As you know, Mondays are often made for tour announcements and other special reveals and while the holidays are rapidly approaching us, there isn’t going to be a slowdown of any kind. Check out this new news from the Symphony X camp.
The Press Release:
New Jersey’s progressive metal masters, SYMPHONY X, are proud to announce their “25th Anniversary North American tour 2020”! The 28 date trek will kick off in Englewood, NJ on May 14th and make stops in Montreal, Cleveland and Austin before concluding on June 17th at The Masquerade in Atlanta. Joining the band as openers are PRIMAL FEAR and FIREWIND!
Continue reading Symphony X Announces “25th Anniversary North American tour 2020” →
Skid Row celebrates their 25th Anniversary and will be joined by new singer Tony Harnell (formerly of TNT). Supporting the show will be The Blackfires, Killcode and Scottish Widows.
Artist: Stryper
Venue: Fillmore at Irving Plaza (New York, NY)
Opener: Manic Drive, Flight Patterns
Date: 9/18/2009
Label: Big3 Records
In celebration of the bands 25th Anniversary, Stryper was back in New York City to deliver their most cherished hits and also the best material from their newest studio release “Murder By Pride”. While I clearly walk on the heavier side of Metal’s providers these days, I have always enjoyed what Stryper did and how they managed to successfully blend their positive messages into some truly powerful Hard Rock music. They were a constant on MTV with their videos and this was at a time when being on the network actually meant something to heavy music fans. Resultant of this a number of their tunes became radio staples and now over two decades later are bona fide classics. To the best of my knowledge they had not toured around these parts since 2005 when I caught them in support of their “Reborn” CD. The tour was also the introduction to the fans of their new bass player Tracy Ferrie after founding member Tim Gaines had decided to move on and pursue other interests. Traumatic family issues put the band on hold as Michael Sweet’s wife Kyle was diagnosed and eventually succumbed to Ovarian cancer. The bands newest release came only months after she had passed away and perhaps his touring with the guys again was helping in the healing process as much as his own faith would be doing. Returning for the tour would be original bassist Tim Gaines stepping back into place for the absent Ferrie. Originally the tour was set to be done in two parts with the first half being new material and the second half the older classics. Ferrie had issues of his own to deal with and this would prevent him from the rigors of touring with the band. The show was at The Fillmore NY in The Big Apple and while there would be a number of opening acts we would not arrive until just before Stryper was set to hit the stage. I had initially wanted to see the band that singer Dayna Jade was fronting as well as witness what Flight Patterns was all about. The latter band actually features Michael Sweet’s son so the plan was to absorb them if at all possible. Alas this would not be the case but here is how the Stryper set went down.
Continue reading Stryper @ Fillmore at Irving Plaza (9/18/2009) →
Where Heavy Music & Pop Culture Collide
