DC’s top blog for live concert reviews
Tool performs at Capital One Arena on Nov. 25, 2019. (Photo by Chris Smyth)
For the band’s final performance of 2019, prog-metal icons Tool brought the Fear Inoculum Tour to Capitol One Arena recently. Known for putting on one of the best concert performances across all genres of music, Maynard James Keenan and company did not disappoint. A light- and laser-filled spectacle, a Tool show is a two-hour long sensory overload.
Tool (Photo by Travis Shinn)
Not long ago, frontman Maynard James Keenan reunited his progressive metal bandmates in Tool for a fifth album, titled Fear Inoculum, and now the quartet are conquering stadiums across the country. Tool performs at Capital One Arena in DC on Monday, Nov. 25.
Sonata Arctica performs at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Sept. 10, 2019. (Photo by Paivi Salonen)
Only days ago, Finnish melodic metal titans Sonata Arctica released Talviyö (“Winter Night”), the band’s 10th studio album. Sonata Arctica then appeared at The Fillmore Silver Spring to open Kamelot, and Paivi Salonen has the pix to prove it!
Kamelot performs at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Sept. 10, 2019. (Photo by Paivi Salonen)
Power metal stalwarts Kamelot performed at The Fillmore Silver Spring recently to launch the second leg of The Shadow Tour, and Paivi Salonen shot the show!
Geoff Tate performs at City Winery in DC on June 30, 2019. (Photo by Andy Jillson)
Geoff Tate and his band Operation: Mindcrime performed at City Winery DC recently, and I was there taking photos and reminiscing about the late 1980s. Geoff and the members of his current band performed Queensryche’s progressive metal classic Operation: Mindcrime in its entirety from beginning to end. It was a strangely magical evening brimming with with food, wine, laughs, and of course metal music.
Mastodon performs at MECU Pavilion on June 2, 2019. (Photo by Andy Jillson)
Another of my rock n’ roll dreams became a reality yet again. I had the pleasure of finally photographing one of my personal favorite rock bands. The hard-hitting progressive metal machine known as Mastodon stopped at MECU Pavilion in Baltimore recently, and I was there taking photos.
Dream Theater performs at Warner Theatre on April 15, 2019. (Photo by Paivi Salonen)
Progressive music titans Dream Theater released Distance Over Time, the band’s 14th studio album, recently. But when the band arrived at Warner Theatre last week, the gents were there to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their groundbreaking record, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. Paivi Salonen was there to shoot the show.
Baroness performs at The Fillmore Silver Spring on April 10, 2019. (Photo by Andy Jillson)
Baroness played an impressive high-energy set at The Fillmore Silver Spring, MD recently, and I was fortunate enough to be there to catch some of the action.
Sons of Apollo performs at the Howard Theatre on May 20, 2018. (Photo by Chris R. Smyth)
You hope that with any band, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. But when you start with amazing individual parts, the expectations can get quite high. Fortunately, with prog-metal supergroup, Sons of Apollo, those expectations were not only met but exceeded in a thrilling show at the Howard Theatre on Sunday.
Sons of Apollo (Photo by Hristo Shindov)
Former Dream Theater members Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (ex-Guns N’ Roses), Billy Sheehan (The Winery Dogs, Mr. Big, David Lee Roth), and Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Journey, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force) formed supergroup Sons of Apollo in 2017. The band released Psychotic Symphony, their debut album, in October via Inside Out Music/Sony — and in March, they released an EP with several versions of Psychotic Symphony song “Alive.”
Now, the quintet is on tour, and they perform locally at the Howard Theatre on Sunday, May 20.
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