I found at the last minute yesterday that Helmet was playing Red 7. I’ve been a fan since 1991 or so and don’t miss a chance to see them if I can help it. If I’m remembering correctly, this is the fourth or fifth time I’ve seen them. Granted, the only original member left is Page Hamilton, but it’s still worth checking out. Page’s old bandmate, John Stanier, will be in town this coming weekend for Fun Fun Fun Fest with one of his current bands, Battles. I took a ton of pictures, including this one at the end of the set. You can check out the rest by clicking the photo.
Helmet kicked off the set with the first 5 tracks from Aftertaste in the same order as the record without stopping. They stuck with older material for the rest of the set, only playing one track from last year’s Monochrome, “Swallowing Everything” and “See You Dead” from 2004’s Size Matters. They pulled several off of Strap It On, including “Blacktop” and “Sinatra”, which they apparently haven’t played live in quite a while. Hamilton filled in some back story on the song, inadvertently mentioning the name of the girlfriend who inspired it. He swore us to secrecy. I’ve seen Page take requests from the audience before and he did that last night. There were at least 4 tracks from Betty, including “Wilma’s Rainbow”, “I Know”, “Milquetoast”, and “Tic”. They finished with “In the Meantime” and also played “Unsung”. They had good energy and the club was pretty full. I’m wondering if they’re going to stick with an older set list for most of the tour?
Page clearly likes Austin. He mentioned that they arrived in town on Sunday night and spent some time at Sidebar. They’re headed to Corpus Christi today. You can find the rest of the dates for this tour here.
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