Photos and Review by Tom Bogus
John 5 and The Creatures photos HERE
Beasto Blanco photos HERE
LA Guns photos HERE
Danny B Harvey photos HERE
On Friday night at The NAMM Show, there are many things going on. The one event I look forward to every year is the NAMMJAM, hosted by Delve Texas. Headlining NAMMJAM 2016 was John 5 and the creatures. Also on the bill was Beasto Blanco, L.A. Guns and Danny B. Harvey. The doors opened promptly at 6PM and Danny B. Harvey hit the stage at 7:30pm dazzlingly the audience with his Rockabilly sound and country tunes. In keeping with NAMMJAM tradition, the special guests started off by David Vincent, former lead vocalist/bassist of Morbid Angel taking to the stage to sing Johnny Cash’s “Big River”. I was impressed how great Vincent sounded and the rest of the audience agreed. If that wasn’t enough, Danny B. Harvey’s wife, Annie Marie Harvey joined Vincent on stage to do a song together.
I have been an L.A. Guns fan since the 80’s. To me, the voice of L.A. Guns is and will always be Phil Lewis. The current line up is Michael Grant/guitar, Kenny Kweens/bass, Steve Riley/drums and Phil Lewis on vocals. Lewis belted out lyrics flawlessly to such classics as Rip and Tear, Sex Action, No Mercy, Never Enough, Showdown (Riot on Sunset), I Wanna Be Your Man, and Ballad of Jayne. The band sounded to perfection as they blasted through song after song. Beasto Blanco, fronted by Alice Cooper bassist, Chuck Garric and Calico Cooper (who happens to be Alice Cooper’s daughter) tore up the stage and blew the roof off. The most talked about highlight of the set was when special guest Alice Cooper joined Beasto on stage to do “Feed my Frankenstein” Following Beasto Blanco was the Johnny Coffin fashion show. This year they paid respect to the recent fallen musicians by having the models walk to David Bowie, Stone Temple Pilots, Motörhead and Pantera.
John 5 and the creatures hit the stage. Most people are used to seeing John 5 up on stage with Rob Zombie or Marilyn Manson. But this time, he had his own three piece band consisting of himself, bassist Ian Ross and drummer Rodger Carter. Their set consisted of mostly instrumental songs. It was a treat to watch John 5 play the hell out of his guitars…….and banjo. At the end of the set, John 5 and the creatures were joined by Josh Todd of Buckcherry to perform Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” and then Keith Nelson joined them to perform Buckcherry’s hit “Crazy Bitch”. Another great NAMMJAM in the books. I already can’t wait till next year. NAMMJAM is truly the hottest ticket in town. Special thanks to Suzanne Penley, Curse Mackey and David Vincent for having New England Concert Reviews and Kaos Photography cover this event.
NAMMJAM 2016 – Anaheim, CA
