The SFX nostalgia thread

[blessed1]

its funny that people are saying the 90s were shit for metal because most of my favourite bands are from the 90s. the underground scene was putting out shitloads of classics at this time.
its just the mainstream type stuff that was pure rubbish. it still is today to a certain extent.

[Paul keohane]

Whatever about the big mainstream bands.Bands like Grave,Morgoth,Entombed,Gorefest,Paradise lost etc,once they started to release utter shit watered down albums,change of image and logos, thats what got me.

[John Kimble]

Whatever about the big mainstream bands.Bands like Grave,Morgoth,Entombed,Gorefest,Paradise lost etc,once they started to release utter shit watered down albums,change of image and logos, thats what got me.

Exactly...Paradise Lost wanted to be Depeche Mode, Entombed tried to sound like Unsane...it was a very confused era. There's no doubt some classic material was released around then, but the rot had really started to set in.

[Doctor Crippen]

A lot of metal might have started to become mainstream with the growth of Grunge, maybe bands were trying to emulate that level of fame and in turn making completely SHITE music.

[Eoin McLove]

Bands swapping to grunge or nu metal because those styles were new and exciting when heavy metal was a bit worn out is no different to death metal bands jumping ship to black metal because that was new and exciting.

[Doctor Crippen]

Bands swapping to grunge or nu metal because those styles were new and exciting when heavy metal was a bit worn out is no different to death metal bands jumping ship to black metal because that was new and exciting.

I'm not sure if that's in response to myself? But it's not what I meant if so, I personally feel bands like Metallica started making more mainstream music, this widened their fan base and got played on MTV, more money naturally or else their age made them make music that was nowhere near as good as Kill em all, ride the lightning etc

[Eoin McLove]

Metallica are a bit of a law into themselves.  Or were,  up to a point. 

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Cool, so now we have two threads about the same topic nobody has changed their mind about in the last 20 years 

[MGZT]

I've fond memories of the SFX.Fear Factory,Sepultura,Paradise Lost,Slayer,Pantera,Meshuggah,Megadeth etc etc.My all time favourite gig ever,was AIC in the SFX.We used to bus up from Kerry.That took half the day.Find a hostel,then off to the Soundcellar to buy tapes/cds.I would spend ages looking through the display cabinets full of tapes.I was always nervous heading into gigs when I was younger.There was plenty of cunts frequenting shows that time.I particularly remember running the gauntlet of scalpers outside McGonagles on more then one occasion.Tivoli had great gigs around that time too.I only ever attended one gig at the Top Hat.Kreator/Death and Devastation.

[Floss]

Say megadeth/coc there, slayer on a really hot night, anthrax touring stomp442 , paradise lost on Draconian... maybe others too...

[vavonia]

The fucking SFX!!!!
It's very true that the SFX was the venue of choice during the darkest times for proper Metal in the 90's and yet it holds endless great memories.
The thing is that back then you could go ages without a gig of any real note (by today's standards anyway) and then when something happened it was pretty much an event. Actually, even when there were more things happening it still seemed like an occasion.
Was just the way then I suppose!
That walk up to the venue, via Dorset Street or cutting off from O'Connell Street.....always felt you were off to something big.
There was a group of us, all into underground Death Metal, Black Metal mainly that would still go to almost everything there simply cos you didn't know when there would be another one coming up.
Some craic!
Some particular memories - going to Fear Factory in late 1999, Obsolete tour. My sister and her group of friends.....all 15/16 years old....dabbled in Metal for a year or so, so we brought them along as part of our partying party.
Knacker drinking in that laneway/car park just off Dawson Street, then the walk up to the SFX.
I'd started bringing bands over then with Aido Butler under the Emerald Promotions name and we had Morbid Angel soon after in December 1999. Had, whatever it was, 6 - 8 teenage girls all milling around handing out fliers for the Morbid gig.
Someone mentioned how they'd let anyone into the venue - it wasn't until the very last few gigs there that they sold alcohol. So I think it was 'under 14s accompanied by an adult'.
I went to one gig there with a naggin of vodka pressed to the back of my neck, then sellotaped around my neck...disguised with a scarf and my hair out over.
Made it in too.....downed the vodka in a matter of seconds, ended up chucked outta the gig very soon after.
Paradise Lost in March 1996 was  a weird one. They just seemed to come over with no vibe, felt like one random gig here, not part of a tour....just no feeling of event around it. Turnout was poor alright.
Someone mentioned Maiden in the SFX. Again, it was at their low point, or beginning of that period.
January 1996. Was a Sunday. I'd say around 600 at it. Little over half full venue.
Apparently the night before in Belfast had around 400. Things've changed since.
Wasn't at Priest/Annihilator in 1991 (31 March)...but the Painkiller rebirth thing hadn't really happened here at that stage. Priest were still considered a band well past their prime but more importantly it was the day before Megadeth played The Point on the Rust In Peace tour and there was massive hype around that gig. It got all the attention.
Consider Megadeth came back with Pantera 17 months later and had less than half the crowd the Rust In Peace show did.
I was a nipper and everything seemed huge then but I'd say the show with Pantera (Sept 1992) had around 2,500 maybe?
The Rust... show (April 1991) must have had at least 5,000...maybe as much as 6,000.
Can anyone verify?
Andy's right about the Tool show in June (I think) 2001. They were so en vogue at that stage and were very popular here...but there was just no sense of occasion around that gig for some reason.Show was packed and was good and all, but it was underwhelming.
Best night there?
Probably Type O Negative in May 1997.......was just a huge, huge happening.
Type O were one of the few bands dug by everyone from us underground heads, the Slayyyyyeeerrrr heads, the Machine Head juggas (tm*Scobes). Everyone.
They changed the landscape with Bloody Kisses, and then with October Rust.
There was so much excitement around that gig.
Then it being on a bank holiday Sunday meant that it was even more of a session/event. Was a magical weekend. Brilliant gig. Fibbers afterwards.
And even....shock......women at the gig.....
All sorts of deadly!

[Cryptic Stench]

The Emerald era nearly deserves a thread of its own. !

[Paul keohane]

I know Bruce had left,but Its actually mad that maiden played to only 600 people.
Judging by the average age (old) of people at gigs here over the last 10/15 years,did people just drift away from metal in the mid 90s and return again at a later stage?.

[Cryptic Stench]

I think people are really forgetting how dirty a term metal became specifically around that time. A lot of the weird records that came about in that era came out of survival or necessity. Bands on majors faced the chop unless they adapted but even then it was no use.

Although Maiden never changed creatively speaking they in particular were slaughtered after Bruce left and the media portrayed them as an embarassment. It didn't help that the X-Factor was a difficult record , then Virtual XI a few years later was complete and utter shit. This continued well into the early 2000s, bands like Kreator did fuck all numbers here - about 150 in Dorans if memory serves correctly, yet these days they've sold out the Academy!

[heyjoe]

Queenryche Operation Mindcrime Tour .... setlist has this as "Empires Tour 1990" .... but I remember seeing them do the entire Operation Mindcrime album in the SFX ... not sure it was 1990 though ... I'll have to look at the old tickets.

That was a special night. The Empire tour. They split the show in two, one half all of Mindcrime, one half Empire+oldies. Sister Mary was the lass from the album.

Judas Priest + Annihilator stands out as another SFX highlight on a great weekend for metal, Easter 1991, Megadeth RIP and Alice In Chains dirt played the Point the night before/after.