Some Highlights from the 2014 Revolver Golden Gods Awards
I’ve been in LA for most of this week, and I was able to catch the Revolver Golden Gods Awards on Wednesday night. Despite what you might think about the awards themselves — namely that lots of them go to crappy bands — to me it’s more about having a show like this to call our own that gets the entire industry together in one place. And it was a fun time! The live performances were a highlight for me, too, and this year wasn’t short on them: sure, we had to sit through A Day To Remember and The Pretty Reckless, but we were also treated to rousing sets by Suicide Silence, Joan Jett, and, of course, GNR.
As for those awards? Well, sometimes the good guys do win: Twelve Foot Ninja, still miraculously unsigned, picked up the Best New Artist honors. Congrats, guys!
Below are a few of the night’s highlights.
Suicide Silence capped a short set with a performance of “Roots, Bloody Roots” with Max Cavalera, definitely one of the energetic high-points of the night. I’ve never been a huge fan of SS outside a couple of songs, but mostly it’s just great to see these guys back in action again, persevering. Unfortunately their performance seemed to sail over the heads of the GNR fans that made up a majority of the audience — Eddie Hermida tried his darnedest to get people moving but it was not to be. Here’s that performance of the Sepultura classic:
I thoroughly enjoyed watching Joan Jett’s set! I mean, talk about a legend, and one that I’d never seen live before. It was a bit odd when they decided to play “I Hate Myself For Loving You” twice in a row after they’d made a mistake the first go-round — with Taylor Momsen guesting both times, and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons making a cameo the second time through — but, on the other hand, it just meant more Joan Jett for us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLr0a-I65h8&list=UU_tKHpo6xYpwdIRC4uotmuQ
Here’s Slayer’s surprise set in full — they played new song “Implode” around the 10-minute mark (go here for the recorded version). I don’t know man, this song just isn’t doing much for me. Also has Tom Araya filled out a bit or what?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIJA4E7xRg8
This sequence of Don Jamieson -> Andrew Dice Clay -> Nicholas Cage -> Axl Rose was a bit bizarre, to say the least, but it makes sense through the warped lens that only nostalgia can provide. Kudos to whoever got Axl stage to show up on time to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award, but not to whoever wrote his too-brief acceptance speech.
Lastly, the Guns N’ Roses set, which lasted for a full hour. Seeing modern day Axl N’ Roses is always a bit bizarre — the band is very good, but it just seems odd watching this cast of characters play stuff written by a completely different group of guys, you know? Axl may’ve lost a bit of swagger in his step but he’s still as captivating a frontman as any, and it was great to see him up there with his old pal Duff. The set was equal parts Appetite, Illusions and Chinese Democracy, and all us jaded industry folk came out from the back VIP bar area to watch the whole thing. Here’s an unofficial rip of the full show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8_6vF2FJiM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQCtlGn2TBg
See you back in LA next year.
