Photos by Jim Bricker

Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo
Stafford Centre
April 17, 2013

If you grew up during a particular window of the early 1980s, there were certain things you couldn't escape: economic malaise, the San Francisco 49ers, and MTV. If you were an early enough adopter of Music Television, you were more than familiar with the likes of Triumph, April Wine, and .38 Special.

But you were probably even more aware of Patricia Andrzejewski, known colloquially as Pat Benatar. Everybody knows the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" was the first video aired on MTV, but not as many realize the second was Benatar's "You Better Run," or that Benatar's husband of 31 years (and collaborator for even more), Neil Giraldo, was the first guitarist featured on the network as well.

It helps explain why he's now sharing a bill with his much more recognizable wife, and the pair's Sonny and Cher vibe helped guide what Benatar described as an "unstructured evening" of songs.

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Photo courtesy of Big Hassle Media

When the Beatles were signing acts to their Apple Records label, it proved to be both advantageous and not so much for Badfinger. For while that band got great exposure, they were also tagged as the "Baby Beatles" for their somewhat similar looks and musical styles.

It's a situation that members of the Weeks hope to avoid in the wake of their signing to the Kings of Leon's new label, Serpents and Snakes. It will release the Weeks' upcoming full-length record, Dear Bo Jackson, on April 30.

Still, if comparisons are made, vocalist Cyle Barnes (who does sound an awful lot like Caleb Followill) sees it more as a badge of honor.

"Well...if people say that, it's not a problem. Our sounds are very different," he says. "And hey, if you get compared to a band, I don't mind being compared to them! I mean, they are a big band for a reason, and they're one of our favorites."

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Angelica Leicht

Flogging Molly at House of Blues

Flogging Molly
February 17, 2013
House of Blues

Damn, I wish I was Irish.

So does half of Houston, apparently, judging by last night's sold out Flogging Molly concert at House of Blues.

Thanks to the salty sea-dog opener Skinny Lister (who deserve much more than my little mention; they were ridiculously entertaining), the crowd was bouncing and pushing before frontman Dave King and company ever made it on stage.

The Who's "Baba O'Riley" blared over the speakers during the interlude and forced the crowd into an impromptu dance party, and an idiot throwing Pabst cans riled up the crowd, which was already bordering on the point of explosion.

Flogging Molly, LA's seven-person Celtic punk band, who blend traditional Celtic, Irish, and Folk with ridiculously loud and boisterous punk music, create a sound that is super-charged with energy, and last night was no anomaly. When they hit the stage, they were definitely loud.

And awesome.

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Photos by Justin Avery

Imagine Dragons
House of Blues
February 12, 2013

I've been wracking my brain to find the words to summarize last night's Imagine Dragons sold out show at House of Blues, and the only thing phrase that seems fitting comes from no other than Lil Wayne:

Smack it like a muthafuckin' bass drum.

An unlikely reference, yes, but the Imagine Dragons are anything but ordinary, so it's fitting.

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Photo by Son Lam

Every. Saturday. Ever.

Rather than slowly work my way up to my point I'm going to cut to the chase: over the next few hundred words, I'm going to make a case for why EDM shows are better than rock concerts. This statement will be viewed as heretical by many of you, especially those who refuse to believe that these button-pushers can compete with live music.

A year ago, I absolutely would have agreed with you. In fact, I'm still one of you. I'll be the first to admit there's a certain soul in live music that few DJs can conjure.

But live music is only one part of going to a concert. It's the most important part, but it doesn't always make up for the other parts of the concertgoing experience that are awful.

This isn't about the genre wars or button-pushing versus guitar-shredding. This is about the things that EDM shows get right that rock shows rarely do.

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Photo by Cory Garcia

The old "raise your phone in the air and hope it connects to a network" trick.

Cell phones have become ubiquitous in our society and nowhere is that fact more apparent than at concerts. Cell phones have literally revolutionized the concert-going experience, for better and worse.

Cell phones allow us to take photos of ourselves to load up to Facebook when we should be paying attention to the stage, help us reconnect with our friends when they wander off, and make it easy to shoot grainy video to upload to YouTube.

One of the great underappreciated benefits of the smart-phone revolution in cell technology is how it helps us kill time at shows. No longer are we forced to yawn our way through a boring opening act. With just a few taps, we have the whole Internet at our fingertips.

At least that's the theory. If you've ever been to a concert with more than 50 people, you know the unfortunate truth: Cell reception at concerts is pretty hit or miss.

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Photos courtesy of Dave Clements

L-R: Joel Guzman and Joe Ely

It has been said that the original Dosey Doe recalls a cozier, more tastefully curated Branson, Missouri. To that comparison I often joke that it's more like a giant Cracker Barrel or Saltgrass Steakhouse with world-class in-store performances. But Saturday night at Dosey Doe's new Conroe location (463 FM 1488) I saw as unique a room as I have in years.

Antique doors, salvaged stained-glass window panes, flower vases and lampshades hang suspended from the ceiling like a still-frame from The Wizard of Oz's tornado scene. Hundred-pound sacks of flour are affixed to the back of every wall, and very heavy velvet curtains hang in front of thick glass windows, all in the name of sound quality.

The décor is as much "reclaimed" as anything else. Candles are set in Mason jars with a ribbon tied around them. During shows, the large main room is lit mainly by the light of 100 Philco radio dials. For a large venue carved out of an otherwise very normal shopping center in southern Conroe, the Dosey Doe Music Café retains every bit of the charming comforts of the Big Barn just south, in The Woodlands.

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Photo by Groovehouse

This week Rocks Off asked Marilyn Manson fans to send us videos of their best Manson impersonations to win tickets to next Tuesday's gig with Rob Zombie at Reliant Arena. Like with most giveaways we do, sometimes interest is sparse, but this time you guys went all out. It didn't hurt that the Manson team posted our contest onto their official Facebook feed either.

We set a deadline for early Friday afternoon so we could get everything set up for the winner, just in case they needed to quit their job, find transportation, or stop screaming with excitement long enough to get to the show safely.

The Manson camp has seen some of your videos, and they are excited that so many of you decided to throw caution and future plans to the wind to live on in YouTube infamy.

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Photo by Mark C. Austin

That was LAST time.

Toyota Center already has a trio of big pop shows on the books for 2013 in Lady Gaga, P!nk and Rihanna, but starting right now (at this link) you can buy three English dudes whose production promises to be so immense it will crush those three ladies like a bug.

Yes, Muse, the British trio that started out as a group of rather large Radiohead fans before tapping into their inner demagogue and thrusting themselves into the arena-rock stratosphere through sheer force of will and armor-plated anthems like "Knights of Cydonia," will further prove their mettle at Toyota Center on March 12.

Fun fact: Before they took flight, future Musers Matt Bellamy and Dominic Howard tried on the names Gothic Plague and Rocket Baby Dolls. Bassist Chris Wolstenholme must be their good luck charm.

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Photos by Marc Brubaker

Garbage
October 9, 2012
House of Blues

See Garbage and Houston's most devoted darklings in our slideshow.

Shirley Manson pays her debts.

Maybe it's that Scottish Calvinist ancestry, or the discipline honed by decades with the same group of bandmates. Maybe she's really a Lannister. Whatever the reason, the Garbage front woman was very eager to make it up to Houston for canceling their previously scheduled April show.

Don't get us wrong, we appreciated the love and extended encore (including audience requests), but the cancelation was really more of an act-of-God thing, right? Illness in the family? It isn't like Butch Vig was arrested for aggravated frottage or something.

In any case, Houston got a real treat last night on the penultimate date of the North American leg of their Not Your Kind of People tour, though we can imagine a lot of us with 9-to-5 jobs are upping our coffee intake this morning.

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