Tagged: Black sabbath
Pimps and whores?
Okay, well I’m not quite done bitchin’ yet…! :P
So the Black Sabbath tickets went on sale this morning. I went from happy and excited to pissed off and disappointed.
That “Early Entry“-package shit is probably the worst idea promoters have EVER come up with. Thanks for being total assholes, LiveNation!
The development is pretty sad, the way I look at it. It’s like squeezing the last penny out of fans – to the point where it’s gone way beyond tasteless.
Back in the day, fans used to wait for their idols to show up at the stage door – in rain or snow, any kind of weather, for hours, sometimes days. I know, cause I used to be one of them. But it was FREE. And your autograph was precious just cause you knew what you had to go through to GET it.
Now fans have to pay for that “privilege”. If you’ve got a REALLY fat wallet and nothing better to do with your hard earned bucks, you can PAY to get that autograph and breathe the same air as Ozzy for a few minutes. How much is that worth to ya?
I love Ozzy, don’t get me wrong.This is a general thing that somebody (and I hope that the fucker gets rolled in tar and feathers!) came up with a few years ago, that’s escalated to enormous and ridiculous proportions.
Those who charge stupid crazy amounts of money for very little, have no shame whatsoever.
I wish that fans would just collectively go on strike and say enough is enough.
Fuck you! We’re not playing along with this shit.
I’ve been so angry for the past two days. And I’m even one of those “privileged” ones who CAN pull some strings and get in on the guest list if I want to. People even ask me howcome I don’t just do that. But to me, a concert experience is the greatest thing in the world, if it meets certain criteria.
That criteria, usually, is getting in the front row, get that closeness where you can see every expression on the artists’ faces, every little detail and just be a part of the indescribable energy that goes between the crowd and the band.
Being as short as I am, I could never do that if I was ANYWHERE else in the arena than right at the barricades.
If I’m on the guest list I can usually forget that for concerts of this size.
The second the door opens – it’s the law of the jungle. You have ONE thought in mind: RUN!
Get to barricades asap. Nothing else exists for those two minutes until you get to your front spot. (Then you’ll have to spend two hours fighting to KEEP it, but that’s a different story. I’m used to it, it’s fine).
So, by the time they’ve found my name on the guest list, the front row is fully populated already, and that was that. There is just no TIME for any guest lists.
I’m not into standing way in the back looking cool. Well, I am if it’s a band I don’t really care about too much, but for bands that I REALLY want to see (Priest, Whitesnake, Sabbath…) I’m not taking any risks. I’m buying a ticket just like everybody else.
But now, even THAT option has been taken away. Because paying a fucking FORTUNE for that front row spot is NOT an option.
I’d rather not go at ALL. Screw that.
I COULD pay for it, I’m travelling all over the globe for concerts so yeah, I guess I could afford it, but I’m just NOT doing it. Just out of pure principle. They can take that “Early entry experience” and shove it up their greedy asses.
[Forget about THIS if you haven’t won the lottery recently]
The whole thing pisses me off. Concerts are supposed to be fun, it’s supposed to be an experience for everybody. The standing crowd are usually those who can’t afford the expensive VIP seats – or those who, just like me, are the hardcore fans who WANT to experience the show. The kind of people who are making the superstars who they ARE.
And let’s face it, Black Sabbath is, or at least WAS before they became rich, WORKING CLASS. Their FANS are working class, mostly. Charging these fucking fees is the same as getting the rich assholes in the front and the less financially fortunate fans, way in the back. What is that doing to the fan-hierarchy and the experience for the BAND? Or has it gone to the sad point where they just don’t care, as long as they get their fat check?
When I looked at the so called “VIP Early Entry package” – what they are charging for is just the plain fact that they are opening the doors a bit earlier for the rich people and keeping them closed for the other fans! That’s IT. And that DOOR is the difference between a “regular” ticket for 700 DKK and the VIP crap for 1500 DKK! That’s a pretty damn expensive door.
Cause all that other shit that they are trying to market as something “special” is just junk.
A “tour laminate“. What the fuck is that?! It’s not good for anything. It’s not good for backstage entry, it’s not good for anything other than just plain decoration. And that piece of plastic doesn’t cost them a whole lot. You can do it yourself in any office with a laminating machine and a color-printer!
Then there’s some “tour gift” whatever that is. Unless it’s a leather jacket with custom artwork on the back, it’s sure as hell not worth 1500 DKK! And the last thing you get is “event management staff present“. Uh, wtf?! Isn’t there ALWAYS “staff” present? What are they good for (other than being gatekeepers)?
Seriously, people are expected to scoop up the cash for basically NOTHING! For something that has been a normal part of going to a show since the fifties. The doors open and people get in! End of story. Who gets in first is up to the fans themselves.
But now we are made to feel like absolute bitches – OWNED by the Live Nation PIMPS. It’s become simple prostitution.
The prostitutes are the artists. The whoremongers are the fans who are paying for the “special services”. And the pimp is the promoter. Nice.
So this is where we’re at now. It’s just so frikkin’ SAD.
Black Sabbath – to VIP or not to VIP?!
Two words: BLACK SABBATH!! The European tour dates were announced today – let’s hope that it happens this time and that Tony Iommi is feeling better and stronger than ever! :))
Tickets go on sale later this week, beginning of next, depending on which show you’re going to, but I went to check out the ticket-options for the shows in Copenhagen and Stockholm…
And there it was again. That thing that has been so common in the States for years, but that we here in Europe luckily have been spared from: Who gets closest to the stage and why.
Here in Europe, it’s simply on a first come-first served basis. Some fans will sleep outside the arena for days, and believe me, if they are such huge fans of a band that they are willing to do that, I don’t have a problem with them being in the front row. It’s only fair.
I’m also pretty much okay with all the various ideas that managements come up with to cash in extra bucks – the VIP packages where you have to pay two months worth of RENT to meet your idol for three minutes and then be thrown out. Very precious minutes, to say the least…
If people are willing to cough up that dough and if they feel it’s worth it, it’s none of my business. It’s their money and it doesn’t affect me in any way.
Some want to buy packages with food or with limited edition merch of all sorts, parking spaces, yadayada…. All good. Doesn’t affect me negatively, whatever people wanna do.
But there is ONE thing that PISSES ME OFF.
When people are being forced to PAY to get in the front row! THAT is NOT okay in my book.
And I discovered that that’s what they’re gonna do for the Sabbath-shows.
“Package 2: You get to come in before the regular ticket holders, and choose your spot (standing).
And for THAT – you pay TWICE as much as the regular price! Instead of 695 SEK, which is very expensive already – you have to cough up over 1500 SEK to get in “first”. What the fuck…???
What it means is that basically, you will have rich people waltzing right in because they CAN, while the real fans who might not have that kind of money, end up behind the wealthy ones. It’s sickening – I can’t find any other expression for it. It’s like John Lennon’s classic comment:
For those of you in the cheap seats I’d like ya to clap your hands to this one. The rest of you can just rattle your jewelry!
Sell expensive seats for all I care – and all that other shit – but leave the STANDING crowd out of it.
I got just as upset in Manchester last year when I went to see Steel Panther. There were two lines opposite eachother, one to the left and one to the right. I didn’t know why, until I saw them open the door on the OTHER side letting in a shitload of people, while the rest of us were stuck where we were.
The shitty part of it? The people in “my” line – the “poor man’s line”, had been standing there for hours freezing their asses off, while that OTHER line had people showing up in the last minute like they just didn’t really give a crap.
I learned that those other people were “VIP members“. You bought some sort of yearly membership and they let you in before everybody else at specific events.
It’s not okay – it just isn’t.
Of all the things bands come up with to make a buck or two nowadays, THAT one thing should be SACRED. Leave the standing front row people out of the greed, please. Give them a fair chance.
Even the “Golden Circle”-thing is okay. You still get to come in at the same time, you’ve just bought the right to be closer to the stage and it wasn’t twice as expensive, it was just a few extra bucks. I can live with that. It’s when it gets extreme and greedy that I feel like I’m gonna throw up.
Bon Jovi charged people 20 000 SEK for the “honor” to sit on the side of the stage for a few minutes – of course being totally ignored by the band, and then get thrown out. Sure, it’s a choice these people made to pay that kind of money, but 20 000?! That is about 8 months worth of RENT for me. It’s pocket change for mr Bongiovi, no doubt, but it sure as fuck isn’t for his FANS.
I’m just grumpy I guess. I can’t stand injustice.
I was super excited about the news that Black Sabbath are going to give it another try, and that I’ll get to see the legendary, ultimate heavy metal band this year.
But it just kills the joy to realize that I will only have two choices: To pay 700 SEK and not see shit (cause I’m too short – if I’m not in the front, I can’t see a thing), or pay up twice as much to get in “before everybody else” (which honestly wouldn’t feel right anyway).
Just ruins the whole experience right there already. It’s not even a sport.
And don’t even get me started on how bad things CAN be with all the “pre-sales” and shit… (see previous Van Halen ticket hell-blog below….).
Guess I’ll just have to smile and cough up the bucks to get the experience. But at least getting angry about it is still FREE….!
In love with a VOICE
Had one of those YouTube-evenings last night. THANK GOD for YouTube, it makes people discover and RE-discover things.
I fell in love with [Black Sabbath-] Tony Martin’s voice all over again. Made me remember the first time I saw him, or learned about his existence.
When Black Sabbath played in Copenhagen 1989, I was there to review it for Kvällsposten – the newspaper I was working for at the time. I remember being slightly reluctant at first, because I didn’t see myself as a Black Sabbath-fan at all. I didn’t like the Ozzy-era, was never much for the 70’s sound anyway, so I thought it was going to be an evening for the elderly.
Boy, was I wrong.
On stage was this guy I had never heard of before – Tony Martin. That voice just filled the whole arena with magic! Backed up by Tony Iommi’s legendary, heavy riffs, it totally blew me away. It was really like having one of those religious experiences. I was just filled with this “wow!” sort of feeling, jaw dropped, eyes wide open, heart beating faster from pure excitement – the music and that VOICE was out of this world!
He wasn’t exactly a hot dude by any means, but he could SING!
About a year later, Black Sabbath came back, and this time I made sure to catch their press conference. That was a classic one. If there had been cellphones back in those days, I would have taken a picture of it, but I’ll just settle for the picture in my head instead.
It was an oval table somewhere in the back of the KB-hall, looked like a catering -or a conference room, I’m not sure. Right next to me to the left was Cozy Powell, then right in front of me Tony Martin followed by Tony Iommi. I’m not sure if Neil Murray was there. I think he was but he didn’t say much.
The topic was the new album “Tyr“. Every journalist was asking about shit that had to do with the occult, devil-worshipping, satanism, religion…. It’s as if Black Sabbath were there to represent some Satanist church or something, and I could tell that Tony Martin was kind of annoyed by the whole thing.
While the others are more old-school british rock stars who have learned not to get too upset about anything, and to be very diplomatic about those questions, mr Martin was more openly pissed off, although he tried to restain himself. :)
I didn’t say much at that press conference. I was kind of star struck I think. Well,I was young, so I was allowed to be. ;)
It’s a strange thing – being in love with SONGS or VOICES. It has very little to do with the PEOPLE, as strange as that may sound. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to quite explain it. But it’s that same kind of feeling that you get when you’ve got a crush on someone, it’s like a drug, it makes you high, it just fills you with this feeling that’s larger than life.
And eventhough Tony Martin was the least interesting person in Black Sabbath to most other people, he was the MAIN reason why I even started listening to Sabbath.
I wrote him a letter at some point. I don’t really remember much about that letter, other than that he actually wrote back and I was so happy about it. Couldn’t believe he took time to write. This was before the internet made its entrance in people’s lives. (Just noticed now that he wrote that Sabbath were bringing Bill Ward to do the South America-shows…. Those were the days, huh?)
When I met Tony and Cozy Powell for an interview in Karlshamn, Sweden, in 1995, Cozy started chuckling the minute he saw me cause he probably knew that I was “the fan“. He was teasing Tony about it every chance he got, which I guess was just a feather in the hat for Tony. :)
In 1995 I travelled around to see Black Sabbath everywhere I got the chance. Took me over to the UK, the Sweden shows, Denmark….
I had a good contact with the Sabbath-members at the time. Even Tony Iommi was smiling his mysterious smile every time he saw me, going: “Tony will be down in a minute!”
One of the best memories I think was when Black Sabbath played in Copenhagen and I ended up being mr Martin’s guide around town.
He went to HMV to see if they had the new Sabbath-album, went to a small shop that sold leather clothes, cause he needed a new jacket, went to the exchange-office as he needed Danish money… And after all that walking, he got hungry and we ended up at this little Italian restaurant.
I was slightly terrified, cause THAT hadn’t been in my plans and I didn’t have any money. So I got the cheapest food I could find on the menu, to fit my budget.
When I got my wine, it tasted like vinegar. Absolutely horrible. Tony saw my face and asked if I didn’t like the wine. “Noo, no it’s fine, it’s fine!” I tried to assure him, cause I couldn’t afford anything else.
The whole time I took for granted that I was paying for my own meal. I’m Swedish, we aren’t necessarily taking for granted that “the guy” pays. Especially when it’s not exactly a date.
Suddenly I see Tony waving for the waitress. Then he goes:
– The lady doesn’t like her wine. Do you have anything else?
“Holy fuck NOOO!” I thought. There wasn’t “anything else” I could afford, other than a glass of WATER… As it turned out, Tony paid for the whole thing, he looked at me like I was crazy when I took out my wallet to pay for my meal. “What are you doing? Put that away! I’ll take this!”
It was just a great dinner, Tony was nice and easy to talk to. At some point I said that I just loved “The Eternal Idol“. And he started singing the first few lines of it, right there.
I’ll never forget that. That VOICE, singing just for me, in a restaurant, I couldn’t have asked for a more memorable pasta-dinner…!
http://www.allmusic.com/song/eternal-idol-mt0029112067
When I got a modem for my Mac and internet started getting more common, I stayed in close touch with Tony through e-mail. I had collected everything he had done, demos and projects, his solo- thing, the whole hoopla. Was active on message-boards and it felt like all I did was arguing with assholes who kept talking about Ozzy or Dio, sometimes Ian Gillan or even Ray Gillen who hadn’t even been in the band long enough to be called a Sabbath-member, being “the real Sabbath”.
It just pissed me off that Tony never got the credit he deserved. Even to this day, I think that he was being treated like shit by many fans and even by Sabbath at some point. He contributed with a lot and sang on a few of my favorite metal albums of all time.
His only problem was that he wasn’t Ozzy. Other than that – he was amazing.
If someone asked me today who my favorite metal singer is – the answer is simple – Tony Martin.
I have my heroes, Rob Halford, Coverdale, Dio – all the legends. But if we’re talking about JUST the VOICE, it’s, hands down, T Martin.
He’s got this massive, huge masculine, powerful metal voice with all the depth and grid that’s needed for a heavy metal tune, but he’s also got the range to reach the higher notes, and do if effortlessly, getting those crystal clear notes that you usually hear by singers in the melodic rock genre.
He had it all, he could do the dark, mysterious vocal parts and he could go flying through the stratosphere in “Lost Forever” or “Eternal Idol“, well – anything that Sabbath wrote during his 10 years in the band.
He became a friend in a sense during those few years. I built his first, own official website. That was back in 1997. I think he had gone solo by then.
But… Well, he is a pretty stubborn personality and so am I. Although I think that back in those days I was more difficult to deal with than I am today. Basically – I got pissed off at him at some point in this website-making process, and he, of course, got even more pissed off at ME right back.
We haven’t spoken since. I went to his solo-tour throughout Sweden maybe 10 years ago or so, cause to me that whole thing was old news. It wasn’t to him. He was STILL pissed off, and I’m guessing he still is today. I don’t know, haven’t tried to contact him ever since.
But I still love his voice, and I always will – it’s one of a kind, I spent all morning listening to the 1987-1995 Sabbath albums on repeat again. He is absolutely outstanding – and if you haven’t heard these albums, do yourself a BIG favor and go get them!
Guess you’ll gave to refer to YouTube or a friend as those seem to be out of print, but everything is available through the web nowadays:
Eternal Idol
Headless Cross
Tyr
Cross Purposes
(Forbidden also had Tony singing on it but…not a fan of that particular album, eventhough it has its moments)
AMAZING PERFORMANCE BY TONY ON THE MISCHA CALVIN “EVOLUTION” ALBUM:
MY YEAR IN ROCK – retrospect 2012 (Part 1)
Every year when I look back on what I’ve been doing, it seems like it’s been longer than just a year. 2012 was no exception.
Even just the Firewind-tours were enough to fill a lot of space and bring back great memories – you’ll find those in this separate blog: http://firewindtour.posterous.com/firewind-tours-of-2012-recap
But there have been plenty of other highlights that I thought I’d take a look back on, now when there are only a few more days left of this year…:-)
TONY IOMMI DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER – AND OZZY & FRIENDS….
The year started with bad news that shook the whole heavy metal community – one of the godfathers of metal, Tony Iommi, had been diagnosed with cancer. The Black Sabbath reunion with Ozzy that had been announced and that had been so highly anticipated, was off. However, not to disappoint the fans too much, Ozzy decided to do the scheduled dates as “Ozzy & Friends“, bringing Slash, Zakk Wylde and Geezer Butler on tour. And of course his own band, which made a lot of people happy – myself included, as “the new kid on the block”, Gus G, was with Oz on those dates. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have bothered.
FIREWIND IN ATHENS
Speaking of Gus, my first concert trip of 2012 took me to Athens, Greece where they kicked off their year at the Fuzz club, and also recorded a video for the single “Wall of Sound” that was released later in the spring.
I remember Athens as easy to navigate with the metro going all through town. I was guided through some must-see’s, such as the Akropolis, by Jon, a good friend of Jon Oliva’s Pain (they were the ones who recommended him when I was looking for a contact in Athens – just in case). He’s also a singer in the band Need and we had lots to talk about, so it was a great guide! :) Always nice to get to know new people.Jon:
As for the Firewind-show (which was on January 14th, by the way), it was one of the best or worst, depending on how you look at it – their Greek crowd is absolutely freaking NUTS! I must have lost ten pounds at least getting crushed against the barricades before and during the show. My god. But – as always – worth it, ten times over! :)
STEVE STEVENS & SEBASTIAN BACH AT THE IRIDIUM JAZZ-CLUB IN NEW YORK CITY
At the end of January, on the 27th, I left for New York City. This time it wasn’t a major arena-gig, quite the opposite. Steve Stevens, one of the coolest guitarists alive (known from Billy Idol, Michael Jackson, Vince Neil etc…) and Sebastian Bach were performing together at this small jazz-club somewhere on Broadway.
The whole idea seemed so bizarre that I had to see it. I had also scheduled an interview with Steve through his wife Josie. Josie rocks! People look at her and judge her by the way she looks, it’s way too easy to think she’s just some bimbo, but I loved that girl. She was very professional but at the same time also very friendly and open. She had never even met us, but greeted us with a hug and made sure that we felt welcome. I wish all interviews could be planned through people like Josie.
Josie Stevens:
I got a great interview with Steve after the two sets at the Iridium (with a seated audience). My friend (and photographer) Beatrice and I were lucky to get absolute front row seats – right at the stage. I remember when Sebastian walked out on stage, he dropped his jaw and started doing sign language and grimacing kind of to ask “Did you fly over just for this?”
He shouldn’t be surprised, after 23 years he should be used to seeing me anywhere in the world, so why not a jazz club in New York?
Anyway, the backstage story, the review, the interview, photos and all from that can be found here:
BLOG: http://lita77777.posterous.com/first-day-in-new-york-tomorrow-steve-stevens
REVIEW: http://lita77777.posterous.com/steve-sebastian-the-iridium-nyc
PHOTOS: http://lita77777.posterous.com/steve-stevens-sebastian-bach-photos-by-beatri
INTERVIEW: http://lita77777.posterous.com/the-guitar-sleeps-with-me-in-the-bed-steve-st
WHITNEY HOUSTON PASSED
After the Stevens/Bach show at the Iridium, I took it easy during February. The music world was hit by more bad news, not specifically metal, but one of the great voices in modern music, had passed – Whitney Houston. It shocked a lot of people, including a lot of rockers. Whether or not you were into her music, I think most of us would agree that Whitney’s voice was one of a kind and it was a tragic fate. This was on February 11, 2012. R.I.P Whitney.
STEEL PANTHER INTERVIEW IN COPENHAGEN
Next on the schedule of 2012 was Steel Panther. I heard that they were coming to Copenhagen, and I actually hesitated whether or not I would request an interview with them. They are funny, but that’s exactly the thing – how do you interview a band like that?! It would certainly be…different.
It was actually my friend Kevin, from JOP, who talked me into it. “What’s the worst that could happen? If you don’t like the result of the interview, don’t post it!” True enough. So, I contacted Universal in Copenhagen and set up an interview with these crazy guys.
It was a pleasant surprise. They were absolutely “normal” before the cameras went on, and especially Michael Starr who we met down in the lobby 30 minutes before the interview. But the minute the cameras were rolling, they became the out of control Steel Panther that we all know and love.
I had it all figured out, or so I thought. However, they wouldn’t let me finish a sentence, so they missed some of the jokes that I was hoping they would pick up on. But, I realized that the best way to deal with these dudes, was to just shut up and let them do the talking! :))
The interview has passed 24 300 views, that’s crazy. :))
BLOG: http://lita77777.posterous.com/getting-together-with-steel-panther-in-copenh
INTERVIEW…..
PART TWO OF MY YEAR IN ROCK COMING UP………..!
How it all began – when Internet was still a baby
I’ve been active online since 1996 – when there was not even social media or anything. People used to discuss their favorite artists through newsletters that kept coming through E-MAIL – you just added your comment and passed it on somehow, I don’t even remember exactly how it worked. But it was easier to get noticed back then, because there wasn’t that much info on the web. It was still new.
The reason I even got online writing about my rock’n’roll meetings, was only because I was friends with, and a huge fan of Black Sabbath’s Tony Martin at the time – and I had offered to create his first own Internet-page. Even back in those days, that was a super-cool thing and pretty rare to have your own webpage.
In order to do that, I needed to learn html-programming, photo-editing, scanning, ftp-uploading, and how to use html-editors. I just found one of those old pages that said: This file created 99-09-22 00.36 by Claris Home Page version 2.0
Oh my god. :) Claris Home Page?! It was about as basic as you could get! Anyway – I needed to practice first, so I created a webpage but had to find a theme for it. I had just been to a few Whitesnake-concerts in the UK and decided to just write about that and upload some pics just to illustrate it. I never thought that anyone but me would even FIND that page, that wasn’t the intention at all.
When I woke up the next day and turned on my computer – my mailbox was FULL of messages from people from all over the world who had somehow (to this day I don’t know how!) found that Whitesnake-story! They loved it. And that made me realize that I had something here… That maybe I could do something more with it.
So I started writing, adding more photos and memories, and the reaction was the same. Thousands of people visiting the page, leaving messages in the guest-book (yep, the days before MySpace and Facebook – if anyone even remembers…) I was overwhelmed! I had only wanted to make a test-page for myself, so that I could do a decent job with Tony’s, but it took a different turn that I could never have anticipated.
That was the word “go” – and here I am, in 2012, fifteen years later, still doing this online-thing. The difference is that not as many people notice as back then. Now there is so much stuff out there that you DROWN in the sea of webpages and information. You’re lucky to have loyal followers at all these days.
It’s amazing to me that people still seem to enjoy the various stories from the past and from more current episodes. I want to thank you all so much for your support and for following me – new subscribers as well as the “veterans” who have been around through all these years – cause I know there are a few of you. :)
I’ll soon “dust off” an old story from my meeting with Iron Maiden back in 1999, so stick around.
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR 