An Unexpected Kick Butt Gig In NYC - Volbeat



Volbeat Live in NYC (I took this shot)

This week I was in NYC for a couple days for work. Usually when I'm there, evenings are taken up with team or work-related dinners and that's about it. However...luckily...one of my colleagues decided he wanted to check out a band he'd heard of who was playing that night right near where we all were staying.

Excellent. So, we went. The name of the band is Volbeat. I had not heard of them before, but my buddy Pavan had and he also knew that they were on the bill at an upcoming rock festival he would be attending. So, he wanted to hear them to see if they were any good.



Volbeat Perform an Encore in NYC (Pavan took this shot)

Turns out, Volbeat is a tight rock and roll band. They're from Denmark, but you wouldn't know it based on how the singer sounded. I'd say the band nicely combine heavy metal, rockabilly and occasionally some touches of epic melodic rock. In any case - this was good stuff and it was fun to see them. Where we saw them was a below ground venue near Times Square called the Best Buy Theater. All I can say is, while I had not head of Volbeat...apparently a LOT of other people had because the place was jam packed. A blogger's review is HERE.

You can also see video of varying quality of the show we attended HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. I did not shoot the videos.

Other than the front man, the band weren't much to look at stylistically - just dudes in different degrees of black jeans (or in one guy's case shorts) and black shirts. But, the main singer/guitar player did have a look - black leather pants, white shirt, black leather vest with a sheriff star on it and slicked back hair. To me, it looked like he was cribbing his style from London Calling era Joe Strummer. Not a bad choice.

All of which is to say that sometimes great rock and roll memories are unexpected ones - gigs or sets you see that you were not expecting to and then you're pleasantly surprised. Such was the case with Volbeat.

 Unfortunately, they just performed in Seattle, so I won't be able to see them any time soon again. But, I'll be checking them out on iTunes.If you like your rock and roll heavy...but not too heavy...I say you should too.