Review, photos & interviews by Andrew Bansal
May 12th 2014, Club Nokia, Los Angeles CA: The tenth anniversary MusiCares MAP Fund benefit concert took place in downtown Los Angeles last night, to honor the efforts of Village Studios CEO/owner Jeff Greenberg and a certain Mr. Ozzy Osbourne for their support of the foundation and its cause, and to treat attendees with an eclectic star-studded concert. Held at Club Nokia, which has undoubtedly become the nerve centre of events of this nature in recent years due to its prime location, this edition of MusiCares brought forth a gathering of rock ‘n roll luminaries and turned out to be an intriguing event for all in attendance.
Red Carpet:
Prior to the show itself, a red carpet was organized from 6:15-7:15 PM to welcome the celebrities involved and allow them to be bombarded by the press. Yours truly got a spot in the press line as well, and managed to score two interviews.
Wesley Geer (Hed PE/Korn), had this to say about the event: “I’m here to support the whole cause because I myself am a sober musician, so it’s rad. We love Ozzy, grew up on Ozzy. Back in the Randy Rhoads days I had a little 7-inch. And Metallica too! So it’s an amazing event for a great cause, honoring some mega-rad people.” About his battle of recovery from addiction, he said, “It was a battle of life or death. I was a 123 pounds when I got sober. I had to get a way out, man. A lot of us musicians get trapped in that downward cycle, and I found some people who found a way out and I just did what they did.” For people who are suffering from addiction, his advice is, “Get honest with somebody. Start telling your story to people. That’s where it starts, to say that ‘I need help, and I’m doing way more blow and drink way more beers than I told you about.’ You don’t have to do it alone, there’s a million people just like you. We want to help you.”
My other interview was with Corey Parks (ex-Nashville Pussy), but before I could ask her anything, she turned the tables on me and started quizzing me about my denim vest. “God, you’ve got a lot of patches on there. This is a whole situation with this vest. I’m just mesmerized right now. Are these all your favorite bands? If you had to pick one patch on this entire vest, what would it be?” To which I answered without any hesitation whatsoever, Iron Maiden. But moving on, this is what she has to say about people recovering from addiction is, “I got sober through a 12-step program. It’s free and helps you get in, take a look at yourself and replace it with something else. All the best things happened for me after I got sober. MAP helped me get sober. They really stuck by me. You get a little lost when you’re out there. For me, it’s the way to go.” And upon being asked what exactly they replaced the addictive substances with, she gleefully answered, “Rock ‘n roll, man!”
Check out photos from the red carpet below, or view them here if you’re on a non-Flash device. The gallery features the following in order:
1,2 – Beth Hart
3 – Tony Alva & Tommy Clufetos
4 – Chad Smith
5 – Corey Parks
6,7 – Billy Morrison & Blasko
8, 14-17 – Ozzy & Kelly Osbourne
9,10 – Ozzy & Joe Walsh
11,12 – Ozzy, Joe Walsh, Jeff Greenberg & group
13 – Ozzy, Joe Walsh, Jeff Greenberg, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo & group
18-26 – Kirk Hammett & Robert Trujillo
The Concert:
Doors opened at 7 PM, and ticket holders for this sold-out concert were swiftly taken through the airport-like security check point at Club Nokia. The front section of the floor level inside the venue for this particular concert was laid out with couches and ‘living room sets’ reserved for industry guests and ticket buyers that paid $1250 and upwards, while tickets for the standing room floor section behind these couches were $500 each. The balcony had two sections, VIP and GA, costing $150 and $50 respectively, and I was given a perfect seat in the front row of this VIP balcony, facing slightly to the left of stage center.
Proceedings began at around 7:30 as DJ Mix Master Mike played a 30-minute set of mashups that unpleasantly tugged on the nerves of all rock ‘n roll fans present here and threatened to be a major cause of headache, but much to everyone’s relief, he and his turntable left the stage at 8 PM to clear the path for the real show to begin. Board Chair of MusiCares Bill Silva and The Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow delivered introductory speeches about MusiCares and what it has done for musicians over the years. Portnow talked about the Adam Goldstein (DJ AM) Memorial Fund, after which a tribute video montage in his memory was played on the giant projection screen in the stage backdrop as well as on the screen mounted atop for the balcony folks.
Actor/comedian Dax Shepard came out next and served as the host for the rest of the evening, leaving the audience in splits with his unmistakably brilliant comic timing. His dig at musicians like Ozzy Osbourne and Joe Walsh as present-day purveyors of sobriety was absolutely hilarious. Shepherd then introduced the first live music act of the event and cleared the stage.
This first performing musical act was Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Beth Hart and the MusiCares band consisting of Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) on drums, Jon Nichols (keyboard), Johnny Griparic (bass) and Ted ZigZag (guitar), and they played a 2-song set comprising an original Beth Hart tune and an extremely heartfelt rendition of the Ozzy’s ‘Changes’, with Hart doing it full justice through her expressive and intensely soulful vocal delivery. Hart’s two-decade long musical career has been focussed more on a musical style filled with blues, fushion and soul elements, but even at this slightly more hard rock-oriented event she performed like she belonged, and proved to be a well-chosen opening act.
During changeovers between bands/acts, videos of past MusiCares performances were played on the screens to keep the audience occupied, including Chester Bennington, Slash and Duff McKagan’s rendition of David Bowie’s ‘All The Young Dudes’ from last year’s event, and Billy Idol’s ‘Rebel Yell’ from the year before. The turnaround was fairly quick throughout the evening, and all it took for the technicians and roadies to do the changeover was the duration of one such video.
Next up was Nashville blues singer/guitarist Keb ‘Mo’, who also played a 2-song set, lending a touch of his hometown’s musical vibe to this event. He played his songs “The Door” and “I’ll Be Your Water”, which lyrically aren’t really what you’d associate with hard rock/heavy metal, but musically give you a great taste of the blues, the undisputed root of all rock and heavy metal.
Following that was perhaps the funniest part of the evening, with comedian Craig Ferguson taking the podium and relentlessly mocking the hell out of the very person he went on to present the MusiCares ‘From The Heart’ to, Jeff Greenberg, who thanked Ferguson for the brilliant roast, acknowledged the generous applause from the crowd and spoke about MusiCares and his involvement in it. He ended his speech with a line that really resonated with me and deserves a mention, “Music is the center of our lives, and we want to take care of those who make the music.”
Following Ferguson and Greenberg’s exit, Dax Shepard took great pride in introducing the next act onto the stage, none other than Metallica, as the famed quartet of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo appeared on stage amidst massive cheers, and played in a setup very alien to them and their fans gathered here. Hetfield and Hammett took their seats on stage with acoustic-electric guitars while Ulrich’s drumkit was placed much closer to the front edge of the stage than usual. This was my first live Metallica experience since seeing them at the much overhyped ‘Big Four’ show in Indio CA three years ago, and contrary to rumors circulating prior to the show, it wasn’t a fully acoustic set, and was by no means ‘unplugged’. Metallica is such a phenomenon in the modern-day, in both good and bad ways, and it’s hard to think of a band that polarizes fans more than they do. They’ve come to a point in their career where they’re virtually untouchable, can do whatever they want, and there’s no real negative consequence to any of their actions. Henceforth, despite yells, cries and catcalls of ‘Battery!’ and ‘Master!’ emanating from various sections of this crowd, the GA balcony in particular, Metallica went on to play a four-song set at this show consisting of covers of Rare Earth’s ‘I Just Want To Celebrate’, Deep Purple’s ‘When A Blind Man Cries’, The Beatles’ ‘In My Life’ and Ozzy’s ‘Diary Of A Madman’.
Hetfield yodeling lyrics such as ‘I just want to celebrate another day of living’ as opposed to ‘I’m your source of self-destruction’ while strumming on the acoustic-electric was indeed strange, and a far cry from what Metallica has been traditionally known for in the heavy metal universe over the years. For people who’ve seen Metallica do their regular live show numerous times in the past, it was certainly new, interesting, rare and different to witness this performance unfold, and the Ozzy cover was without doubt the highlight of the set. Hetfield couldn’t quite do justice to the Rare Earth song vocally, but was completely on-point with his delivery of ‘Diary Of A Madman’. Lars’ drumming and Trujillo’s bass play was minimal in this set and the guitar solos by Hetfield and Hammett were probably its standout feature. Most of the ticket buyers that spent upwards of $50 to attend this show primarily to see a Metallica set were visibly and audibly dissatisfied, but just as the case is with every venture they take upon themselves, the band seemed completely undeterred by the reaction of their fans. In all, this was the weirdest Metallica set anyone will ever get to see, and whether you think of it’s thought of in a positive or negative sense really depends on personal taste.
Following that, Harold Owens from MusiCares itself came on the podium to talk about the foundation with references to his own personal life and battles with addiction. A video on Ozzy Osbourne’s life was next played on the screens, and Joe Walsh of The Eagles fame then made an appearance for a speech of his own, the initial part of which came across as incredibly intense and moving, while the latter half undeniably hilarious as he attempted to stall the audience while everyone waited for Ozzy’s slightly delayed appearance. Walsh presented him the Steve Ray Vaughan award, Ozzy Osbourne, and following a short speech wherein his line ‘I must have been really fucked up back in the day to be honored now for being sober’ clearly stood out, he proceeded on to bring the house down with some much-needed rock.
Ozzy played a five-song set with his regular band mates Blasko on bass and Tommy Clufetos on drums along with the all-star additions of Billy Morrison and Dave Navarro on guitar, with Navarro switching out to allow Slash to jam on the last song. With Ozzy occupied with the Black Sabbath album and touring cycle in the past couple of years, it had been a while since Los Angeles got a taste of his solo band in a live setting, and hearing songs such as ‘I Don’t Know’, ‘Suicide Solution’ and ‘Crazy Train’ at this show simply reminded of just how legendary and truly rocking his own material is, has been and always will be. Besides, the set also included Black Sabbath classics ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Paranoid’, and analyzing Ozzy’s performance on the two kinds of material, it’s clear to this reviewer that in the modern day and at his current age, Ozzy still delivers his solo tunes excellently, and in all honesty, sings them a lot better than the Sabbath material. His on-stage energy and personality is still exemplary, and he not only provided the most enjoyable musical part of the evening but also the single most hilarious moment as he poured a bucket of water on the most high-profile VIPs seated on the couches in the front row, including his daughter. Back in the day when Metallica opened for Ozzy, everyone raved about how Metallica would blow Ozzy off the stage. But, in the year 2014, Ozzy turned the tables and outperformed, outshone and outclassed Metallica by a huge, huge margin. Who would have thought that? Can we have more of Ozzy’s solo band, please?
Set List:
01. I Don’t Know
02. Suicide Solution
03. Iron Man
04. Crazy Train
05. Paranoid (w/ Slash)
All in all though, this was an incredibly entertaining event for everyone in attendance, made even better and more meaningful with all the proceeds going towards a highly honorable cause. The 10th anniversary of the MusiCares MAP Fund benefit event was undoubtedly a success, and here’s wishing for several more such events every year.
MusiCares links:
MusiCares.org
facebook.com/MusiCares
twitter.com/MusiCares
instagram.com/MusiCares