(Live Review) LITTLE JOHNNY'S TOP 40 LIVE SETS OF 2024 (#s31-#40)
Well, here we go again. That old man wants to be a writer and somehow I end up with a writing assignment out of it. So apparently this is going to be part one of my 40 favorite live sets of 2024. For any new readers, I’m Johnny, or as my fans call me, Little Johnny, and I am the man who makes the Beard famous. (Ed: Relevant may be a more appropriate term.)
Beard and I have been friends for a number of years now, and we have been doing this live concert reviewing gig for the last three. Beard's a halfway decent writer and all but to be honest his career was going nowhere fast until I got involved. He may say he’s the brains, but I am most definitely the charm behind our success. While Beard is hiding in the back or up in the balcony, (like some furry phantom of the opera), writing his notes, I am always right in the front sipping my IPA’s, checking out the chicks, banging in the Pits, and helping everybody have the best time ever as we hit metal shows all over the country.
Now, I do not have time at the shows to be writing notes, (and even if I did I still wouldn’t.) For me, metal shows are for having a good time, so MY list is gonna be the stuff I like and the shows I had the most fun at. I ain’t worried about what style a band was or how many albums they had or a lot of the details. If you like that stuff you can find it in Beard's countdown. This is purely shows that I had fun at. So, let’s get to it.
Top live sets of 2024
#40: Trollfest 4-5-24 Reggie’s Chicago, IL
Okay. So right off the bat, when you go to a metal show, you are NOT expecting eight dudes from Norway dressed as Pink Flamingos. Now, I am not a bird person. I don’t like birds much. Sometimes, when I’m in a mosh pit, these giant birds are in there with me, and I get weirded out by them. Beard says they’re called mohawks, but I just know they freak me out. So anyway, after two other bands played, out walks these guys all dressed like giant Pink Flamingos, and they start into music that seemed a little like metal, but with techno, pop, and dance in it. Plus, they were playing a saxophone, an accordion and singing in some other language which Beard said was called Trollsprak (a mixture of German & Norwegian). (Like I was supposed to know that or something. Beard's an egghead sometimes.)
Point is, it was memorable, and they did have one song called “Hi-de-Ho all drinks on Me.” I tried going to the bar and saying, “Man those Flamingos said they were buying me a beer.” But of course, the bartenders didn’t give me one. Like I said, I like what I remember, and Trollfest were unusual.
#39: REZN 6-26-24 Thalia Hall Chicago, IL
This band was from Chicago and had a big hometown support crowd at the show. They played a lot of different styles in one set. Sometimes they were all slow and doomy, other times they mixed in saxophones and progressive rock sounds. Normally I like something faster and more aggressive, but in this case they were just strange enough that I was kind of interested. Every time I thought they were one thing; they turned into something else; you know, like that movie with the Kurt Russell guy who finds that alien in the ice and it starts turning into everybody and eating them. This band’s music was like that only with sound.
#38: Night Cobra 5-4-24 Legions of Metal Fest Reggie’s Chicago, IL
Beard likes going to metal festivals because you get to see a lot of bands in a single day. This one was in Chicago at the club we see a lot of shows at all year. Beard said it was put on by this guy named Bob Byrne who looks like the sort of dude you would see at a Comic-Con, but Beard said he was real smart about metal stuff.
So, about midway into day two of this festival, a band came out called Night Cobra. They were heavy and their singer looked like some evil cult leader with his trench coat, wizard staff microphone, and wild hair and beard. Plus, on one song their guitar player went into some crazy back-bend move where he looked like that chick in the movie where her head spins around and she hawks up a bunch of pea soup all over. They didn’t play a long set, but they played an intense one and it was cool.
#37: UADA 5-17-24 Milwaukee Metalfest Milwaukee, WI
I had seen these dudes before. They come out under cover of darkness, completely dressed in black even with hoods and everything so you can’t see anything about them really. Then they just play hard fast black metal non-stop and then vanish into the darkness again. They never speak to the audience and with all the fog and lights they are one of the bands that sometime gives me nightmares even though they are totally freaking cool.
#36: Starcrawler 10-10-24 The Vivarium Milwaukee, WI
So, normally I wouldn’t get into a band like this which was a mix of punk and something Beard says is called shoegaze. I got to tell you that is the stupidest term for a type of music I have ever heard. (Ed: How about post metal? As if there is anything after metal!) No matter how many times I look at my shoes I can’t ever make any damn sense out of that. Now two things about this show WERE cool. One, this was in a tiny box of a club and Beard had to stand the whole time. Man, that old guy HATES having to stand. I swear he would probably pay a crippled dude a thousand dollars to sit in his wheelchair rather than stand through a whole concert. Makes me laugh whenever he has to do that.
Anyway, the second reason this band made my list was the chick singer. That lady seemed like the kind of broad that might do anything anytime and that made her a Little Johnny kind of babe. She was like that Courtney Love chick got crossed with that Joan Jett biker broad, but, you know, like younger. I tried to get her number after the set, but she just laughed, told me I was cute and smashed my empty IPA can on my forehead. I wonder if Beard will book them again next time they’re here? She seems like a good time.
#35: Toxik Ruin 5-17-24 Milwaukee Metalfest Milwaukee, WI
Okay, so honestly, I don’t really remember much about this show. Metalfest had three rooms, and one was really small. This band played in that one. Beard was over at the bigger room fantasizing about that Doro chick he gets all hot and bothered over and I had already seen her once this year. I mean she’s cool and her band is okay, but I wanted to see these guys.
So, they start the first song, and the place goes pit crazy right away. I am bouncing around and all of a sudden this wooly friggen mammoth of a guy smashes me from the side and I go down. Before I could get back to my feet, I caught a knee to the noggin, and I just had to stagger to the side and collect myself. I mean it was cool and all, I got a pretty tough skull, but although I remember this band was crazy, the details are still a little fuzzy. Hey though, that’s metal right?
#34: Black Flag 8-9-24 The Arcada St. Charles, IL
Normally I hate the Arcada Theater for metal shows. You got to stay in your seat. No moshing. No surfing. Pretty much no fun. This one though was kind of different. Beard said these dudes were creating punk music twenty years before I was even born, so I guess they were bad assess back in the day. They looked really old to me though. Still, Arcada let us mosh some during their set and one dude even stage dove (before security shut that #$%^ down.) Bummer - I missed my one chance at that club. As I remember though, for a bunch of guys that looked like they were in their 70’s, they still rocked it pretty good that night.
#33: Bewitcher 5-17-24 Milwaukee Metalfest Milwaukee, WI
I really liked this festival (as if you couldn’t tell.) A lot of the bands were my kind of metal probably more than Beard's. Bewitcher were three guys who play like Midnight ... minus the masks. They call themselves Satanic speed metal, (which is a killer term.) I can always pit and circle like crazy with these guys and whenever they see me doing it they cheer from the stage. Everybody just had a banger of a time, and I like it when Beard says these guys are on the bill.
#32: The Dread Crew of Oddwood 4-5-24 Reggie’s Chicago, IL
So, these dudes played at the same show as those pink flamingo troll guys. Told you it was a weird show. This band came out as pirates and even had the old type of pirate musical instruments. The music wasn’t pure metal or anything, but it was fun and kind of like being on a pirate ship. They did ditties and drinking songs and that is always a fun time. Like I said at the beginning, I don’t take notes, I just remember when I had a lot of fun at a show. These guys were fun. It would be cool if they played at a Chucky Cheese.
#31: Savage Master 4-3-24 Reggie’s Chicago, IL
This band had this chick singer that came out like one of those sex workers who wears leather and carries a whip. She does songs about being a witch and loving the devil and stuff. Her band wore leather and hoods and it’s a really bizarre kind of show. Pretty fascinating though. I told Beard I wanted to buy a leather hood too. He didn’t let me though. For a guy that likes metal, Beard is kind of square sometimes.
So, that wraps up my part one. Man, that took way longer than I thought. I am going to have to say less on the next few parts; I am talking as long as Beard does now. So, I am off now to have a beer. Until next time, remember Little Johnny rules. Oh, yeah, and Horns Up.