Yesterday, I ventured down down to Columbia, MD to check out Day 1 of the traditional M3 Rock Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion. The bands on the bill were The Iron Maidens (an all-female Iron Maiden tribute band), Tokyo Motor Fist (a last minute addition made of musicians from several 80's bands), Slaughter (a successful 90's band) and local legends, Kix.
Celebrating the return of live music is something that I looked forward to. Although I've seen a few local bands at various bars over the past six months, this would be my first venture into a large venue since COVID reared it's ugly head. I felt especially good for the musicians who have pretty much been out of work for the past year and a half.
It's always a tradition to grab dinner and a couple of beers at nearby restaurant prior to any concert. So, in yesterday's case, John (my brother-in-law) and I stopped off at Union Jack's, an English-style pub/restaurant. The food was ok but, most interesting, was that they had Red Stripe beer on tap. Risking a beer faux pas by ordering a Jamaican lager in an English pub, I went for it. It was light and refreshing, the perfect primer for the evening ahead.
As progressed through dinner, John continued to remind me that we had to be in line by a certain time to ensure that we would be in our seats by the time the opening band (The Iron Maidens) took the stage. He's a bit obsessive these days. I kept telling him to relax and assured him that we would make it in plenty of time.
We eventually settled our check and made our way across the street towards the venue. A small line had already formed. As we took our spot in the line, I checked my phone and saw that it was now 5:20. We were then told that the gates would not open until 6:00. I turned to John and said, "Are you f*cking kidding me? We have to stand here for 40 minutes?? I hope you're happy." (We're like Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in "Grumpy Old Men" sometimes). A short time later, I was delighted to hear that they would be opening the gates at 5:30 instead.
As we made our way in, we could hear the band going through their sound check. We could hear Kirsten, the lead singer, belting out the familiar vocal bridge to "The Trooper". We had known Kirsten prior to her time with The Iron Maidens, so we were really looking forward to seeing her perform on the big stage.
As the band took the stage and kicked into a familiar Iron Maiden song, that melodic energy that we had been missing for so long rapidly made it's way through the venue. The band was very polished as they played a variety of Maiden songs. I especially enjoyed "The Trooper" as Kirsten introduced the song by waving the British flag and later transitioning to the American flag. A fitting tribute for the July 4th weekend. To sum up their performance, the Iron Maidens were awesome! They re-introduced live music back to Merriweather in stellar fashion.
The next band, Tokyo Motor Fist, was introduced by former "That Metal Show" host, Eddie Trunk. The band, who I was not familiar with, kicked off with a typical "80's rock sounding" song. The band members consisted of guys who had enjoyed moderate success with other 80's bands (Trixter, Danger-Danger, Ted Nugent, Rainbow, Alice Cooper). I did not know any of their original songs but they did a really good cover of Rainbow's "Street of Dreams" with bass player, Greg Smith, doing a respectable job on lead vocals. They also did Trixter's "Give It To Me Good" with original guitarist, Steve Brown, delivering the lead vocals. Overall, the band gave a great performance and I really enjoyed them.
Next up was Slaughter, a band who wrote some really good songs back in the early 90's. Their two most notable tunes are "Up All Night (Sleep All Day)" and the power ballad "Fly To The Angels". I had never seen these guys live before, so I was really looking forward to it. Well, when they launched into their first song, my ear drums nearly exploded! I'm not kidding, they were so loud that I could feel the impact of every drum kick and bass note like an assault of baseball bats against my chest.. I was worried that my heart might be knocked out of rhythm by mid-song. The clarity of the songs was overwhelmed by the enormous volume. You could barely distinguish the guitar solo from the singer's shreiking voice. Yes, I know I'm getting old, but this was ridiculous. It could have been so much better if they could have just turned it down a notch.
Speaking of getting old, I'm guessing that the average age of the crowd was 50-something. And some of them were dressed like they came to the show directly from 1982. Hey, whatever makes you happy. By the way, what's up with the canvas Converse fish-heads that all of these old guys wear? Hey guys, do yourself a favor and throw those stupid looking things away and pick yourself up a nice pair of black leather boots. Way more rock and roll in my opinion.
Sorry, I got a bit off track.....
During the intermission there was an impressive fireworks display in the lawn area. The noise of the exploding projectiles was thunderous! But it paled in comparison to the Slaughter set we had just experienced.
The finale of the first night always belongs to local boys, Kix. I've seen Kix many times before and they never disappoint. It's a shame that they never made it any bigger back in the day. They had everything that you would ever expect from a great rock band: energetic songs, catchy hooks, infectious guitar riffs and a charismatic front man who literally "moves like Jagger".
Kix played most of their popular songs and the crowd responded favorably. Kix's last album was titled "Rock Your Face off" and that's exactly what they did throughout the duration of their set. It seems like Kix has been around forever but they perform with the same precision and energy that they did back in the early 80's. They delivered the goods and closed down the night with an exclamation point!
It was really good to get out again to experience a real concert. It's been long overdue. There are two more days of M3 concerts (today and tomorrow). But at my age, one night out is about all I can handle. Until next time....
kw
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