Category Archives: TVD Los Angeles

WORDS AND IMAGES: SEAN McCRACKEN | There is a specific kind of afternoon that only island reggae can build—warm sun, grass underfoot, a horn section drifting over a picnic blanket, and a whole field of people who look like they have no interest in being anywhere else. That was Great Park Live in Irvine on Saturday, April 18, where the Holo Holo Music Festival rolled through town for a lineup stacked top to bottom with heavy hitters of the genre.

Headliners The Green and SOJA brought the full weight of modern island reggae to a 10,000-capacity crowd, but the real story of the day was how much depth sat underneath them. Iam Tongi, Three Plus, Joseph Soul, and Bo Napoleon each turned in sets that could have anchored a smaller festival on their own. If you love this genre, this was the room to be in.

Great Park Live turned out to be a great place for the festival to land. Fans had the run of the field—spread out on a blanket, hold the rail for a full-stage view, or drop into one of the chairs the venue provided. The warm spring afternoon did the rest. By the time the first act took the stage, the grounds already felt like a backyard party that just happened to have a professional stage at one end of it.

Bo Napoleon opened the day and set the tone immediately, easing the crowd in with “Alcoholic” and “Nice to See You Trying.” What most of the crowd may not have realized is that when he closed his set with “Wade in Your Water”—a song widely associated with Common Kings—he was playing his own song. Napoleon wrote both “Wade in Your Water” and “Alcoholic” for Common Kings back in 2010, and those songs helped earn them a Grammy nomination. Hearing the songs delivered by the man who put them on paper, in a warm afternoon slot at an island reggae festival, was one of those low-key moments of ownership that reward the fans who know the history.

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GWAR continues to celebrate their uncontrollable and destructive pet T-Rex Gor Gor, with metal heavyweights Soulfly and King Parrot on The Gor Gor Strikes Back tour. This is beyond a concert; it is a traveling demolition crew that happens to play metal with a bit of theatrics thrown in. Each band intensifies the chaos in its own way, resulting in the wildest extreme music tour of the season. Saturday night, April 11, the Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles hosted this madness, and it was a loud, intense, bloody good time.

Kicking off the night, Australia’s King Parrot delivered pure unhinged energy for a solid 30 minutes with their brutal, frantic Grindcore sound. Vocalist Matt Young paced the stage like a pissed-off kangaroo ready to kick your ass. These lads sparked chaotic circle pits with songs “It’s a Rort” and “Shit on the Liver,” which had the crowd in an early heavy metal frenzy. Young had the crowd separate for a Wall of Death, and he also did some crowd surfing as he belted out his vocals. The set ended with the song “Fuck You and the Horse You Rode In On,” which had the crowd singing the chorus back to the band with angst.

Building off the energy conjured by King Parrot, Soulfly hit the stage and took the night from frantic to crushing, opening with “No Hope = No Fear” as Max Cavalera, along with his son Zyon on drums, guitarist Mike DeLeon, and Chase Bryant on bass, quickly had the Los Angeles Soulfly Tribe banging their heads in unison for the next 45 minutes. Cavalera, a founding member of Sepultura, who also fronts Cavalera Conspiracy and Go Ahead and Die, is the epitome of all things heavy. He looks fit and trim and is more active on stage than he has been in years, banging his head and jumping around throughout the set.

Touring in support of their most recent release Chama, Soulfly played three songs from the album “Favela/Dystopia,” “Storm the Gates,” and the title track “Chama,” ending the set with the one/two knockout punch “Jumpdafuckup” and “Eye for an Eye.” Cavalera and Soulfly remain one of metal’s premier extreme bands, destroying the stage every night.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Most of my Idelic column posts start with a few lines from a favorite song from my record collection. This week, I only played one old song from my collection (well, with lyrics). The song “Return To Love” is from Swedish singer-songwriter Nicolai Dunger’s album Soul Rush.

As a favor to Mercury Rev’s A&R, Kate Hyman, I had lunch with Nicolai and his manager, Per. We ate at a Hugo’s on Santa Monica Blvd. I was new to V2 Records, but from my years at Interscope, I was used to what I called a “mercy meeting.” You know, someone wants to meet the VP of A&R—Nicolai was on tour supporting Mercury Rev, and they were cool, and Kate was a friend.

A remember drinking lots of ice tea. Asking lots of simple questions. The usual A&R kind of shit. What bands you do dig? Who do you compare you music too? These two Swedes seemed happy enough. They smiled and said “Yeah, ya,” like a Swedish musician would. At the end of our meal they handed me a CD or two. I remember looking at the cover and complimenting on the artwork. I flipped the CD over and a song title caught my eye.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

There’s been some misunderstanding / And I’d like to make it right

Both of us need inspiration / And the timing must be right / We all have soul, yet nobody knows / Just how much it takes to fly / But I see my life before me / And I’d like to make a try / Maybe someone knows what fate is / Maybe someone knows just why / All I know is it’s all related / Maybe someone can explain time

I’m writing this on Friday morning. I woke up our blind kitty, Nori, trying to shake a lingering headache with coffee and Miles Davis.

April and the beginnings of Spring have “towered” over these past couple of weeks—Easter, Passover, my dad, and niece’s birthdays. I’ve broken bread with family and friends, caught opening weekend at Dodger Stadium, and got to see our Jonah toss a handful of smooth innings as well.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

And all of my friends were there / And no one cared

Say what they may, all of my friends were there / Not just my friends but their best friends too / All of my friends were there

The fools of April continue to do their thing. All in all, my vibe has been to thank my lucky stars to have a healthy family and cool friends.

I think I’ll take a Sunday bike ride and listen to this week’s Idelic set.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Good morning / This is your warning / This is your warning / You’re gonna appear before a stranger / I don’t know if you’ll be in any danger / For some are not pulled into moving cars / Some are not dragged down Fifth Avenue by the hairs in their ears / Some get away with it, some get away with it for many years / And are not punished, but some are

I’m not gonna think too much about what I’m writing this morning. After all, baseball season started yesterday, and it’s still March Madness. You might not be a sports fan, but baseball can be magical because watching it has a way of transporting a man back to the emotional state of his childhood.

Despite all the the “madness” of this March, I’ll leave this morning at that.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Life is movin’ faster, I can feel it everyday / I’ve got trouble keepin’ up with what other people say / Big problems in the world, my life’s just a social swirl

But I’ll do it tomorrow / That seems like a pretty good idea to me / What’s wrong with tomorrow? / I’m watchin’ him, but who’s watchin’ me?

If you’re wondering if Mercury is out of retrograde, the answer is YES. Whether you follow the stars or not, I believe most of us would like to cease this erratic planetary behavior. I, for one, feel a sense of optimism—maybe it’s a combo of fear and optimism—but I’m doing well this warm winter morning.

I thought I’d bring a crate of old random records along for this mix. Much of this “wax” feels like old family friends.

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Low light, smoke curling across the stage, and corpse-painted faces emerging from the haze—Belphegor took the stage and detonated a death metal ceremony for a capacity crowd at The Observatory in Santa Ana on Tuesday night, March 10.

This was the closing night of the Praise the Beast Tour, completing a SoCal trifecta that had already blazed through Los Angeles and San Diego on previous nights. The bill was stacked: openers Narcotic Wasteland, Hate, and Incantation each brought their own brand of extreme metal devastation before Belphegor even touched the stage.

With ritualistic intensity, Belphegor opened their set and Helmuth led the charge as the band tore into “The Procession,” “Baphomet,” and “The Devil’s Son”—a blistering opening salvo designed to pull the crowd straight into the abyss. From there, the set drew from across their catalog with surgical precision, including the two new singles “Sanctus Diaboli Confidimus” and “Scarlet Beast – Leviathan,” both released in February to considerable anticipation.

Helmuth’s vocal arsenal—a commanding collision of deep demonic growls and razor-edged black metal shrieks—anchored a sonic assault powered by thunderous blast beats, glacial tremolo melodies, and earth-splitting breakdowns. A Belphegor concert doesn’t feel like a set list; it feels like an invocation. With the tour officially at its end, Helmuth took a rare moment to thank both the supporting acts and the faithful crowd before the night reached its violent, euphoric conclusion with “Belphegor – Hell’s Ambassador,” leaving the room shattered and satisfied.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

I stand outside of the McDonald’s / I’m, uh, flexing my muscles ’til I explode / I hope they see me in the drive-thru lane / I, I hope they see me in the drive-thru lane

I stand outside of the LL Bean / I’m trying to get some free woman sweaters / You know what I mean? / I hope they see me in the drive-thru lane / I hope, I hope they, I hope they, I hope they

I don’t wanna pay for anything / Clothes and food and drugs for free / If it was 1970 / I’d have a job at a factory

I am a man that’s made of meat / You’re on the internet looking at feet / I hate almost everything that I see / And I just wanna disappear

I’m subscribed to your mom’s OnlyFans / I spent five bucks a month to get pictures of her flappy giblets / And I spent another ten dollars a month to chat with her on the AI chat program / It feels great

Welcome to the second Friday the 13th in a row of 2026. Let’s avoid incoming drones, and let’s make this week great.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Strange, life is strange, life is strange / Oh life is strange

Oh god, life is good / Some are fat and some are thin / Some don’t even ask you how you’ve been / No, no, no, no, no

“Stranger things have happened,” or maybe I should say the TV series has run its course. Or just the definition:

strange; comparative adjective: stranger; superlative adjective: strangest
1 1. unusual or surprising in a way that is unsettling or hard to understand.”children have some strange ideas” unusual, odd, curious, peculiar, funny, bizarre, weird, uncanny, queer, unexpected, untypical, out of the ordinary, out of the way, extraordinary, remarkable, puzzling, mysterious, perplexing, baffling, inexplicable,
way out, freaky

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WORDS AND IMAGES: DANIEL GRAY | While on a mini Mr. Scary tour, George Lynch and Lynch Mob took over the Grand Theater in Anaheim for an energetic Saturday night show.

As most people know by now, Lynch Mob seems to have a rotating cast of characters, with George on guitar and Jaron Gulino on bass as the current mainstays. This evening, the band featured Andrew Freeman, frontman for Last in Line, the Dio supergroup, on vocals. Freeman has also played and toured with Lynch Mob often, so that he can deliver any of the songs with ease. On drums was Jimmy D’Anda of BulletBoys fame, who has toured and played with Lynch Mob many times over the years as well. So, Saturday night was a power-packed line-up capable of delivering both Lynch Mob and Dokken music with great facility.

The first surprise of the evening was George coming on stage with an EVH Frankenstein. As he tore into “River of Love” from the first Lynch Mob album, seeing Lynch with the iconic red, black, and white striped pattern was pretty cool. Watching Lynch’s fingers tapping and flying across the fretboard, it looked ultra badass. But it wasn’t just a one-off or stunt. He kept playing the Frankie for “Hell Child” (also from the first Lynch Mob album) and the breakneck Dokken tune “Tooth and Nail.”

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In the music industry, the term “legend” is thrown around quite a bit, but in reality, there are very few legends who continue to perform live. Well, Friday night, February 27, 2026, the Grove of Anaheim hosted the guitarist for one of, if not the most influential and controversial rock acts ever to take the stage, Robby Krieger from The Doors, who played an epic two-hour set focusing on the hits and some deep cuts from The Doors’ critically acclaimed catalog.

Krieger, who has been musically active on and off since the 1971 passing of Jim Morrison, has kept The Doors legacy alive in many forms and on this night performing with his solo band that currently consists of his son Waylon Krieger on vocals, Ed Roth on keyboards, Dan Rothchild on bass, and drummer Ty Dennis delivered a tight, attuned performance that had the capacity crowd in a peaceful, psychedelic frenzy all night long.

The night kicked off with a bang via the groove of “Break on Through (To the Other Side)” as Waylon nailed the vocals, and aside from the spotlight being on Krieger, the star of the show was Roth on keyboards. “Five to One” and “Love Me Two Times” followed, with Krieger very relaxed and truly appearing to be totally enjoying playing these iconic songs. In between songs, he often told a brief story about writing a song or about his interactions with Jim Morrison and other band members, very soft-spoken but very genuine in reliving these memories.

Rothchild sang lead on several songs, and Roth and Krieger would throw in extended jams here and there, showcasing their skills and Krieger’s ability to nail every note at 79 years young, effortlessly. The band played twenty songs, all Doors music except for a cover of Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love?”

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PHOTOS: GREG VITALICH | On a chilly Saturday evening in Orange County, Ghost brought their Skeletour World Tour 2026 to the Honda Center in Anaheim, delivering a night of theatrical grandeur and demonic mastery that left fans of all ages wide-eyed and spellbound. With an incredible setlist spanning nearly 20 years, the Swedish rockers from Linköping proved once again why they are considered the most amazing live act in modern music today. The show was powerful, intimate, and highlighted the musical genius that we have come to know as Tobias Forge. Let the ritual begin!

From the moment the lights dimmed and the haunting strains of Jan Johansson’s “Klara Stjärnor” played over the speakers, the near-capacity Honda Center was immediately transformed into Southern California’s largest cathedral of rock. The crowd, a sea of face-painted fans and devil-horn salutes, erupted as Papa V Perpetua finally took the stage around 9:15 PM. Ghost’s signature blend of gothic theatrics and arena rock bombast was on full display, with elaborate stage props, pyrotechnics, and a light show that danced in perfect harmony with the music. The energy in the room was electric, a testament to Ghost’s ability to create an immersive experience that feels both intimate and massive.

The 21-song setlist was a carefully curated masterclass through Ghost’s demonic evolution, with highlights that showcased their versatility, showmanship, and connectivity with their incredibly loyal fanbase. Here are a few of my highlights from the show:

“Cirice” – This Grammy-winning track from 2015’s Meliora was a standout moment, with its haunting intro building into a thunderous crescendo. The band’s precision and Tobias Forge’s commanding presence as Papa V Perpetua made this performance one of my favorites of the evening.

“Majesty” – Another track from Meliora, this one highlighted the incredible creativity of Tobias Forge as he mysteriously ascended from the ashes into the ethos above the stage to oversee the ongoing ritual. His papal regalia looked 20’ tall if not more as fans’ jaws dropped in complete amazement during this fan favorite.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Said the straight man to the late man / “Where have you been?” / I’ve been here and I’ve been there / And I’ve been in between

I talk to the wind / My words are all carried away / I talk to the wind / The wind does not hear / The wind cannot hear

Today will likely be the coldest day of 2026. After a few days of heavy wind and rain, it’s brisk and beautiful in our groovy LA canyon. Yeah, we lost power a couple of times, but I’ve found I’ve learned more from bumpy roads than smooth paths.

This week’s Idelic set was inspired by a Gomez song “Whippin’ Piccadilly.” The lyric and musical vibe just hits with with a smile.

With an after thought from last week’s Valentines listening: “We like loving yeah.” But: “There’s not enough hours in the day”

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Love be brave / No one will save you but me / And that has not yet been / The safest place for you to be

What will I do then? / Here comes a change over me / Something strange takes over me / I am brave and love is sweet / And silence speaks for him and me

I don’t recall the last time Friday the 13th fell before Valentine’s Day. I guess it hasn’t happened in the century, until today—seven times since 1970. I would say this weekend’s vibe is a mix bucket to say the least. It’s not like Valentine’s Day is always a garden of roses.

Valentine’s week is always a cool time to make a “mix tape.” Since the days of owning bars and restaurants, I’ve been more passionate about creating a V Day mix-up than going on a date after years of watching couples struggle through Valentine’s Day dinner.

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