Thursday, December 4, 2008

13 reasons to live in NYC, 2008

  1. AC/DC at Madison Square Garden: Angus Young duck walks, headbangs and ostensibly has a seizure while unleashing an ungodly blues-metal solo during his band's performance of "Let there be Rock."
  1. Amon Amarth at Irving Plaza: Amon Amarth provoke the crowd into a rousing Viking chant for "Steve," the local roadie who pours beer for the band to drink out of Viking horns.
  1. At the Gates at Irving Plaza: The opening riff of "Slaughter of the Soul" prompts the full capacity crowd to scream back the first lyric, zealously welcoming At the Gates back to New York City.
  1. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds at the Theater at Madison Square Garden: Cave releases something that the word "scream" can't do justice during "Hard on for Love."
  1. Dillinger Escape Plan at Irving Plaza: Dillinger play the loudest version of "Hot for Teacher" in history, winning over Cavalera Conspiracy's audience and stealing the show from the storied headliners.
  1. The Giraffes at Le Poisson Rouge: Aaron Lazar is reprimanded by security for smoking a cigarette, which he promptly puts out--in the palm of his hand.
  1. Iron Maiden at Izod Center: Maiden perform "The Trooper," "Wasted Years," "The Number of the Beast" and "Run to the Hills" all in a row at Izod Center, before topping four of the greatest songs in metal history with "Rime of the Ancient Mariner."
  1. Mastodon at Brooklyn Masonic Temple: The Georgian giants blow away respected headliners Neurosis by opening their set with the 14-minute "Hearts Alive."
  1. Megadeth at Hammerstein Ballroom: Dave Mustaine throws the 25-year-old "Mechanix" in between the two movements of "Holy Wars" for Megadeth's encore.
  1. The Melvins at Music Hall of Williamsburg: A faithful, earnest and a capella take on our National Anthem gets thrown into a fast, heavy, no-encore-or-stage-banter set that finds the Melvins at the top of their game.
  1. Willie Nelson at Radio City Music Hall: Willie follows plausible closer "On the Road Again" with "City of New Orleans," before rocking out for about an hour longer than anyone had any right to hope or expect.
  1. Nine Inch Nails at Izod Center: Each of Trent Reznor's bandmates bow individually and leave the stage, while Trent fades the final bars of "In this Twilight" and waves goodbye.
  1. The Stooges at Terminal 5: Iggy Pop is Iggy Pop.

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