Dallas Comic Con 2013

This weekend I went to Dallas Comic Con 2013 at the Irving Convention Center in Irving, Texas. This is the second Comic Con event I've been to in the last year including Dallas Comic Con: Fan Days back in October. Dallas Comic Con is considered to be one of the largest "Mega-Cons" in the state along with smaller sister event the Sci-Fi Expo under the management of OfficialPix produced by C2 Ventures, Inc. This years' Comic Con was the biggest by far with 25,000 attendees! This years' Dallas Comic Con ran from May 17 to 19. Among the many special media guests included were: William Shatner, Richard Dean Anderson, John Noble, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Kevin Conroy, Ernie Hudson, Brandon Routh along with many others! Also in attendance were some great comic book creators, writers and artists such as Jim Steranko, John Romita, Jr., Arthur Suydam, J. David Spurlock and many more! The two biggest disappointments this year was the cancellation of special guest Nathan Fillion and the Art of Akira exhibit. Although the con was incredibly crowded with incredibly long lines, a broken escalator and over priced food, I managed to meet and get autographs from all the guests I planned to this year including: John Noble (Denethor, Lord of the Rings Trilogy), plus Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and also Kevin Conroy (voice of Batman, Batman Animated Series, Arkham Asylum)! The biggest thrill came from when me and my family met LeVar and Brent as we were dressed in our Star Trek uniform shirts, LeVar was overjoyed and took a picture of us on his own phone! I also had the pleasure of meeting comic book artists Jim Steranko and John Romita, Jr.! I was also able to attend several panels including the Kevin Conroy Q&A on Friday, the John Romita, Jr. Q&A on Saturday, and the Star Trek Q&A on Sunday. I love comic cons, the special guests, the vendors, the costumes/cosplay, but unfortunately, there is always the crowd. While I feel the crowd was somewhat manageable, the lines in the morning just to get in seemed so unorganized as we were lined up inside the convention center parking garage for hours! As for things that the con organizers had no control over, they were unavoidable such as the escalator breaking down Saturday afternoon and the convention center café running out of food on Sunday. But thankfully that did little to diminish the whole experience. I hope to return to Comic Con next year and may possibly attend the next Fan Days in October, there is also the Sci-Fi Expo in February.

LINKS: Dallas Comic Con Official Website, Dallas Comic Con on Facebook, Dallas Comic Con on Twitter

Dethklok @ House of Blues, Dallas, TX

I was really looking forward to a very special concert event: DETHKLOK ON TOUR! Dethklok is the brainchild of writer/musician/producer/voice actor Brendon Small. While it exists as both as an animated/virtual band as well as an actual touring band, it is in fact one of the most unique musical acts on the heavy metal scene. The real Dethklok is composed of Brendon Small on guitar and vocals along with Gene Hoglan on drums, Bryan Beller on bass and also Mike Keneally on guitar. The world's first animated/virtual band from Adult Swim's Metalocalypse, was scheduled for a U.S. tour earlier this year along with co-headliners Lamb of God and Gojira. Unfortunately, it was cancelled in August due to the arrest and trial of Lamb of God's Randy Blythe for manslaughter in Prague. Now Dethklok joins The Black Dahlia Murder , All That Remains and Machine Head on a new U.S. tour which includes 30 dates throughout the Fall and Winter of this year. This Friday, I got to experience this very special multimedia  concert event at The House of Blues in Dallas, Texas. The venue is one of the largest clubs/stages in the historic downtown area of Dallas known as the West End. The House of Blues consists of two floors, upstairs is the dining and gift shop, whereas downstairs is the club area with stage and three bar areas.

The concert started at 6:30pm with first up: The Black Dahlia Murder, who played a seemingly short set. Next was All That Remains, whose set utilized the large screen that was set up behind the stage which featured their Skull and Crossed machine gun logo along with scenes of wartime-battlefield footage. Then came Machine Head who got a huge crowd reaction especially during their songs "Locust" and "Halo". Machine Head also took advantage of the multimedia element behind the stage as they embellished their set with stylized animations featuring Medeival-like illustrations along with their family crest logo. Before Dethklok took the stage, roadies dressed as the shows hooded "Klokateers", performed a sound-check. As Dethklok began their set around 9pm, the audience was treated to a multimedia experience featuring originally animated scenes from the Metalocalypse including music video footage and occasional comedic breaks from Metalocalypse support characters like "FaceBones", Dr. Rockzo, "The Rock 'n Roll Clown" and a PSA from Dethklok manager Charles Offdensen. The concert begins with an introduction from the mysterious priest (voiced by Werner Herzog) who summons Dethklok.

Pictured L to R: Keneally and Small

The whole set revolves around a story as the shows main antagonists known as The Tribunal, plan to take over the minds of Dethklok's fans using a "Fat Gas". Starting the concert with, of course, the "Metalocalypse" theme song then straight into the first track from Dethalbum III. The concert included both old favorites from Season One like "Thunderhorse", "Hatredcopter", "Murmaider", "Go Into the Water", "Awaken" and "Fansong", as well as songs from the latest albums including "Bloodlines", "The Gears", "Dethsupport" and "The Galaxy". The show ended with an impressive encore featuring "Crush The Industry" with several Klokateers marching up on stage!

Intro: "I summon Dethklok!"

The whole concert is like being IN the show! The use of the video screens makes the whole concert experience seem very interactive, not to mention the fact that the audience is actually seeing Brendon Small and the band play Dethklok's songs in person rather than their animated counterparts. If you are a Dethklok/Metalocalypse fan you cannot afford to miss this truly unique concert experience!

LINKS: Dethklok on Tour, Metalocalypse TV, Metalocalypse on [adult swim]

Concert Review: Iron Maiden, Dallas, TX, 8/17/12

Last night I had the pleasure of experiencing for the second time in my life, a concert performance by THE best live heavy metal band in the world: IRON MAIDEN! As part of the tail end of the Maiden England North American Tour 2012, they played at the Gexa Energy Pavilion in Dallas, Texas. Opening for Maiden was the alternative metal band Coheed and Cambria, promoting their new double album The Afterman, who put on an impressive set including songs such as "Running Free" and "Welcome Home". The weather was a typical August night in North-East Texas, in the mid-90s but cloudy. Just as Coheed & Cambria finished their set, there were huge, dark, thunderstorm clouds on the horizon, but thankfully the storm went around us and brought with it a cooling breeze as night fell and Iron Maiden began. Before Maiden began however, the venue played "Doctor Doctor" by UFO over the loudspeakers in tribute. Iron Maiden's stage set up had an arctic theme to it with large murals of icebergs which was accompanied by a video montage of arctic settings during the introduction followed by the song "Moonchild".

The show continued as Maiden played "Can I Play with Madness" followed by "The Prisoner" with an introduction on screen of scenes from the song's namesake: the cult 1960's British TV show The Prisoner. After playing "2 Minutes to Midnight", singer Bruce Dickinson spoke about a show they did for the U.S. 7th Cavalry followed by "Afraid to Shoot Strangers". As the band went into "The Trooper", which has become one of their most notable songs, Bruce Dickinson dons a British military "red coat" uniform and proudly waves a large United Kingdom Flag, a.k.a. "Union Jack". As the band started to play "The Number of the Beast", which is arguably their most popular song (and one of my favorites) they featured a large hoofed devil-figure atop the stage who turned his head surveying the crowd as they played.

Next they played "Phantom of the Opera" and "Run to the Hills" where surprisingly, they brought out their mascot Eddie, dressed in a caricatured General Custer costume. Afterwards they continued with "Wasted Years" (another fan-favorite), followed by one of their longest songs: "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" and then "The Clairvoyant". They finished their set with the highly popular "Fear of the Dark" and of course their title song from their first album: "Iron Maiden". While their set included mostly classic and popular songs, (however devoid of such favorites as "Hallowed Be Thy Name" or "Be Quick or Be Dead") I was surprised they did not include any songs from the more modern albums such as Brave New World (2000) or even their most recent release The Final Frontier (2010) which was featured prominently during their 2010 tour, which was the last time I saw Iron Maiden at the same venue (See my past review). The show did however feature more songs from the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988) and Fear of the Dark (1992) era, which no doubt pleased many of the fans. Of the many changing depictions of Eddie on their various backgrounds and stage props, the most impressive was from "Seventh Son..." including a huge mechanical Eddie complete with pulsing brain in hand!

After a short break the band returned for an encore with "Aces High" which included images from WWII era news reels and Winston Churchill's famous speech. They ended the show with "The Evil That Men Do" and another old-school hit, "Running Free". While the crowd was clearing out, as usual, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from Monty Python's The Life of Brian over the speakers.
It never fails that Iron Maiden consistently delivers extraordinarily fantastic shows and has rarely disappointed fans over the 30 years of their existence. It has always been Iron Maiden's forte to provide quality shows utilizing their own unique qualities of musicianship, theatricality and showmanship. Over the years they have included several new features into their live shows from huge multimedia presentations, lights and pyrotechnic effects, along with complex mechanized and animatronic characters with the various incarnations of "Eddie". This year marks the 30th anniversary of The Number of the Beast (1982) in which singer Bruce Dickinson replaced original vocalist Paul Di'Anno, leading the band to a whole new level of success and popularity. Despite Bruce having left the band in 1993, and he was replaced by briefly Blaze Bayley, but Bruce returned in 1999 and has since continued on with the continuation of the band's definitive lineup. Even after over 30 years Iron Maiden continues to be THE best live heavy metal band in the world, achieving worldwide fame and acclaim particularly due to their ability to travel anywhere in the world thanks largely to their own personal 757 jet-aircraft "Ed Force One" piloted by Bruce Dickinson himself. (See the documentary Flight 666). For any fan of Iron Maiden or live heavy metal shows, theirs is always an exciting and rewarding experience definitely NOT to be missed! \m/

LINKS: Iron Maiden Official Website, Iron Maiden on Facebook, Iron Maiden on Twitter