MIDWEST BEATDOWN PLAYLIST :: 08/25/17

MIDWEST BEATDOWN PLAYLIST :: 08/25/17

HOUR 1
THROW THE FIGHT - "skeletons" // skeletons - single
EXACTLYNO - "black friday" // exactlyno
DOLL SKIN - "shut up (you missed me)" // manic pixie dream girl
BULLY - "feel the same" // losing
PVRIS - "half" // all we know of heaven, all we need of hell
MARMOZETS - "play" // play - single
SKYWIND - "deep blu" // o2
ANTISTAR - "tower" // tower - single

ALTER BRIDGE - "addicted to pain (live)" // live at the o2 arena + rarities
THE PUSH - "controller" // controller - single
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - "domesticated animals" // villains
QUICKSAND - "illuminant" // interiors
ALL THE WAY RIDER - "I always" // floyd
HUNDRED SUNS - "last apology" // the prestaliis
DIESL - "forget it" // the failsafe

HOUR 2
36 CRAZYFISTS - "better to burn" // lanterns
NEXT TO NONE - "the apple" // phases
DISKORD - "dead to me" // limberdink road
BUTCHER BABIES - "axe wound" // goliath
MOTORHEAD - "heroes" // under cover
T.R.O.Y. - "revolution" // two worlds
GWAR - "madness at the core of time" // battle maximus

CONVERGE - "under duress" // the dusk in us
CONVERGE - "I can tell you about pain" // the dusk in us
PYRALIS - "axe grind" // demo
DEVILDRIVER - "end of the line" // the fury of our maker's hand
EMBRACE THE ENDING - "ghost" // inception of strength
THE CHARM THE FURY - "no end in sight" // the sick, dumb and happy
EPICA - "fight your demons" // the solace system

MIDWEST BEATDOWN PLAYLIST :: 08/18/17

MIDWEST BEATDOWN PLAYLIST :: 08/18/17

HOUR 1
BRUISE VIOLET - "nightmare" // trophy wife
BABES IN TOYLAND - "bruise violet" // fontanelle
SHREDDERS - "cult 45" // shredders ep
BRING THE SUN - "truth" // ghost
THE MAYBERRY RIOT - "who you are" // who you are - single
NEW YEARS DAY - "I'm about to break you" // malevolence
HALESTORM - "heathens" // reanimate 3.0 - the covers ep
GOODNIGHT RITUAL - "say you will" // fu kung

KAT PERKINS - "drive" // kat perkins
TIMES OF GRACE - "where the spirit leads me" // the hymn of a broken man
STONE SOUR - "whiplash pants" // hydrograd
STEEL PANTHER - "don't stop believin'" // don't stop believin' - single
VIA - "appetite" // after you drown
FOZZY - "Judas" // Judas
MASTODON - "blood and thunder" // leviathan

HOUR 2
HUNDRED SUNS - "hellelujah" // the prestaliis
TRIVIUM - "the sin and the sentence" // the sin and the sentence - single
ARCH ENEMY - "the world is yours" // will to power
DEAD HORSE TRAUMA - "resting in pieces" // life
SCREAMING FOR SILENCE - "house of glass" // house of glass
BLACK FLOOD DIESEL - "chasing the atrophy" // new asylum
DEVILDRIVER - "clouds over California" // the last kind words

36 CRAZYFISTS - "elysium" (feat Howard Jones) // rest inside the flames
BODY COUNT - "raining blood / postmortem" // bloodlust
YOUR MEMORIAL - "turn it all around" // seasons
STRANGE FOREST - "onesie" // strange forest
CONVERGE - "I can tell you about pain" // I can tell you about pain 7"
WALLS OF JERICHO - "no one can save you from yourself" // no one can save you from yourself
AUGUST BURNS RED - "invisible enemy" // phantom anthem
WARROOSTER - "intergalatic performance review" // demo

SAME OLD DEVILS

You feel like a kid at Christmas when one of your all time favorite bands comes to play your favorite venue. This perfectly sums up how I felt watching Every Time I Die crush First Avenue this past Thursday night.

First Avenue is one of the best venues I’ve ever been in. Bands love it. Fans love it. It’s hard to find a place to stand where you can’t see what’s happening on stage.

I hadn’t heard of All Get Out before this show and they started out very strong. A passionate performance that saw cymbals getting knocked over and the band leaving it all on stage. Unfortunately, the last song lacked the passion the rest of the set had. The bulk of their set was enough to get curiosity rolling to do a little digging and check out the band more.

The crowd doubled in size in the 15 min set change.

Every Time I Die came out and had that crowd eating out of the palm of their hand by the chorus of the first song “We’rewolf”. The crowd went into a frenzy with they followed up with “Floater”. The guy in front of me launched himself off the divider and into the crowd. The pit was rabid and I made sure to keep an eye on Zis taking pictures. I was worried about him taking a foot to the back of the head. Zis came back after “Apocalypse Now and Then” saying he could not hear Keith up front over the crowd.

The band fed off the crowd’s energy and seemed more animated than normal … if that’s even possible? Keith’s mic cut out for a song and a half and the front of house guy didn’t even notice until Keith tried talking in between songs. That’s how loud the crowd was!

Huge sing-a-longs for “The Coin Has A Say,” “Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space” and “Bored Stiff.” “Map Change” went off amazing live as it is a standout track on the new album Low Teens but is completely melodic compared to the rest of the set’s crunch.

Even though I was a tad bummed there was no “I DIdn’t Want to Join Your Stupid Cult Anyways” tonight .. I will admit “Fear and Trembling” was a pretty perfect exclamation point to end their set. They should’ve left the stage to the Rocky theme song for a set as victorious as that was.

45 mins is not enough of a set time for Every Time I Die however they made do of the time they had and made sure that crowd was exhausted by the time they left the stage. They accomplished exactly what they wanted on this tour and won some Taking Back Sunday fans over in the process.

Sadly, I had to leave before Taking Back Sunday took the stage but I’m sure they delivered an amazing set. Judging by the set lists I’ve seen online, fans were in for a treat and maybe they won some ETID fans over as well.

As much as this was a weird pairing of bands by putting TBS and ETID on the same bill, this is clearly going over way better than either band could possibly ever have imagined. Almost the entire tour thus far was sold out and even though First Avenue wasn’t sold out, it had to be damn close. I am a huge fan of this idea and hopefully more bands will continue to do this. Team up and sell out venues all across the country. It’s a win-win for the fans and the bands.

Hit the jump to see more sweet shots of Every Time I Die from Brett Zisler!

MIDWEST BEATDOWN PLAYLIST :: 08/11/17 - WARPED TOUR WRAP UP!

MIDWEST BEATDOWN PLAYLIST :: 08/11/17
GUESTS :: BAD COP/BAD COP, KNOCKED LOOSE, ALESTORM

HOUR 1
MOTORHEAD – “heroes” // under cover
RANCID – “say goodbye to our heroes” // trouble maker
BULLY – “feel the same” // losing
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS – “start walking” // home
NOFX – “seeing double at the triple rock” // wolves in wolves clothing
BAD COP/BAD COP - "nightmare" // not sorry
BAD COP/BAD COP - "why change a thing?" // warriors

BAD COP/BAD COP - "brain is for lovers" // warriors
DOLL SKIN - "shut up (you missed me)" // manic pixie dream girl
RON FUNCHES - "oregon / eccentric tastes" // the funches of us
BOBAFLEX - "long time comin'" // eloquent demons
ANTISTAR - "tower" // tower - single
LATE NIGHT FIGHTS - "fuel the disease" // renal 911
EMERGENT - "home" // home - single

HOUR 2
KNOCKED LOOSE - "deadringer" // laugh tracks
KNOCKED LOOSE - "the rain" // laugh tracks
CODE ORANGE - "real" // forever
BEING AS AN OCEAN - "the zealot's blindfold" // being as an ocean
PYRALIS - "axe grind" // demo
LET IT BREATHE - "second hit" // river wizard

HAMMERDOWN - "straight edge" // full throttle fury
EMBRACE THE ENDING - "ghost" // inception of strength
ALESTORM - "alestorm" // no grave but the sea
ALESTORM - "mexico" // no grave but the sea
AVATAR - "get in line" // hail the apocalypse
AMON AMARTH - "raise your horns" // jomsviking
TORCHE - "walk it off" // harmonicraft

**SPECIAL THANKS to BAD COP/BAD COP, KNOCKED LOOSE and ALESTORM for all sitting down with the Midwest Beatdown out at Warped Tour 2017 at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, MN! BAD COP/BAD COP's excellent new record "Warriors" is out now via Fat Wreck Chords! KNOCKED LOOSE's punishing record "Laugh Tracks" is out now via Pure Noise Records! ALESTORM's rollicking good time of an album "No Grave But The Sea" is out now via Napalm Records!

CLUTCH and PRIMUS bring extra rock to the Vetter Stone Amphitheater!

We couldn’t have asked for a better night for an outdoor rock and roll concert. I’ll second what Neil Fallon of Clutch said during their set “Thank you Mother Nature!” The weather was perfect. Not too hot and the sun was out.

Vetter Stone Amphitheater is a beautiful outdoor venue in the heart of Old Town Mankato. Free parking was a very nice bonus. The staff is amazing. The sightlines are unbelievable. If you have a spot in the seated area of the bowl of the amphitheater you had a great view of the stage.

First up, we were treated to a grand performance by the phenomenal Clutch! This is a band that I heard about years ago with “Careful with the Mic” and “The Mob Goes Wild” and then I lost track of them until “Earth Rocker" was released. Since then, I’ve become a little bit of a fan. Picking up whatever CD I can find exploring their catalog. Here’s what I love about Clutch and why they’ve become a favorite of mine over the past 5 years. You know exactly what you’re going to get with Clutch and it was on fine display in Mankato. Fantastic musicianship, no b.s., just straight up rock and roll with an all in performance by the entire band. There’s no “studio trickery” and no smoke and mirrors. What you hear coming out of the P.A. is coming by the 4 guys you see on stage.



Mankato was treated to THREE new Clutch songs. There must be a new record in the works, even though one was never confirmed by the band during the performance. This is the 3rd time I’ve seen Clutch live in 2 years and it’s exciting that I’ve never seen them play the same set. The band is constantly changing the set list which leaves the fans hanging on for the ride.

Clutch’s 75 min set breezed by and could have never contained every crowd favorite. However, the set list was well balanced amongst Clutch’s vast catalog. “Electric Worry,” “X Ray Visions” and “Firebirds” came surprisingly early in the set leaving “Earth Rocker” and “The Mob Goes Wild” as excellent picks to close the set. Clutch can seriously come back anytime and they would be packing a 100% different set guaranteed to leave you wanting more!



After a quick stage change, Primus came out and the crowd erupted. Primus started off with “Those Damned Blue Collared Tweekers” and had the full visual experience. Primus never really used any overhead lights in the front of the stage as they were really only lit by the video screens and lights behind them. Which made not only getting pictures of the band difficult but when the sun went down, it was hard to see the band members.

You can tell Primus was playing to the hardcore fans. When you have a band that’s been around as long as Primus has, you have a lot of die hard fans. I’m sure it’s hard to please them all. Being someone that really only knows the “hits” and hasn’t listened to Pork Soda or Sailing the Seas of Cheese for close to two decades, their set was almost all fresh material to my ears.

I'm probably alone here but the video screens to me seemed more distracting than enhancing. But when they used their old promo video’s for “Wynonna's Big Brown Beaver” and “Mr Krinkle” that’s when it worked the best. The crowd ate up seeing those old videos play in the background once again. It was good to see Primus rip thru “My Name is Mud” and “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver” live in the flesh! It looks like the band still has as much fun playing those songs now as they probably did the when they first wrote them.

Final thought, Clutch and Primus make incredibly tight musicianship look extremely easy. When in reality that’s the farthest thing from the truth. If you missed this Primus / Clutch summer tour, feel free to kick yourself in the pants.

Thanks to Brett Zisler for taking some awesome pictures from the show! Click below to see more!

MIDWEST BEATDOWN PLAYLIST :: 08/04/17 - SCREAMING FOR SILENCE

MIDWEST BEATDOWN PLAYLIST :: 08/04/17
GUESTS :: SCREAMING FOR SILENCE

HOUR 1
HUNDRED SUNS – “reversal” // the prestaliis
BOBAFLEX – “long time coming” // eloquent demons
ANGRY WATERS – “dead flowers” // the tequila incidents
SCREAMING FOR SILENCE – “the king is crowned” // screaming for silence
SCREAMING FOR SILENCE – “house of glass” // house of glass
COLD KINGDOM – “not tonight” // cold kingdom

SCREAMING FOR SILENCE – “long way up” // house of glass
ARMS FOR ELEPHANTS – “charlatan" // my judas scene
SCREAMING FOR SILENCE – “worth fighting for” // house of glass
ARROWS AT DAWN - "let live" // pieces
TAKING BACK SUNDAY – “tidal wave” // tidal wave
EVERY TIME I DIE – “I didn’t want to join your stupid cult anyways” // low teens

HOUR 2
TRIVIUM – “the sin and the sentence” // the sin and the sentence – single
COMMON CHOIR - "dive bar knight life" // self inflicted famine
BAD SEED RISING - "I can feel you" // awake in color
ISLANDER - "counteract" // violence and destruction
AUGUST BURNS RED - "invisible enemy" // phantom anthem
ENEMY X - "refuse to fall" // refuse to fall - single
ARCH ENEMY - "the world is yours" // will to power

STRANGE FOREST - "onesie" // strange forest
ROYAL'Z - "na na princess" // an end to anchor
TERRAFORM - "the golden ratio" // zenith
SOULKEEPER - "sentiment" // get well soon
REAPING ASMODIEA - "of teeth and talons" // impurtize
CONVERGE - "I can tell you about pain" // I can tell you about pain
GOD AWFUL BASTARDS - "blood dries black" // demotivation speaker
TREASONS - "sense of pride" // black hearts, broken bones
DODD - "empty words" // xxx-mas ball

**SPECIAL THANKS to ZEB from SCREAMING FOR SILENCE for calling in to the Midwest Beatdown this week to talk about their new EP "House of Glass" and their show on Thursday (Aug 10) with ARMS FOR ELEPHANTS and COLD KINGDOM at the What's Up Lounge in Mankato (21+ show)!