| Ron's Concert Tickets Page |
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| Ron's Concert Tickets Page |
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All of these stories are 100% true. 
KISS/WASP...
This was the first concert that I went to. What a great show to, Gene Simmens blew fire balls, and Blackie Lawless drank blood out of a skull. It was also the best drum solo I have ever seen. I didn't have anyone to go with, so my country & western roommate had me go with one of his heavy metal friends. After the opening band was done he jumped up front with some of his friends, I was to scared to do that, so I stayed in my seat, and I saw the whole thing alone. After the show he even caught a ride with his friends. I was a real loser.
Black Flag/Gone...
I went to this show with one of my old friends from MI. In the middle of the show Henry Rollins stopped the music and jumped down into the mosh pit to stop a fight. That was way cool.
Mot�rhead...
My first Mot�rhead show. I don't even remember the bands that opened for them, maybe Overkill & the Cro-Mags. It was to promote the album Orgasmatron. I went to a record signing at Music Warehouse in Downers Grove and meet Lemmy before the show. I have a picture that I took of him at the signing but I was to scared to ask if I could be in it with him. By this time I had my Camaro with the word Mot�rhead plastered, in red, on the bumper, and Z-rock was blazing on the radio.
Slayer...
I went to this gig with my best friend that I had meet at a record convention. He brought one of his friends with him. I didn't even like Slayer at the time but he wanted me to come. We got there real early to get good seats. We were about three rows back. As the Brawl Room filled up the security guards were pushing the crowd back, I saw a very nice looking girl trying to find a place to sit. I reached over the bouncers and grabbed her hand and pulled her through the crowd. I took her back to my seat, the bouncer had followed me back and asked where she was going to sit. I replied, "On my lap." The bouncer started pushing me toward the front of the stage, yelling, "Who gets the seat you or the girl?
" Me being a total gentleman gave my seat to her. I knew that after the lights went down I could sneak back up front and my friends would let me squeeze in with the chick. As me and the bouncer started walking back toward my seat, I saw that the chick bolted, so I sat with my friends and headbanged so hard that I lost a couple of brain cells. After the show I saw the chick again and through a drunkin conversation she told me that she had left because she didn't want to get me in trouble. Slayer was great as always, and Kerry King looked like a leather covered gorilla.
T&T Pull...
Had to be a Red Neck for a day. If you think that I am a loser, Let me tell you the story of another loser. I had a real bad roommate at this time, He was the kind of person that you had to explain jokes to. Anyway we went to the show without him because he was running late at work and I really didn't want to sit with him. After we got to the show this guy actually tracked us down and stood in the middle of the Horizon yelling at us, "You guys left with out me! I had to get my mother to bring me down here!" The dude behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "You left him at home on purpose, didn't you, I mean no one should stand up at one of these things and yell to the whole place that his mom brought him down?" What could I do but nod my head and reply, "LOSER!"
WASP/Slayer...
Lots of fights at this show. The big problem with Slayer fans is that they are all fourteen year old hoodlums that think they own the world. Another big problem was that WASP had put out their worst album yet, and it was really hard trying to defend them. The glammetal fans were getting beat on by the deathmetal fans pretty bad. I stayed neutral.
Alice Cooper/ Megadeth...
Had the worst seat in the house for this show. I was directly behind a pole. The show was good what little I could see of it. In Chicago if a show is "soldout" what you can do is, go to ticket master about two hours before the show starts and there will be tickets right on the floor ready to be bought. I think that the radio stations let them sell the ones they had reserved when it gets that close to show time. I told my friends this and they got seats on the floor only ten rows away an hour before the show. Megadeth opened, I really started to hate Megadeth. Cooper got killed about six times during the show, hung, decapitated, mauled, and injected with poison.
Anthrax/Celtic Frost/ Exodus...
This turned out to be the concert event of the year. All my metal head friends were talking about this one years after it was over. The joint was sold out, they even had the balcony open. There was a mosh pit behind the last row of chairs, as the concert went on the rows of chairs keep disappearing into the pit. We all had to climb up on the next row, just to get wiped out again. I think this is one of the reasons that the Brawl Room doesn't bother with chairs any more. On a side note, I was in the pit with my leather on. I was smashing into dudes when I shouldered this kid in the stomach, as I pulled back he grabbed his chest and screamed, like it really hurt! I didn't understand what the problem was and then I looked at my shoulder and I forgot that the jacket had handgernades hanging off the epaulets. I apologized and removed my coat for the rest of the night.
Dio/Megadeth...
Megadeth opened, I hate Megadeth. This was the Third time that I saw them. It got so everytime I went to a gig, the opening band would cancel and Megadeth would fill in. The best part of this show was that Dave got his hair caught in his guitar strings and had to have a roadie cut it out. After that he keep his hair alot shorter. Dio was great as always. He opened with "Man on the Silver Mountain" and closed with "Rainbow in the Dark."
Aerosmith/Guns 'N Roses...
The main attraction was that Guns 'N Roses were opening, and you could tell that Slash was already hammered. They still rocked, and Axel got into a fight with a crowd member about a camera, too cool. As for Aerosmith it was like a walk down memory lane, You mean they did this, and did this one too? Afterword I went out and bought their greatest hits CD.
King Diamond/Flotsam & Jetsam...
Not much happened here, the hall was really full for a Diamond show, and he did a cool bit with mirrors. As for Flotsam & Jetsam their only claim to fame is that their bassest left to join Metallica.
Metallica/Queensryche...
Another one of those "sold out" shows. I went into ticket master about 5:30 and asked for tickets. The lady said that there wasn't any. I asked, "Are you really sure?" She said that the three headbangers that just left had her check, and there were none. I said, "Please check again, for me." As soon as she found it she goes, "Hey now there are plenty of tickets." I'll take two and away I went. When I got into the show I asked the people around me where they got their seats, and they had won them from a station. The show was the best I had seen in a long time. Suicidal Tendencies opened and jammed, then Queensryche rocked, and finally Metallica ruled.
Slayer & Mot�rhead...
What more can be said. I can hardly remember this show, what a gas.
Kreator/Gorguts...
This was quite a show, as you can tell by the trashed ticket stub. The best thing that happened was that we grabbed a seat at the bar and went up to the stage in turns (there were three of us.) When one would take a break from the pit the other would go up and the wasted one would hold the seat. The reason the seat was so important was that we could reach the beer tap from it. We ordered one beer and three drunk and broke headbangers were kept in beer all night. MORE MONEY FOR T-SHIRTS! Never saw a bad show at the Cubby Bear. As for Gorguts, I don't remember a thing about them.
Danzig/Soundgarden...
This is the best concert story of them all, I almost DIED at this show. Me and a friend were right up front for Glen. The crowd was held back from the stage by a retaining wall made of plywood sheets that were braced away from the stage by two-by-fours. Between the stage and the retaining wall was a no-mans land where the bouncers roamed. After Danzig had done about four songs I started to feel the wall breaking up. I looked at my friend and helped turn him sideways in the crowd and yelled the wall is going! As soon as I turned myself sideways the wall let loose and crashed to the ground. Everybody that was leaning on it went down and all these people fell around me and my friend. We were up to our knees in bodies! and more and more people just keep falling! The bouncers were trying to pull people up and push people back all at the same time screaming BACK! MOVE BACK! STOP PUSHING! YOUR CRUSHING PEOPLE UP HERE!
Glen Danzig saw what had happened and instead of stopping the show, and using the mic to ask people to step back, he moved right over to where the wall had collapsed and started reaching out over the crowd. He was trying to get people killed! I couldn't believe it. Me and my friend stepped up on the people that were laying around us, and ran to the balcony where we panted trying to get our breath back. We just stood there looking at each other going, "I don't believe that just happened, and I can't believe that he wants to kill people!" That was the last Danzig show I have ever went to. I never liked Soundgarden and seeing them live didn't help.
Death/Pestilance/ Carcass...
Not much to say about this one, just a good old fashioned Death Metal show. All bands were very good, very fast, and very death. The pit was brutal. I saw lots of bloody noses. The best things about these shows is seeing what the puck/death metal chicks are wearing.
W.W.F. Wrestling...
My cousin made me go. It was still pretty cool except that the matches were sorta lame. It was like Hulk Hogan VS Joe Victim #1, before it started you knew who was going to win. I did get a chance to see George the Animal Steel wrestle and eat a ring corner guard.
Judas Priest/Testament...
One of the best shows I had seen in a long time. Judas Priest played only their heavy stuff and Testament opened for them. It was a great show. Rob was in top form.
Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular...
All they did was play Pink Floyd music and draw pictures on the walls and ceiling of the Riviera. It was cool when is first started, but after seeing the same picture twenty times, it gets a little old. Oh look this times its in red, now it over there in green, and now yellow, come on give me a break. At least the music was good.
AC/DC...
Another really good show. When they played "Money Talks" there was these flash pots hooked to the ceiling that exploded and dropped AC/DC money all over the concert floor. The bills had Angus's picture on them. They also had a huge bell in the middle of the ceiling that they rang during "Hells Bells". In the middle of the floor, under the bell, there was a platform that the security guards ushered Angus to in the middle of his solo. He got up on the thing which raised him about 25 feet from the floor, and he did that Curly floor thing. This was way cool. I can't remember who opened for them.
GWAR...
They came to town promising to kill slaves. They did a great song about missing kids, with great big dancing milk cartons that would sing, "Have you seen me?" Toward the end of the gig they dropped some slaves into a meatgrinder that sprayed blood out over the pit. This is the most outrageous stage show around today. The concert started with a bunch of protesters up on stage, and then the band busted out and killed them all. This is a group you have to see live once in your life. You have to be sprayed with GWAR blood! Missed the opening act, couldn't find a close parking spot.
Iron Maiden...
Another good show the only bad thing was that the dude I went with didn't believe me about the ticket thing, so we waited in line and bought tickets the day they went on sale. Yippee! second balcony way over to the side. We were so off center that when the big Eddie inflated we couldn't even see it's head. I did the usual tickmaster thing two hours before the show, and of course they had tickets, but we didn't buy them because we already had some. The seats sucked, but the band really rocked!, Like Bruce Dickinson could ever not ROCK. Missed the opening band.
Queensryche...
Good show, for a chick band! Don't know who opened for them.
Metallica/Cult...
Fresh air and good music, what a combo. This was a really good show, I bet it was very loud for the people under the canopy. The thing that surprised me the most at this show was the number of old people that were there. I think it was the old, little Jimmy wants to go to the concert, I think we should go with him in case anything bad happens like, drugs, sex, or fun. The Cult started up, and all the Metallica fans started booing them. The coolest thing I saw was when the lead singer of the Cult, Ian, jumped off the stage and into the crowd. That took balls. All the while he was down there he was saying, "It really hard to make friends when all you have is 45 minutes." I always liked the Cult, and felt really sorry that they had to open for Metallica. Metallica took full advantage of the big stage, they had huge props, and James and Kirk were always running from one end to the other.
Sepultura/Sacrid Reich...
Another death metal show, what joy. It would have been a real good show if I would have known all the words to their songs. The best thing about this show was the tattoos that the band had. The lead singer of Sepultura had one of those tribal bands that went around his whole bicep. It was really thick and only black, it looked like a circle of thorns.
Metallica...
This was their famous concert in the round from the Black Album. They were so big that they couldn't find a band that would open for them, so they showed a home movie of them on the big television screens that they had setup. It should them going the the Shed Aquarium, and the Field Museum. I guess when you get real big and have three soldout shows in the same town, you have time to go see a couple of the sights. This concert lasted so long, and they did three encores. The biggest surprise of the show was when they did "Last Caress" from the Misfits, that song rocks.
Black Sabbath/Exodus/ Skew Sisken...
This was really hip! It was when Ronnie James Dio had come back to the band for one album. I think they broke up during this tour. They never made it to CA. and all the west coast shows got cancelled. The worst thing is that I'm a big Dio fan, and for the whole show I was waiting for "Rainbow in the Dark" and it just never came. It was also sorta hard to hear him singing "War Pigs" it's just such an Ozzy song. The fact that they opened with "Mob Rules" sorta made the whole thing worth the trip. As for Exodus it was like, are these guys still around? Wow! I thought they died years ago.
Dio...
After that Black Sabbath gig, I was really ready for a good Dio show, and here it was. He opened with "Man on the Silver Mountain" and closed with "Rainbow in the Dark". The best money I spent in my life. Can't remember who opened for them.
Styx/Kansas...
It was pure Hell. Every song started with a history lesson, "Twenty-five years ago when this band first started...". The only good thing was they did a rock'n version of Renegade. Kansas sucked, they sucked in seventy-eight and they still suck. How can you make a career outa two songs?
KISS...
This was the one to see! They all had their makeup on, and were acting really chummy together. I guess tons-o-money can bring anyone back together. America was so taken with them getting togeather again that Playboy even did a picture spread on them. They did only the stuff off their makeup albums, Destroyer, Love Gun, Rock 'N' Roll, Dressed to Kill, and Kiss. No "I was made for lovin you", "Heaven's on fire", or "Lick it Up". Only the good stuff. I got to see Ace's guitar fly away, Peter doing "Beth", and Gene spitting fire and blood. It was a good concert. The opening band was a one-hit wonder that has sense disappeared.
Sex Pistols...
Great show. Its so cool to go to a show and know all the lyrics to every song they do. I love the no moshing, bodysurfing ,and no stagediving references. To bad they could not enforce it. I think this is going to be a part of music history. The two opening acts really sucked. I think both their fans showed up.
Mot�rhead...
This is the famous concert that got me published, no need to review it, it already has one. Click on the word "review" to see it.
Fleetwood Mac...
I know, Fleetwood Mac, Ron how could you. It's very simple to explain. I have a very close friend. She had never been to a concert before, and really wanted to see this one. She begged me to go with her. I agreed and off we went. we got their really late and missed the opening bands. The were real good, and it was nice seeing them play the old classics. Mr. Fleetwood had this real cool drum vest that he used for his solo. He would walk around pounding on his chest and hammering out a tune. As for my friend, she called me last weekend and asked if I would go to Alanis Morissette. I told her that I had already done her one favor.
Sacred Reich...
This one kind of took me by surprise. I want to Phoenix to visit my family for Christmas. I have a real cool friend out there and he wanted me to go to this show. I said, "OK" and off we went. A bunch of crap local bands opened. I was never a big fan of Sacred Reich, but they did a jammin version of War Pigs. The coolest thing about this show was the bar it was in, The Brown Jug. They had it divided into two parts with a chain link fence. On side had the bar and the stage, the other side was for the under 21 crowd. At one time our 'waitress' started walking around in her underwear and asking guys to touch her butt. The management soon put a stop to it. I also read a great story about Wendy O. Williams playing there. I felt the history of the place as soon I came in the door. It was way loud and my ears were ringing for two days after the show.
Black Sabbath...
This was a great show, it was billed as "New Years Evil". My friend in Arizona wanted to go to this show, but all of his friends wussed out on him. Then he remembered that I was coming into town. He asked if I would go and bought the tickets. The concert was huge, five bands... Soul Fly (remains of Sepultura), Slayer, Megadeth (again), Pantera, and finally Black Sabbath with Ozzy singing! I was unimpressed with Soul Fly & Megadeth. Slayer was awesome as always, but the set was too short. Pantera really rocked and afterword I bought all of their CD's. The topper of the show was Ozzy dropping his pants and mooning the crowd. After the show they set off a huge fireworks display. The arena was really cool except that it was No Smoking, can you imagine a thousand headbangers and a No Smoking rule? It wasn't long before the crowd had started several bond fires.
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