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Archive for the ‘Set in New Jersey!’ Category

Iron Maiden (Sports Illustrated Stadium, Newark, NJ, September 6, 2026)

Posted in Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Newark, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Sports Illustrated Stadium on September 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 6, 2026] Iron Maiden

I loved these three bands back in the 1980s.  Not in the above order (Anthrax was always near the top), but I never seen them when I was a huge fan.  I saw Iron Maiden in 2000 but I didn’t know most of the songs they played that night–until the end.

When this tour was announced I didn’t really think about going–I haven’t been enjoying heavy metal shows as much as I used to and I haven’t listened to anything new from Iron Maiden in about 30 years.  But then I saw that this show was going to be an old-school tour with songs from their first decade of music.  Iron Maiden thru Fear of the Dark (I didn’t even know FotD was one of their albums).

I was able to grab a ticket for the second night–the first sold out pretty quickly.  I don’t know if the second night did, too, but Bruce said it did.

The first two bands were great but I decided to move away from the mosh pit that kept forming in front of me, so while we waited for Iron Maiden, I moved to the middle of the GA section.  The people around me were shorter (good) and I patiently waited.  (Oof, after the long fast walk and the fact that as of yet I had not gone to the bathroom I was a but cranky.  I also didn’t want to lose my spot to get a $7 water.  I know the water price because when a dad came back with water for his son and himself, I asked how much it was and he told me.  He then let me have the last inch and a half when he was done–thank you kind stranger!  This guy was really nice and I enjoyed chatting with him until the lights went out and music started.

It was Doctor Doctor by UFO.  I had seen that this was the music they played before the band came on.  But since they had been playing music the whole time, it was weird to have this song start, the lights dim and….nothing.  I don’t know the song and it felt endless and some people were into it and I stood there wondering when I’d have something to look at.

And then the familiar chords of Iron Maiden’s The Ides of March started and the video screen followed a series of streets with ALL KINDS of inside jokes.  I knew about 3 of them.  The image shifted to that of Eddie on the cover of Killers and the band started the quiet intro of Murders in the Rue Morgue and I was ecstatic for about a minute because as soon as the song started properly, the entire right side of the GA erupted into a mosh pit–and we were pretty far back at this point.  WTF.  Do people not know where the pit is supposed to be?  Well, I got elbowed a few times until I was able to get away.

This opening was my heaven, because I love the first two album so much and Bruce sings these songs perfectly, even if they’re not “his.” (more…)

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Megadeth (Sports Illustrated Stadium, Newark, NJ, September 6, 2026) [IRON MAIDEN]

Posted in Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Newark, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Sports Illustrated Stadium on September 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 6, 2026] Megadeth

As a huge metal fan back in the 80s, I loved Megadeth.  I have their first four albums and probably played them all to deth.  I never had a Meadeth v Metallica problem because they were both great and if Dave Mustaine has stayed in Metallica we wouldn’t have Peace Sell, for instance.

I stopped listening to Megadeth in 1990 and really never went back.  Over the last 30 years or so I have enjoyed laughing at how petty and vindictive Mustaine is. About nearly everything.

I never had any interest in seeing them live.  But since they were playing I did start to look forward to it a bit.  Regardless of my thoughts on Dave, he is an icon and has made some amazing songs over the years.

Dave has had myriad health problems over the years, including throat cancer (he is now cancer free) and recently Dupuytren’s contracture which kind of cramps your hand in locked positions.  He has basically said that this will be his last tour.

I didn’t know what Megadeth was going to play.  And I assumed it would be a whole bunch of stuff that I didn’t know.  But in keeping with the tour’s theme, the songs were all from albums I knew (except for one new song, Tipping Point which I feel like I’ve heard, but how could I have?)

Megadeth has gone through a ton of lineup changes over the years and it is basically just Dave’s band (other’s have complained that there were a few people who have been in the band long enough to be considered proper members, but they are all gone).

They played the new song first and I was really impressed by the guitar playing of both Mustaine and new guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari (who is Finnish).  Dave’s voice sounded terrible.  I don’t know if he was undermic’d or if we were in a bad spot but he was almost inaudible.  I did wonder if it was because of his illnesses or if it was a technical problem.  By the end of the set he was more audible.

I was intrigued by their drummer Dirk Verbeuren (who is Belgian) because he was very flashy and I imagined he was from L.A.  Bassist James LoMenzo is the only other American player (it does make me wonder if he burned bridges with everyone else in the States).

They played the next song, Hangar 18 but I didn’t recognize it.  It’s possible that I don’t know Rust in Peace as well as I thought, but listening to it now, I do remember it pretty well.  It may have been the vocals that threw me off.  I do love that in nearly every song, Dave and Teemu switch off between little guitar solos–much shredding.

They followed it with Take No Prisoners, another song I should have known better.  I was never bored during these songs, so I imagine part of me vaguely recognized them.  Interestingly, it was Seating Bullets, from an album I don’t have, that I recognized more–airplay somewhere?   Actually I just looked at the video and it was entirely familiar.  The opening of the song, Hello me, it’s me again” spoken in Dave’s gritty voice makes me imagine him reading a bedtime story to his grandkids (he has at least one).  If he read Goodnight Moon, you’d assume the moon was going to be blown up.

He then said that they were going to play a song for all of those who were there last night.  Actually it was for all of the New Jersey, New York area.  It was a song that people have been asking them to play for ages.  It was Devil’s Island, which I didn’t recognize  the title of, but as soon as that guitar riff started and the crowd went bananas starting a massive mosh pit, I was pretty psyched to hear it.

I didn’t recognize Symphony of Destruction, but holy crap, with the bass opening of Peace Sells, my childhood came rushing back and I was super psyched to hear this one live.  Whaddya mean I ain’t kind?  I’m just not your kind.

They left the stage, which was kind of weird for an opening act.  So I guess technically this was an encore, but whatever you call it, when they started up Holy Wars, I was super psyched because I’m guessing if I didn’t know all of Rust in Peace, I sure knew this song.  The riffage was great, the soloing was great and Dave even sounded good for this one.  They even did the acoustic guitar middle-eastern riff mid song (Teemu on a propped up acoustic guitar).

First mistake? Last mistake.

I really enjoyed this set and while I don’t wish that I had seen them when they were younger, it was still a great set and scratched an itch I didn’t know I had.

The night before they played She-Wolf instead of Take No Prisoners and The Conjuring instead of Devil’s Island [I got the better deal].

Tipping Point ∉
Hangar 18 ⊗
Take No Prisoners (Tour debut) ⊗
Sweating Bullets √
Devil’s Island (Tour debut) $
Tornado of Souls ⊗
Symphony of Destruction √
Peace Sells $
Encore
Holy Wars… The Punishment Due ⊗


∉ Megadeth (2026)
√ Countdown to Extinction (1992)
⊗ Rust in Peace (1990)
$ Peace Sells … But Who’s Buying? (1986)

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Anthrax (Sports Illustrated Stadium, Newark, NJ, September 6, 2026) [IRON MAIDEN]

Posted in Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Newark, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Sports Illustrated Stadium on September 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 6, 2026] Anthrax

I was a huge Iron Maiden fan starting with Number of the Beast.  But when Anthrax came out, I like them even more–I feel like they invented the word Mosh (probably not but hey certainly used it more than anyone else).  I liked that they were super heavy and also had a good sense of humor.

Amazingly, I had never seen them live.  Not sure how that happened.  Although in fairness, I haven’t really listened to them since the early 1990s.

But I really wanted to see them at least once.  Indeed, I probably wouldn’t have gone to this show if Anthrax weren’t opening (this was the only venue where they played).  So the fact that I almost missed them because of Newark police is insane.

They went on at 6:10 (originally 6:30) and I left my house at 4 for an hour drive.  And I walked onto the floor as the band played their first chord.  Because when I got near the Harrison bridge, the police rerouted my side of the road (if you were in the left lane, you got to cross the bridge.  If you were in the right lane, you had to go straight).  So I followed their detour and looped back around where I Was about to get on the bridge only to see that they closed off the onramp as well.  There were people crossing the bridge, but not us.  So we all had to drive past the bridge and go to one of the parking garages.  I happened to find one that was relatively close (and much cheaper) and then hoofed it back to the venue. (more…)

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Iron Maiden / Megadeth / Anthrax (Sports Illustrated Stadium, Newark, NJ, September 5, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Newark, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Sports Illustrated Stadium on September 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 5, 2026] Iron Maiden / Megadeth / Anthrax

I loved these three bands back in the 1980s.  Not on the above order (Anthrax was always near the top), but the only one of the three I’d seen was Iron Maiden.

When this tour was announced I didn’t really think about going–I haven’t been enjoying heavy metal shows as much as I used to and I haven’t listened to anything new from Iron Maiden in about 30 years.  But then I saw that this show was going to be an old-school tour with songs from their first decade of music.  Of course, I am so unfamiliar with Maiden’s post 1990s output that when it said from Iron Maiden to Fear of the Dark, I didn’t realize Fear of the Dark was even one of their albums(!).

Tickets were expensive, and I think the pit area sold out pretty fast.  If I was going to this show I didn’t want to be far away.  Then my friend Jae said that he was going and I was pretty surprised.  Then they added a second night and even though it would have been fun to go with Jae (he actually wound up being late and missed Anthrax entirely) so I grabbed a pit ticket for Sunday.

 

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Anthony Green / Maps + Atlases / Keith Goodwin (Williams Center Black Box, Rutherford, NJ, August 29, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Anthony Green, Circa Survive, Keith Goodwin, L.S. Dunes, Maps & Atlases, Maps + Atlases, Rutherford NJ, Saosin, Set in New Jersey!, The Sound of Animals Fighting on August 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 29, 2026] Anthony Green / Maps + Atlases / Keith Goodwin

I found out about this show a couple of days before it happened and there was no chance I was going to go.  It was also the first time I’d heard of the Williams Center/Black Box.   Okay, that’s not exactly true, I grabbed tickets to the Gully Boys/Pollyanna show in October, when I checked out the venue website for the first time, I saw this show.

As for the Williams Center, I don’t really know that much about it.  There is a cinema.  But I was surprised to see the variety of musicians playing here–Built to Spill (!?).  Evidently it has a capacity of 642.  There also appears to be a bigger venue capacity 2,200 but not that many shows listed for it.

I have seen Anthony Green play with L.S. Dunes.  I was very interested in this show but there was just no way to make it.

So I’m going to leave it up to Sadgrlmtl to summarize what she saw in Massachusetts

Keith Goodwin, who I found out has been a long-time collaborator from his High and Driving days, came on. He was joined by Dave Davison on guitar. Anthony joined for the final song.

My two cents: I haven’t heard of him but he is apparently long time friends with Anthony.  He has been in a few bands (Good Old War most notably) and shows up with Anthony a lot–he might even be in Circa Survive for this upcoming tour.

Maps + Atlases came on with Dave back as the main singer. I had not listened to the band beforehand, but they are labeled as math rock which explains the very strange riff choices by all instruments – especially the drums which had 1 cymbal and 4 toms on top of the regular hi-hat, snare and kick combo which threw me off and made me super curious as to what he was gonna do with the mini toms. These were unfortunately not mic’d very well, so I couldn’t hear them. Overall, very interesting openers.

My two cents: I have heard of Maps + Atlases (or Maps & Atlases if you prefer), but I don’t know much about them. They seem to have 4 albums out with their 2010 album Perch Patchwork being remastered this year.  Pitchfork says their early releases were classic math-rock, typified by busy guitar lines borrowed from 90s bands like Don Caballero. Maps & Atlases are far from the only band from Chicago to use that sound as a starting point, but they’re one of the few to try and move it forward and successfully translate it into pop songs.  I probably would have liked them back in the day, although I’m not sold on his voice.

Anthony Green comes on with a massive band including one trumpeter so quiet he needed a mic (!) otherwise, he would be drowned out by the 4 guitars (who needs 4 rhythm guitars?). It was a show of pure excess as Mr. Green performed songs from all of his bands (Circa Survive, L.S. Dunes, Saosin and Sounds of Animals Fighting) all while drinking what looked like piss but was apple juice. At some point, I realized all of his openers were in his band and that Dave had literally been performing the entire evening – what a champ. At some point, they even play musical chair and the trumpeter goes to the drums, the drummer goes to the keyboard and the keyboardist goes to the trumpet (WHAT?). What a polyvalent group that genuinely loves music. Mr. Green sang as if it was his last show which is funny considering how his bandmates played very politely all while staring at him as if thinking “that’s just Anthony being Anthony”. He also sporadically made jokes.

My two cents: The dude is intense.  I wish I’d seen Sounds of Animals Fighting when the played Union Transfer and I wanted to see Circa Survive next month, but all three shows sold out in a second.  But he’s clearly always making music so I’m sure I’ll see him again.

 

  1. Acoustic VIP
  2. Holding Someone’s Hair Back (Circa Survive song)
  3. Like Magick (L.S. Dunes song)
    Show
  4. So It Goes
  5. I Don’t Want to Die Tonight
  6. Babygirl
  7. She Loves Me So
  8. You’ll Be Fine
  9. Trading Doses
  10. East Coast Winters
  11. Pets (Porno for Pyros cover)
  12. Seven Years (Saosin song)
  13. Strange Terrain (Circa Survive song)
  14. Act Appalled (Circa Survive song)
  15. Reconcile
  16. Don’t Dance
  17. Dear Child (I’ve Been Dying to Reach You) / Like Magick / Fucks Me Up

    Encore:

  18. Get Out (Circa Survive song)
  19. This Song Won’t Save You

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Nine Inch Nails (Prudential Center, Newark, NJ, February 14, 2026)

Posted in Boys Noize, Newark, NJ, Nine Inch Nails, Prudential Center, Set in New Jersey! on February 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 14, 2026] Nine Inch Nails

I saw Nine Inch Nails open for Skinny Puppy 37 years ago.  And never saw them again.  My son said he was interested in seeing them so when the announced this show I was like, hell yea, lets go.

I had heard the show was great, and I peeked at the setlist to see that there was a B stage (always cool) and a main stage.  I’m bad at song names so even though I saw what was playing I didn’t realize which songs they were, so a lot of it was a wonderful surprise to me.

After Boys Noize, Trent came out and played a song on the piano on the B stage.  We could see okay (except for that goddamned wire clump) but there was fog blowing down on them basically obscuring the whole proceedings.

And I can say this for this first time possibly ever,  I could barely see what was going on half the time and it was still one of  the best arena shows I’ve ever been to.

The sound was perfect–clean and crisp.  And as I said to my son, I was never bored or waiting for what came next for the entire hour and 45 minutes.  In fact, when it was 10 o clock, I couldn’t believe an hour had gone by.  It was just a killer show from start to finish–even the songs I didn’t know sounded great.  But most importantly, they played a lot of songs I did know!

While Trent played (You Made It Feel Like) Home, a quiet song, I was surprised at how chatty and weird the audience was during this, a woman shouted Happy Valentine’s Day and people laughed and whooped–it was so disrespectful.  But he seemed unfazed.

Then he pushed a button and started the second song, Non-Entity. While he was playing the cool piano melody of Atticus Ross came up on stage followed by his bassist Stu Brooks and guitarist Robin Finck and they added a fuller sound to the mix and wow it sounded great!

Trent got up and started singing Hey Piggy.  And while he did, a guy shone a spotlight on his face the whole time–walking around shining it right in his face–how weird.  But it sounded incredible. (more…)

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Boys Noize (Prudential Center, Newark, NJ, February 14, 2026) [NINE INCH NAILS]

Posted in Boys Noize, Newark, NJ, Nine Inch Nails, Prudential Center, Set in New Jersey! on February 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 14, 2026] Boys Noize

I saw Nine Inch Nails open for Skinny Puppy 37 years ago.  And never saw them again.  But not because I didn’t like them, it just never happened.  Recently, my son said he was interested in seeing them so when they announced the continuation of this tour and it was in Jersey, I was like, hell yea, lets go.

I grabbed us seats straight back (the floor would have been awesome but unrealistic and too expensive).  And I figured we’d have the perfect view.

Getting into Newark is always a pain in the ass.  I’d rather go to Philly.  However, in this case our show had a better setlist than Philly so, hooray.

We showed up a little later than I intended but parking was a breeze (amazingly) and  then we saw what looked like a massive line to get into the place.  And holy crap it was a massive massive massive line.  There were thousands of people in various lines all clumped together and no one seemed to know what was going on.  No one from the venue was directing anyone.  And people were MAD.  My son and I accidentally cut the line and were in the middle of one of the massive lines, so we wound up getting in a little after 8. Some people missed part of NIN’s set, I have heard.  But we arrived and could hear that Boys Noize had started.

I didn’t know much about Boys Noize (who is Alexander Ridha a German-Iraqi DJ), I listened to a song or two but was kind of meh about them.  So we didn’t care that we missed them.  We got on the merch line and when we got closer my son said he didn’t really like any of the shorts.  And I was surprised that I didn’t either.  So we left the line and found our seats,

They were great.  lower level straight back.  Except that there was a massive power cable bundle running from floor to ceiling literally right in front of us.  It split the stage in half and was unavoidable.  I was lucky there was no one next to me because otherwise it was blocking Trent the whole time.

While we were on the merch line we could hear Boys Noize, and to me it just sounded like a loud drum beat.  When we finally got to our seat (and put earplugs in (Jesus he was loud) we were right behind the DJ.  He was on a small stage (not the B stage) and was tinkering with equipment as he mixed and added songs.  But mostly it was a (very) loud drum beat.  It was kind of weird. (more…)

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Aaron Chen (NJPAC–Victoria Theater, Newark, NJ, November 14, 2025)

Posted in Aaron Chen, Blake Freeman, Fisk, Newark, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Taskmaster, Taskmaster Australia on November 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 14, 2025] Aaron Chen

I have made a list of all of comedians from Taskmaster who I would like to see live.  It’s not everyone of course (some of them don’t do stand up and some I don’t think I would enjoy).  And then we started watching Taskmaster Australia and Taskmaster New Zealand, and I’ve added a dozen or so more to that list.

So I was pretty delighted that Aaron Chen announced a show at NJPAC–only ten days after Romesh Ranganathan.

I didn’t know if anyone here knew about him, but friends of ours knew him from the show Fisk (which is very funny). So good for him.  Aaron is currently living in the U.S.  And he made a big deal of coming all the way to Newark (from New York City).

He started right off by saying that he is from Australia and how he doesn’t look how he sounds–we don’t have that combination here. (more…)

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Blake Freeman (NJPAC–Victoria Theater, Newark, NJ, November 14, 2025) [AARON CHEN]

Posted in Aaron Chen, Blake Freeman, Newark, NJ, NJPAC-Victoria Theater, Set in New Jersey! on November 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 14, 2025] Blake Freeman

I have made a list of all of comedians from Taskmaster who I would like to see live.  It’s not everyone of course (some of them don’t do stand up and some I don’t think I would enjoy).  And then we started watching Taskmaster Australia and Taskmaster New Zealand, and I’ve added a dozen or so more to that list.

So I was pretty delighted that Aaron Chen announced a show at NJPAC–only ten days after Romesh Ranganathan.

Romesh didn’t have an opening act, so I didn’t know if Aaron would.  But out came an Australian comedian named Blake Freeman.  Blake has been living in the U.S. for about a year (with his partner).

He was very funny.  His delivery was calm but witty.  Talking about living in the U.S., he said the hardest part wasn’t having absolutely no professional or personal support network, it’s that we use Fahrenheit.

There was a very funny bit about him not being able to fight.  He said that he and his mates are open emotionally, and so they only fight when people can’t admit their feelings.  He had to break up a fight between his friends because one felt the other wasn’t opening up about his breakup, “You think you’re tough, well, connect with me like a man.”  After, he apologized saying his love language was touch. (more…)

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Romesh Ranganathan: Hustle (NJPAC–Victoria Theater, Newark, NJ, November 4, 2025)

Posted in Newark, NJ, NJPAC-Victoria Theater, Romesh Ranganathan, Set in New Jersey!, Taskmaster on November 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 4, 2025] Romesh Ranganathan

I have made a list of all of comedians from Taskmaster who I would like to see live.  It’s not everyone of course (some of them don’t do stand up and some I don’t think I would enjoy).  I never really imagined that I would see everyone on the list as many British comedians do not tour the U.S.

I was pretty excited when Romesh Ranganathan announced a show near us.  Romesh is HUGE in England–he’s got TV shows and radio shows and everything else.  But in the US, he filled the 500 seat theater (I wonder how weird it is for massive comedians to play smaller venues like this).

The biggest surprise was when we walked in there was a DJ spinning tunes on stage.  His name is Martin 2 Smooth and he played a whole bunch of classic hip hop, which Romesh loves.

Then Romesh came out and started his act.  I enjoyed that when a person walked in late, he quipped “I just flew in from London and I was on time.” (This was the first night of his US tour).

He was very angry on Taskmaster and I assumed he would be angry in standup.  But he wasn’t.  Well, he was angry, but that wasn’t his whole thing.  He was very funny, making jokes about his family (his oldest son who is now bigger than him and who he believes looks like a terrorist with his hoodie up all the time). (more…)

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