeah I don't get it, about the HoB. Every metal show I've seen there was packed. IE in 03, In Flames in 09, Nightwish in 08-09?, and a few others I don't immediately recall. They were all great full shows.
 
Only the singer and maybe 1 of the guitarists put forth any effort on stage. Now, this was before the split. Things might have improved. To PP quality though? The audience was bored where I was standing at Club Soda. Especially the guy who must have bought $100 of Sabaton merch.

Never seen someone so deflated.

Club Soda in Montreal? I was there (and the night after in Quebec City) and never thought Sabaton looked bored. They were an excellent live band, as it was the case all the times I saw them. I guess we didn't see the same show...
 
I was really, really, shocked that they booked this one at Slims considering the linup is like a heavyweight bout with great undercards. Club Red in Phoenix can hold over 600, and will likely sell out. Iced Earth and Symphony X played to a packed Marquee Theater, which holds 1200+

Anyway, gonna see if work will send me to Phoenix on May 1, and then catch both dates. :)

Yeah, Slims only holds 550, and the show is on a Saturday. It's going to be packed and sweltering hot in there. They should have booked this show into the Fillmore, Regency or even the Warfield. Even the DNA Lounge would have been better. Tickets are only $26 too. Already bought mine.
 
To be honest I haven't seen Zebra playing shows in a while. I actually just looked they just played a school fair in Chalmette.

One eyed Jacks is still around, but it seems like they book less and less as well. I think they make too much money as a dance club/80's night type place.

From 2009-2010 Exhorder was active here. I got to see them about 5 times. It was unreal.

This is some awesome footage. I am in the video a few times, best moment is at 3:51, im to the right of the bald dude (my buddy Jay) head down, I had caught a stick and was going nuts \m/ These dudes should have blown up.

 
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I was really, really, shocked that they booked this one at Slims considering the linup is like a heavyweight bout with great undercards. Club Red in Phoenix can hold over 600, and will likely sell out. Iced Earth and Symphony X played to a packed Marquee Theater, which holds 1200+

Anyway, gonna see if work will send me to Phoenix on May 1, and then catch both dates. :)

Are you sure about Iced Earth and SX playing the Marquee together? I distinctly remember being pissed that they skipped Phoenix. Las Vegas was the closest that I remember. Now SX did play the Marquee as a headliner. It was originally supposed to be them Soilwork, and Nevermore but Soilwork dropped off the tour and we know what happened to Nevermore. Iced Earth last played the Marquee opening for Volbeat and they have headlined there but that was back right after they played ProgPower.

A lot of shows are being booked at Club Red now that the Clubhouse is no more. I'm ok with that though as it's a pretty decent place. You're right about the capacity being close to 600-700 though.