A slightly chilly evening in September brought four bands into Philadelphia. ASG, Year Long Disaster, Valient Thorr, and Motorhead for the Volcom Tour 2008.

The bill was supposed to feature Airbourne and the Misfits, but Airbourne dropped out due to the strained vocal chords of lead singer Joel O'Keefe. The Misfits pulled out due to production issues. Their loss because the tour added a better band in ASG from Wilmington, North Carolina.



ASG has a solid mix of metal, hard rock, and punk fused together in a head banging great time. This was my first time seeing the band and I intend to catch them on a headlining show when they come to town. They were impressive and sounded great for an opening act. ASG played for about 20 minutes and the crowd, although small, seemed to really enjoy them too. I suggest you pick up their newest album Win Us Over and experience their live show. ASG was able to whip the crowd up and get them excited for Year Long Disaster.



Year Long Disaster or YLD for short, I was excited to see. I was able to catch some of their self-titled album on the way to show because Bob Wettner refused to share it before hand. The band features Brad Hargreaves (Third Eye Blind), Rich Mullins (the coolest mother fucker this side of the Mississippi), and Daniel Davies (son of Dave Davies of The Kinks, but shh don't tell anyone).

The band has a Rolling Stones meets stoner, metal, blues sound. Basically, they have a great rhythm section held down by Brad and augmented by Rich, that is so solid it is able to keep my inept ass on beat. Then Daniel is able to sing and prance around on-stage all the while whipping solos into your face.

The band really looked like they were having fun on stage. Bob thought the band was a bit boring because there is little interaction between Daniel and Rich with the crowd. He also thought their live show was a lacking the awesomeness of their album. I disagree. I felt that Rich and Daniel interacted with the crowd plenty and seemed to be having a great time with each other. They were smiling and joking.

I also enjoy seeing a guy prancing around as deftly has Daniel was with a guitar. I enjoyed the YLD show. It made me go back and appreciate all of the songs on the album.



Valient Thorr was next and this was one of those bands I heard about before actually seeing. "You have to see this awesome band. They wear wrestling boots and have Thor beards!" What was left out of that description was the amount of energy this band brought to the stage. They were the perfect opener for the glorious Motorhead.  

The first thing you notice is the absolutely glorious wrestling boots on Valient Himself.



After you notice the boots, then you can notice the beards.



The band came out ripping solos and Valient Himself jumped around like a maniac, running from one side of the stage to the other like Angus Young. Eidan Thorr and Voiden Thorr took center stage occasionally to solo battle back and forth and display their chops. The crowd mostly didn't notice as they continued to mosh and bang into each other.



But the highlight of the night was the rant by Valient Himself. Luckily, we were able to capture two of these on video.



I would highly recommend seeing these bands if you ever get the chance. They are fantastic live. But what creates a better experience is if you can sing the songs along with the band. So pick up the bands albums before heading to the show. Each band would be willing to sign that album should you bring it to the show.

You can check out any of the pictures in the review by clicking on them for a higher resolution version. You can also check out other pictures from the evening, not included in the review, here. You can also read our ridiculous interview with Valient Himself, here.