Toast journeys behind the Zion Curtain to see the Maidens

[Mr Toast]

I'm pretty excited about seeing the Maidens yet again, and can't wait to hear the new songs...

I'm currently behind the Zion Curtain (i.e. Utah), and thought I'd share some tidbits of my vacation...

Day 1 (Wednesday 4/30) - Leave work at 5 AM (stayed late to take care of a couple of things), pack, grab paycheck out of mail and cash it at 9am, drive to Nashville, catch flight out of Nashville at 11 am, hang out at Kansas City Airport (MCI) for about 4 hours (flight was a half hour late), Arrive in SLC at 6:30 PM (mom and little sis pick me up), finally get to sleep at 11 PM (so I was up for 36 hours straight, with some brief moments of sleep on the planes)...

Day 2 (Thursday 5/1) - Run up to get stuff to fix a leaky sink, drive up to check out some property we have, scream down to Salt Lake to make Katagory V's rehearsal at 6 PM. This was a dream come true for me, as the singer wasn't at this rehearsal (I'm a fan of good instrumental work, and while the KatV singer is good, it isn't often you get a chance to hear just the playing without the vocals on top - well except for the whole karaoke thing...). This gave me a chance to hear some great playing by the KatV guys, and also some of their new (not yet released) material. Hang out afterwords and discuss music, and play some CDs the guys haven't had a chance to hear yet (Hourglass, Redemption, Dragonspoon). All in all a great night of fun - these guys are very laid back and play off of each others stage humor quite well...

Found out that The Heavy Metal Shop (music store) is presenting the Maidens at the Zephyr (which explains a lot - myself and the KatV guys are still kind of suprised to see the Maidens playing SLC - and at the Zephyr no less!). Note to self - if I see Kevin (Heavy Metal Shop storeowner) at the gig, thank him profusely for continuing to support the SLC metal scene all these years (he opened in 1988 as I remember).

Saw the full page ad for the gig in SLUG magazine (SLUG stands for Salt Lake UnderGround). Both nights should be well attended, as the Zephyr has regular crowds on Friday and Saturday, in addition to all the Metalheads that will be appearing out of the woodwork.


(continued after the Friday gig)

 

[CrankYanker]

Thanks for sharing the travelogue Toast! Look forward to the next installment!

 

[Mr Toast]

Day 3 (Friday 5/2)- The Maidens arrive!
I managed to get a decent amount of sleep, and blond cat (as I affectionately call my brother's cat with the extra digits) kept me warm all night - he's definitely a mooch for attention...

I had a personal extended family matter kind of ruin my day (won't discuss it), and I visited my dad's grave for the first time since we buried him two years ago. I had not seen the headstone yet, and it gave me a chance to reflect and recenter myself a little bit. I then took care of a couple of errands and got ready to head down to SLC.

I stopped by The End Records (Dustin of Katagory V was kind enough to schmooze me in) and picked up a few CDs. It was very nice of them to let me peruse their bins - as they are a distributor, not a retail store.

The End Records is only a couple of blocks away from The Zephyr, so I headed there next. I thought the show started at 9, but it was actually 10 so I listened to my new CDs to pass the time. When I saw the gals and the truck pull up, I proceeded to help with loadout and chatted briefly before they started getting ready for the set.

The Zephyr is two stories, with balconies surrounding the lower level on three sides. This gave me some great photo opportunities (assuming I managed to take some good pics), and I took numerous photos as usual.

The opening act was Thunderfist, a local punk rock outfit (kind of an odd fit, but this is Utah after all...). For a punk band, they were not bad... not my scene though so I'm not the best judge.

The gals took the stage next, and by this time the crowd was fairly large (I would guess close to 400). Unlike some other gigs I've been to where it takes the crowd a couple of songs to get really psyched, the Maidens had the crowd very impressed by the end of the first song. By the time they played the last few songs, a good portion of the crowd was singing along as well as jumping, cheering, and generally being very enthusiastic. It was very awesome hearing the crowd singing hallowed along with Jen... I was at the back on the balcony and you could hear the balcony and the lower level singing over Jen's voice!

Songs included The Rime (of course), Die With Your Boots On, Flight Of Icarus, Aces High, Powerslave, and The Number Of The Beast among others (set was about 2 hours long I think).

I must say that this was the most energetic Utah crowd I have ever seen in a club setting (most metal shows I remember at Utah clubs are a little more sedate), and the gals were definitely charged up by the crowd (despite being a little tired from jet lag and such). They played awesomely, which was only made better by the awesome sound man/system at The Zephyr.

Mark commented on how well mannered the audience was, even while sharing their excitement loudly with the gals! I did manage to get a shot of one of the guys in the crowd with an Eddie tattoed on his shoulder (hope that pic comes out OK!).

Oh, and since I was 'with the band' (taking numerous pics) I got my first free drink (I drink sprite) compliments of the house!!! Well, it was a zen moment for me anyways...

All in all definitely a kickass gig. The sound was (IMHO) about as good as Hogues, but the crowd was just awesome!!!

Memorable moment after the show was a gal who plays drums who was completely overwhelmed by Linda's drumming skill, and she asked me if Linda was nice - as she definitely wanted to talk to her. I told her Linda was extremely nice (all the Maidens are really), and she got in line to chat with the gals at the merch table. I think the gals were signing/shmoozing for about an hour after the set...

The Maidens will be doing a different set tomorrow, and I definitely look forward to seeing the Saturday crowd - now that the word is quickly spreading through the valley that the Maidens do not suck, and are definitely the next best thing to Iron Maiden (In my and many in the crowd's opinion)!!! More tomorrow!

 

[smylex]

Please make sure the girls are well cared for. If the crowd is being as well mannered as everyone says, I guess I'm not needed after all.

I'm off to Danzig tonight. :Spin:

 

[Snausages]

Our beloved Maidens do kicketh mush assage eh? Kinda makes me wish I coulda been there, I love to see the Maidens in command of a crowd!

 

[JazzMX5]

Wassup, Mr Toasty?

The crazy Brit here.

Before the next instalment of the excellent travelogue, I'd like to say that:

1) I knew the Maidens would rock (Linda's drumming heritage alone is enough testament to that). And I honestly think describing them as 'the next best thing to Iron Maiden' actually sells them a bit short!

2) A previous commitment sadly kept me away from Friday's gig, for which (after tonight's showing) I will never forgive myself.

3) Saturday's gig (from which I've just returned home!) was a fucking BLINDER!!!

4) The Maidens were all - all - as lovely and cool as could be hoped for. In my traditional hanging-around manner, I was the last 'proper punter' kicked out of the door, after much (slightly nervous, I must admit) schmoozing with the ladies - and after photos courtesy of Mr Toast, all five Maidens signing a somewhat bedraggled 'Killers' all-over print t-shirt (with suitably adjusted band logo!), Linda sharing some memories of Phantom Blue circa 1993 (as well as an incident with a certain Mr Clive Burr) and being kind enough to sign my CD of 'Built To Perform', and the fearless Jen actually doing a passable British accent while poking fun (and making me promise to post here - now you come over to IM.com when the board's up again, Jen!), Mr Toast (who, might I add, is THE MAN) snagged me a Maidens long-sleeve, gratis. Kudos and thanks to you sir! By the way, sorry for all the parentheses...

5) Unknown though it was to some, the amount of luminaries in the 'hizzouse' was rather stunning to me. I kinda got landed with representing the real (and absent) Iron Maiden, while we had of course our dear Maidens, certain members of which are also in Phantom Blue (so PB was technically there, I'd say), as well as the ever-awesome Dustin and Curtis from Katagory V, plus Ryan who is formerly of KatV. Works for me! Utah Jazz? Pah. Utah METAL!

6) PLEASE COME BACK SOON, MAIDENS!!! You rock!

Umm, that's about it for right now. It's ten past three in the morning and I'm still running on adrenaline! I wonder if the Maiden (singular) board is back up yet...

 

[Mr Toast]

Day 4 - Hanging with Katagory V at Maidens gig take 2...

I spent most of the day relaxing with the family, and (as is apparently usual for me) arrived a couple of hours early to the gig. I didn't want to wander in too early, so I passed the time listening to Gamma Ray and Angra. Around 8:45 I wandered in and Dustin and Ruined Luna had already arrived. They told me the Maidens had already done their sound check and went back to the hotel, and were pretty impressed with just the soundcheck...

Thunderfist (same punk band from last night) started a little late (They had set up very early, but I think the sound guy was chasing down a problem which delayed their start). This was good, as it gave me that much more time to swap stories/generally hang with Dustin and Stacee(?), Ruined Luna (who is a huge Phantom Blue Fan), and Curtis. Thunderfist sounded good for a punk band (still not my scene so I am not a good judge), and spoke very highly of the Maidens at the end of their set. They of course saw the Maidens on Friday and were suitably wowed...

Once again, I assumed camera duties, and when the Maidens took the stage I was in my usual form, darting all over the club taking pictures from every conceivable angle. My overzealous enthusiasm meant I stepped on a couple of more toes this time while working my way back and forth through the tight crowd (my profuse apologies to these people - again!), something I need to work on a bit.

The club had more people this time, and (guessing by the hand count when Jen asked), it looked like about a one fourth to one third of the crowd had been at the show last night as well. The Maidens had the crowd on song 1 - and I was very suprised to see the crowd singing along already with the second song (Killers). The crowd was again very rowdy yet very well mannered, which made the Zephyr and Mark's job of keeping things under control almost unnecessary.

During the middle of Wasted Years (I think it was this song), one of Linda's cymbal stands (rental kit - I haven't seen her new drums yet...) worked loose and swung down on the drum kit, but Mark was there IMMEDIATELY repositioning it whilst Linda just worked around it until it was fixed - she will never cease to impress me with her professionalism behind the drums!!!

Ruined Luna already posted his glowing review of the show, so I'll let his words speak for the Maidens' skill. Besides, we all here already know just how awesome they are!!!

At some point, Mark pointed out to me that some guy dressed as Gene Simmons in Kiss Makeup walking amongst the crowd, so I immediately took three pictures of him (one at the bar no less). I hope those pictures come out, and wish he had stuck around after the gig so I could have taken a picture of him with Wanda (she's a Kiss fan as I remember).

As my memory for setlists is usually spotty, I did get the setlist from Mark this time around.
Number Of the Beast
Die With Your Boots On
Killers
The Trooper
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Caught Somewhere In Time
Wasted Years
Flight Of Icarus
Children Of The Damned
2 Minutes To Midnight
The Clairvoyant
The Evil That Men Do
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Run To The Hills
setlist ends here, but the gals decide to do one more...
Aces High

So They didn't open with Aces this time, and almost didn't play it at all (except that someone in the crowd did request it when Jen asked them, holding the microphone out so we could hear the requests).

The Zephyr management was very impressed and enthusiastic about the gals. With the economy being down, they had been struggling a bit (as all clubs are really), so the size of the crowds at both shows and the bar receipts were very much appreciated! Of course, they have asked the gals to come back to Utah soon... Note to Dustin - start schmoozing ownership so that we have a metal band (Kat V hint hint?) open for the Maidens next time!

The sound was very good. As Jen's voice has such a high range, a small part of that range was a bit softer than I would have liked. But we could still hear her very clearly, and the guitars, bass, and drums were mixed very well. The Zephyr traditionally doesn't do metal shows, but overall the sound guy handled very well the wide sound mixture that the Maidens' produce. Hogues still holds the cake for best sound in my book, but the sound guy here wasn't far off that mark at all...

The Maidens have had larger crowds (Oregon anyone?), but this is the largest crowd I've seen them in front of, and the crowd was was definitely supercharged. I think they spent about an hour and a half this time signing autographs after the set, as the line was quite long!

Note to Ruined Luna - you are most welcome and I was glad to get you the shirt! Hope to see you again Tuesday at Lacuna Coil!!! Dustin/Stacee(?) - I didn't get a chance to hang afterwords, as you headed out right after the gig, but again I'll see you two on Tuesday!!! Thanks for the CD recommends!

And to Wanda, Linda, JoJo, Sara,Jen, Mark, and Bill - thank you very much for letting me help out. I was as happy as a kitten with a ball of string the entire time! I look forward to our next encounter!!!

I'll relax a bit for the next two days. I am extremely excited about seeing Lacuna Coil here in the States on Tuesday...

 

[Mr Toast]

Day 5 & 6 (Sun & Mon) - Toast relaxes finally!

I've just been visiting with the family and taking advantage of this lull to just relax (and watched A Beautiful Mind on Sunday). I developed the pics today (have some pretty nice ones), and if my shots are any indication, some of the shots on Mark's camera should be nice as well...

Unfortunately, my mom doesn't have a scanner, so it will be later in the week before I can get them online! And yes, I have pics of Wanda and the Bass - but not of Linda's new drum kit (she was using a rental).

One more day until Lacuna Coil (I hope they don't cancel this gig...)

 

[Mr Toast]

Day 7 (Tues 5/6) - The Coil plays SLC!!!

I spent the earlier part of the day doing laundry and watching AI (I liked it). I also picked up my DT/QR/FW tickets (grabbed ProgPower ticket on Monday).

The tickets said 7:30 for the Opeth/Lacuna Coil show, so my sister and I arrived a few minutes early. The bands were originally supposed to play at another club, but due to a change of ownership the promoter moved the show to Bricks (not the best venue). Supposedly Motorhead had been scheduled to play here a while back, but when they pulled up, they took one look at the club and left, refusing to play. I could see why when I walked in. Plenty of speakers all around, but the layout leaves some to be desired... I kept my fingers crossed that Opeth and Lacuna Coil would not follow suit...

There was a third band on the bill they failed to mention (Yakuza), which took the stage first. They probably weren't too bad, but thank goodness I brought earplugs (not my sound).

Lacuna Coil took the stage next. Most of the set was from the new album, with three or four songs from the earlier ones. They performed awesomely! The material sounded great live, and Christina nailed the vocal parts effortlessly (as did Andrea). Due to the stage not being much higher than the floor, it was hard to look over the crowd to see Christina and the guys, but I discovered a spot a little later to the side of the stage that gave me a pretty good view. The club owner was being weird about cameras, so I didn't risk losing mine trying to get a few shots (darn).

Opeth went on next. I am not an Opeth fan, but I did manage to enjoy parts of their performance. Opeth's guitar/bass/drum work is quite good, but I just can't get past the 'cookie monster' vocal parts. Opeth's vocalist does shift gears and go into softer, clear vocals, and these parts I very much enjoyed, but not enough to want to buy an album...

I spotted Christina next to the stage talking to fans during Opeth, and I walked over and very briefly thanked her for coming to the States. She thanked me for coming out for the show. Later during Opeth most of Lacuna Coil came out to watch Opeth play, hanging out at the back of the crowd. While there they signed a few CDs and such, but as the crowd was mostly watching Opeth, they easily managed these requests. I thought it was cool that they could hang out at the back mostly unmolested and just enjoy the show...

I would guess that 150+ people were in attendance for the show. The crowd was very enthusiastic, and very vocal about wanting Opeth to do an encore (I thought they might get violent with as much noise as they were making). Opeth did one more (long) song for the encore.

I saw Dustin, Sheri, and Ruined Luna at the gig, and we discussed our upcoming trip to ProgPower among other things. We briefly shared our sadness about Rana's passing (Luna is a huge Phantom Blue fan). It was good seeing them all again.

I did see one gal in the crowd with a long sleeve Iron Maidens shirt on - the Maidens have left their mark!

I am very glad to have seen Lacuna Coil, and chatting very briefly with Christina was just a nice bonus on top of that. Another big thanks to Wanda, Jen, Sara, Linda, JoJo, Mark and Bill for coming to SLC - I had a great time taking pictures, and people here definitely want you back.

I fly home later this morning (Wed 5/7) to report for work. It's been an awesome vacation!!!