Hellyeah – The Studio (Concert Review)
Aww Hell No.
I arrived at the Studio around 8PM for the Hellyeah gig; I was super looking forward to it, I’ve spoken to Chad Grey a few times and he is a really fuckin’ nice dude.
First sign something was amiss was the chained and bolted front doors with a sign saying ‘Hellyeah Entrance on Galatos Street’…I’ve never seen this before in all my years of Studio gigs, but I remember Machine Head and Sepultura both had trouble with drunk bogans fighting on the street and the cops coming inside because of it, and I figured the venue managers knew it would be the same crowd and wanted to keep the cops out.
Security guard out back confirms this and after I get inside I see why… But I’m getting ahead of myself. Galatos Street was packed with rowdy drunks and after standing alone waiting for my photographer for 7 minutes I get my first (of many) catcalls of the evening; “I want you on my cock, bitch”. Oh. Great. One of those crowds…it’s gonna be a long night. The funny thing is that from my conversations with Grey, I know if he heard you say shit like that (and later saw the rest of the shit going down in the crowd) I’m pretty sure he would NOT be cool with it, to say the least.
Anyway, I finally walk up the tiny, dark fire exit stairs to the main entrance…and I’m pretty sure I ain’t going to be staying long. I’ve written before about how much of a deathtrap The Studio is…Well, remember those chained (from the outside) doors? Yeah, it’s chaos in there. The (tiny) fire exit is being used as a main entrance, the other fire exit (aka backstage, an even tinier warren of stairs) is barricaded off…and there are drunks smoking, holding up lighters and fighting. No security in sight. It’s a fucking disaster waiting to happen, and the step daughter of a fire service officer in me is screaming to get the fuck out.
No wonder they didn’t want the cops inside, because I’m pretty fucking sure this place should be shut down in a second. The second Just One Fix finish their (admittedly awesome) set I’m down the stairs and outside, wondering if any gig is worth risking going back in there. So I decide…”fuck it, I’ve been looking forward to this gig, I dragged my sickly arse out on a Thursday night, I’m gonna make the most of it.” So I walk back up the stairs.
Some dickhead at the top is blocking the way, shouting something in my face. When I push past him, he grabs the back of my vest and hair and punches me in the back of the head…. I spin around, see the security guard at the bottom of the stairs watching… and doing nothing…Fuck this, I’m out. Fucking appalling night, summed up best by the photographer; “A good portion of that crowd did nothing to help the stereotype that metalheads only have one shared braincell”.
The last few gigs I have covered have been at The Studio, and it has really tainted what should be some really fucking good bands. So I think that’s it. I think I’m done with The Studio; I don’t like writing bad reviews, I don’t like good bands been tainted with the shit that a gig at this venue brings, and I want to support GOOD local venues. I’m really disappointed, it was an appalling night, and I didn’t even get to see Hellyeah!
-Tove
\m/
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August 21, 2015 @ 10:31 am
seems a shame that even though she didn’t stay for the band she was reviewing she still published the review and then forgot to review the support act she did see, unfortunate that she didn’t enjoy the night but reviews are meant to be about the bands playing…. thats why we come to the website and read the reviews, this is more of a blog than a review
August 21, 2015 @ 10:36 am
The review is about the reviewers experience. It’s not just the band. The venue, the audience all factor in.
August 21, 2015 @ 10:42 am
but the band didn’t get any review? Just One Fix got 1 sentence, the rest is just swearing and complaining…maybe the photographer has some insight into the show itself? …This review a)doesn’t review the bands b) uses more profanity than one should care to publish and c) just sounds like a scene whinge
August 21, 2015 @ 10:44 am
She was assaulted and felt unsafe at the venue. Why should she stay?
August 21, 2015 @ 10:56 am
all Im saying is that she mentioned 1 of the bands she was supposed to review and then failed to review them although she apparently was there for their set – this is public feedback from a regular visitor to your site, “reviews” like this alienate you from the audience and most likely from the promoter …..this reviewer seems to constantly put up scathing reviews about the audience while forgetting what her job is, review the show.
I hope to find some positive MUSIC reviews sometimes ….but thats just me, Joe Public – sad to hear she got hit, unfortunately that does seem to go with gigs such as these, I too (a male ) am wary of going to big metal shows because of the drunk drongos and attitude that goes with them….
August 21, 2015 @ 10:59 am
Hopefully bringing some of this bad behaviour to light will make folks think twice. I think you’ll find that there are plenty of positive reviews here. Unfortunately they can’t all be great experiences. If every review you read was glowing, it would get pretty boring after awhile and we would have no credibility.
August 21, 2015 @ 11:05 am
if the band was bad they should get a bad review…but it seems your missing my point….and seeing as no names were named im sure these people will not think twice about the review but it is a shame to see this kind of writing being published, maybe an angry letter to the venue would raise these complaints better so that we can read about the bands rather than the doors and the cat calling
August 21, 2015 @ 11:04 am
It would have been nice for her to preface the article with something along the lines of “I didn’t actually watch the show, so can’t offer any insight into the band – but here is my rant about the venue”, or maybe change the name of the article.
Just as a courtesy to save people’s time being wasted…
August 21, 2015 @ 2:38 pm
This was a necessary review in my opinion, the thing that struck me the most was the fact that the front doors were chained shut from the outside… If there had been a fire in the venue we would have been reading a very different story this morning, along the lines of the infamous great white gig in n.y. Where people died in very similar circumstances… The security at the studio has always been lacking in my opinion and if you combine that with the absolutely retarded management decision to lock the front doors, just to avoid the cops coming into the venue, rather than managing it in an effective and professional manner, it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
good on you Tove for talking about this, it needs to be said, the safety & security of punters is the responsibility of the venue management. They failed!
I’m sure the band would be interested to read this review…
August 21, 2015 @ 4:46 pm
I’m sure a number of people, such as fire marshals and council members, would be interested to read this review. However there are more appropriate outlets for it, such as a newspaper or letter to the appropriate organisation.
The issue we have is coming to a music and arts site, hoping to read a review about the performance of an artist – who is not only mentioned in the title but also included in the article tags – who the reviewer did not end up even watching. Even the band that was seen, and endorsed as “awesome” barely gets a mention in the music review
Journalist integrity suggests you would treat interested readers with a bit of dignity rather than using a clickbait title for a half-assed Campbell Live style expose on a venue.
August 21, 2015 @ 5:19 pm
The Studio is such a dive and what went on is not acceptable, the security and management are munters. It needed to be said and to top it off the assault from the bogan dropkick, what a winner. So what if the band wasn’t reviewed, if that happening to you, would you hang around? As for people’s time been wasted reading the review but no actual band review, get over yourselves you precious little tossers.