At The Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ on April 20th, 2024
Kublai Khan TX North American fans had their chance to see the band on Wave 1 of their headlining run with special guests Sunami, Judiciary and Momentum. Last Saturday the tour stopped by in Sayreville, NJ for a Sold Out show. Wave 2 will begin in May with support from Harms Way, Pain of Truth and Justice For The Damned, as well as a couple of dates with Slaughter to Prevail in April (ticket info here). See Live performance photo gallery below.
Photography all rights reserved by Sam Martucci. No reproduction allowed.
At Clarke Theatre in Mission, BC, CA on April 8th, 2024
Show delivers two hours of the classic David Lee Roth era, featuring from Van Halen’s first 6 albums. The list includes “Unchained”, “Pretty Woman”, “Panama”, “You Really Got Me”, “Dance the night Away”, “Ice Cream Man”, “Running with the Devil”, “Jamie’s Crying”, “Beautiful Girls”, “Happy Trails”, “Hot for the Teacher” and “Jump”.
Written by Arturs Feists
As its vocalist said during the concert, the band, together with the audience, is trying to create the atmosphere that once existed during D. L. Roth’s time. In terms of energy, performances and drive, the band managed to hit the target.
Although vocalist Michael Stephen modestly noted that he could not really sing, the audience appreciated his really amazing vocal performance. His visual portrayal of Roth would not disappoint even the most squeamish of critics, not to mention his jumps, kicks and splits in the air.
The band’s performance also included drum, bass and guitar solos, but of course it’s hard to compete with the professional level of the original Van Halen. The solo was not a direct copy of Van Halen, but an improvisation.
But one should not fail to note the unadulterated performance of the band and the undoubted respect for Van Halen’s original lineup and repertoire. Absent of any caricature or exaggeration, the band enjoyed every song along with the audience.
One of the coolest new arrivals on the LA music scene in the last couple of years is Tempermental. We first heard of them as a nominee for an award last year at the Hollywood Independent Music Awards, pretty cool for a band just out of the gate. One of the busiest bands in LA we’ve already seen them gracing all the cool venues including the Whisky-A-Go-Go in Hollywood. This week we caught them at the Doll House, just down the road from Disneyland. Their music is anything but Mickey Mouse, a high energy mix of Alternative meets Metalcore meets Pop and the live show is one of the more entertaining shows on the current SoCal music scene.
Fueled By Fierceness In Their Eyes Fired Up The Night As The Opening Act For SLAUGHTERHOUSE And STRAWBERRY FUZZ
I have had the pleasure of seeing and hearing and capturing moments of FRANKIE AND THE STUDS several times in the past since January 2023 when they first had their month long residency at another local and well known venue in Los Angeles. But this is the first I time I’ve seen them play on a bigger stage at the famous and historic Teragram Ballroom in DTLA.
Written by Don Marcelo
First and foremost, I want to say thank you to Frankie Berry and The Studs for having me shoot, document, and capture moments of their set. Honored to have finally been able to capture some great moments of FRANKIE AND THE STUDS on a bigger stage with great and challenging lighting schematics and a pit that is always unpredictable because one never knows if fans will jump up on the stage and stage dive or spray alcoholic beverages everywhere. Lucky for me, no one got up on the stage for Frankie’s set and dove to the crowd and no one opened up a can of beer and sprayed me and my gears. So my gears were unharmed while shooting and capturing moments :).
About FRANKIE AND THE STUDS and their music from my own personal point of view. What can I say. The Music. Oh the music! So Damn Good! I have seen and heard them perform 7 or 8 times and it just keeps getting better and better. Who ever said Rock and Roll is dead has never heard and seen FRANKIE AND THE STUDS. Guitar riffs at its purest form. Bass licks that make your heart skip a beat. Drums that make the Earth shake. And Frankie’s Vocals and Guitar playing skills, just pure Rock and Roll at its finest. Their sound is an amalgamation of classic Rock reminiscent of Joan Jett style with a whole lot of good Punk Rock music such as The Clash and The Sex Pistols all mixed together as one and forming as one badass and kickass Rock & Roll Band, FRANKIE AND THE STUDS. This is the epitome of what Rock and Roll should be, Pure, Raw, and Untamed.
Of course these are just my words and my opinion because It’s so hard to describe their music (or any other music in general) with “big words” since music is very personal. One has to really listen to their songs. It has to hit you hard. It hit me hard the first time I saw and heard them play in January 2023. But if you do take the time to listen to their music, here are some of my favorites from FRANKIE AND THE STUDS: “Flash”, “(Not Your) Victim” and their latest single, “Drain Me.”
On their performance: Such ferocity can only be felt when you watch FRANKIE AND THE STUDS perform live on stage, especially with Frankie Berry. One can truly see the fire in Frankie Berry’s eyes when she sings (It’s even captured in one of my photos). But the entire band’s performance, you will definitely feel their power and stage presence as a whole. You will also feel the love and the joy they do with their music. Their performance is Non-Stop pure fun adrenaline-action rock and roll. One of Frankie Berry’s many iconic moves is when she crawls under and between the legs of either her guitar player or her bassist. Frankie is also known to get off the stage and deliver her presence to her fans. She and her band mates are very friendly to their fans and can often be seen interacting with them on the floors of a venue during their performance or just hanging out with them off stage.
Overall, this is one great LA Rock Band that is not to be missed. In my humble opinion of course, FRANKIE AND THE STUDS are paving their path to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Enough words. Go listen to FRANKIE AND THE STUDS! Follow them on all their social media platforms. Buy their music. Buy their merch. Go support FRANKIE AND THE STUDS and check them out as they are constantly playing around the great LA area. Hopefully they can tour in you City or State soon. Go support ROCK AND ROLL and FRANKIE AND THE STUDS.
With special guest Dave Stewart Eurythmics Songbook at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on March 16th, 2024
So Happy It Hurts! Actually, have you’ve been that happy? Hmm, but what is happiness? Oh, this is not philosophy homework, my bad. We are talking about damn rock music here! Oh yes, you can be so happy that it hurts if you are at a rock concert. And this particular one fits the bill. Bryan Adams currently is the midst of his extended So Happy It Hurts Tour in North America with special guest Dave Stewart Eurythmics Songbook performance. On a beautiful spring like evening in New Jersey it was our turn to crank up our happy thoughts and rock on to one the wonderful songs of Eurhythmics and Bryan Adams.
Written by Andris Jansons
As Dave Stewarts Eurythmics co-star Annie Lennox has said that she will not tour anymore it is up to Dave to carry on Eurythmics legacy and music via live shows. Just recently he has assembled a group of musicians and is touring with them to play Eurythmics classic hits on a tour that he calls Dave Stewart Eurythmics Songbook: Sweet Dreams 40th Anniversary Tour. The band’s sophomore studio album and the hit Sweet Dreams was released back in 1983 and brought the band worldwide fame.
Dressed in sparkling silver outfit and guitar strap engraved with two words “Sweet Dreams” Dave stepped on the stage with all female band members to the Eurythmics song I Need A Man taken from their sixth studio album Savage and followed with I Love You Like a Ball and Chain.
Of course the biggest ovations came for the most beloved songs like The Miracle Of Love, Here Comes The Rain Again and the one and only Sweet Dreams that properly closed their set.
I do remember Eurythmics as I was about ten years old when their music was all over the radio and TV. This performance was different from what I remember as emphasis in original music was on electronic sounds and here we had all the live instruments we would expect at rock music show. To me it felt more bluesy than original electronic versions. And I am not complaining about that, it was still an amazing show and there was an excellent performance by all in the band.
Dave’s Band on tour: Hannah Koppenburg — keys/MD, Indiara Sfair — harmonica, Yasmin Ogilvie — saxophone, Ellie East — drums, Julia Lamb — bass, Judith Hill — vocals, Vanessa Amorosi — vocals, Stevvi Alexander — vocals and Kaya Stewart — vocals.
Gallery of Dave Stewart Eurythmics Songbook performance below. Photography by Andris Jansons exclusive for S.L.R. Magazine. No reproductions allowed.
From here on this was Bryan Adams night. A car-like blimp floated over fans heads filling up everyone’s live social media feeds. A large screen on the stage showed random scenes happening around parked car (Bryan’s new album visual theme).
And while the tour bears the name of Bryan’s latest album, his set was a sheer celebration of his entire music career. Opening song Kick Ass and intro was from his latest work. Though it was quickly followed with Can’t Stop This Thing We Started and Somebody taken from Reckless and Waking Up The Neighbors respectively. Reckless, Bryan’s fourth studio album released in 1984, was the most played this night with Heaven, It’s Only Love, Run To You, Summer of’69 and my personal favorite Kids Wanna Rock.
Ok, personally I’m close bot net yet in my fifties, though as it sometimes seems like my memory is starting to wander around, I am completely flabbergasted that Bryan is able to remember random songs from his 16 album collection and play them on demand without any rehearsal. Pardon if my memory fails me but Bryan played altogether four songs requested / asked by the audience, and not the biggest hits, some were deep cuts that I could not even remember hearing before.
A nice touch was inclusion of Tina Turner The Best into his rendition of It’s Only Love, the song he and Tina sang together and was nominated for the best duet back in time. Bryan closed out the evening with two solo performances of Straight From The Heart and All For Love.
Sometimes it’s hard to find the right words some time after the show, as you are still filled with all the excitement, though I’m not sure if this one will ever cool off. What an amazing evening of the great music and great performances.
Bryan as always had his longtime friend Keith Scott on lead guitar, backing vocals by his side as well as Mickey Curry on drums, backing vocals who is with him for the length of his musical career and Solomon Walker – bass, backing vocals and Gary Breit – keyboards, backing vocals.
Gallery of Bryan Adams performance below. Photography by Andris Jansons exclusive for S.L.R. Magazine. No reproductions allowed.
Angelinos stood in line early to catch “Kill Mother F*ck1n Depeche Mode” aka KMFDM. At least that’s how I remember hearing KMFDM back in my youth. Is that really what KMFDM stands for? Maybe…Maybe not. Who really knows. Only true and die-hard fans and the band will know since according to Wikipedia: KMFDM stands for “Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as “no pity for the majority”. But whatever it really means, it doesn’t really matter because the only thing that matters is the music that KMFDM brought back to the streets of Los Angeles, their beautiful sounds of hard industrial music
Written by Don Marcelo
Pulsating beats of drums, Electric guitar slashing through the lights and fog, and Euphoric trance-like dark sounds of electronic goth/rock/industrial music by KMFDM made the fans dance and sing and rip the floors off at The Belasco theater on this night.
Their music is so intense and heavy, not in the sense of hostile music, but rather has this sweet intoxicating sounds of dark heavy fury and hard music that makes a person sway their body back and forth and dance like a zombie but at the same time makes someone bang his/her head to harsh thrashing guitar riffs and beats of the drums. This night brought back a ton of memories for me when I was in my youth listening to a lot of industrial-death rock/industrial-goth rock bands. Truly a beautiful night to remember and to capture moments of a band who has stood the test of time since 1984.
As a photographer, this is my first time shooting in the pit at The Belasco and I hope it won’t be the last (I have shot here as a fan with my point and shoot in the past, October of 2022 to be exact, for my favorite JROCK band). I love the challenge of capturing the moments of artists with difficult lighting due to backlighting, fog, special effects and little to non-existent white lights on the artists’ faces. This night is like this as usual. Very dark. Lots of fog. Extremely hard and challenging. But like I said, as a pro-photographer, I welcome the challenge. Hope you enjoy some of the moments I captured on this night.
On a final note, since I’m a photographer and a not a writer, I’m writing this review with pure honesty. If you love industrial/electronic goth rock/death rock/experimental music, you will love KMFDM. The music isn’t for everyone but that’s okay. I love this music. But then again I love all types of music. But I don’t love every band that is out there. I can honestly say that I enjoyed and love KMFDM’s music and performance and their fans and I became a fan on this night since this is the first time for me seeing and hearing KMFDM and most likely won’t be the last (I’m already listening and watching YouTube to catch up on what I missed when I was in my youth.)
There is one more show left on March 28th in Seattle, Washington. It is Sold Out as most of their shows.
With Special Guest Loveless, on March 15th, 2024 at Terminal 5 in New York City, NY
The pop-rock trio, Waterparks, are continuing to celebrate their fifth album, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, which was released in 2023. The SNEAKING OUT OF HEAVEN TOUR also shares its name with Waterparks’ eponymous single, released on October 12, 2023. Waterparks’ 23-city trek launched in late February 2024 and features a hometown show in Houston on March 30.
Written by Tea Powell
LOVELESS a male three piece band that opened as direct support for waterparks’ “SNEAKING OUT OF HEAVEN” tour on Friday March 15th at Terminal 5 brought exactly what was needed to hype the crowd up perfectly. Their crowd work and interactions are something I’ve not seen watching live music in a while and brings a whole new connection to the crowd from the artists. Loveless are based out of Los Angeles area and is lead by twenty seven year old Julian Comeau with his beautiful vocal range and electric personality and performance technique. Playing the guitar with amazing riffs, and solos and more you have Dylan Tirapelli-Jamail who was always there for backup vocals and a quip or two to battle those of Julian’s. Last but not least you have Stephen Haaker on the drums bringing the loveless sound to completion. his energy bringing even more to the performance and bringing more energy out of the crowd as well.
I discovered Loveless at the very start of their career when Loveless I dropped in 2021 when they played small venues. seeing them grow as musicians and grow to play bigger venues with a band as big as waterparks throughout these tours all the way to this one has been one of my greatest pleasures honestly. so this being my first time covering a show and it be them that i did it for means a lot.
Images from Loveless performance below. Photo credit : Tea Powell
WATERPARKS, a three piece male band headlining this tour, Awsten Knight (vocals, guitar), Otto Wood (drums), and Geoff Wigington (guitar), really closed it out! They came out and immediately the crowd went completely insane and they fed off of that energy and commanded the crowd in a way I don’t think I’ve experienced before. their stage production is one of the coolest ones I’ve seen by far with the house set up on stage and the stage performers and the lighting giving a new vibe and aura to the night as well. The way they interacted with the crowd and commanded it was one of my favorite parts of the night.
03/18/2024 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club 03/20/2024 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore 03/22/2024 – Richmond, VA @ The National 03/23/2024 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore 03/25/2024 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle 03/26/2024 – Orlando, FL @ House of Blues 03/29/2024 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues 03/30/2024 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues 04/01/2024 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren 04/04/2024 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore 04/06/2024 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
