Monday
Aug172015
Videos From Cathouse Live
Monday, August 17, 2015 at 12:01AM Cathouse Live was held this past weekend at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in Irvine, California. Some awesome videos are popping up online including this one below featuring Ace Frehley, Sebastian Bach, Gilby Clarke, Michael Starr and Nuno Bettencourt among others.
And here's Dangerous Toys at the fest:
And here's Black n' Blue:
Reader Comments (17)
I wonder: will this continue or will it just remain a one-off? Irvine Meadows was a great test given that it has little more than 16K capacity. I still recall Ozzfests back in the 90s that got close to hitting San Manuel's 65K capacity (not sure what numbers Knotfest does there now).
As several of us have noted, the W. Coast needs a metal/destination festival. I suppose CL and the cruise are a tentative start. But times a' wasting. Before long it will be a concert featuring heads-in-jars like on Futurama!
Regardless, I betcha JUNKYARD stole the show!
Crowd in the amphitheater was sparse for most of the day - they closed the lawn and upgraded those people to seats. It was hot as fuck, and alot of fans were seeking shade when the first couple of bands went on - Bulletboys, Trixter, Black and Blue... Also lots of people bouncing between the 2 stages, which were a fair distance away from each other.
The main stage was wall to wall music, with a rotating mechanism.. When one band finished, the stage flipped and next act would start immediately, no changeover times.
Amphitheater was at it's peak capacity for Sebastian Bach and Tom Kiefer, both of whom were stellar. Then a mass exodus once Extreme came on; Extreme really did not do themselves any favors playing new stuff and deep cuts from '3 sides", most bands stuck to the classics and hits, realizing it was a throwback show.
Highlights for me were Junkyard, Dangerous Toys, Jetboy, Siagon Kick, and capped off seeing Ace Frehley play "Deuce" with Sebastian Bach.
Faster Pussycat brought out their 'extended family' - original lineup minus Mark Micheals - for "Bathroom Wall" and "Babylon" which was very cool.
The glammier bands seemed to get the best reception, I think Saigon Kick and Extreme may have been too cerebral for this crowd. People were there for the 'Hollywood Strip' bands - Pretty Boy Floyd, L.A. Guns, Faster Pussycat, etc.
Given the attendance I would be surprised if they did another Cathouse in such a big venue.. there were enough fans excited about this to warrant a yearly concert, just may have to scale it back a bit, or do something closer to L.A. proper.
Quick question: any idea of a place that would better serve a concert of this sort in the LA area? As I said before, I would love for something like this to take root. If sounds as if the weather was a big issue this year and that the same venue next year could--weather and band list permitting--draw a similar sized crowd.
If so, I am in!
For instance, I'm going to "80's In The Park" a three-day fest featuring KIX, L.A. Guns & Lita Ford and the like in Melbourne, Florida.
Needless to say, as you can imagine, Florida is hot as h*ll this time of year, so they moved the venue indoors, which will make all the difference since, apparently, the heat was so unbearable last year, the promoters felt if they didn't bring it inside, they would have to discontinue the event.
As many have noted here, L.A. needs an event like this, especially when you consider the talent pool that can be lured out of the woodwork as one-offs there (i.e. Junkyard and former members of Faster Pussycat), unlike other areas of the country.
I kid though. I like Taime's shtick. It is old. It is worn out. But I still enjoy his performance.
My dream is for a W. Coast Rocklahoma of the first or second variety; call it RockLA . . . and keep AEG and Live Nation away from it. Fool's hope, I know.
extreme and saigon kick did not fit and the fans let them know. saigon kick was great the night before at the viper room though. bach and faster had the best crowd reaction as well. bulletboys and trixter were great the next day in fullerton (though they both only played about 45 minutes there).
we had the vip meet & greet, which went OK. they lined up tables in 2 groups - 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., so we missed watching a ton of bands, but heard all of the main stage groups because the m&g was behind the stage in an walkway. dokken did not show, and bach kind of walked by, posing with the women in line.
the only problem i had was the no downtime in the music. if you wanted a drink you missed a song. we kind of gave up on the second stage early with the m&g.
but well worth it overall. there is hints of a cathouse live 2, but it will have to be in a smaller venue.
As Mike said, the pavilion was sparsely filled for most of the day. Likewise, the second stage never seemed to have much of a crowd...maybe 200-300 at a time. I heard Pretty Boy Floyd drew the best on that stage, but I was busy watching Junkyard, a band I never got to see in their heyday.
Junkyard were really good. David Roach was very energetic. He kinda reminds me of a slightly older Chris Jericho onstage, and he looked like his head was gonna explode any second. Was bummed that Brian Baker wasn't there, as they had the guy from The Dwarves filling in. I found out later that Baker was on tour in Europe with Bad Religion. I still love the fact that the guy has Junkyard on his resume between some serious punk bands. I talked to Todd Muscat and Tim Mosher after the show and they seemed optimistic that they might actually do some touring (or hopefully some fly-in dates at least).
Other bands I caught on the mainstage were Bulletboys, Trixter, Black N Blue, Faster Pussycat, Pearcy (a couple tunes), Tom Keifer and the All-Star Jam. On the side stage, I saw Little Caesar, Bang Tango, Jetboy and Gilby Clarke. It really was impossible to see everyone, because if you went for a $12.50 beer, take a piss, whatever, you were going to miss something. Not to mention there were bands playing on both stages at the same time, so having to choose kinda sucked. I hope they change that if this happens again.
I've heard rumors about a possible touring version of Cathouse, alebit on a smaller level (less bands). John Reese, who ran the Mayhem tour was running the show that day. I also saw Corey Brennan from 5B Management, who manages Slipknot, backstage. So maybe they were all gauging the possibility of doing Cathouse again or on the road.
One last story...I returned to my seat during Tom Keifer's second song and noticed a couple sitting in front of me who I hadn't seen all day. When the third song started, which was Cinderella's "Somebody Save Me," the dude turned around to high five me...and it was Ralph Saenz (Michael Starr)! Probably my favorite moment of the show was watching him act like a teenage fanboy during Keifer's set. He was totally into it, singing all the songs and high-fiving those around him. At one point, I leaned up and told him "Man, it's too bad you can't get up there and school all these dudes!" to which he replied "I know, right?!". To my surprise, he was up there with the All-Star Jam and did just that. Kudos to him for not letting the cat out of the bag so to speak (and I'd even known all day that Ace Frehley was the "surprise" guest!!).
Overall, Cathouse was a blast and I'd be down to do it again.