Category Archives: TVD Los Angeles

Some bands are just made to tour together, and the current 2026 Metal Saint tour pairs two OGs from the early evolution of ’80s metal: Armored Saint and Metal Church. Both bands released new quality full-length albums in 2026, Emotion Factory Reset and Dead to Rights, respectively, and are out on the road blasting across the West Coast, flying the metal flag proudly. The 16-date tour started and ends in Southern CA with seven CA dates in total. On Tuesday night, November 3, the Metal Saint tour made a stop in Pomona, CA, at the Glass House, the perfect venue for this show.

Fort Lauderdale’s Livekill is opening all shows with their high-energy brand of heavy metal. The SoCal rush hour traffic did not allow arriving at the venue in time to catch their opening set. Still, the buzz in the venue made it clear that Livekill completed their mission of igniting the metal fire for the night and getting the crowd primed and ready for Metal Church and Armored Saint.

Metal Church, without a doubt, played a key role in defining key attributes of heavy metal music, led by founding member and guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof. The band has had a revolving door of members over the years, and the current lineup consists of guitarist Rick Van Zandt, vocalist Brian Allen, drummer Ken Mary, and former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson. It’s an impressive collection of musicians, and the combination brings renewed energy to the band’s established catalog along with a full album of new songs that sound killer live.

The band kicked things off with two songs from 1986’s The Dark album, “Ton of Bricks” and “Start the Fire,” and it was instantly clear that Allen’s vocal range and power were spot-on for handling the band’s demanding material. His voice gives the classic songs the strength they deserve while bringing his own identity to the performance—a perfect fit.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Been careless with my friends / Even harder on myself / There’s A few stars in the sky I’ve killed / Pieces of my heart broken off along the way / I’ve been a long way falling down.

Pretending I’m pretending that everything’s ok / So many masks I’m wearing my own face / I can feel my toes burning from my deeds along the way / Before you get up you’ve got to go down.

Indian summers are romantic here in our canyon. Nighttime feels darker while days are short, crisp, and bright. The sun appears from a different angle through the hills, disappearing like two lovers into the night.

Although Spring is associated with lovers, there is plenty of romance swimming in my head this week. Here, it’s a combo of celebration and cuddling up for a long winter.

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Proving that some things only get better with age, indie rock veterans Modest Mouse took over the Hollywood Palladium last Tuesday night for an evening of unconventional melodies, infectious guitar riffs, and the kind of nostalgia that hits even harder when you’re hearing it live.

Starting as a suburban rock project in 1993, Modest Mouse has spent over three decades marching to the beat of their own drum—and finding plenty of success along the way. Led by frontman Isaac Brock, the band rose from the underground indie scene to mainstream recognition with their 2004 album Good News for People Who Love Bad News, introducing an entirely new audience to their wonderfully eccentric sound.

Opening with “King Rat,” the band wasted no time reminding fans what makes their live performances so captivating. With Brock’s unmistakably gritty vocals cutting through layers of guitar and percussion, the evening unfolded as a wonderfully unpredictable journey through the band’s extensive discography.

And of course, no Modest Mouse show would be complete without “Float On.” A personal favorite of mine, the 2004 hit has become something of an indie rock anthem, offering a reassuring message that resonates just as strongly two decades later.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

I’m so happy ’cause today I found my friends / They’re in my head / I’m so ugly, that’s okay, ’cause so are you / Broke our mirrors

Sunday morning is every day for all I care / And I’m not scared / Light my candles in a daze / ‘Cause I’ve found God / Yeah-yeah / Yeah-yeah

October 23 is one of my special days of the year. It was on this morning, many moons ago, my daughter came into being. It’s a weird thing to write, but having a child and being a parent is more mind-blowing than what I’ve referred to in this column as a “mind-blower” (IE: a once in a once-in-a-decade music moment).

Today is Zoe’s Day—truly as cool of a kid in every way I could have possibly imaged.

On a side note, Jonah stopped by the house. He walked into the kitchen and asked me, “Dad, have you hear of Alice In Chains?” Took out his phone and played me “Rooster.” “Dad, I’m thinking of using this as my ‘walk up song’.” (For when he walks to the mound to pitch.)

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

And I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel / You were famous, your heart was a legend / You told me again, you preferred handsome men / But for me you would make an exception / And clenching your fist for the ones like us / Who are oppressed by the figures of beauty / You fixed yourself, “You said well never mind / We are ugly but we have the music

I just returned from ten days on the East Coast, half of which I spent roaming the streets of “New York town,” the Apple, as my old man used to call it. The weather was immaculate, and for the most part, these songs were playing in my head.

The words of Bobby Dylan, LC, and Lou Reed. The buzzin of Johnny Ramones’s guitar, my Idelic soundtrack for a New Your City stroll.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Daddy / Hold me / It seems so very dark tonight / And day

Daddy / I can’t sleep / I need you to come and sing to me / That the stars up in the sky / Will shine down gently on the two of us tonight / And soon enough it will be light / We’ll hold on tightly to each other, you and I / And I won’t cry

I’m calling today “Kenny’s day.” Four years ago to the day, my dad passed in Vegas. Losing my dad has been a mind-blowing experience. Please know it wasn’t a tragedy.

He passed as peacefully as Kenny could on an absolutely beautify day in the Las Vegas desert. An infamous stock broker and gambler, he died with likely not more than a few hundred dollars to his name. I can see him shrug and smiling at me saying, “I left it all on the table.”

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

The water’s wide / And I cannot cross over / Nor do I / Have wings to fly / Build me a boat / That could carry two / And both shall row / My love & I

There is a ship / And she sails the sea / She’s burdened deep / As deep can be / But not as deep / As the love I’m in / And I know not if / I sink or swim

“The Water is Wide” is my kind of soulful lyric. The song points to the challenges of love. At first glance, it’s a simple metaphor, but the longer you sing the tune, the deeper the meaning can go.

I gather that the song has been around for well over 100 years. It’s even older than my dear mom, who is visiting us this week for Jonah’s high school graduation.

Mom turned 90 last year. Elly, like all our family, seemed to get older this year. She likely doesn’t remember taking me to see a legendary Cat Stevens concert at Philharmonic Hall or the Sly & The Family Stone concert at Forrest Hills Tennis Stadium when I fell asleep in the bleachers and Sly pulled a no-show.

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DANA POINT, CA | Minutes before his set, the sand in front of the Ohana Stage was nearly empty. A few scattered bodies, a lot of open beach, and a sun that had decided to make a point. No shade. No cover. Nowhere to hide. Then Marlon Funaki walked out, and the beach filled in around him like the tide coming in. Six songs later, people were singing every word back at him, smiling ear to ear, and more than a few were wiping their eyes. And the best thing I saw all day hadn’t even happened yet.

Ohana Festival celebrated its tenth anniversary this year, and Eddie Vedder’s beach party at Doheny State Beach has grown into one of the great weekends on the Southern California calendar. Day 2 handed the evening to Tyler Childers, Alabama Shakes, and Jon Batiste, with Pearl Jam waiting in the wings for Sunday: big names, big crowds, big day. But the name I had circled on my schedule sat in the early afternoon, just after two o’clock, on the Ohana Stage.

If you haven’t caught up with Marlon Funaki yet, you’re running out of time to say you knew him early. He grew up in Redlands, about forty miles east of Los Angeles, busking on the downtown streets, working at the local Guitar Center, and building his own studio at home. His sound pulls from all over: the grit of alternative rock, washes of psychedelic color, and guitar playing that leans toward jazz.

His Japanese and Mexican American heritage runs through the songwriting, giving it a perspective that is both wide-open and deeply personal. This year brought the “Half Moon” EP on Warner Records and a summer run through Lollapalooza and Outside Lands, with Austin City Limits up next. That is what a rise looks like on paper. On Saturday, I got to see what it looks like in person.

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Some lineups only come around once, and on Friday night, Los Angeles got one of them. Iron Maiden is celebrating 50 years as a band with their Run For Your Lives World Tour; Megadeth is out on what they have said will be their last-ever tour; and Anthrax joined the bill for only a handful of the biggest North American dates, Los Angeles among them. Three bands that helped build heavy metal, all on one stage, in a stadium full of fans who knew exactly how lucky they were to be there.

On September 25, Iron Maiden headlined the first of two sold-out shows at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. They were supported by Anthrax and Megadeth. Traffic had other plans for me, and I did not make it into the stadium in time to see Anthrax. By every account, I missed something special. Joey Belladonna and company kicked the night off with “Caught in a Mosh,” got the pits going early, and put fans in the right mood for the mayhem to come. Anthrax has been one of thrash’s great live bands for more than four decades, and from what I heard, they proved it all over again.

They were followed by Megadeth, who delivered an amazing, high-energy set. Dave Mustaine and the band ran through “Devil’s Island,” “Hangar 18,” “Sweating Bullets,” “Tornado of Souls,” “Symphony of Destruction,” and “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due.” Fans sang along to every song. Knowing this is Megadeth’s farewell run made every one of those songs hit a little harder, and the crowd treated it like the send-off it is.

Then Iron Maiden came out, and it was like a tidal wave of sound. They hit hard and fast from the opening “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and never let up: “The Number of the Beast,” “Powerslave,” “2 Minutes to Midnight,” “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,” and “The Trooper.” During the third song, “Killers,” a giant Eddie emerged and tried to attack the band members with a massive axe. They were flipping him off and running under his legs to dodge him. This made for a really fun show.

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Nobody can turn a rock concert into a full-blown three-ring circus like Mötley Crüe, and they did just that on Saturday night, September 19, at the new F&M Bank Amphitheater in Long Beach, CA, with fellow ’80s rockers Tesla and Extreme. Returning to the road after signing a cessation of touring agreement in 2014, the Crüe titillated audiences during the Stadium tour back in 2022 and are now rocking across the USA with the Return of Carnival of Sins tour in 2026.

Extreme kicked off the night with a high-energy 50-minute set as the sun set with the Queen Mary nearby and the glow of downtown Long Beach in the background. Gary Cherone, Nuno Bettencourt, Pat Badger, and Kevin Figueiredo put on a kick ass rock ‘n’ roll show opening with “Decadence Dance” and never looked back. Cherone still has the vocal chops, and Bettencourt is six-string royalty, and they had no intention of easing anybody into this night of rock ‘n’ roll.

Bettencourt dominated the set with his guitar mastery, and he and Cherone took center stage for “More than Words” and, of course, the crowd woke up a bit during “Get the Funk Out.” The band ended their time onstage with an Ozzy Osbourne medley to honor the late Prince of Darkness with “I Don’t Know,” “Bark at the Moon,” and “Crazy Train.” Extreme set the bar high with their performance, proving they are as potent as ever in 2026.

Tesla followed with a completely different kind of energy, but no less dynamic. Where Extreme brought technical precision and flash, Tesla’s sound feels more bluesy, melodic, and unmistakably American. Starting with the hard-hitting “Modern Day Cowboy,” all in attendance were on their feet as guitarists Frank Hannon and Dave Rude belted out one of the most memorable guitar solos from the “hair metal” era.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Well, I ride on a mailtrain, baby / Can’t buy a thrill / Well, I’ve been up all night, baby / Leanin’ on the windowsill / Well, if I die / On top of the hill / And if I don’t make it / You know my baby will

Don’t the moon look good, mama / Shinin’ through the trees? / Don’t the brakeman look good, mama / Flagging down the “Double E?” / Don’t the sun look good / Goin’ down over the sea? / Don’t my gal look fine / When she’s comin’ after me?

Rocking through September. While I recover from my covid brain fog, I’m keeping it simple. Work, music, and watching sports on TV. The highlight of my week came in the form of a snapshot of an old fishing buddy.

In it was an old sailor named Bob who used to fish every Tuesday night on a tuna boat called The Condor. Those days at sea on The Condor with Bob, Sheriff, and the big Rondo were carefree and now precious—all of us loved being on the water in September and October.

Here’s to calm, warm waters and smiling fishermen.

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There are rock stars, there are pop stars, and then there’s “Weird Al” Yankovic—a 66-year-old accordion player who has spent more than four decades turning other people’s hits into punchlines, and who can still fill an arena on a Saturday night.

On September 19, he brought his Bigger & Weirder 2026 Tour to a packed Honda Center in Anaheim, California. If you grew up wearing out a cassette of Dare to Be Stupid or a burned CD of Running with Scissors, this was the kind of night that makes you feel about twelve years old again—in the best possible way.

Opening the night was Puddles Pity Party, the seven-foot sad clown with a voice that has no business coming out of a clown. Puddles opened things up with a fun set of covers and original music, and for three of the songs, he had fans come up and join him on stage—which, if you’ve ever seen his act, is half the fun.

He played “Let’s Give ’Em Pumpkin to Talk About,” “Stairway to Gilligan’s Island,” and a cover of “Under Pressure.” The whole set was amazing. His lounge-act style of recreating songs—part crooner, part performance art, all deadpan—makes it fun for the whole crowd, and by the time he walked off, the arena was warmed up and ready.

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Three distinct voices of modern rock assembled Thursday night, September 17, at Honda Center in Anaheim, CA: Dorothy’s blues-soaked hard rock, the unmistakable alternative-rock legacy of Stone Temple Pilots, and Godsmack’s rock-radio assault as part of the band’s 2026 Rise of Rock World Tour. The first leg of this arena assault kicked off way back in May and runs through late October, concluding in Uncasville, CT.

Honda Center has always been a spectacular place to attend a concert, but with the recent renovations and add-ons, it is now better than ever. Dorothy opened the evening with a spectacle of blues-driven hard rock, with vocal centerpiece Dorothy Martin delivering a soulful, gritty performance full of rock ‘n’ roll swagger.

Opening a show like this is never an easy assignment, but from the first verse of “Down to the Bottom,” she immediately had all captivated and without a doubt amassed many new fans as a result—definitely an artist to further explore if not familiar with Dorothy’s discography.

Stone Temple Pilots need no introduction. The band that initially rose to fame as part of the grunge explosion of the early 1990s dominated radio and MTV for that decade, and remains active and relevant in 2026.

This is no nostalgia act, as vocalist Jeff Gutt has injected a new energy into the band with his own identity while respectfully honoring the legacy of the late Scott Weiland. Along with original members Erik Kretz on drums and brothers Robert and Dean DeLeo on bass and guitar, respectively, the band continues to deliver quality performances nightly.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

I’m so sick of T.V. / You know, I’m getting bored of the tube / I’m so sick of romance / And I’m gettin’ real sick of you

I wanna get on out of here / Find me somethin’ to do / Yeah, get on outta here / Just ain’t nothin’ to do

It’s crazy for me to think that we’re midway through September. Fuck me—but okay. It was a long, hot August, and Labor Day weekend was hot and seemed to go on for days. I spent that Saturday at the Rose Bowl watching Guns ‘N Roses. The band together, sounding big with Slash shredding on a mesmerizing amount of guitars!

After the show we spent hours hanging with Axel. I hadn’t hung with him in over 30 years. Funny how alot doesn’t change. Maybe, in this case, with the exception of how happy Axel has become. That’s cool.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

I met a girl who sang the blues / And I asked her for some happy news / But she just smiled and turned away / I went down to the sacred store / Where I’d heard the music years before / But the man there said the music wouldn’t play

And in the streets, the children screamed / The lovers cried and the poets dreamed / But not a word was spoken / The church bells all were broken

And the three men I admire most / The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost / They caught the last train for the coast / The day the music died

I guess one could say, “Any day is a good day to release a new song.”

Honestly, I’m a bit stumped on what to report this week. I did give a nod and a wink at this week’s stack of new vinyl. This Idelic Hour set shows that even in dark times, music thrives.

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