Same ol’ Situation-My review of Cruefest 2

This past sunday, I went to the very first performance of Cruefest 2 at Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, New Jersey. With a total of 10 bands over 6 hours on 2 stages, myself and my 8 friends were set to have the kind of wholesome fun that ‘the whole family can enjoy’ and an experience that you can only have at a metal concert.

On the second stage there was Rev Theory, Cavo, Shram, and 16 Second Stare. They would play in between each of the mainstage bands performances. I didn’t see for myself or talk to anybody that saw 16 Second Stare. Shram was really good according to a good friend of mine that was present for their act. Cavo on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have anything beyond their single “Champagne.” I hope that they prove me wrong but it looks like they’re built to be a one-hit wonder at best. Rev Theory had some good material, it’s just that I couldn’t always understand what the lead singer was saying. Side note- I feel like he could be a lightweight wrestler and absolutely kick some ass. But anways, I didn’t know much of their catalog before seeing them and the only song that stuck out was their hit “Hell Yeah.” 

My group for the 2nd year in a row didn’t walk in until after the opening band played. This year’s reason: we were trying to pry our friends away from this one section of the parking lot where they were drooling at a group of women that were periodically taking their tops off while standing on a truck bed full of water. Classy, I know. So the band that none of 9 of us knew about anything about-Charmed City Devils, got missed. As far as I know, no tears were shed. Drowning Pool is something that I would have preferred to have missed. Each song was pain-stakingly bland, generic, and quite frankly not worth any of the space that I’ve given it in this review. Unlike Drowning Pool, Theory of a Deadman put on a show that I might have known nothing about but made me wish that I had known those songs. If I ever get a chance to see them again I won’t be befallen by the same mistake.

As the headliners, they get their own section. Here’s Godsmack and Motley Crue

Tonight special

During the 12am hour ET, I will be playing on Motley Crue and Motley Crue related songs. Such as work from Vince Neil’s solo albums and Sixx: A.M. This will only be on wgls.rowan.edu and 89.7, WGLS-FM, your home for all of the music that matters to the South Jersey listening area.

The Decade of Decadence has changed times!

The Decade of Decadence has now moved to Friday nights from 11pm-1am. 

But don’t worry, that is the only thing that has changed. I will still be playing all of the best 80s metal that you love.  It is exclusively on Rowan Radio, 89.7 WGLS-FM. If you are not in the South Jersey area or cant get to your radio, you can tune in at wgls.rowan.edu

You can now get in touch with Ron from the Decade of Decadence via e-mail!

Yup, that’s right.  You can now contact Ron through e-mail.  Requests, comments, suggestions are all welcomed.  Here is the address.

decadeofdecadence@mail.com

Must Go-To Summer Concerts

As millions of college students are getting ready for spring break I figured that it would be the appropriate time to look ahead to the next great time of the year-Summer Break. And what better way to spend your summer than going around the Philadelphia/South Jersey area seeing your favorite ’80s metal bands perform as well as bands you might not have heard of but should check out.

M3 Rock Festival- Twisted Sister, Ratt, Extreme, Kix, Slaughter, Dokken, Y&T, Gilby Clarke, Jani Lane of Warrant, Keel, Jetboy, Bulletboys, L.A. Guns, XYZ, and SLAMM at the Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia, Maryland on May 30th. Usually when you see festivals like this they’re usually in like Oklaholma or Iowa and far enough away that it doesn’t really matter. But of course the one time that I would be able to see about 10 hours of hair metal around here, it is on Memorial Day weekend.  Of all of the tours on my list, this is the one that I am going to regret not going to the most.

Dokken- Penn’s Peak @ Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania June 26 at 8pm.If you can’t make the M3 Rock Festival, you can still see Dokken and get a chance to see more of them.

Queensryche- House of Blues @ Atlantic City on May 16 at 8pm. They will be playing many of their old favorites and promoting the new album “American Soldier” including their latest single “If I were King”.

Appetite for Destruction {Guns N’ Roses cover band}- Sellersville Theatre in Sellersville, PA at 8pm. Still waiting on seeing the actual Guns N’ Roses live around here but nothing has been set yet. So why not settle for the next best thing.

Unwigged & Unplugged Tour with Spinal Tap- May 14th at the Keswick Theatre in Philadelphia,PA and May 24th at the Borgata in Atlantic City. A once in a lifetime experience seeing the guys from Spinal Tap performing many of the songs that you love from the movie.

Judas Priest and Whitesnake- PNC Arts Bank Center on July 11 in Holmdel,NJ. They both came out with new albums last year, “Nostradamus” and “Good to Be Bad”, respectively. They may be all getting up there in age but they showed that they can still rock out with the best of them. Definitely a must see.

Def Leppard, Poison, and Cheap Trick- June 23rd at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden,NJ and July 1st at the PNC Arts Bank Center. Poison and Def Leppard have apparently put their differences aside and going on tour even though Bret Micheals will also be touring by himself and promoting his new tell-all book. Something tells me the hatchet is not buried just yet. Drama is bound to happen but it could be interesting.

Crüefest 2- Motley Crüe with Godsmack, Theory of a Deadman, Drowning Pool and introduces Charm City Devils on July 19 at the Susquehanna Bank Center. Anybody who missed last years Crüefest or when Crüe went to A.C. Here is another chance to see them perform. From what I hear Vince Neil has improved in his singing since last year(at the first Crüefest, Vince would often go in and out of songs) so now he is singing the entire songs. As much as I would like to see Dr. Feelgood in its entirety and I love them, I like last year’s lineup better.

Worst 2008 EVER

Over the past 12 months, thousands of albums have been released, countless tours have started and finished, and millions of groupies have had a chance to spend some “quality time” with their favorite artists, but as I look back at year that has been, one thing comes to mind above the rest- Bon Jovi had for the most part a horrible year.

2008 started rusty for Bon Jovi with their “Lost Highway Tour” on February 18 in Omaha, Nebraska where it had been delayed a day because they were originally going to have their first rehearsal concert on the campus of Northern Illinois on the day of the campus wide shooting. I could only expect that it wasn’t their best performance. To Read More…

Top 10 ’80s Metal Ballads

In Honor of Valentines Day this past weekend, I figured that I would compile what I felt to be the Top 10 Best ’80s Metal Ballads.

10. White Lion- When the Children Cry

I can’t help but think of “Do They It’s Christmas” for some reason when I listen to this song but regardless I feel that it deserves to be on this list. 

9.Guns N’ Roses- November Rain

A little more up beat then most of the songs on this list partly because it’s Guns N Roses and they’re have been acclaimed as one of if not THE best band of their time. It mostly has to do with that

 To Read More….

Top 10 80s Songs of 2008

Fresh from the Decade of Decadence on 89.7 WGLS-FM, I compiled a list of the top ten songs that came out this year from 80s Metal bands. If you happen to disagree with who was where or anybody that got left out feel more than welcome to leave a comment about it.

Artist                        Song             Album

10-Metal Church- Monster       This Present Wasteland

9-Whitesnake-Best Years          Good To Be Bad

To Read More…

Revivals

The 1980s have been alive and well this year. With some of the best of the ’80s metal artists have came out  with albums with the past year such as–Such as Motley Crue, AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Alice Cooper, and so on and so forth but without a doubt, something has been pissing me off about how people have been responding to them.

Whenever almost any of these bands that started are had their hay day in the ’80s or early ’90s, there has been one consistent and that is that countless rock “fans”  complain about how “they don’t sound like they did back then”. ARE YOU F*^%ing kidding me? These bands many of times have been touring and partying heavily for many years, they are reaching up there in age-playing into their 50s and 60s, and quite frankly times have changed. Guarantee that there is not a single musician out there that would want to come out with new songs that sound just like songs that they’ve already done. That is unless your band’s name is Trapt because every song that I’ve ever heard from them sounds the same. It is a simple fact of life, artists try new things.

For instance, when Motley Crue came out with Saints of Los Angeles, all that I heard was people bitching  about how it doesn’t sound like the old them. My response to this is: yes, it may not be Dr. Feelgood but at least it’s not Generation Swine. Stop complaining about the good rock that your favorite rockers are coming out with because it could always be worse-they could be coming out with bad music instead. Do you Metallica fans want more of St. Anger? How about GNR fans, you want the crap that Axl had said was going to be on Chinese Democracy?

I would say that the one rocker who for some reason or not refuses to have the years wear him down–at least when he is singing, and that is Ozzy. You may be able to understand a word that he says when he talks( even though that in itself has improved since the 1st season of The Osbournes because he had been on a lot of pain killers at that time), whenever he is on stage he sounds exactly the same as he used to and even at the age of 60 he is still coming out with damn good new stuff.  Finally I haven’t heard even a whisper of negativity regarding his music, which goes to show you, the secret to everlasting metal success is being an Osbourne…….not really (as you can tell with Jack).

Christmas Metal

Alright well, the christmas season has officially started (even though it seems like companies have been selling the whole Chistmas season thing since around Halloween and many radio stations have been playing xmas music since around the time of the election), so in turn it is time to start looking for ways to answer that question that comes up at around this time of year–how do you stay in the Christmas mood while still rocking out to some good ol’ hair metal? That’s where I come in to help you out with you or your loved ones with this problem. I did some research to try to find the best Christmas metal albums and songs by your favorite hair metal artists.

“We Wish You A Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year”  released by Armoury Records this year, is the cream of the crop. “Like Santa donning a flamethrower, or a festive greeting made with heavy artillery. Brilliant!” – Alexander Milas, Metal Hammer.  It is an amazing compilation of completely new material from Alice Cooper to Ronnie James Dio to Lemmy Kilmister and much more.

“A Twisted Christmas” has been out about a year and they added a Twisted Sister edge to 10 Christmas songs from Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas  to Heavy Metal Christmas (The Twelve Days of Christmas).  A Twisted Christmas is actually going to be on Broadway at the Nokia Theatre on Friday and Saturday nights. They recently came out with a new music video featuring for the 1st time in 20 years- non other than Lita Ford! She has aged pretty pretty damn well.