As a new player in the scene, Rockbar has managed to attract pretty good shows in the last few months. Considered a ‘B’ market, San Jose, CA is 30 miles from San Francisco, CA and a completely different world when it comes to Metal shows. Living between the two cities allows us to fully enjoy attending shows in both places.
Being huge fans of Enslaved, we drove all the way back from Las Vegas after Thanksgiving for this show. Fresh of a nine hour drive, the bands did a great job in getting the crowd going and headbanging for the whole show.
Slightly disappointed that this show was on the small stage (upstairs room) of the DNA Lounge, we were prepared to witness one of the most innovative USBM bands: Abigail Williams. In the midst of release their latest opus “The Accuser”, the band is set to melt some faces with their music.
After a very busy October covering a wide variety of shows, the show we have been the most psyched about was Purson and Ghost. We are great fans of Purson and their psychedelic music since their “The Circle and the Blue Door” release (review here).
With the unfortunate news that Epica had to drop off the tour, Martina Edoff, The Agonist and Eluveitie continued to trek forward. Compensating for the loss of a headliner, Eluveitie stepped up and delivered nearly 2 hours of music, more than pleasing all their fans.
Driving up to San Francisco we encountered a traffic jam from hell (thanks highway 101) that made us miss the entire set of Martina Edoff. Luckily we arrived just in time as The Agonist was taking the stage.
Ever since this tour was announced, I had an alert set in my calendar…. Almost 6 months in advance. The venue for this event is far from ideal for shows, but it has a certain ‘cozy’ vibe that other venues lack. Located in San Francisco, The Parkside has some shows here and there, but due to its small capacity we wanted to get tickets as soon as possible.
Even with tons of shows coming to town each month, we have been super excited about the Nightwish tour since it was announced months ago. Along with Delain and Sabaton this is probably one of the most expected shows of 2014 and the crowd response was indicative of that. With the entirety of the floor tickets sold out even when there was another solid show across town, people gathered en-masse to show their support for these exciting bands.
Featuring a very unique and crushing tour package “Chaos Raids 2015” is one hell of a tour for Black Metal and Brutal/Technical Death Metal fans. As the tour pillaged through North America, we were eager to see them pass by San Francisco and play at the DNA Lounge.
Opening the set we have locals Serpent Crown and their solid female-fronted Thrash/Sludge Metal. The band played for almost 30 minutes instantly pleasing the crowd with their catchy songs.
Finally the day came for this highly anticipated show that soldout the first week the tickets went on sale. We are huge fans of Jess and the Ancient Ones and were lucky enough to see them live at Roadburn 2013, so we instantly jumped on the opportunity to see them live again and so close to home. After driving through the Bay Area traffic for almost 80 minutes for 30 miles, we arrived at the huge line in from of the Warfield.
Zeal & Ardor - Baroness - Deafheaven
March 8th, 2019 - Houston, Texas
Ensiferum - Septicflesh - Arsis
January 28th, 2019 - Atlanta, Georgia
November 2nd & 3rd, 2018 - Brooklyn, NY
Eye of Solitude - Marche Funebre - Catapult the Dead
March 13th, 2018 - Oakland, California
Enslaved - Wolves in the Throne Room - Myrkur - Khemis
March 9th, 2018 - San Francisco, California
November 6th, 2017 - Atlanta, Georgia
October 29th, 2017 - Rotterdam, Netherlands
October 28th, 2017 - Rotterdam, Netherlands
Brujeria + Powerflo + Pinnata Protest
October 23rd, 2017 - San Francisco, CA
Orphaned Land + Pain + Voodoo KungFu
September 20th, 2017 - Oakland, California
August 16-19th, 2017 - Dinkelsbühl, Germany
August 10th, 2017 - Jaroměř, Czech Republic
August 11th, 2017 - Jaroměř, Czech Republic
August 12th, 2017 - Jaroměř, Czech Republic
July 28-29th, 2017 - Germany
Feb 2-6, 2017 - USA
Feb 2-6, 2017 - USA
Feb 2-6, 2017 - USA
Feb 2-6, 2017 - USA
Children of Bodom + Abbath + Exmortus + Oni
12/05/2016 - The Regency, CA
Sonata Arctica + Leaves' Eyes + Omnium Gatherum
12/02/2016 - Slim's - San Francisco, CA
Epica + Arkona + Fleshgod Apocalypse + The Agonist
11/18/2016 - Social Hall - San Francisco, CA
Fallujah + Between The Buried And Me + Devin Townsend Project
10/05/2016 - Regency Ballroom - San Francisco, CA
