US vs UK venues.....

[beth28165]

just checkin out this website....nice to see Saxon so busy..

Havent seen the band or kept up with what they were doing for quite some time (about 6 years!!) ..in fact so long, I didnt even know Nigel wasnt the bloody drummer anymore!! I will be trying to get to a couple of the UK gigs in June. Was just wonderin??? Whats sort of venues are they playing stateside and what are the crowds like? My recollections of UK gigs in the past have been some pretty grotty dives with a small audience for the most part (didnt stop me enjoying the shows though!)

Nice to get re-accquainted with one of the best rock bands this side of the andromeda galaxy!!

 

[TRtwisted]

I was lucky enough to catch SAXON twice on their US tour.

The first time was April 5th at Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ. They were part of the Metal Meltdown festival. The venue houses 2 stages. A third stage was added in the arcade area as well. Saxon played in the very cool looking theater. It was a great crowd. I just wish they had played a longer set.

The 2nd night was SAXON at Mulcahy's Bar in Long Island, NY. Nice looking place! However a majority of the people at the bar that night were not there to see SAXON. There were maybe about 100 people there to support the band.

The band sounded great and mixed up the setlist abit from the previous night. A few more songs from their latest CD Killing Ground were added. I got plenty of pictures and got to meet the band afterwards.

 

[Scott Stinnett]

Sounds like Saxon have the same problem in the UK that they have here. I caught Saxon twice on the US Tour. Both shows were great but attendance for both was poor. The first show I saw was in Aurora, Illinois which is about an hour west of Chicago. They played in a dive called The Rockhouse. VERY small bar which would be fine for local bands but a total disrespect to Saxon. The second show was in Sauget, Illinois which is about three minutes from downtown St. Louis. They played a venue called Pop's which is a nice little rock venue that specializes in featuring big name talent of the hard rock and heavy metal variety. I saw Motorhead there five days after Saxon. Too bad they couldn't have toured together. Chicago and St. Louis have two of the best rock stations in the midwest and there was no mention or playing of Saxon on either. Motorhead didn't get much promotion via rock radio either but I do believe they are a little better known in the US metal community and did draw a bigger crowd though not a sell out. Much better promotion for Saxon is a must. Touring the states with Motorhead would have exposed them to more people and would have been an evening of awsome heavy metal. Biff and Lemmy together in one evening. WOW!!!! I've heard Motorhead put on a shorter show but I would much rather see that than sit through pathetic openning bands. I didn't "time" the Motorhead show but all the bands that played before them sucked in my opinion. The openning bands in Aurora were pretty bad for the most part. Drivin Rain opened the St. Louis show and they were ok. Whoever booked and promoted the Saxon US Tour should be fired immediately.

 

[nb venom]

You know it is unfortunate that several rock stations around the USA, are full of a bunch of corporate jackasses, who dont care about an older band like SAXON. I am glad to live in the San Antonio, Tx., area where we have two great rock stations 99.5 KISS and 104.5 KZEP, which is a classic rock station that helped to promote the Saxon show here this month which drew over 5,000, screaming SAXON fans!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is good to see that with some radio support a band like SAXON, can bring out so many fans, even more than some present happening bands ala: adema, slipknot, 3 doors down, godsmack etc......................

 

[AisleBoy]

I agree completely with Scott and nb venom. There has been absolutely NO publicity in the states for SAXON`s U.S. Tour. JAXX has regular commercial spots on 98 Rock in Baltimore, MD, and they promoted events one week prior to, and two weeks after SAXON, but NEVER mentioned the SAXON show. Same goes for MOTORHEAD, no mention of the Baltimore area show whatsoever. I can`t comment on the N.Y.C. show I attended, as I can`t pick up New York Stations here in Delaware. I found out about it surfing the net. Also, a SAXON/MOTORHEAD Tour would be a great thing. Metal fans would get a great show, and each band would definitley pick up new fans in the process. Also, they could play larger venues and gain more dates in the process. Plus, all of the opening acts at both shows this year absolutely sucked. People see my tour shirts and are mad as hell because they didn`t know SAXON and MOTORHEAD are touring the states, plus neither band plays Phildelphia, PA anymore, and they aren`t willing to drive 3 hours to see them anyway. The bands are losing out on a lot of exposure and revenue, and the fans are missing out on two bands that always give their all. Well, maybe next time around we`ll get lucky.