The Return of Charetta- Gramercy Theatre NYC 1/13/17

This past Jan, Friday the 13th was definitely not a day of bad luck for fans of hard rock and metal in New York City. In fact, it was a night of fucking awesome luck as Charetta returned, after not having played for a couple of years, as part of the Bound by Substance show at Gramercy Theatre. As a matter of fact, I was at one of their last shows when they opened up for Flyleaf back in Oct, 17, 2014. At that very show, their bassist Rich Mollo played what was then his last show with them. Low and behlod, he is back with them and played on this, their big return. You can see him in the pic below playing the red colored bass guitar.

Now I should mention that I have been a HUGE fan of the band since I first caught them earlier that very year, and declared them to be one of the best, if not THE best, opening act that I have ever seen. I firmly stand by that statement, to this very day. In fact, they are one of New York's best rock bands, period! And, this night further cemented that in stone!

Before they came, their new video for "We Will Survive" off of their latest album, Fate Strikes Twice, had its world premiere. The video has some splatter FX and the horror fan in me loved it! Angelina DelCarmen, the band's beautiful, extremely sweet, and down to earth signer, would later tell me that shooting the video and working with the gore FX opened up her love for horror in a way she hadn't felt before. This makes it extra awesome!
You can see the video directly below:

From then the band came onstage and rocked the fucking house! They played a bunch of songs that spanned the history of the band. Included among them many of my favorites like "This Is Your Fall", "The Apocalypse Is Here", the beautiful and moving ballad "Not Made of Stone"', "I'm not Your Bitch" which is my personal favorite track by them, and many more. We, the audience, sang along to their songs and had a total blast!

And, that's cause the band just sounded tight as hell; as they were killing it onstage. The music was rocking and lead by the beautiful vocals of Angelina, who might just be the best signer in hard rock music that you haven't heard (unless you have, in which case you know what I am talking about!) Charetta is just such an awesome and kick ass live experience and truly deserve to have all the success in the world.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 In one of the coolest moments of their set, Angelina came out in a trench-coat for one of the songs.

For the final song of the night, the band played "We Will Survive". That is, of course, the video that was played at the start of their set, which bought the concert to full circle. Angelina came out in the blood-spattered outfit that she actually wore in the video! That was just so fucking cool and insured an awesome ending to one hell of a show!

Welcome back, Charetta, you were missed by your fans! We are so glad to have you back. Here is to many more shows!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra- Prudential Center, NJ 2016

On Dec. 26, 2016, I was fortunate enough to catch progressive rock/ Christmas/ neo-classical metal band the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) live in New Jersey at the Prudential Center. The best part is that I was seated  second row in the floor section, baby!

Now, I should start by saying that I this was my first time ever seeing the band. I hadn't heard a whole lot from them aside from the track here and there. Of course, I knew them best when they were progressive/ power metal band Savatage. The things is I really wasn't expecting much. I thought this was going to be a lame, pretentious, and boring show. Holy fuck was I ever wrong! This was one of the most fun and mind blowing live experiences ever!

Before the concert I got a pic with metal radio DJ, co-host of the very missed That Metal Show, and author Eddie Trunk. He is always so nice, friendly, and down to earth in person.

Guitarist Chris Caffery came out to greet the crowd before the concert began. At every show, a portion of every ticket sale goes to charity. This time was no different. Bless, this band for having such a good heart.

Not soon after this the concert began and from then on TSO kicked all our collective asses! Mixing video images, storytelling, laser lights, "snow", pyro (including white-hot fire!), beautiful back-up signers, and a large, over-head ramp walkway, it had everything, and more, that you could ask for in a big arena rock performance.

TSO consisted of/ were joined by: Zak Stevens, Dustin Brayley, Rob Evan, Autumn Guzzardi Horton, Mee Eun, Kim, Roddy Chong, Robin Borneman, James Lewis, Lisa Lavie, Georgia Bleu, Natalya Rose Piette, Russell Allen, David Z Rock, Joel Hoekstra, Kayla Reeves, Bryan Hicks, Jeff Plate and Chris Caffery.

Set-list:

Who I Am
March of the Kings
The Lost Christmas Eve
The Ghosts of Christmas Eve
O Come All Ye Faithful / O Holy Night
Good King Joy 

Christmas Dreams
Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24) (Savatage cover)
Christmas Canon Rock
What Child Is This?
Music Box Blues
First Snow
Promises to Keep
This Christmas Day 

The Best of TSO
Christmas Jam
A Mad Russian's Christmas
A Last Illusion
Christmas Nights in Blue
Wizards in Winter
Carmina Burana
Mountain Labyrinth
Not the Same
The Night Conceives
The Mountain
Requiem (The Fifth)
Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24) (Reprise) (Savatage cover) 

I think I'll let the pics do most of the talking from here on. Enjoy, and remember as cool as they may look, it's even more awesome in person:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the concert I got to meet beautiful signer for the band, Kayla Reeves, backstage. In all, this was a most amazing and unforgettable experience. I highly recommend you all to partake in this and see TSO live at least once in your life. You owe to yourself and will thank me for telling you about it, even if you are doubtful about it.