Tool & The Acid Helps @ Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse

So Erik and I try and catch up every once in a while to see a show somewhere, but it's been 3 years since I was in Vegas for Punk Rock Bowling, so when tour announced a tour in my birthday month, it was a matter of when and where. I was hoping for Minneapolis on my birthday, but we opted for Cleveland instead.   I've never been to Ohio before, so tickets, hotels and flights were booked.

I arrived Friday afternoon, and Erik got in in the early evening. Early enough that we could walk down to Noble Beast Brewery for dinner and a couple of drinks.

A lazy Saturday stroll after a pretty ordinary hotel breakfast, before we headed down to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame at 10am to wander through the museum. I wasn't sure what to expect given the always controversy of who's in and who's not, but the museum is awesome.  We started on Level 0, where exhibits included the History of Rock n Roll, individual city contributions, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles - an awesome exhibit finishing with information on the recent Get Back documentary, the photography of Baron Wolman (an Ohio native who worked at Rolling Stone early on) and the music of Cleveland.  The next level was the Garage, an interactive exhibit where anyone could pick up an instrument and play, either to themselves or as part of an impromptu band.  The next level was the the Hall of Fame itself.  Plaqued autographs from all inductees and memorabilia from some on the more recent Hall of Famers. We also watched a movie presentation of some poignant moments in some of the past ceremonies.  None so great as the all star band (Tom Petty, Dhani Harrison, Jeff Lynn and Steve Winwood) get blown off stage by Prince playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps.  Finally the top floor had a great recreation of Pink Floyd's The Wall.  We ended up spending 4 hours here.  More than I imagined we would've.

Cleveland's Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame

The Cure - Rock n Roll Hall of Fame

Pink Floyd's The Wall - Rock n Roll Hall of Fame

We wandered back to the hotel and just hung out for the afternoon.  Later in the evening we ventured into downtown for dinner at Mabel's BBQ in an entertainment district of the city.  Dinner was good, but the night was cold, so an Uber back to the hotel ended the night.

Before I left the boys kept showing me a spoof video of Cleveland Tourism, so on Sunday Erik and I got up and went looking for some of these things and texted them back to the guys (who obviously weren't that impressed by dad trying to be funny.  So we did see the Claus Oldenberg Free Stamp as it was right near the hotel.  Found construction everywhere.  Saw the statue of Moses Cleveland.  And spent a good time with a great host in the Soldier's & Sailor's Monument.

When the time come to head to the show, we walked up to the venue hoping to get dinner.  Apparently a sold out show at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse is not enough to get a lot of restaurants to open on a Sunday, as most places were closed.  In the end we had to settle for a quick bite at the Shake Shack before heading to the venue.

The Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse is the home of the Cavaliers, so a big size venue.  We had seats at half court, 7 rows back - so a good line of sight.  The Acid Helps had the unenviable task of opening the night, and while they dis their thing, it wasn't for me or the thousand of DadRock Tool fans waiting.

The Acid Helps setlist

Someone recently pointed out to me that to be a Tool fan, you had to be a dad, and tonight this legend was confirmed because the place was filled with people like me and Erik, and some even actually ought their kids - though wives/girlfriends were few and far between.  I wonder what other bands I like fall into this category.  Anyway, just before 9pm Tool came out to a rousing reception and kicked of the night with Fear Innoculum from the new album with the same name.  I had been watching the previous setlists and new it would be heavy with new material, so it was a good chance to get a first listen.  Tool had been rotating Sober & Opiate as a 2nd song, but tonight, much to my pleasure, that opening bass riff over sober made this whole trip worthwhile.  Such a good song, and such a treat to hear them play something off Undertow.  I wish they would do more of that.  The Pot sounded incredible and The Grudge was another highlight.  Maynard finally came out of the shadows to do a Puscifer-ish act for a new song, Descending - it was weird - I had no idea what was going on.  And then they finished with Hooker With A Penis.  Again with the countdown clock before they came back for an encore.  The Danny Show of Chocolate Chip Trip kept all the drummers in the audience enthralled and then 2 more songs off the new album.

Another great Tool show on the books, though I wish I new more about the Fear Innoculum album.  Tool are a great band and a live show comparable to none, but as most shows nowadays for me, I'd like to hear a lot of other songs, but when it takes 2 hours to get through 12 songs it doesn't leave a lot for everyone's favorites.

Tool Setlist

It was great to see Erik again, we may do this again next year and see Rage Against The Machine in Phoenix.  Let's just hope it's not 3 years before we do it again.  Thanks Cleveland, it was great to meet you.

The Crap Facts:

This is my 470th concert.
Rocket Mortgage Field house is the 129th venue I've seen a concert in.
Cleveland is the 53rd city I've seen a concert in..
Ohio is the 16th state I've seen a concert in.
This is my 273rd concert in the US.
The Acid Helps are the 546th band I've seen.
This is my 7th Tool concert.

Charlotte FC v LA Galaxy @ Bank Of America Stadium

Charlotte FC - the newest MLS franchise - is having their first home match EVER on my birthday.  Was there ever a chance I wasn't going to go?  Thanks to A and the boys, who got me tickets, and boy was I stoked they did.

We got the Bank of America Stadium early in the hope of getting into some of the festivities, but the party started on the other side of the stadium as supporters groups marched in together.  We got into our seats well before kick off, even after trying to get food and into the merchandise store and the atmosphere was electric.  Charlotte has some shit sports fans.  Once things start to go south, season ticket holders don't bother to show and the atmosphere at some Panthers and Hornets games have been close to funeral-like.  Lets hope FC can keep the fans interested.  Though the thought of sitting in that stadium during the summer, and the high cost of tickets, is what stopped us becoming season ticket holders.

Just before kick off and sad but amazing moment happened.  The poor young lady who was to sing the national anthem had her mike cut out, but 74,000 people picked up the slack and gave a rousing rendition, the likes I've never heard at any sporting arena before.

There was no sitting down during any of the game, and Charlotte had a huge advantage of the home crowd.  I kept forgetting the kids were there and gave the referee and Chicharito plenty of stick when absolutely needed.  Play was even throughout the whole game, but nerves made Charlotte commit more small mistakes.  It was their 2nd game ever after all.  Ultimately the Galaxy's pressure paid off when a minute after Fuchs and Bender had chances in quick succession, the Galaxy moved the ball upfield for Alverez to perfectly drift one over Kahlina's head from a shot outside the box, giving us the only goal of the game.  Rios could have tied it up in ht e last minute of injury time but, alas, his headed from 6 years out went straight to the keeper.

Obviously the result was disappointing, and I'm sad that none of the Charlotte players got to score in front of that crowd, who has to be mentioned.  The stadium was full!  74, 479 people is a MLS record and not one of them was quiet for the whole 90 minutes.  Everyone was on their feet, willing the team on, and the supporters section behind the goal was absolutely rockin'!  Ma, we need to sit in that section for at least one game.

I hope Charlotte can get their first win soon, and that us locals keep interest and support this team, though I am skeptical (but more than happy to be proven wrong).

LA Galaxy 1 - E. Alvarez (77) defeated Charlotte FC 0

Attendance: 74,479

Charlotte FC: K Khalina, G. Corujo, C. Makon, C. Fuchs, J. Lindsay, A. Franco, B.Bronico (S. Ruiz), C. Ortiz (B. Bender), J. Mora (M. Gaines), K. Swiderski (D. Rios), Y. Reyna (C. Hegardt).

LA Galaxy: J. Bond, R. Edwards, N. DePuy, S. Coulibaly (D. Williams), J. Araujo, V. Vasquez (K. Kljestan), M. Delgado, R. Raveloson (E. Alverez), D. De Souza (J. Joveljic), K. Cabral (S. Grandsir), J. Hernandez

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis @ Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

I had tickets to Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds at the Grand Ol' Opry in October 2020.  That is until Covid happened.  And while not the same venue, I'll take any chance to see on of Australia's greatest performers.

I drove up to Asheville and decided to stay the night.  So after settling into the Hilton, I wandered through town until I came across The Lobster Trap, where I sat at the bar and ate Steam Bowl Mussels while enjoying a Highland Pilsner.

 

I actually had seen Cave do a show with Warren Ellis and Jim White, when Ellis and White were still the Dirty Three.  But that was 2000 - an awesome show I went to with Dad - so would things be much different.  Um, musically, yes!  In 2000 it was Cave playing Bad Seeds stuff with the others providing just a backing.  Since then Cave and Ellis have spent considerable time writing together, both for soundtracks as well as for the Bad Seeds.  I am in nearly the same seat as when I saw the Bad Seeds here in 2017.  A full band came out and Ellis perched to the side of the stage, seated to play mostly keyboards in his lap, while Cave was front and center.  The set consisted of mostly new Bad Seeds stuff as well as well as 4 tracks from their Cave & Ellis' latest release, Carnage.  None of it was familiar to me, but still great, until they did a cover of T-Rex's Cosmic Dancer.  The set continued in the same fashion - beautiful, unknown-to-me, Bad Seeds songs.  I was surprised that Ellis didn't play more violin.  His performances in The Dirty Three were frantic and mesmerizing.  This performance seemed more subdued than I expected.  2 Encores saw them dip into some old songs Into My Arms (one of my top 40 songs) and Henry Lee were icing on a cake.

Definitely worth the trip up to Asheville (that's 4 of the last 5 shows I've seen up here).  Lets hope we get to see the Bad Seeds again soon as well.

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis Setlist

The Crap Facts:
This is my 469th concert.
This is my 3rd concert at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.
This is my 10th concert in Asheville.
This is my 104th concert in North Carolina.
This is my 272nd concert in the US.
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis are the 545th band I've seen.