1984-1986

70. KISS, Vandenberg, RIOT. $11.75 County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas 1/21/84

This was the first KISS tour without the makeup and some would say it was scary! These guys are not pretty... Anyway, RIOT with Rhett Forester (RIP) smoked!! Born in America was a great record. I don't know why I did not tape them, because I recorded KISS. Vandenberg were a bit disappointing. I had hoped they would be a bit heavier as their first record had some good stuff on it.

KISS played all the same classic tunes as the last time and many of the new songs as well. Another enjoyable concert by them. The set list was:

71. The Headpins, Tokyo Rose and The Victims. Treetop, El Paso, Texas 2/13/84

The Victims, sorry, I don't recall them at all. Tokyo Rose were a local El Paso band whom I recorded and they were not too bad as I recall. The Headpins had a radio hit with a pretty decent guitar player so we went to check it out. When you live in Las Cruces live music is few and far between. As I recall they thought they were alright?

72. Ozzy Ozbourne and Motley Crue. $11.50 Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico 3/13/84

This was the first OZZY tour without Randy and Jake E. Lee did not disappoint at all. I thought we was a great guitar player and the Bark at the Moon lp was quite a heavy one! Motley Crue, I am not sure why they took the opening slot as they were big enough to headline on their own. Still played a pretty heavy set. The set list was:

OZZY had a great stage set with a big chair at the top and giant set of stairs that he came down, as did Jake. It was a very cool stage set up and a great concert. OZZY's voice seem to have improved a bit since the last time we saw him. The set list was:

73. TED NUGENT and MSG! (Backstage pass) County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas 4/1/84

What a day this ended up being for Robert, Gilbert and I!! We went about to the hotels trying to find Ted Nugent and MSG. We did finally run into Ted McKenna and have a chat with him, Nice guy. Anyway, we got a backstage pass so I finally got to meet Ted Nugent in person after the show. We had to wait until he was all showered up after the set so it took a while but he signed an autograph was very friendly. They guy was larger than life too! Well, back to the show. MSG were totally kick ass. After their set I ran to the edge of the chairs where you could reach down and get an autograph if you were lucky and Michael Schenker signed a piece of paper for me!! He was one of my guitar heroes at the time. I really hated most of the stuff he did between 1986 and 1992, before he got back together with UFO for a while. The set list was:

Captain Nemo, Rock my Nights Away, Ready to Rock, Cry for the Nations, On and On, Attack of the mad Axeman, Into the Arena
Lost Horizons, Armed and Ready, Doctor Doctor

Ted was really fucking loud and their was a really small crowd. Ted had a front man now, so that was pretty weird, but I actually still liked them quite a lot. The set list was:

74. The Romantics. $5.00 Pan American Center, Las Cruces, New Mexico 10/22/83

Not sure why we went to this show. I guess their was nothing else to do that night. I can't recall if they were good or bad..

75. Saxon, Accept and Heavy Pettin'. $10.00 Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque, New Mexico 4/10/84

I remember this show!! We drove up and back in the same night and I had test in Genetics at 7:30 am the next morning! It is a four hour drive from Albuquerque to Las Cruces! There was just not way we were going to miss Accept. Balls to the Wall was a kick ass lp and we also really liked the first Heavy Pettin' lp a lot. Saxon goes without saying!! Heavy Pettin' did not disappoint and played all of their great songs from the first lp. Accept were really heavy and kick ass. Not enough old songs from Breaker, mostly from Restless and Wild and Balls to the wall! They were awesome. The set list was:

Saxon was really excellent as well. It was surprising to see them in such a big setting. The set list was:

76. Lita Ford and Max Trixxie. Grand Central Station, Albuquerque, New Mexico 8/1/84

During the summer of 1984 my friend Rob Romero and I managed a local metal band called Max Trixxie. I also started my own fanzine called Metal Madness. Max Trixxie played several other shows besides this one with other local bands, including a headline show at Grand Central Station in which nearly 800 people showed up! Maz Trixxe played a cool set and this was their first show before an over 21 audience. I thought that it went well and we got paid!! The band broke up later that year over petty squabbles. It was fun while it lasted.

Lita Ford was a hot little momma and quite nice as well. I got to speak with her backstage. They put on a pretty good show also. She can actually play the guitar! The lp she was touring, Out for Blood, had some pretty heavy tunes!

77. Ratt, Fastway and Mama's Boys. $9.50 Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque, New Mexico 8/5/84

This was another one of those good solid line ups. I know RATT, but their first Ep and lp were actually not too bad it was just later that it all went to their heads and they really sucked! One thing abut them that sucked that night was that their sound was really off. The soundman was trying to push the PA to much, as both Fastway and Mama's boys sounded great! Mama's Boys, I was not really familiar with but they were pretty smoking! The set list was:

?, ? , ?, ?, Guitar solo-Professor, Mama were all crazy now,
Straight Forward, No looking Back

Fastway were touring the 2nd lp which was not as solid as the first one but still had some great songs on it! I thought that they were excellent and stole the show. The set list was: Steal the Show
Tell Me, Misunderstood, ?, Say what you will, All Fired Up, Non Stop Love, Far Far from Home, My baby's left me, Easy livin', Feel Me Touch Me.

Ratt were not too bad. It was definitely another HAIR crowd and the girls looking for action stuff.. The RATT set was:

78. Twisted Sister and Y&T. $12.50 County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas 10/8/84

Twisted "fuckin" Sister!!!!! What else can you say. They were great! They had those cool videos out for I wanna Rock, which are still classics to this day. Why does everyone have to be so fuckin' serious in their videos. These guys knew how to have fun and rock at the same time. They were touring the 3rd lp, Stay hungry, which I thought was a killer!! Anyway, Y&T had a new lp out also, which was not nearly as good as Meanstreak. They still played well and worked the crowd well. El Paso really liked Y&T and they played there often. My most vivid memory of this song was when Dee was getting everyone in the place to stand up and there was one group of Mexicans that were just sitting there and would not get up so Dee fucking layed into them and got them so fucking mad, it was really intense.. Good fun though. They fucked around a bit but rocked out, I thought!

79. AEROSMITH, Black n' Blue and Stone Fury. County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas 12/8/84

I don't have any specific recollections about this concert at all. I do know that my tape of Aerosmith has some flaws in it and that they did a great version of Kings and Queens at this show! I really liked the first Black and Blue demo tape a lot and the first lp was pretty damn good. Can't recall what they were like....

80. Krokus, WASP and Helix. (backstage pass) Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque, New Mexico 12/18/84

I got passes from David, our promoter friend from Las Cruces. As I recall helix were not that great but WASP were really great and Blacky was pretty insane! I really liked the first WASP lp a lot and had some of the bands demos which were interesting as well. Krokus was touring the Heart Attack lp (I think) and they had a hit with the Sweet cover of Ballroom Blitz. Even though Heart Attack was a weaker lp they tended to play the heavier songs and put on a great show. This would be the last time I ever saw Krokus, a band I liked quite a lot.

81. ICON and Autograph. Grand Central Station, Albuquerque, New Mexico 12/30/84

Our friend Wes from Las Cruces was a big fan of Icon. Their first lp was pretty damn good with some hot guitar playing. Autograph were horrible commercial hard rock, the stuff that I hated. Can't remember it they were bad or not. As I recall Icon really rocked. I don't know why we didn't record the show?

82. KISS and Queensryche. $13.25 Civic Center Grand Hall, El Paso, Texas 2/5/85

This was a great concert! We had been fans of Queensryche since we got the very first Ep on the small Seattle label. I actually think everything they did after the first Ep really lost the energy that the band had. The first lp which they were touring here was great though! They even played the non-lp track Prophecy! They smoked and we got a great recording!

KISS were without Vinnie Vincent and had Bruce Kulick playing leads. He was quite good. KISS's new songs were not that great but they still rocked pretty hard and did a great version of Still in love with you! The set list was:

83. DEEP PURPLE and Guiffria. $13.75 County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas 10/8/84

We were so psyched for this show! I never thought we would ever see Deep purple and the Perfect Strangers lp was a great record. I had a lot of tapes of all the Gillan band stuff and was a big fan of him and never did get to see Rainbow, so this would be a first time to see Blackmore! Greg Guiffria's band were alright but this was a DP crowd and as I recall they did not play much attention to them.

Deep Purple were fucking great!! The sound was very bassy but the band were really good. Gillan's voice was not as good as it was on some of the tapes I have from this tour, but he could still belt it out. Awesome versions of Child in Time and Highway Star!

84. Metallica and Armored Saint. $10.00 The Big Apple, El Paso, Texas 3/2/85

What a great time we had at this show. I interviewed Lars ulrich in the Pancake House next to the hotel where they were staying which was really cool! Also got to finally meet Armored Saint, whom I had been corresponding with via the mail for a year or more. They actually wanted me to ride on the bus with them up to Albuquerque the next night, but I just couldn't do it because of school. It was an amazing night! Armored Saint were touring the first lp and totally kicked ass!! I bought a shirt and it still looks great! We were right in the front row headbanging away. We had a real personal first and the band would hand down the mic so we could sing the chorus!!

Metallica were touring the Ride the Lightning lp and were really smoking hot! I remember we were outside when they did their sound check and Motorbreath sounded so fuckin' good! Those were the days when Metallica could blow anyone away!! I am still not sure what this LOAD crap is...

We followed the Metallica bus back to their hotel after the show and got to come on the bus.. It was a wreck with old food containers, a case of Vodka, loads of Heineken, etc.. These guys were hard drinkers! Very nice though. They remembered meeting us only a few months back and we had a nice chat about that 83' tour in which they were booked into country bars etc.. and how some of the shows were incredible and others complete crap as they were in little hick towns.. I printed up the interview with Lars in my 4th or 5th issue of Metal Madness.

85. Iron Maiden and WASP. $13.25 County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas 3/8/85

Iron Maiden were touring the Powerslave lp, which I think has some incredible stuff on it. Since Maiden were one of my fave bands at the time, there was no way I was going to miss them playing so close together two nights in a row. I was a bit disappointed that they played the same exact set both nights, so did WASP! Hell, Blacky gave the same exact speeches! WASP were great, playing a couple of different songs from when I saw them in December.

Iron Maiden had a very cool stage set up and played an excellent selection of tracks, including the awesome epic tune, Grand Marinner. Great show!

86. Iron Maiden and WASP. $13.75Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico 3/9/85

We drove up to our home town to see them the next night and saw nearly the identical show. It was still great though as it allowed you to focus on different aspects of the show you did not see the first time. The same set was played by both bands each night.

87. Uli Roth and Electric Sun! $7.75Grand Central Station, Albuquerque, New Mexico 5/19/85

This was like a dream come true to get to see and meet Uli Roth. He was one of my fave guitar players then and still is today, even though he is hardly active at all. WOW! We stood dead center just two people back and I was totally blown away. Uli plays so beautifully and he played that amazing guitar that he had custom made the extra frets. He played a lot of my favorite Electric Sun songs. It was cool to see Nicky Moore also, who sung with Samson on a couple of great lps! Awesome show! I even got to get his autograph on the gatefold version Beyond the Astral Skies! He was really nice to talk with as well. I can't recall what I asked him though.. A once in a lifetime experience!

The set list was: The Night the Master Comes, What is Love?, Why, Firewind, Starlight, Enola Gay, On that Night, Still so many lives Away, Beethoven Symphony, Guitar solo, Daughter of the Inner Sun, Polar Nights

88. Rory Gallagher Grand Central Station, Albuquerque, New Mexico 5/22/85

Another amazing dream to see Rory Gallagher! I did not get to meet him but seeing him jam and play for 2.5 hours was amazing! What an amazing show! He played a great set of stuff. This was the US tour for Jinx. It was the first time he had played in the US for several years and the last time until 1991, his last ever US tour! He was so good.. I went with Greg Anderson and recorded the show myself!

The set list was: Double Vision, Moonchild, Off the handle, Tattoo'd Lady, Bad Penny, Mississippi Sheiks, When the rain comes, Garbage man, Wayward Child, Secret Agent, Nadine, Shadow Play, Out on the Western Plains, ?, Philby, Shin Kicker, Rollerover Beethoven, Summertime Blues, Fow Me, She's not There!

89. Hirax and Aggression (backstage pass) Mason Jar, Phoenix, Arizona 6/15/85

I drove out to Phoenix to visit my friend Rob Romero and also to catch the Celtic Frost show. I had corresponded with the singer for Hirax and it was cool to see and hang out with those guys. The Mason Jar is literally a mason jar, the place is fucking small!! Hirax opened for the show and played a blistering set of stuff. A lot of stuff from the new Ep, hate, Fear and Power. Cool guys. Aggression were also really great. I bought a live 7" record from them. Fun day.

90. Celtic Frost and Voi Vod (backstage pass) Metro, Phoenix, Arizona 6/18/85

I could write a book about this experience! It was hot as hell (over 100oF) in Phoenix. Voi Vod from the Canadian arctic and Celtic Frost from Switzerland, where really suffering. It was incredibly hot and not air conditioned very well in the club. I interviewed both Voi Vod and Celtic Frost. I remember that I had a really hard time understanding Piggy while Blacky, Snake and Away were much more comfortable with English. Blacky even gave me his Aggression t-shirt (the Canadian band) right off his back! They were all really great guys. I did speak a little with Tom Warrior but mostly with Martin Ain. I got to sit in the barrier area and took a few pictures of Voi Vod, but Tom Warrior did not want photos taken. Voi Vod were really incredible and heavy. Blacky had that incredible spiked arm band. The material off Roooaaarrr was really out of hand but I have always loved the early rawness of the first lp. Celtic Frost were also great live. I think that both bands cut their sets short though as the heat was so intense at this show. I remember seeing the guys in Flotsam and Jetsam headbangin' away at this show and posturing about as if they were cooler than the rest of the people!

Anyway, after the show we went back to the hotel with the band. Blacky was hanging out with some chicks and drinking tequila, while others in the band were not drinkers. I had a long talk with Away and he gave me some of his art work as well as a tape of a band that he was friends of called Capitalist Alienation. We spent most of the time out by the pool and from their you could see the bank across the way with the LED for the temperature and it was 100F at 12 midnight!! I remember chatting with the guys from Coroner, who were acting as roadies for Celtic Frost on the tour. They gave me a numbered copy of their first demo with Tom Warrior on vocals. A great tape!! The most incredible thing of the evening though was when Tom Warrior came out in his full leathers, boots, etc and just walked right into the pool and then walked out and went straight back to the hotel room.. Very fucking strange! He was one bizarre guy. What a day though!

91 Savatage, Rogue Male, and Illusion. (backstage pass) The Big Apple, El Paso, Texas 8/16/85

WOW! This was another incredible day! I had never heard of Rogue male before but we got there early and heard their soundcheck and they sounded great, so we got talking to them and they let us come on the bus (Robert and I) and they were these wild Irish guys. I did an interview with one or two of them and they had their lp cranked up and it really blew us away. I thought that they were incredible live also. Too bad they never made it! Illusion, who opened the band had an lp out of Geffen, I think, but were a bit too poppy for me.

I also did an interview with Savatage and we got their autographs on our Power of the Night lp, which was a kick ass lp. They were really amazing live. Jon Olivia had a cold or something and I remember that he had coated his throat with brandy or something and he made it through the show and sounded great but he could hardly speak afterwards... I was really blown away by these guys live. Chris Olivia (RIP) was totally amazing on guitar! Excellent show.

92. Motley Crue and Loudness. (backstage pass) County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas 8/85

I really only went to this show to see Loudness. I had already lost interest in the Crue by this time. Loudness were really great! I thought that the crowd gave them an ok response considering they did not really fit the bill. They even played Speed and Crazy Doctor, which made me really happy. I was most impressed. I remember when I was watching Motley Crue and Akira came out from backstage to a place where he could see the band and I am sure he was laughing when he saw mick mars playing lead guitar! He did not hang out too long. I would have loved to speak with him, but I know their English is not that great!

93. Pat Travers. $6.00 Popcorns, Las Cruces, New Mexico 11/16/85

This was when Pat was starting to get into the Blues thing but did not have any Blues CD's out. I guess his most recent lp was Black Pearl, which was not that great. I think Robert and I went to this one. We drank a lot. Pat played some of his old favorites but just did not have the band he had when I saw him before, like Pat Thrall and Tommy Aldrigde! Not a bad show and in our home town at this point in life.

94. Stryper $10.00El Paso Civic Center, El Paso, Texas 12/9/85

I went to this show by myself. I was a bit turned off by all the religious folks hanging out and the propaganda etc.. Stryper put on a pretty decent show and I even recorded it. The seats were reserved and I had a good seat. Not a bad show.

95. Aerosmith and Y&T. (backstage pass) Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico 2/3/86

This was a great experience. I was set up with the backstage pass to interview Y and T and I did, but I did get to speak with Tom Hamilton and he took me back to the dressing room where I got to talk with all of Aerosmith. It was just them and me in the room. It was very cool. I showed them my fanzine and Steven Tyler gave me a card of their publicity people in boston. They were all really nice. I was surprised how skinny Steven and Joe Perry were. I guess in a way, I was a bit awestruck, as this was a band that I had been a huge fan of. After I split, I did an interview with Y&T and as the starting music for Aerosmith came on I finished up the interview and ran back out front to continue the recording! Opened with Back in the Saddle! I was really impressed with Aerosmith and the first time for me to see them with Joe Perry. I really liked the Done with Mirrors lp a lot. Great show.

96. Saxon and Armored Saint. (backstage pass) Roller Rink, Albuquerque, New Mexico 3/19/86

This was another great time as I got to hang out before and after the show with both bands. I got to interview Biff from Saxon and he was really cool. He was really surprised when I asked him about a couple of old Saxon songs that I had on a live tape from 1979 that never made any lps! He was quite cool. My friend Greg recorded the Saxon Soundcheck and show. I recorded Armored Saint and hung with them on the bus and did an interview. Gonzo gave me his metal Armored Saint pin. He actually put it on my leather jacket and I still wear it there! This was the Delirious Nomad tour for Armored Saint and I love that lp. Amazing shit! They were great but were plagued with a power outage, which occurred the last time they were in Albuquerque (opening for Metallica) and during the same song, as well as poor sound at first. Great set though! These guys were the best metal band to come out of the Los Angeles area from the early 80's scene, too bad not enough people recognized that...

Saxon were touring the not so great lp, Crusader. It had a few great songs but was a drop in quality after the first 5! Still they put on a great live show in this small roller rink. Fun show!

97. Anthrax, Hard Attack (backstage pass) Roller Rink, Albuquerque, New Mexico 4/23/86

Hard Attack were a pretty cool local metal act from Albuquerque. No idea what happened to them.. A really small turn out for this show, which was disappointing. Only about 100 people or so. I got some good photos and did an interview with the band as well as hung out and talked on the bus after the show with them. They played a really smoking set and I remember that people wanted to do a bit of slamming but the bouncers were real assholes and thru one guy out (Big Ed, I think he was called). The band actually stopped the show and said that it was cool to slam and let the guy back in, but they never did. Gung Ho was an amazing version! Great show......

98. Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica. (backstage pass)´Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico 5/13/86

This was a truly memorable experience, especially in retrospect, because at this show I did an interview with Cliff Burton, whom would be killed in a bus accident five months later. I remember speaking with Lars backstage while Kirk and James were riding skateboards up and down the huge ramp they had built to load all of Ozzy's stuff onto the stage. He was very excited about the new lp and was quite cool. OZZY was walking around backstage without his shirt on (you could see all the insane tattoos!) holding his baby. I spoke to him briefly and he was really nice. So before the Metallica set I went to the dressing room and sat down with Cliff and we had a Grolsch and a 20 minute chat, which I later published in my fanzine Metal Madness. Cliff was a really cool, laid back guy. We talked about the import beer selection at a liquor store I would later go to as well when I moved to Albany (where the guys in Metallica were living at the time!), as well other subjects, some musical and some mundane.. Metallica were fucking excellent. This was the first time I had seen them in a big setting and they still were quite good. They played a pretty good set.

OZZY put on an excellent show. I did not like the lp as much as Bark at the Moon, but Jake E Lee was awesome. What a talented guitar player. OZZY always put on a great show. I have never been disappointed with him!

99. Stevie Ray Vaughn and Greg Allman Band. $15.00 Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville, Tenn. 12/30/86

This was the only time I ever saw SRV. I was at the American Zoologist annual meeting in Nashville with my old professor, Ceil Herman. It just happened that we wanted something to do and this sold out concert was in town. We managed to get some tickets in front of the place for list price from a guy who had a sick friend and could not go. They were good seats on the floor section towards the back. I remember that we quite liked the Greg Allman bands as well. He played a few of the Allmans hits. SRV was pretty fucked up it seemed but he still played some awesome tunes and hendrix of course. I think he may have had a special guest come out, but I am not sure. I am still looking for a tape of this show.