Digital Diversion

San Francisco’s Warfield was lucky to host ska legends Madness, which sandwichedless than a handful of west coast dates between their weekend Coachella performances. When you’ve got a band that’s been around as long as Madness (35 some-odd years), things can go a few different ways: you can find yourself with one original member milking the band’s name by going through the motions, or … as in the case with Madness … you get six members from the band’s formative years busting out the music like it was written yesterday.

Taking stage looking dapper in suits and two-tone shoes and by no means showing their years, Madness jumped straight into what else? One Step Beyond. Chas Smash and Suggs McPherson may have owned the stage but Lee Thompson (aka silly sausage) didn’t let that get in the way of his own fun, at various points hitting each security guard with a blast of saxophone in the ear and later on taking a dive off the stage for some crowd surfing (sans sax). The energy was infectious; the sold-out floor was bopping along and at one point a small mosh pit actually broke out.

The stage setup was stripped down; no need for a lot of additional glitz when there are ten people on stage. Only after the third song was a giant lit Madness sign revealed on the backdrop. It made a few reappearances throughout the set but largely remained off. Aside from a few comments about the colorful neighborhood that they found themselves staying and performing in (if you’ve ever been to the Warfield, you’d know what they were talking about it) the first half of the set was about knocking out classic tune after tune.

About half way into the set, the band took a bit of a break from the music to entertain the audience with some jokes (a few which seemed to go over a good number of heads) as well as an a cappella rendition of the Beatles’ Help! (which may have been missing a few lyrics). Once properly rested and re-joined by the horn section (Brass Monkeys?), Madness spent the rest of the set knocking out the missing hits: House of Fun, Baggy Trousers, and Our House even got the balcony up and moving. Suggs introduced It Must Be Love with, “Sometimes it’s a pleasure sometimes it’s a privilege. Tonight it’s been both,” before leaving the stage and the crowd wanting more.

What could still be missing from that set? Not to be forgotten were Madness and Night Boat to Cairo which wrapped up the encore. The house lights came on to Monty Python’s Always Look On the Bright Side of Life pumping through the P.A. and some sort of Suggs/Chas parting jig. Spotted after the show … a lot of smiling faces leaving the Warfield after 90 minutes of Madness.

Setlist:

• One Step Beyond
• Embarrassment
• The Prince
• NW5
• My Girl
• The Sun and the Rain
• Take It Or Leave It
• Taller Than You Are
• I Chase The Devil aka Iron Shirt
• Clerkenwell Polka
• Shut Up
• Grey Day
• Bed & Breakfast Man
• Forever Young
• House Of Fun
• Baggy Trousers
• Our House
• It Must Be Love

–Encore–

• Tarzan’s Nuts or Swan Lake?
• Madness
• Night Boat To Cairo

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

Rancid celebrated their 20th anniversary with a pair of sold out hometown shows at the Warfield in San Francisco, bringing along legendary Oi! pioneers Cock Sparrer for both. But with an equivalent set length and at least as many rabid fans in the crowd as Rancid, it would be hard to argue that Cock Sparrer held anything less than a co-headlining spot at this gig.

The Cock Sparrer intro music started and the crowd began to squirm before the curtains even opened. Taking the stage, Cock Sparrer busted into Riot Squad and the crowd went absolutely sideways front-to-back, not letting up a smidge throughout the 70 minute set. Celebrating their own anniversary (40 years), Cock Sparrer absolutely obliterated the stage … all smiles and oozing with energy. Not bad at all for a bunch of old guys.

[Click the photo below for the Cock Sparrer setlist and photo gallery]

Rancid took the stage promptly at 10:40, allowing sufficient time between sets for the crowd to catch its breath as well as what appeared to be half of the floor swapping out positions with those in the pit area. Starting with East Bay Night from their latest release (Let The Dominoes Fall), the band moved quickly into familiar territory with three from their breakthrough, …and Out Came the Wolves.

Armstrong wheeled across the stage, dragging his mic stand behind him before dropping it for a loyal stagehand to pick up and replace center-stage time and time again. I’ve always been surprised by how that guitar of his gets flung around for an entire set yet the band always sounds so tight.

With a 27 song setlist, Rancid didn’t waste a whole lot of time for chitchat. Besides dedicating Old Friend to a list of friends and family, the only other meaningful pause came with an abrupt end to Salvation when Lars and Tim thought that something bad was happening in the pit. After some brief advice about not bringing your keys into the pit they were right back at it. The special moment of the night was when “Skinhead” Rob Aston from Transplants joined them on stage for a few verses of Under The Red Hot Moon (which he sang on for the album version of the song).

While Rancid may not have dug as deeply into their catalog as they did when they headlined here back in September, giving a sizable chunk of stage time up for an epic performance by Cock Sparrer was a more than fair trade.

Full Setlist:

• East Bay Night
• Roots Radicals
• The Way I Feel
• Journey to the End of the East Bay
• Last One to Die
• Out of Control
• The 11th Hour
• I Wanna Riot
• Red Hot Moon
• Hooligans
• Old Friend
• Nihilism
• Adina
• Salvation
• Bloodclot
• Rejected
• St. Mary
• It’s Quite Alright
• Listed M.I.A.
• Fall Back Down
• Black & Blue
• Something in the World Today
• Maxwell Murder
• Gunshot
• Radio

–Encore–

• Time Bomb
• Ruby Soho

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

Setlist:

• Riot Squad
• Watch Your Back
• Working
• Droogs Don’t Run
• What’s It Like to Be Old
• Tough Guys
• Price Too High to Pay
• Argy Bargy
• A.U.
• Running Riot
• Chip on My Shoulder
• I Got Your Number
• Because You’re Young
• Take ‘em All
• Where Are They Now?

–Encore–

• England Belongs to Me
• We’re Coming Back

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

Korn wrapped up the second leg of their North American Path of Totality Tour at the Warfield in San Francisco, opting for a smaller-than-normal venue as they take a pretty substantial step in a new musical direction. Those in attendance that hadn’t yet given The Path of Totality a spin were probably surprised to find that the supporting acts were DJs (including Jonathan Davis) and while people were polite for the openers, it sure seemed that they were less of the Skrillex crowd and more of the Korn die-hards.

Given the shift in musical style, Korn took a pragmatic approach to their setlist which was designed to expose a substantial amount of the new material while ensuring that the old fans walked away satisfied. They did this by dividing the show in to three sections, starting with classics off of their self-titled debut and Life Is Peachy before moving into a block of five tunes off the new record. It wasn’t until they kicked of the “hits” section of the set with Here To Stay that things got nutty with the crowd … this is clearly the reward that they had been waiting patiently for.

Just because they were playing a smaller venue didn’t mean that Korn was going to skimp on the show. While the production wasn’t up to the level of their elaborate “Oildale” set from 2010 Mayhem Fest, a load of LED screens fit the size of the stage well and the strobe-heavy set probably set off a few seizures. The band was energetic as always although Jonathan seemed to be happier than I remember seeing him … maybe because it was the end of the tour leg or maybe it was the family and friends in attendance (including what appeared to be his son sitting at the back of the stage for a perfect view of all the goings on). Even the Brian Welch replacement was doing some pretty epic jumps despite being relegated to the shadows at the back of the stage.

So what’s the verdict on the 1 hr 25 minute set? Korn chose to walk a fine line between the new material and the old fans. Will the old fans adapt? Will Korn develop an all new fan base? Or will it be enough to keep everyone coming back? Only time will tell whether The Path Of Totality would have been better named The Path of Obscurity …

Setlist:

• Predictable
• Lies
• No Place To Hide
• Helmet In The Bush
• Narcissistic Cannibal
• Chaos Lives In Everything
• My Wall
• Get Up!
• Way Too Far
• Here To Stay
• Freak On A Leash
• Falling A Way From Me
• Another Brick In The Wall (Pink Floyd Cover)

–Encore–

• Shoots And Ladders / One
• Got The Life
• Blind

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

The mighty Machine Head wrapped up their North American tour with a hometown show at the Warfield in San Francisco. While the show wasn’t quite sold out, the void of the empty seats in the back of the balcony was filled with the enthusiasm of the die-hards that turned the general admission floor into a sea of flailing limbs.

So often a band looks flat-out tired by the end of a tour.  Not so the guys from Machine Head who were clearly invigorated and feeding off the energy … definitely in their element headlining the big stage with a tricked-out light show.  Phil and Adam rocked the f%^& out, doing their part to keep the crowd moving.  For his part, Robb was talkative, tossing cups of vodka into the crowd to his obvious amusement.  A nearly 2 hour set including a Dimebag tribute and yes, there was blood.

Setlist:

• I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)
• Be Still and Know
• Imperium
• Beautiful Mourning
• The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears
• Locust
• This Is the End
• Aesthetics of Hate
• Old
• Darkness Within
• Bulldozer
• Ten Ton Hammer
• Who We Are

–Encore–

• Halo
• Davidian

Supporting acts: Darkest Hour, Suicide Silence

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.