Yeah, I've been lazy with this mainly because school has started, I haven't felt like doing it, and uploading the pictures is time consuming and annoying (it would be so much easier to copy & paste. I could talk about the wait and the missed opportunity to meet GC and two members of HoM but that was already disscussed to I will go right to the show. Ther first band was a local death metal act called Benevolence. Now they weren't anything groundbreaking or outstanding but they played decent old school death with a slight progressive touch. Both the vocalist and lead guitarist were not actually members and only had two weeks to prepare for the performance. Considering the fact they didn't do too bad (although I could barely hear the vocals-too low in the mix). Actually the lead guitarist was pretty damn good with the solos (afterwards he informed me that he held back because of his short tenure). Being a death metal band they didn't really fit in with the rest of the acts and I seemed to be one of the only ones who was into the music. I had small conversations with the vocalist (I remember his name as Mike because it being my name too) and the guitarist (I forgot his name). They both seemed like really cool guys. I found out from the guitarist that he has another band which is heavier and more brutal than Benevolence called Dead Rising (I plan on checking them out soon). Also to note about Benevolence, their bassist was a chick (and a pretty hot one at that) which is unusal for a death metal band.
Next up we had Hawk Vs. Dove. Not sure what to think of these guys seeing as the distortion on their guitars was so strong, they make other stoner bands sound weak (stoner metal is about the best way I can describe the majority of the music-the rest was like the heavier side of GC but w/out the melody and harmony). One thing was sure, both guitarists played the hell out of their guitars which allwed me to enjoy the performance. Unfortunatly the distortion and feedback was so intense, my fillings (which was done the morning before) started to rattle causing extreme pain). The vocalist, who did most of the soloing was so rough on his guitar I started wondering how many strings he goes through and sure enough, one of the strings broke which can be seen in one of the pictues below. But the guy didn't even miss a beat and eventually just tucked it under the remaining strings (I now realize looking at the pictures that he only had four strings to begin with). Not sure if they would sound better on a recording (I still need to listen these bands on myspace-I already heard Benevolence and they sure sound better there) but apart from the performance I wasn't too impressed.
Next was Galea. Didn't know anything about this band but I found out they were another Houston band and their last album was actually recorded at the home of Alan Doss who also did the drums. Not sure how I'd describe their music but it was a combination of GC, alternative, and progressive. The songs really didnt' stick in my head too much but after GC, the rest of the concert seems like a blur as well. The bassist/vocalist had a decent voice but she was hard to hear until they were at least 3 songs in (either they fixed the volume or she had just warmed up). The bass playing itself was fairly simple. The guitarist/vocalist also had a pretty decent voice and both complimented the music well. He didn't pull out too many guitar solos but when he did, he was pretty damn good. The drummer did his part well and contributed backing vocals. Even though I don't remember it well, one song that stuck out in my mind had a country feel to it (the guitarist even brought out a country looking guitar and put on a cowboy hat for it). One other thing to note was the guitarists set-up which was a sight to behold (pitured below).
Now the finale, the band of the hour, the one everybody came to see...the legendary...the icomprable...the amazing Galactic Cowboys! Sorry, to the opening act but GC made everyone else sound like Barney the dinosaur (or in the case of Benevolence, Cookie Monster). Wow, what a show, it doesn't seem like they had been gone for almost a decade. The vocal harmonies were tight and spot on, the musicmanship was oustanding, and it was obvious the band was having a blast being back on stage (hope it's the start of something). Monty Colvin's facial expressions were a riot, Ben Huggins was throwing his hair around like it was on fire (a guy I know who is best friends with Ben's little brother was informed by Ben's sister that he had been practicing for weeks), Wally was smoking on his guitar, and Alan was keeping the beat perfectly and everybody contributed backing vocals. A bit into the show we had a special guest appearance by origional GC guitarist Dane Sonnier who contributed to songs from the s/t and Space In Your Face. I must say, while Wally is a great guitar soloist, Dane was a monster on the six strings (enough for me to place him on a list of best guitar players I've heard). Though posted earlier here is the playlist compliments of stevegarveyfan (origionally I was just going to post the songs in random order but this saves me the trouble:
I'm glad I touched up on my GC music by getting Space In Your Face because the played a lot from that album. As a matter of fact they played songs from every album accept Let It Go (I can only think that the reason was the entire band did not play on that album-Alan Doss had already left. I will detail the encore at the end. Here are just a few of the pictures (I have about 50 of GC so there had to be some editing). The first picture is when Ben picked up the acoustic guitar for We're Not Amused and couldn't find a pick, so Monty offered him one (the cool thing is, I had no idea Ben did the guitar part for that song, I suspected he was the harmonica player but had no idea, and man that guy could play).:
On the left you can see stevegarveyfan & 325ad
There's 325 ad again
Like all headliners, GC came back on stage for an encore after the illusion of leaving (all headliners I've seen except Testament have done it). Every member except Alan came down. Ben says, "We're missing our drummer! Has anybody seen Alan?" Next thing you know Wally walks up and sits behind the drum kit and starts playing:
Finally Alan comes out and sees Wally behind the kit then picks up his guitar and starts playing:
It was feakin' hilarious and Ben informed us that they just though of that in the back. Just like the music, the humor of GC was apparent thoughout the entire performance. They then peformed About Mrs. Leslie (a song that stuck in my mind when listening to Space... just days before) and the rest of the above playlist. This was one hell of a concert anc GC have moved in from my top 20 into my top 10 list of favorite bands. Hopefully this might lead to more GC perfomances so others can enjoy this class act and I may meet the members of GC.
I would have stuck around for that but the distortion from Hawk Vs. Dove jarred my fillings and the bass speakers from Galea added to the pain. I was in so much pain when it was all over, I just had to find a gas station and get some Advil but I wasn't about to do so in downtown Dallas (not a place you want to be alone in at 3 in the morning). My heart was racing by the time I found my car becaue I had forgot where I parked and when I found it, my car was the only one there and some unsvory downtowners were hanging around. I got in my car and got the hell out of there. I don't plan on going to Deep Ellum again without company. I prefer Ft. Worth, it's much safer.
Subject: It Took Over A Week But Here It Is: Galactic Cowboys In Dallas 
Sun Aug 23, 2009 10:13 pm
