Fun shows during the late 90s down period

[BDG135]

A good thing about the late 90s down period was it being laid back at the shows. You could get close to the stage easier. Warrant even played my hometown. It was cool hearing Jani go back and forth with the crowd. He even looked at me and told me I wasn't singing along. Anything interesting happen at one of those shows for you?

[Nobodyspecial]

I had some great times at shows in the late 90's early 2000's. The Metal Edge Rock fest was a great time. At one of the Poison tours (I think it was the last one with Ratt & Dokken. I was back stage and there was a problem getting me a pass. Security said if I left the back stage area they wouldn't let me back in, even though I had been back there for hours even talking with security. John Corabi over hears this, hand me his credentials and say bring them back before we go on. I was shocked, such a cool think do do for a nobody like me.

[Black Stuff]

In the 90s, I loved the package tours (RNS). Always a good, fun time!

[Love_Industry]

Overall it was depressing when Maiden, Priest and Dio had to play at half empty clubs and universities but I have a few fun memories...

I saw Saxon play a (large) bar with a stage at one end on an island outside Gothenburg. That show was beyond packed, my buddy and I missed the first three songs and then got in for free because they didn't have more tickets to sell and Saxon totally killed it. Then we had to hitchhike to get to the last ferry back to the city and Saxon's bus rolled up just in time too. 10-15 min later and both the band and us would be stuck on the island overnight, it was December and the weather was horrible.

Dio played an underground disco on the street where I lived at the time, there's a video of this show on youtube but you can't see where bassist Larry Dennison decided to run over and high five us during The Last in Line ... and didn't make it, he faceplanted on stage right in front of us.
Dio's bus was parked right outside my place so after the show I went home to pick up my Sabbath and Dio albums so Ronnie could sign them.

[Anthrax442]

Not technically the 90s, but saw Judas Priest on the Demolition tour with Anthrax opening in February of 2002. I'm not sure if this was Anthrax's low point, or if it was in 2008 during the Dan Nelson era, but it had to be close, because they had nothing to promote, and didn't even have a label, as they hadn't signed with Sanctuary yet, and the proposed dual singer tour with Joey and John in 2000 went nowhere. Judas Priest wasn't doing much better, and the Ripper era would be all but over by the end of the summer.

Due to this, Priest had downgraded from the theaters they played on the Jugulator tour down to large clubs. When they played Atlanta (not a great city for metal to begin with) on that tour, they were booked at a place called the Dekalb Atlanta Center, which would change names to the Dekalb Event Center a few years later and then eventually close. However, whatever you call it, it wasn't a free standing building, it was what appeared to be a repurposed single screen movie theater with the seats ripped out and the floor flattened, but you could still look up and see where the projector office used to be. And this former movie theater wasn't just in a mall, it was in a rundown mall in Atlanta on Buford Highway with a heavy Latino population, which actually still exists and has been heavily remodeled, now going by the name Plaza Fiesta.

To date, this is still the oddest venue I've seen a show at. To both bands credit, they were professionals and went out and put on a great show, with possibly the highlight being Priest going into Turbo Lover, which totally didn't fit the Ripper/"heavier" era, and Ripper just kind of shrugging and grinning while singing, and the audience completely eating it up. It might have gotten one of the best reactions of the night.

Anthrax

Among the Living
Got the Time
Fueled
Inside Out
Room for One More
Superhero
Antisocial
Caught in a Mosh
Bring the Noise
Only

Judas Priest

Metal Gods
Heading Out to the Highway
A Touch of Evil
Blood Stained
Victim of Changes
One on One
Diamonds & Rust
The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)
Beyond the Realms of Death
Burn in Hell
Hell Is Home
Breaking the Law
Desert Plains
Turbo Lover
Painkiller
The Hellion
Electric Eye
United
Living After Midnight
Hell Bent for Leather

P.S. According to Setlist, apparently the Red Hot Chili Peppers played there a few months later, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. I'll bet that would have been something to see as well.

[Tommy2Tone84]

There were some good albums and good tours during the Dark Ages of Hair Metal and there was crap.

[Playboyliquor59]

Anthrax, maiden, Motörhead and priest at birch hill night club in NJ was a trip.

[FreddyFender]

My brother tells a story of driving around the back roads with his friends getting high and happening upon a Jizzy Pearl-fronted Ratt playing a show in a park. He swears it happened - said they parked and got out and it was just Ratt playing to like 100 people at a public park.

No clue if true, but I hope it is.

[fret123]

What a weird time that was. I remember Slaughter playing at some club a few miles outside of Spokane in 95/96/97 somewhere in there. It wasn’t really even a club more like a multi-use 4H bingo hall with a bar area. I don’t even know why I went because I hated Slaughter. Just hoping there’d be some metal babes I guess. There was hardly anybody there and it was so strange and depressing. It must have been such a downer for a band that a few years earlier were a multi platinum MTV sensation. Living through that late 80s scene I thought it would never end. Left after about 3 songs.

[IREEKOFAWESUMNES]

Anthrax, maiden, Motörhead and priest at birch hill night club in NJ was a trip.

What years was this? I live 10 min from where birch hill was...I saw motorhead there in 01 or 02 I wanna say...

[diablomozart]

Not technically the 90s, but saw Judas Priest on the Demolition tour with Anthrax opening in February of 2002. I'm not sure if this was Anthrax's low point, or if it was in 2008 during the Dan Nelson era, but it had to be close, because they had nothing to promote, and didn't even have a label, as they hadn't signed with Sanctuary yet, and the proposed dual singer tour with Joey and John in 2000 went nowhere. Judas Priest wasn't doing much better, and the Ripper era would be all but over by the end of the summer.

Due to this, Priest had downgraded from the theaters they played on the Jugulator tour down to large clubs. When they played Atlanta (not a great city for metal to begin with) on that tour, they were booked at a place called the Dekalb Atlanta Center, which would change names to the Dekalb Event Center a few years later and then eventually close. However, whatever you call it, it wasn't a free standing building, it was what appeared to be a repurposed single screen movie theater with the seats ripped out and the floor flattened, but you could still look up and see where the projector office used to be. And this former movie theater wasn't just in a mall, it was in a rundown mall in Atlanta on Buford Highway with a heavy Latino population, which actually still exists and has been heavily remodeled, now going by the name Plaza Fiesta.

To date, this is still the oddest venue I've seen a show at. To both bands credit, they were professionals and went out and put on a great show, with possibly the highlight being Priest going into Turbo Lover, which totally didn't fit the Ripper/"heavier" era, and Ripper just kind of shrugging and grinning while singing, and the audience completely eating it up. It might have gotten one of the best reactions of the night.

Anthrax

Among the Living
Got the Time
Fueled
Inside Out
Room for One More
Superhero
Antisocial
Caught in a Mosh
Bring the Noise
Only

Judas Priest

Metal Gods
Heading Out to the Highway
A Touch of Evil
Blood Stained
Victim of Changes
One on One
Diamonds & Rust
The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)
Beyond the Realms of Death
Burn in Hell
Hell Is Home
Breaking the Law
Desert Plains
Turbo Lover
Painkiller
The Hellion
Electric Eye
United
Living After Midnight
Hell Bent for Leather

P.S. According to Setlist, apparently the Red Hot Chili Peppers played there a few months later, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. I'll bet that would have been something to see as well.

buford highway makes me think of the international ballroom outside the perimeter...saw megadeth there on the youthanasia tour, actually played there myself in 92 i think?...d.m.

[daveg]

Saw the BJ These days tour.

Was sold out, and fun...but was not the same as the 80s tours.
Maybe my favorite setlist. But I love That album

"Livin' on a Prayer"
"You Give Love a Bad Name"
"Hey God"
"Keep the Faith"
"Always"
"Bed of Roses"
"Blood on Blood"
"Blaze of Glory" (cover)
"Runaway"
"Something for the Pain"
"Lay Your Hands on Me"
"Someday I'll Be Saturday Night"
"I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" (with snippets of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone")
"Bad Medicine" / "Shout"
Encore
"Always"
"These Days"
"With a Little Help from My Friends" (cover)
Encore 2
"Wanted Dead or Alive"
"This Ain't a Love Song"

[Bono Nettencourt]

HTH is BoG a "cover"?

[daveg]

HTH is BoG a "cover"?

Not an actual Bon Jovi song. Jon Bon Jovi Solo. Take up your gripes with setlist.fm

[Mister Freeze]

The upside...

Small crowds, weird venues, cheap tickets, loaded lineups, easy parking, and performance-wise, most of these guys were at the top of their game. Around long enough to be seasoned veterans, but not over-the-hill and losing their touch. Nobody had to sync back then. It was also the sweet spot for hooking up. The girls were young enough to be fuckable, but old enough to be less selective.

The downside...

Small crowds, weird venues, rotating scab players, squeezing new grungey material into the setlists, general feeling of depression, and some of those club shows went on late.

[steviedoes]

Warrant was my first concert in 1991. Outdoor amphitheater. Four years later, I was doing tequila shots with Jani Lane in a club. So, yeah, that was fun. For me. I know it sucked for the guys in the band to fall so far.

[kingbrian74]

Anthrax was playing a club in Hartford. Big club. Holds like 1500. I won tickets off the radio. It was during the John Bush years (I like Joey, but I always perfected John in the band). But they were at a low point in their career. Maybe 150 people there.

I forgot who opened. Probably some locals.

Anyways, I was able to walk right up to front and center when Anthrax took the stage. Good set, and about mid way through they start Anti-Social. On what I think was the second chorus, John does the first ‘anti-social’ and then hands the mic to me in the front row. I suspect this was something he was doing every night. But I am NOT the type of person that wants the mic. I was hoping some rabid fan would yank the mic out of my hand….but no such luck. It was a group of very polite Thrax fans. I meek out my ‘anti-social’ before, THANKFULLY, someone grabbed the mic out of my hands.

That was a looong 10 seconds in my life.

[Playboyliquor59]

Anthrax, maiden, Motörhead and priest at birch hill night club in NJ was a trip.

What years was this? I live 10 min from where birch hill was...I saw motorhead there in 01 or 02 I wanna say...

The motorhead show I went to was in 2000 I believe. Maiden was in 96, I believe they were at vintage vinyl earlier that day as well.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Warrant was my first concert in 1991. Outdoor amphitheater. Four years later, I was doing tequila shots with Jani Lane in a club. So, yeah, that was fun. For me. I know it sucked for the guys in the band to fall so far.

Nice. You got to live where the down boys go.

[daveg]

Warrant was my first concert in 1991. Outdoor amphitheater. Four years later, I was doing tequila shots with Jani Lane in a club. So, yeah, that was fun. For me. I know it sucked for the guys in the band to fall so far.

Nice. You got to live where the down boys go.

Ha...I'm also pretty sure 1991 is not considered part of the late 90's

[Bono Nettencourt]

I was referring more to the 2nd time he saw them.

[DonJuanDeMarco]

"Fun shows"... no. But I'll chime in here saying that I saw Warrant on the Ultraphobic tour. Sebastian on his first solo tour with the Village People band he had. LA Guns with Jizzy (before the big Poison tour). All were dark and sad. Like, "we shouldn't be here" vibes. Bands were totally lost. They had no current hits and it was too soon to be nostalgic.

[steviedoes]

Warrant was my first concert in 1991. Outdoor amphitheater. Four years later, I was doing tequila shots with Jani Lane in a club. So, yeah, that was fun. For me. I know it sucked for the guys in the band to fall so far.

Nice. You got to live where the down boys go.

Ha...I'm also pretty sure 1991 is not considered part of the late 90's

Correct. 1991 would be the "early 90s". It is called "context". I was saying how four years later, "the down period" - I had fun at a show. But yeah, maybe that's not "late 90s" either. Just "mid-90s". My bad!

[Mister Freeze]

Great conversation guys.

[Tymaster]

Saw Testament play a place called "Sneekers" in Dayton. As far as I know the only national shows they ever booked were Testament and The Outfield. What a combo, eh? This was 1999. Lombardo's kit took up all of the "stage" so the band were pretty much on the floor. My friend, who is on here, was given permision to film it but Testament were so loud in there, that his video camera's battery kept vibrating out. True story. This place was the size of your usual old school Holiday Inn or L&K Inn bar. It was trippy.
A year or so before that, I saw Anthrax at a place in Lorain (not even Cleveland or Toledo, a small crap town in between the two) called "The Flying Machine" that was literally a barn in a trailer court.

[The Stench]

Only one that stands out for me was the Alice Cooper/Scorpions double headliner bill in '96. Was my first time seeing either and my first concert as a married man. Alice had nothing new to promote so he just played all the classics. Scorpions were promoting the Pure Instinct album and had Kottak on drums for the first time. The album was kind of a watered down affair, but the songs played so much better in a live setting. Really fun show.