There're many ways to consume music. Our favorite is live. For us, the live aspect of music offers so much more. From the energy of the crowd to the unique performances a band will bring to help enhance or even bring their music alive. This is definitely the case with Till Lindemann. Till’s solo shows are very much an extension of his other small b…

Kittie comes to Chicago! Joining them in support at Concord Music Hall we also got VCTMS and Conquer Divide. It was definitely an anticipated show for us, as we have never seen any of these bands before and have wanted to see Kittie for quite some time. It was definitely a fun night for metal.Από τον MetalVice

We're back at Bottom Lounge. This time, for Norma Jean and their 1994 North America Tour. Joining them in support was Darkest Hour and two local Chicago bands who tore up the stage, We Weren't Invited and Suncrusher. Join us for our second show in a row at Bottom Lounge where the majority of the acts were from our home town of Chicago.…

Every band says goodbye at one point or another. After 40 years, it's that time for the metal lords from Brazil, Sepultura. To celebrate their career and to say goodbye to their fans, Sepultura embarked on a multi year multi continent tour. Aiding in this celebration they brought along their friends in Obituary, Agnostic Front, and Claustrofobia. W…

Power metal is not always our go to subgenres of metal. However, the shows can be an absolute blast, and that's just what we got when we saw Powerwolf for the first time. It was part of their second US tour, with support from Unleash The Archers. The Riviera Theater was packed with ravenous fans who let their voices be heard all night long. It was …

When Slipknot announced the return of Knotfest Iowa we were a bit weary to say the least, after the shit show that was Linefest Iowa 2021. Also, we already had tickets to see Slayer at Riot Fest. That, though, turned out to be a cluster too. So the first opportunity we had, we got a refund for our Riot Fest tickets and picked up some for Knotfest. …

As part of their M72 tour, Metallica set out to takeover each city they stopped at. An ever expanding concept that started as part of their S&M2/40th Anniversary shows. Each takeover allowed for unique experiences where fans could dive not only into the vast history of Metallica, but also the city they were in. One such experience was a Metallica t…

On this episode we are heading home after a quick trip to Omaha. There, we caught the last show of Lamb of god and Mastodon’s co-headlining tour, Ashes of Leviathan. Where they played Ashes of the Wake and Leviathan in their entirety. To our surprise, this was not only the last show of the tour, but also the exact day both corner stone albums were …

Episode 100! To celebrate we talk about our biggest adventure, in terms of live music. Our recent trip to Madrid to see Metallica on their second European leg of their M72 tour. While we were definitely there because of Metallica, and the show was so much fun, we found that the people were the key to this trip. Join us while we look back at this am…

What's better after a long drive home? A concert of course. We just couldn't pass up seeing our first Orbit Culture headlining show. While we have missed past opportunities to see their headlining shows, this one was not going to be one of them. Joining Orbit Culture at Bottom Lounge in Chicago, we got two local bands; Repentance and Burned In Effi…

Driving home from Iowa we look back at our show in the capital city, Des Moines. As part of the city's local radio station's 28th birthday (LAZER 103.3), they helped promote Five Finger Death Punch’s summer 2024 U.S. tour. Joining in support was Marilyn Manson, Slaughter To Prevail, and The Funeral Portrait. Before the show we were unaware that it …

Almost always we go to shows with someone else. If its just the two of us or with friends. From time to time though, we find ourselves going to a show alone. At first it was a little intimidating, but we quickly learned to love it just like any other live experience. Join us as we look back at some of the shows we have seen solo.…

Small club/bar shows have quickly become our favorite type of shows. They're more intimate and less polished. We went to reggies expecting a small show on their biggest stage. However, ended up at the small bar stage for a fun night with Heavy Temple, Valley of The Sun, Vanishing Kids, and Insomniac on their NOTION of heATheNs Tour.…

As I Lay Dying have been around for a bit by now. But for some reason they have never been a band we have listened to all that much. We are not sure why that is. So when they came to Chicago as part of their US Summer ‘24 tour with support from Chelsea Grin and Entheos we decided to check it out. Without question we will definitely be listening to …

Co-headlining shows seemed to be on the rise in 2023. At least from our perspective. We assumed we would see many more in 2024. At the end of May we went to our second co-headlining tour, the Common Enemies tour. At the top of the bill was Bodysnatcher and Spite. Joining them in support was Mouth For War and THROWN. This show also marks our first s…

In late 2021 thousands of Metal Heads descended upon San Francisco for one purpose. To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of one of the most influential Metal bands of all time, Metallica. Tickets were offered through a raffle to 5th Members (Metallica’s fan club) only. We won the lottery and got to go. It was one of the best shows we have ever been ab…

For the 20th anniversary of the original S&M, Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony joined forces again to open the newly built Chase Center in San Francisco. With the first night selling out so fast, a second night was quickly added solely for Metallica fan club (5th Member) members. We were lucky enough to be in a place in our lives where we w…

For the first time since the Headbangers Boat Brian got to break out his orange battle vest for another show. Vio-lence put together a killer tour and made a quick stop in Chicago at Reggies. Joining Vio-lence in support we had Exhorder, Deceased, and Mortal Wound.Από τον MetalVice

If you asked Brian, he wouldn't consider himself a Deadhead. But since 2019, whenever Dead & Co. make their way to Chicago he's there with a group of friends. Then in 2023 they announced it would be their final tour. However, many people knew the music would never stop. Sure enough it didn't. When Dead & Co. announced their run of shows at Sphere i…

The category is Before and After. I’d like to solve Pat. Death, Metal, Core. In this episode we head home after a quick trip north to Wisconsin for two shows. The first show, in Green Bay, was a Metal Core heavy night with Wage War, Nothing More, Veil of Maya, and Sleep Theory. Following this show was a short drive to Madison, where we had a killer…

If you started to dig down the rabbit hole of Metal in the early 2000’s you would definitely run across Mudvayne. Just as we did. This was also the time we started going to live shows. Unfortunately, Mudvayne was a band we never got to see live. Then they took a break, and after a few years they came back. It was another chance to see them. After a…

Well we decided to engage in some group therapy. At least that was the name of the tour by Citizen Soldier. Joining them on stage for a couple songs, and as openers, we had Icon For Hire and Halocene. Music and especially live music can be very therapeutic, this night was no different. Join us as we record this episode in our hotel in between a few…

Milwaukee is once again overrun by metal heads for Milwaukee Metal Fest! Taking over one of the best venues to bring three stages of non-stop music over three days. There were so many new bands to discover and so many amazing down to earth people to meet. Join us as we explore our experience with this truly, one of a kind, Heavy Metal festival. We …

We have never been the biggest Judas Priest fans. There's a few songs we definitely know and like. They're just one of the bands we never got super deep into. However, we do appreciate them and all they have done for Metal music. After all they are one of the founding fathers of this music we love so much. So when the opportunity to see them came a…

There were a number of shows we could have seen on 4/20, we chose to experience some Vibez with Godsmack. Well, they were the first to announce so that's mainly why we chose this show. Even still, this show was presented as a unique and intimate experience and we went in expecting an acoustic set. While it was not completely an acoustic set, it was…

Slipknot, without question, is one of our favorite bands. They were Brian’s first GA show in Ames and one of his best memories/live concerts. So in 2021 when Slipknot announced they were bringing Knotfest back to the heart of Iowa, of course we had to go. The lineup was insane. The venue, Indianola Balloon Grounds, was just outside of Des Moines. I…

Our friends Thrash of the Titans put on another amazing show in eastern Iowa. Of course we had to come back to see them play Otis’ Tailgators in Cedar Rapids with Dark Agenda and KnuckleHead opening. However, not long after making plans to head west a few lesser known bands announced a tour too; Breaking Benjamin, Daughtry, and Catch Your Breath. W…

Ahoy, matey! The drunken pirates return. This time, well for the same reason as last time, to drink and P.A.R.T.Y! Alestorm, with the help of a not so little ducky, stopped in Milwaukee for this jolly good time. Along for the voyage we had Elvenking and Glyph.Από τον MetalVice

On April 20, 2024 there were at least four shows in the Chicagoland area. Unfortunately we can only go to one. How do we pick? In this encore we talk about how we pick shows to go to and the ticket buying process for us. The process that is definitely designed around creating as much FOMO as possible. We also look at the four shows on 4/20 and wond…

Music is an international language. We all know that. We have all heard that. While we have talked with and met amazing people from all over the world at shows in the past, we ourselves have never experienced a show outside the US. That is until our very first trip to Europe when we went to Ireland. Join us as we look back at these overseas shows a…

This episode is all about ‘68. The band, not the year. The first time we saw ‘68 was as the first opener for Avatar’s first world tour. They blew us away then with their sound and performance. This has since been a band we wanted to see again. For this second time, it was as a headliner. We were so excited to see and hear them live again. As an ope…

Between the Buried and Me set off on the road to bring audiences The Colors Experience. A two night opportunity for fans to hear both Colors I (night 1) and Colors II (night 2) played live in their entirety. The Acacia Strain joined BTBAM, and followed the theme of the tour, by playing Step Into The Light (night 1) and Failure Will Follow (night 2)…

In part two of our record collection we get to the Slipknot section. Not only do we look at and talk about our Slipknot records, we also look at the small collection of records the members of Slipknot have put out that we own. Starting with Stone Sour and then moving on to Corey Taylor’s solo albums.…

If live music is the best way to consume music, what’s the second best? Well, for us, it's vinyl. Now sure, there are people who say vinyl has the best sound. They even have science to back it up. While they might be right, it’s the experience that we love. The experience of going out to a shop and digging through all the albums until we find the o…

What’s the difference between a cover band and a tribute band? Is one better than the other? Or is it music and who cares? Music is awesome however we get it, right? In this episode we look at both tribute and cover bands. We talk about some of our favorite cover songs, albums, and artists we view as cover artists (even though they have their own o…

Late in 2023 we got the pleasure to see Bullet For My Valentine for the very first time. A band that has been around for quite some time, yet somehow we have not had an opportunity to see them. Their first opener Vended, a rather young group, we saw four times prior to this. All in 2023. Then, somewhere in the middle, we got Of Mice & Men. The show…

We can all agree that top lists suck, right? Yes our year end shows are just top lists for different categories. Everyone also has their own hierarchy of bands or songs. Any outlet that publishes articles has had, or will have, a top X list at some point. When we look at these lists we can't help but have some, or several, issues with the order. We…

The music we mostly gravitate towards is metal. Bands are, mostly, composed of the same elements; a vocalist, guitar, drums, and hopefully a bass. Though, from time to time we get something else, something unique, something “non-traditional”. Like a Hurdy-gurdy or a Morin Khuur. It's one of our favorite things hearing and seeing these instruments u…

Lighting is one of the most common effects that’s used in a live show. Everything from the amount, to color, and positions can drastically improve or hurt a performance. How about a show lit only by candles? That's exactly what Candlelight Concerts offers, a show only with light by candles. Or fake candles, for obvious fire reasons. Shows can range…

Machine Head, or Machine Fu¢kn’ Head (depending on your pronunciation), returns to Chicago! Unlike the last time we saw them, back in 2022, this was not one of their 3 hour tours. Instead, they followed a more traditional tour format where they dragged a few friends of theirs along for the ride. For this installment we were graced with killer perfo…

When two titans of Metal go on the road as co-headliners, you're in for a hell of a show. That's just what we got in the summer of 2023 with Kreator and Sepultura. Death Angel and Spirtworld joined the titans for this tour. While this was our first time seeing all of these bands, we definitely hope it will not be our last. But for Sepultura it just…

Early in 2023 we went to see Static-X when they came to Chicago for their Rise Of The Machine tour. This was our last rescheduled show from 2020. Unfortunately, due to Brian’s old a$$ limp dick of a foot, we did not stay for Static-X. Then, as luck would have it, Static-X announced another tour, the Killer Machine tour, with a stop in south Chicago…

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of their album ‘You Come Before You’, Poison The Well took to the road. While we were not familiar with Poison The Well, they were announced as one of the bands for the second Headbangers Boat, so we know they have to be good, and luckily a few of the stops were in Chicago. Unfortunately, both were sold out. But on…

The odds of seeing another Black Sabbath show are near zero, if not already at zero. So what are new or younger fans to do if they want to see the band that started this amazing thing we call Metal music? Well a tribute band of course. That’s just what Zakk Wylde, one of the greatest guitarists of all time is doing with his band, Zakk Sabbath. For …

Co-headlining shows seemed more common in 2023, at least for us. The Psycho Thunder tour was just another one of these shows. The Hu and Asking Alexandria set off at the end of summer in 2023 with support from Bad Wolves (unfortunately they were unable to make this show) and Zero 9:36. While we have seen all of these bands in the past, we left this…

And there we have it, 2023 is over. This was by far our biggest year, in terms of the number of shows we have ever seen, over 52. Join us as we take a look back and go over our concert setlist playlist (linked below) and 13 other categories where we rank our top six items in each. Some of our categories include our top new bands, songs, concerts. W…

It’s the holiday season. The days are shorter and the nights are colder. Live music seems like a good solution right? How about some swing music? Everyone will be dancing and enjoying the music and each other. Well that was our thought when we went to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy as part of their Swinin’ Holiday Party tour. It wasn’t quite what we expe…

How do you make a metal festival even better? You add on a beer festival of course! That's exactly what Decibel Magazine has been doing for a few years now. With shows coast to coast, LA to Philly, and everywhere in between. This time, the fest stopped in Denver for the second year. Decibel continues to highlight the outstanding sounds of Black Met…

Metallica is Brian’s favorite band without question and they can do no wrong in his eyes. Well, mostly no wrong. So when Metallica announced a tour the first thing to do was check what the Chicago dates were. Unfortunately, in 2023, Chicago did not make the cut, but Detroit did. A quick drive down, to a new city, to see five amazing bands with two …

Time for part 2 of our conversation of our time on the inaugural Headbanger Boat. In this episode we cover the final 2 days of the cruise. The last few days were packed with excitement and amazing sets, including Lamb of God playing Ashes of the Wake in its entirety. It was also during this part of our trip we experienced the metal community coming…