For the second time in six days I was headed to The Troubadour, and this time it was on a weeknight, and I am old!  Not a lot of bands could get me out on a Thursday, but I just love VIZA and they are on their way to a European tour so I jumped at the chance to see them “warm up” for the European weather.  Plus, they have a new album, ARIA, coming out this week, and I wanted to hear the new songs.

On top of that, they had The Dirty Diamond opening for them, and I have had a chance to see them before and they are awesome.

The Dirty Diamond

This is a side project of VIZA’s phenomenal lead guitarist, Orbel Babayan.  What I love about this band is that they play a wide variety of music, from old blues to modern punk, to danceable jams to loud rambling metal.  And, in every genre they play, their sound is led by one of the premier rock and roll guitarists today, Orbel Babayan.  He is so versatile, so talented and so fun to watch.  He shaved his beard, which was a drag, but the new mustachioed look is pretty cool.   The rest of the band is talented and great to listen to, but I went to hear Orbel and it was worth the drive.

VIZA

Viza’s new album, ARIA, drops this week, and they played five of their new songs.  Wow, are we in for a treat.  VIZA is probably the most unique band in Southern California if not the US.  Their intricate mix of sounds, from Armenian Oud players to the fantastic singing of Knoup Tomopoulos, this band is something you simply do not want to miss.  Their albums are thematic and I cannot tell you which of the three I like best.  They are all just a whole lot of fun.

They started with a couple of new songs.  The first song of the night was also the first off the new album, Never Feel, which was amazing.  They then played Midnight Hour before moving on to a couple of old classics, such as Magic Ladder and Trans-Siberian Standoff, probably their best known song.  It is an epic tune, which is made ever better by a mind-blowing guitar solo by Orbel.  Tonight, K’noup was at his very best of the five times I have seen VIZA.  He was supported in his entertainment endeavor by copious amounts of PATRON, which seems to be his favorite on-stage beverage.  For VIZA fans the good news is that the new album includes part 3 in the Viktor saga, Viktor’s Vanguard, another dynamic tune.

In the middle of the show they played what I think was the song Quicksand.  The crowd created a giant Greek Dancing circle and enjoyed the international vibe of the music.  Throughout the night VIZA kept the crowd dancing, headbanging and singing.  This is the amazing aspect of this band that sets it apart from all other bands I have experienced; they bring multicultural Los Angeles to a new level. 

I also gave up playing basketball to go to the show, but the liveliness of VIZA meant I actually got more exercise, and was even more deeply covered in sweat. This of course was greatly appreciated by my concert partner for the night, Eugenie, also known as Zoe’s mom.  It was a date night for us, and a homework night for Zoe, and I think we definitely got the better end of the deal.  

Another part of the night I was happy about was that I found the perfect place to park for the Troubadour, which is the West Hollywood library, which also had a Blink Charger for my Volt, which I love driving.

All in all, this was an incredible night.  The only complaint I could ever make about VIZA is that their sets are just too short.  50 minutes is all they played, which is a drag since there are 2 and a half hours of driving involved to see them.  C’mon K’noup, play three or four more songs.  The crowd did force them to play an encore by yelling “Ten More Songs” incessantly.  But we only got one, and not an original at that.  VIZA has so much good music I would just love to see a full 90-minute set from them.  I know I would never tire. 

I went to this concert with Hank and Dan along with a few family friends, and before the show we had dinner together which caused us to be late. As we hustled into the Observatory halfway through the first band’s set, we were shocked to hear a “rock-a-billy” style music floating through the small stage’s doors. Upon entering the itty-bitty room, we saw a stand up bass and two guitarists performing a very awesome country-rock set. Angel and the Badman made me want to get up and dance, so I did. I hooked my dad’s elbow in mine and we proceeded to one-couple square dance. The musicians were completely into the music and the crowd—however small it may have been—was extremely pleased…as well as amused by my dad’s and my dancing. We started off the night excellently, I must say.

We were then treated to a forty-five minute wait while Jeramiah Red took their sweet time showing up to the venue on a party bus with thirty drunk people. Once they finally made their way onto the stage to begin their oddly long tuning process, a few women dressed like strippers took the stage to advertise Coldcock Whiskey in a provocative manner that did not increase my desire for whiskey in the slightest, but did make me silently urge Jeramiah Red to hurry up and get their guitars tuned. Eventually, they did accomplish this seemingly difficult task, and began an intensely energetic performance aided by the Coldcock Whiskey coquettes who seemed to find the stage their property for advertising even during the sets. Jeramiah Red had this charismatic aura that seemed to be contagious, and the whole crowd, though completely inexperienced in the art of moshing, began to bang around in a pathetic circle in beat to the awesome music. Their music was a very cool sound that seemed to mix hardcore rock with ‘70s music and a hint of country. Like the band VIZA, they had a percussionist who had more energy than the rest of the band members mashed together. We were so impressed that we ended up purchasing both the available albums at the merch table.

Hell or Highwater was amazing. They surpassed their incredible performance at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre by a mile and half. Their energy was like a tidal wave pouring over us, and the set list was perfectly laid out. The lead singer was sweating like a shower faucet in his thick leather jacket and running around the stage to spread his passion to every person in the crowd. At one point, he brought out a boogie board and invited people to compete in a crowd surfing contest. That was won hands down by a woman who managed to stand on top of the boogie board, 7 feet from the ground, for almost a minute. Extremely impressive. These guys were awesome and the songs from their EP “The Other Side” seemed to be the most popular and fun.

This was an awesome concert and every band impressed me! Thanks to everyone who played!

The Troubadour is a venue that I hadn’t ever seen a band at before. BlackMore was a band I’ve never seen before. I was very excited, to say the least.

BlackMore. Wow. These dudes brought the house down. They walked on the stage and from the very first guitar chord there was this energy and passion that was almost tangible. Their music was phenomenal and their talent was mind-blowing. I was standing directly in front of the lead guitarist who was so flipping amazing that I didn’t really care that that was all I heard. Adrian, the lead singer, jumped and twirled, head-banged and ran around the stage, and all while singing. His hair flew all over the place as his head whipped all around in his charismatic energy. I couldn’t believe just how good this band was. My dad had talk talk talked about how great they were, but having never seen them live and only heard the same two songs over and over again off their poorly recorded ½ EP, I couldn’t really formulate an opinion of my own. Now I have, and I couldn’t agree more with my dad. During “Beautiful Hurricane,” one of the two songs off the EP, I was jumping and screaming and singing along and Adrian ran over to me and shoved the microphone in my face…I had to sing. Scary! I hope I sounded ok…. Another fabulous part of the concert was the violin. Yes, I did say violin. They had a violinist who also had intense energy and added to the sound making everything only better. Sigh…this show was awesome. I got an interview with the band, Vahan’s guitar pick, and a BlackMore t-shirt that looks super cool.

Finding the Lotus was…not very good. The lead singer had a flat and uninteresting voice and the whole band seemed vaguely bored. One could say I was unimpressed.

The Nukes came next and WOW. They fucking kicked ass. They had a chick lead singer who is a classically trained opera singer with an AMAZING voice. They had an EXTREMELY YOUNG lead guitarist who was impressively good. Their songs were upbeat and danceable while still being rock. The lead singer had an aura of energy and spread to every one of the audience members. These guys were great! GO CHECK THEM OUT!

The Unending Thread had a chick lead singer who lacked confidence and stage presence, and spent too much time facing the stage. However, when the guitarist sang, the band became more energetic and comfortable. I was really impressed with the shyness of the guy lead singer as he handed me their album The Forum (soon to be written up as album of the week) and thanked me for watching. These guys are a pretty good band who had a lot of potential for greatness.

Symmetry came on first after a quick announcement made by a painful shrill-voiced woman in tight black pants and a flimsy, see-through top.  The lead singer had dyed bangs that were really interesting to look at. At first, I was kind of confused watching the bare-footed and glassy-eyed guitarist until someone explained to me that he was blind. The lead singer announced that they would be leaving for a UK tour in a week or so which was very exciting for such a small band. They had a really great sound and some pretty impressive energy. The lead singer made great use of the stage and look just about ready to jump off and just join the audience. After their awesome performance, the lead singer handed me a business card, which—for me—is a big deal.

Awesome performance and thanks to everyone who played!