Away Team

Featuring: Buckcherry. With support from Hell Yeah, All That Remains and The Damned Things
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Rams Head Live – Baltimore, MD

Photos by Marcy Royce.

What a great lineup Jagermesiter has assembled for the Jagermeister 2011 Music Tour. It started on Wednesday, January 19 and will conclude on Thursday, February 24, 2011. BUCKCHERRY is the headliner with support from HELL YEAH, ALL THAT REMAINS and THE DAMNED THINGS.

So let’s get this party started. Or as BUCKCHERRY would say, “It’s A Party” and we’re going “All Night Long!”

The night kicked off with THE DAMNED THINGS. And the venue was not as full as I thought it would be. But that is because they took the stage at 6:35 pm. A bit early for most headbangers. This is a band that I’m not familiar with their music. I do know that of the 6 members, they’ve come from 3 other bands. Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley hail from Fall Out Boy, Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano are infused from Anthrax, and Keith Buckley and Josh Newton injected from Every Time I Die. WOW! Cool stuff right there peeps. They debuted last June as THE DAMNED THINGS and are a heavy metal super group. Their first single, “We’ve Got A Situation”, was released in October 2010. While they performed well and with much energy, I just couldn’t get into their music. However, most of the crowd was into them.

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Next to take the stage was ALL THAT REMAINS. They are a metal core group that formed in 1998, so they’ve been around for some time. They have 5 albums under their music belt and their latest offering, “For We Are Many” was released in October of 2010. Members include Philip Labonte, Mike Martin, Oli Herbert, Jason Costa and female bass player, Jeanne Sagan. Jeanne really had me entranced while I photographed the band. She can compete vocally with the boys. And why I say that is because she can ‘growl’ with the best of them. The band was tight and musically sound. Once again, however, just not quite my type of music.

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Rams Head Live was now beginning to fill the empty spots from earlier in the evening. People were steadily trickling in the door where my post seemed to be most of the night. I felt safe at my post because crowd surfing was beginning to increasingly build. Moshing too! And this place is great because it’s large and they have big screen tvs all over the place. So I didn’t miss a beat of any drum or the strum of any guitar or the singing of any lyric.

Now it was time for Baltimore favorities, HELLYEAH. Holy cow! This heavy metal super group just took over. The heat was building as the bodies moved forward. I shed my sweatshirt but regretted that decision as I became soaked with flying water. The crowd was working themselves into a mini frenzy. This band has a history as well. Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett slid in from Mudvayne, Tom Maxwell comes from Nothing Face, Bob “Zilla” Kakaha jumps in from Damageplan, and, of course, the great Vinnie Paul comes from non other than Pantera. While the band formed in 2001, they didn’t become a full fledged group until 2006. Their first release was in 2007 along with their first live show, right there at Ram’s Head. Chad Gray made mention of how this place and the fans were special to them. The crowd ate up the attention. I could feel the intense crowd support. Their second release was in July of 2010. They performed a few songs I recognized. Such as “Hell Of A Time”, “Better Man”, and “Alcohaulin’ Ass.” Chad Gray was on fire. The guitars were wailing. The drums were pounding. And I was in heaven. Captured some great photos during my brief time in the press area. HellYeah leads with such a strong performance that they could have been the headliner for the evening. But not for this tour.

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BUCKCHERRY was up next!

Lights were dim, and figures began appearing on stage. They took the stage like a huge hurricane. A intense wind swept over the crowd, from the front of the stage and permeated to every corner of the place. And then wham, lights revealed the one and only, BUCKCHERRY. It was such rush! As Josh Todd began the first words of “Dead” from their August 2010 release, “It’s A Party”, the crowd just went crazy. It seemed every fan in the first few rows were singing along and fist-pumping as well. The band was tight and sounded great. 

As “Rescue Me” started, I began to realize that Josh is like the energizer bunny, full of so much energy and moving around to almost every square inch of the stage. It seems, to me anyway, that Josh is inspired by two great frontmen, Mick Jagger, of the Rolling Stones, and Steve Whiteman, of Kix. Moving, gyrating and working the crowd as he belts out the lyrics. I had a hard time keeping up with him. Which brings me so stage right. Since I just had an interview with Keith Nelson a few weeks earlier, I was eagerly visiting stage right often. What a great guitarist. Keith interacts often during each song with the fans. He was throwing guitar picks out to the crowd most of the night. Even trying to get some to the second level of Rams Head Live.

After I finished photographing the third song, “All Night Long” from their new release, I made my way back to my post. All kinds of thoughts played through my head such as, high energy. Tight and solid. Love what they do. Jager infused. Awesome sound. One of the most tattooed bands of this day. Mezmerizing solos. Hooks and riffs, I like. And then Josh does the greatest thing. Thanks the fans for supporting rock and roll. Totally cool! I love when bands recognize the fans as the reason the music is still alive.

The setlist for the evening was: Dead, Rescue Me, All Night Long, Everything, I Want You, It’s A Party, Next To You, Lit Up, Slammin, Lawless & LuLu, On Set, I’m Sorry, Crazy Bitch, and for the encore Out Of Line and Whiskey. Playing current songs as well as digging some out from the early days. AWESOME! I love when bands do that, shows they care about the early stuff just as much as the current release. Digging into the catalog makes this gal happy! I was kind of surprised, though, that the band chose to end their set with lesser known, lesser popular songs that weren’t huge hits. They played most of the hits in the middle to end of the night. But hey, they gotta do what they love as well as what the fans love. So I’m sure they chose that setlist with careful thought and consideration for all involved. The fans loved BUCKCHERRY this night, no matter the course of the setlist.

Although the night included some minor issues and flubs, what band doesn’t have that happen live. And Josh was having a hard time with his vocal range about half way through the night. Performing almost every night apparently had begun to show at Rams Head. He didn’t give up though, and that I commend him for. He adjusted and moved forward, giving it his all. Being a true fan, I did notice these things. However they surely didn’t majorly detract from the great performance by BUCKCHERRY. Can’t wait until they pass close by again. I’ll be there, once again!

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Special thanks and a shout out to Pavla Mikula, with Stache Media, for making this opportunity happen for me and the Away-Team. You, my dear, do indeed ROCK!

Hell Yeah
Jagermeister Tour
February 12, 2011 – Rams Head Live, Baltimore, MD
Photos by Marcy Royce

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