Il Mano Corne

I was tooling around on Wikipedia and found this interesting paragraph in the article on the sign of the horns, the salute of all things heavy metal.

"It also has a variety of meanings in heavy metal subcultures, where it is known by a variety of terms, including: maloik, devil sign, devil horns, goat horns, metal horns, heavy metal devil horns, death fist, horns up, slinging metal, metal sign, sticks up, throwing the goat, rocking the goat, sign of the goat, throwing the horns, evil fingers, the horns, forks, metal fist, satan salute, the Irons, the Priest, and the Jackal."

Rocking the goat?

Anyway, the article goes on with a great quote from Mr. Ronnie James Dio himself, which originally appeared in Metal Rules magazine:

"I doubt very much if I would be the first one who ever did that. That's like saying I invented the wheel, I'm sure someone did that at some other point. I think you'd have to say that I made it fashionable. I used it so much and all the time and it had become my trademark until the Britney Spears audience decided to do it as well. So it kind of lost its meaning with that.

But it was...I was in Sabbath at the time. It was symbol that I thought was reflective of what that band was supposed to be all about. It's NOT the devil's sign like we're here with the devil. It's an Italian thing I got from my Grandmother called the "Malocchio." It's to ward off the Evil Eye or to give the Evil Eye, depending on which way you do it. It's just a symbol but it had magical incantations and attitudes to it and I felt it worked very well with Sabbath. So I became very noted for it and then everybody else started to pick up on it and away it went. But I would never say I take credit for being the first to do it. I say because I did it so much that it became the symbol of rock and roll of some kind."

Happy Bastille Day, Rush Fans!

This is actually a song that I've never seen Rush play live. However.

In December of 1990 I got a last-minute invite to go to Nassau Coliseum to see Metallica on the Black Album tour. This was the tour that featured the three-hour show, with no opening act. It also had extended solo sections, a drum battle between Lars and James Hetfield, and a version of "Seek and Destroy" that was truly the Song that Never Ends.


Anyhow, the drum thingy finishes up, and at this point in the show, Lars has the mic--he's been using it to rag on Hetfield during their drum battle. Kirk Hammett walks out on stage for his solo, and fires up the opening riff of "Bastille Day." "Dah-dadadadada DAH dadadadada DAH dadadadada Dumh Dumh Dumh!" Now, we're all Rush fans, and our jaws are on the floor.

Lars goes: "Hey! It's Alex fucking Lifeson!"

So that's the one time I've seen "Bastille Day" played live.

Bands I've Seen The Most Times

So last night I saw Maiden and Dream Theater. My 5th Maiden show, and my 13th DT show. Which provokes this list of bands I've seen the most times live in 22 years of concert-going, My first concert was Aug. 16th 1988, when I saw Aerosmith, Deep Purple, and GNR. And yes, opening acts count--even the sucky ones!

Marillion. Contrary to popular belief, I've only seen them eight times.


13 times: Dream Theater.

11 times: Rush. I will see them twice on this tour and that will bump them to the top of this list next to DT. They've been running pretty much neck-and-neck the last few years.

10 times: Metallica. Was supposed to see them three times last year but missed a show due to injury.

9 times: King's X, Queensrÿche.

8 times: Marillion

7 times: Joe Satriani

6 times: Porcupine Tree


5 times: Iron Maiden, Tesla, John Wesley, Yes

4 times: Opeth, Pearl Jam

3 times: Aerosmith, Fish, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Motörhead

Twice: Anthrax, Asia, Alice Cooper, Candlebox, Deep Purple, The Dexters, 11, Fates Warning, Robert Fripp, Peter Gabriel, Great White, Guns N' Roses, Halford, Heaven & Hell, The Hooters, Jethro Tull, Rudess-Morgenstern Project, Saigon Kick, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Symphony X, Thr3e, ZO2

Once: Alice in Chains, Amazing Journey, Tori Amos, The Ancestors, Apocalyptica, Atomic Opera, Badlands, Between the Buried and Me, Beggars and Thieves, Bigelf, Blue Öyster Cult, Body Count, Buffalo Tom, BulletBoys, Caroline's Spine, Chemlab, Cinderella, Eric Clapton, Felicia Collins and The Life, The Connells, The Crimson Sunrise, The Cult, Damn The Machine, Dangerous Toys, Def Leppard, Dio, Extreme, Faith No More, Fear Factory, Fight, Fishbone, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Genesis, Paul Gilbert, Gizmachi, The Hard Corps, Steve Howe, Ice-T, I Mother Earth, Into Eternity, Isle of Q, Jane's Addiction, Eric Johnson, Kiss, Living Coloür, Loud Crowd, Machine Head, Yngwie Malmsteen, Metal Church, Midnight Oil, Mind Funk, Mr. Big, The Moody Blues, Vinnie Moore, Mountain, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Nudeswirl, The Orb, John Petrucci, Pink Floyd, Redemption, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Replacements, The Rolling Stones, Saliva, Scale the Summit, Scorpions, Skid Row, Alex Skolnick Trio, Slayer, Slunt, Smashing Pumpkins, Smokewagon, Soundgarden, The Spin Doctors, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Styx, Suicidal Tendencies, Tad, Thought Industry, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Trixter, U2, Steve Vai, Vanilla Fudge, White Zombie, The Who, Winger.

Breaking it down like this, it's interesting to see bands like U2 next to Trixter, Cinderella next to Clapton, The Who next to Winger, and Kiss next to Loud Crowd, who are easily the worst opening act I've ever seen. Hope you enjoyed. I'll add to the list if I think of any others.

Concert Review: Iron Maiden cross The Final Frontier

Iron Maiden returned to Madison Square Garden on Monday night, promoting their forthcoming record The Final Frontier. Maiden have been in peak form ever since Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith rejoined the band ten years ago. The current tour is a celebration of that last decade, featuring songs from Brave New World, Dance of Death and A Matter of Life and Death.

The current tour has a science-fiction motif, with a starry background and the amps resembling loading bays on a space station. After intro-ing with Holst's "Mars, the Bringer of War" (fine British classical music), the band tore into "The Wicker Man" and proceeded to burn down the house. Bruce Dickinson pinballed around the stage, somehow managing to stay on pitch, exhorting the sold-out Garden crowd to lift their voices in song.

Highlights in the set included the title track from "Dance of Death", the powerful "These Colours Don't Run" and "The Prisoner", a surprise insert from The Number of the Beast. The band stuck to the new material until it was time for "Fear of the Dark." The encore was "The Number of the Beast", "Hallowed be thy Name" and in another deep-catalogue surprise, "Running Free."

Despite playing material that might be unfamiliar to the casual Maiden fan, the boys from Leyton played an excellent, far-reaching set. All three guitarists were in good form, with their contrasting styles and close harmonies providing considerable pleasure. Steve Harris and Nicko McBrain are the tightest rhythm section in metal, with 'Arry's bass-lines occasionally roaming up the stave to thrilling effect. Bruce Dickinson's instrument is in excellent shape. Even Eddie got in on the act, strapping on a Fender Stratocaster during the last few bars of "Iron Maiden." Thankfully, it wasn't plugged in.

Taking the stage one hour before their heros, Dream Theater tore into "As I Am" and proceeded to grab the crowd of jaded Maiden fans by the throat, beating them over the head with six heavy, complicated tunes. A winding, swirling performance of "Home" filled the seats, and the one-two punch of "Constant Motion" and "Panic Attack" made some converts to this tremendous band. Their set closed with the classic "Pull Me Under." Probably their best-known song, this was the first time that this writer has seen DT play this since the 2004 Train of Thought tour.