Roadrunner United: The Concert DVD Review (Roadrunner Records)

After a three year wait, Roadrunner Records recently released a 2-DVD set of their 25th Anniversary concert. The show was filmed live at the Nokia Theater in December 2005 and it featured a "who's who" lineup of metal act. There were even a few non-Roadrunner acts (Scott Ian [Anthrax] and Tim "Ripper" Owens" [Judas Priest, Iced Earth, etc.] who were part of the lineup.

It is obvious that a lot of thought went into the planning for this show as the lineup and one-off combinations of artists are unlikely to be repeated. The core band for the show was Dino (from Fear Factor and Divine Heresy), Adam (from Killswitch Engage), Roy (from Stone Sour) and Andreas (from Sepultura).

The show starts with Evan and Billy (from Biohazard) playing a straight-forward version of "Punishment". After this, things start to get going with Jamey Jasta taking the vocals on Madball's "Set It Off". From there, Keith Caputo comes out to sing on "March of the S.O.D." and "River Runs Red". I'm not biased because Keith is from Brooklyn but he has to be one of the most underrated vocalists on the metal scene as he really kills it during this concert. In addition to singing the above mentioned songs, he also takes lead vocals for Roadrunner United's "Tired and Lonely" and Stone Sour's "Bother" (accompanied by Corey on acoustic guitar).

It just gets better from here. "Ripper" Owens sings King Diamond's parts on both a Mercyful Fate and a King Diamond cover. Glen Benton sings both an Obituary cover and a Deicide song and he sings the later song in a full suit of armor. This is followed by Jesse Leach reuniting with Killswitch Engage and he and Howard trade off vocals on "My Last Serenade".

Toward the later part of the show, there is a drunken cover of Soulfly's "Eye for An Eye" by Shadows Fall vocalist Brian Farr which is followed by Rob Flynn taking the mic for Sepultura's "Refuse/Resist". Rob keeps the stage and sings on covers of Slipknot's "Surfacing" and Machine Head's "Davidian". The later is kind of cool as it features a reunion with guitarist Logan Mader. Following in this Sepultura/Cavalera family vein, the show wraps up with a cover of Sepultura's "Roots Bloody Roots".

The second disc in the set is more of a retrospective than a documentary. The 75 minute film features interviews with a number of bands that played the show who are seeing the concert DVD for the first time and reflecting back on that night. This disc runs a little long but it is nice to have this one to hear both how the concert came together and memories of the show.

This DVD set raises the bar for concert DVDs that follow. Any metalhead is going to want to have this one in their collection.

Links:
Roadrunner Records

Keith Caputo Plays Rare NYC Show

It is somewhat sad that Keith Caputo rarely plays NYC these days. I remember when Life of Agony seemed to play L'Amour all the time and River Runs Red was always on the radio.

Time moves on for all of us...

Keith is touring behind his latest CD, A Fondness For Hometown Scars, which was released by the Dutch label Suburban Records. Keith has a new solo band, The Sad Eyed Ladies, and he is bringing the band through the area in August on their first US tour. Keith and the Ladies are playing the Mercury Lounge on August 23rd.

There are audio samples from the new release on Keith's MySpace profile and you can buy the new CD from Keith's webshop for $15.00.

Keith Caputo Live In Hamburg, Germany, Sept. 18, 2007

This post needs a bit of an advance explanation. Last December, I posted about Keith playing a three song acoustic jam at Club Retox (with Scott Ian, etc.). This post keeps getting traffic and the information is now long out-of-date.

I was looking for updated info on Keith and ran across some photos and a live bootleg of a recent show in Hamburg, Germany. Thanks to someone named "limulus", I have included the complete set list and an mp3 from the show encore (just click on the link).

Hopefully this post will be of more interest than info on a 2006 concert.

According to Keith's MySpace page, his new CD is finished but no release date has been scheduled.

"A lot of people have been asking when the new album will be out. The truth is, we don't know yet. We are trying to find a good label home for the album and that takes some time. Rest assured though, we are working hard to make sure it will be available as soon as possible cause we can't wait to let everyone hear the new stuff."

Setlist from Sept. 18th show:
01 - Upsy Daisy (from "Died Laughing")
02 - Kill with God (from "Hearts Blood On Your Dawn")
03 - New York City (from "Died Laughing")
04 - Ramshackle (from "Hearts Blood On Your Dawn")
05 - Razzberry Mockery (from "Died Laughing")
07 - Troubles Down (unreleased)
08 - Fix Pop Bang Shot (from "Hearts Blood On Your Dawn")
09 - Lamb To The Slaughter (from "Hearts Blood On Your Dawn")
10 - Dew Drop Magic (from "Died Laughing")
11 - New Song (unreleased)
12 - Our Moon Our Stars (from "Hearts Blood On Your Dawn")
13 - Selfish (from "Died Laughing")
---------encore-----------------
14 - Living The Blues (from "Hearts Blood On Your Dawn")
15 - Let's Pretend (from Life Of Agony's "Ugly")

Keith Caputo (Life of Agony) to jam with Scott Ian (Anthrax) and Frank Bello (Anthrax) at Club Retox on Sat., Dec. 16th

Life of Agony singer Keith Caputo will perform a three song acoutic set tomorrow night (December 16th) at Club Retox. Caputo will be joined by Scott Ian (Anthrax guitarist) and Frank Bello (Anthrax bassist) and they are scheduled to hit the stage at 11PM. The group is rumored to be playing covers by the Black Crowes, U2 and Alice in Chains.

Club Retox (in which Scott Ian is a part owner) is located at 511 West 28th Street.