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Abyss's Review (11/28/01 Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY):
Bringing New York Together: Well We Still Hate That Guy From The Mets!
You know it’s a national tragedy when even the metalheads care. The fact that Eddie Trunk and the NY Mets catcher Mike Piazza emceed a benefit to aid the victims of the September 11th attacks shows that while us metalheads love to play the dejected outsiders, we have hearts just like everyone else. Even though the Yankees fans still felt the need to boo Mr. Piazza (season’s over boys). Or maybe we just wanted to get drunk and listen to some loud music, either way it’s well worth the effort. Mr. Trunk assembled a group of New York bands to donate their time for a good cause, and the line up was a good one. First of all, the reunion of Twisted Sister is enough to raise my eyebrows, mainly because when I wanted to see them in 7th grade, my mommy said I couldn’t go. Well I’m an adult now, and I make my own decisions (translation: Mommy said I could go this time.), and while it’s been over 15 years since I listened to anything by the band, I was looking forward to seeing them with great anticipation. But even the opening acts were, while often dated, a breath of fresh air.
Twisted Sister
Photos by YlanaSabastian Bach opened the show, but could only play for fifteen minutes due to his commitment the The Rocky Horror Show on Broadway, and his drummer, Anton Fig, had to rush to play with Carole King (talk about culture shock). I always liked Skid Row and thought they were unfairly lumped in with a whole bunch of hair bands just because they had a pretty singer, so I was happy to see Mr. Bach taking time off from his VH1 game show judging duties to give us a few moments of Skid Row nostalgia.
Next up was my favorite band on the bill. Overkill. Of course, you knew this band was going to give a big old “Fuck You” to Osama bin Laden, and that they did, in classic Overkill style. Unfortunately, their sound seemed a little muffled, and their setlist was weighed on the more recent material, but I’m always happy to see this band. Best moment of the set came from “In Union We Stand” due to its relative obscurity and it’s appropriateness. The crowd seemed a little unsure of what to make of this band at first, but I was impressed with the way Blitz and Co. swayed them to their side. The show ended with a slew of new Overkill fans.
Sebastian BachEven though the two bands they were opening up for are better known for dressing up, Anthrax had the best costumes of the night. Each wore a biohazard suit with a single word on it, and when they stood together they read: “WE’RE NOT CHANGING OUR NAME”, which got a great response from the crowd. They sounded great and were full of energy, but they did make two mistakes in my opinion. First of all, they dedicated “I Am The Law” to the heroes of the disaster, and then cut it short. The second mistake involved their set list. All of the sets were pretty short, and Anthrax made the mistake of doing three covers (“Bring the Noise”, ”Antisocial”, and “Got The Time?”). The highlights of their set was “Caught in a Mosh” and a stirring rendition of “Only” to end their set.
The Ace Frehley band was on next, and they had the most successful set of the show, in my opinion. I’ve always liked Ace due to the fact that I’m a big Kiss fan, and I liked his solo material as well. I was actually surprised how much of his set I knew. Opening with “Rip it Out” he took control of the crowd and played everything I could have hoped to have heard (well, I would have liked to have heard “Something Moved”). “Breakout”, “Rocket Ride”, “Shock Me”, “New York Groove”, “Parasite”, “and of course, “Cold Gin” kept the crowd on their feet the entire time, and a mini-encore of “Deuce” brought the house down. I was surprised at how well this set went over, but I guess in retrospect I shouldn’t have been. This guy’s a rock veteran.
Ace FrehleyI was in such a good mood by the time that Twisted Sister hit the stage that very little could have brought me down. I was a little disappointed that the guys didn’t don their shoulder pad costumes and crack addicted transvestite hooker make-up, but the nostalgia was more than enough to make up for it. The set list was as you’d expect it, most of it coming off of Stay Hungry but a good amount of old songs to prove, as Dee Snider put it, “… that Twisted Sister existed before 1983.” What the show lacked in tightness was made up for tenfold by energy, as songs like “Burn in Hell” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It” took on new meanings. The latter song was played twice, for the first time in the middle of their set, and they were also joined by a host of musicians for a jam at the end.
A really fun night for a good cause. Sure, maybe it’s a little ridiculous to pay $10 for a Red Bull and vodka, but it makes you feel better knowing that you’re getting ripped off for a reason. Even though my tastes run much heavier than much of this line-up, I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.
Death's Review (11/28/01 Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY):
I was excited to learn of plans for the New York Steel benefit. With the proliferation of September 11 -related benefits and charities, it was nice to see the New York metal community doing its part. Organized by New York radio personality Eddie Trunk and the good folks over at Metropolitan Entertainment, the event was hosted by New York Met star and well-documented metalhead Mike Piazza, and featured a decidedly "old-school" lineup. Unfortunately for me, the sold-out show took place on the same night as my New York City corporate basketball league defending champion team took the court for its first game of the new winter season. With that game set for a 6 p.m. tipoff downtown I figured I could play hoops, get changed, and make it to midtown before too much of the night's festivities passed me by.
AnthraxI suppose I was somewhat mistaken. Running down 8th Avenue at 8:10 on my way to the venue, I was sure I had missed all of Sebastian Bach and Overkill, and was merely hoping that Anthrax was not too far along with their set. I was psyched upon entering the venue to hear and see Overkill onstage playing "In Union We Stand," an appropriate choice from the band's Taking Over record given the night's stated purpose. The band looked commanding onstage, and the 3,500+ in attendance seemed to be warmly receiving these metallic veterans. I immediately found Musashi, Hel and Abyss in the pre-designated area, and Overkill quickly launched into their closer of "Fuck You" which morphed in the middle to Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" before returning to the end of "Fuck You." Coolest of all was Blitz' stage dive to end the set. In the end, I got to see just enough of Overkill to know that it was a good gig for them and to be glad that they had ended up with a spot on this bill.
Then it was back to the bar, to drink with Abyss and to hear about what I had missed form Overkill and Sebastian Bach. We also met up with Ylana back there, and looked at her slides of images from the Queensryche show at the Beacon Theater the week before, holding them up to the light in the middle of the crowd and trying not to spill beer on them. I decided to call our webmaster out in California on my cell phone, ostensibly to talk web site shop but in reality because I knew he was a big Twisted Sister fan and I was about to see the first Twisted Sister performance in fourteen years!!!! He had been in New York the week before, and we had checked out Queensryche and Living Colour together (two different shows), but he hadn't stayed over the extra four days to see New York Steel, and I was calling to bust his balls about it. Verdict? He said, "if they play "Knife in the Back," I'll know I should have stayed." Just then, Abyss comes running into the bar and yells "Anthrax just came out on stage with each member wearing a biohazard suit which spelled out the sentence 'we're not changing our name!'" Cool! We all laughed, I hung up the phone and went out into the theater to check out the 'Thrax.
OverkillAnthrax was good, with a decent performance, but it was short and I have seen better from them. They played three covers ("Bring the Noise," the opener, "Got the Time" and "Antisocial") out of a seven or eight song set! There are so many other songs I would have rather heard them play. Anyway, they did include "Caught in a Mosh," "Inside Out" from the underrated Volume 8, and "Room for One More" and "Only" from the killer Sound of White Noise. I enjoyed the set, but, like I said, I'd seen better.
Soon thereafter it was time for Ace. Between the Anthrax set and Ace, I listened to Abyss and Musashi debate the question of which guitar player caused more young players to first pick up the instrument, Eddie Van Halen (Musashi's pick) or Ace Frehley (Abyss). I'm not a huge Ace or Kiss fan, but the crowd this night would have surely chosen Ace. He pretty much rocked, playing Kiss classics like "Parasite," "Cold Gin," and "Duece," along with a potent rendition of "New York Groove." All in all, Ace was better than I expected.
Twisted SisterThen it was time for the main event. The first Twisted Sister show in fourteen years. They came out wearing street clothes (no Stay Hungry-era makeup) to the tune of "What You Don't Know Sure Can't Hurt You" and quickly ran through a set chock full of classics, including "You Can't Stop Rock and Roll," "Stay Hungry," "Burn in Hell," "Under the Blade," "The Price," "The Kids Are Back," "I Wanna Rock" and several more. No "Captain Howdy" though, no "I Am I'm Me," and no "Knife in the Back," unfortunately. Dee Snider was in top form, and sounded great, as did the rythym section, but the guitars seemed a bit sloppy a points. Still, it was great fun to see this show, and my only major complaint (besides the unrehearsed feel and overall sloppiness of the band) was the fact that Twisted saw fit to play "We're Not Gonna Take It" twice. Twice? The first time it was Twisted only, and then a few songs later, they did it as an encore with Sebastian Bach (who had returned from starring that night in Broadway's Rocky Horror musical) and Doro Pesch joining them on stage. Good to see Doro up there, bummed to hear my least favorite pre-Come Out and Play Twisted song twice!
In the end though, it was a great night. Will Twisted reform and do an album and/or tour? It is hard to tell. Dee certainly seems up for it, and perhaps the band can get it together to once more become a full-time unit. For now, however, this was a rare opportunity to see a classic band in action. Overall, it was a great night for a great 'cause. By no means was the New York Steel show musically perfect, but it did feature a good lineup, had good people involved, and a fun time was had by all. Sorry it took such a tragedy to make this happen, but glad that when it did, metalheads rose to the occasion. And I'm no Met fan (Yankees are my team of choice), but it was cool to see Piazza out supporting the cause. So all in all, I give the event 4 skulls, based on the music and not the five skull intentions. I'm glad I went.
Ace Frehley
Hel's Review (11/28/01 Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY):
The night of the much-anticipated metal benefit for the families of the police and fire department personnel and emergency rescue workers who perished on September 11, was finally upon us. And I find myself ill. Really, really ill. The kind of sick where you really should just be in bed, doing nothing, because it's the only thing you can do. So what do I do? I go to a metal show, of course. But, particularly as the evening wore on, I was finding it fairly difficult to enjoy and appreciate my surroundings. Why do I trouble you with all of this? Not because it's interesting, because I know no one really cares, but because it directly impacted the way I experienced the evening. So there.
Anthrax
Frankly, I was there to see Overkill, and secondarily Anthrax, and if it were not for my loyalty to them, my friends, and the fact that I had the tickets in my possession and had agreed to do this review, I would have bailed. I was just that sick. I arrived at the designated time, and we got into the venue at 7pm. Sebastian Bach was to go on "promptly" at 7, but apparently "promptly" meant "5 minutes early" because he was already into his set when we walked in. Not that I was heartbroken, I never developed the enduring love for 'Bas and Skid Row that many of my cohorts seem to have. Frankly, it's always creeped me out that he's prettier than I am. But I can start to get over than now, because once he pulled his shirt off, the attractive mystique he's been clinging to evaporated. His chest looked like some sort of over-baked orange turtle. Truly unappealing. His set was energetic, and the fans clearly adored him, but it was extremely short, as he had to run off to his Broadway gig.
OverkillNext up was the highlight of my night - the mighty Overkill. Did you know the 'Kil is my favorite band? What the hell's the matter with you? Have you been living under a rock? Speaking of which#133 Many of the frozen-in-the-decade-of-the-80s were present, though fewer than at the recent Queensrÿche show I attended, oddly enough. But I need to take this moment to point something out. A fashion tip: while the mullet is bad, the female mullet is far, far worse.
Sorry for the digression, I've been meaning to get that out of my system. Overkill crashed onto the stage in a sonic blast - the opening chords of "Coma" ripping the audience from their nostalgia-induced stupor to gaze in wonder and confusion at the stage. Some were clearly there for Overkill, as I myself have already professed to be, but many just as clearly didn't know who it was. The first pit of the night erupted at some point during their crushing set, which began, as I mentioned, with "Coma" and included, "Elimination", "Rotten to the Core", "Necroshine", "Long Time Dying", "In Union We Stand" and ended with "Fuck You" - going into "War Pigs" - and back into "Fuck You". The sound certainly wasn't everything it could have been, but those who didn't know the songs by heart, I suspect didn't even notice. Certainly the band more than made up for it with their always-energetic stage presence, and once Bobby Blitz pulled off his shirt, most of the women seemed to be thinking, "Sebastian who?" As always, sound issues or no, these guys played their hearts out, and New York loved them for it.
Sebastian Bach
Now my motivation was sapped. But I knew Anthrax was next, so I tried to keep my spirits from flagging along with my strength. I missed the moment the came out onstage, so didn't get to see the full effect of their jumpsuits, but let it be known: Anthrax will not be changing their name. They played a lot of songs that they knew the old-school fans would want to hear, but these days I find I prefer the Jon Bush material more, and certainly he sounds better with his own material. However, the fans seemed to eat it up, including the three cover songs. Which just goes to prove, if people hear your version of a song enough, they will forget it's not really yours. Anthrax's set was also incredibly energetic, and there could be no doubt that the crowd loved them.
Twisted SisterNext up was Ace Frehley. Keep in mind, that by this point in the evening, I'm not doing so well. I came this far, and I was determined to say as long as possible, certainly for a few Twisted Sister songs, but at this point, I was really wishing I was home. Then there's the fact that the last time I was excited about anything KISS-related, I was about seven years old, wearing out my parent's Destroyer 8-track. After I got bored with that, I could never muster much enthusiasm for the band. Frankly, I get bored with pretty much any band that plays all their songs in the same tempo, no matter how many people love them and think they're the best band ever. And now, it's 2001 and the people next to me are asking each other in all seriousness if they'd gotten their KISS Kaskets yet… Ace put on a good set, but I just really couldn't care at that point in the evening. All I can tell you, there were a number of KISS songs in his set, and the crowd simply adored it.
Finally, at long, long, last Twisted Sister took the stage. No makeup, though considering how much time it took them to set up the stage and guide them out onto it in the dark, they certainly had time to apply it! They were older, and a little rusty on the songs, but they were Twisted Sister. Dee has always been purported to be one of the best metal frontmen ever to stalk the stage, and I have to believe the truth of that. He was incredibly energetic, and didn't miss a note. The rest of the band did what they could to keep up, and everyone seemed to have a great time. Everyone but me. After about 5 songs, I came to the realization that I had to leave that very moment or I would simply not make it home at all. Passing out at a show when you're drunk is all well and good, but passing out when you're sick is just downright bad. And I hadn't really been participating in the evening since Overkill, spending most of my time spewing phlegm in the bathroom or hacking my lungs out. I had done what I had come to do. And now it really was time for bed.
Mike PiazzaAll things considered, it really was a great night. The spirit of the event was in the air throughout the evening, without all that, "New York you've been so great through all of this" bull nearly every band coming through here seems to feel the need to spew. These were all hometown bands, they went through it too, and it wasn't about that at all. Moreover, the unintentional result was the gathering of several of the most energetic and amazing frontmen metal has had to offer, back to back, and that was a fun bonus. It was a great evening, though I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I otherwise would have, I do have to acknowledge that it was a great event filled with great performances.
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