At The Met On Saturday, November 15th

ALL PHOTOS BY GEORGE DIONNE

Heading into the night of Saturday, November 15th, it had already been a long day for me. I filled in at a friend’s record shop in the morning and afternoon which might not seem like it was overly taxing but hey, when you’ve got a show to cover later that night, this old man would usually be home resting up. But once I locked up for the night, fellow KNAC scribe George Dionne and I were on our way for some Texas rock and roll from DANGEROUS TOYS.

Supporting them on the night were local rockers ALL SINNERS, who were celebrating the release of their full-length debut release ‘We Own The Night’ (from Rat Pak Records) that very weekend, as well as the show opener PINK (no, not the female pop singer).

George and I were in the line for the pre-show meet and greet with DANGEROUS TOYS so we didn’t really get to see PINK when he came to the stage for his acoustic set. But we did get to hear some of the performance as the meet and greet line was behind the stage itself. So when we weren’t busy chatting, we did hear the music. George had commented that he wished he could play the guitar and sing like PINK was doing. I thought the playing was pretty good too, but as I was busy chatting with George and the people in front of me in line, I can’t say that I was too focused on PINK’s singing. I’m sure that’s to my detriment but at least I was enjoying his guitar playing.

Speaking of the meet and greet, that was pretty fun. While I have seen DANGEROUS TOYS once before, I’d never met any of the members so when it was our turn, we went in. It was a relatively short but sweet experience. We chatted with the guys in the band for a couple of minutes and both George and I had photos taken (You can see my photo by checking out the KNAC.COM Twitter page). I had my copy of their ‘Pissed’ album signed by the band since all five guys had played on it. And since I’d done the review of guitarist Paul Lidel’s solo album ‘Are You Ready’, I also had him sign that one for me too.
Like I said, short and sweet but definitely fun to get to meet the guys.

After PINK’s set, it was soon time for ALL SINNERS to take the stage. With the show being in Pawtucket, RI., it sort of served as a “hometown” show for the band in order to continue the celebration of their new album’s release. It was kind of like old-home week because I saw so many people I knew from the local music scene who were fans of the band and customers at the Purchase Street Records shop. Hell, I even ran into the gorgeous woman who works at the bank I go to.

Anyway, as the taped intro of the ALL SINNERS instrumental piece “Embers Rising” began to play, the band took to the stage and then drummer Roger Chouinard kicked off the set in true by striking his kit to kickstart the band’s music.

And that’s when something odd happened for me. I noticed that it sounded extraordinarily loud in my ears. I’ve been wearing earplugs at shows for a while now and I know I had them in correctly but as the band played the first song, it seemed like the volume was coming through the plugs more than it normally does. Towards the end of the set, George (who had been getting photos from a different angle than where I was watching) came over and said that I was standing in front of the speakers.
Until then I hadn’t even noticed that the speakers were hanging from the ceiling and I was indeed right in front of them. I was being pummeled, sonically speaking, and never realized it until it was pointed out to me. Boy, did I feel dumb.

Of course, the volume level didn’t bother me throughout the ALL SINNERS set, it was just something I noticed overall.
In my review of their ‘We Own The Night’ album (Read it HERE), I mentioned that I thought the title track would be a great song to open their shows with. On the first night of their mini-tour, they didn’t do that. But the set list did get a shuffle for Night Two and sure enough, they opened with said title track. It set up the rest of their show perfectly.

Focusing mainly on material from the new album, ALL SINNERS rocked their way through “The Wave” before launching into my favorite track from the new release, “Lead Me Into Darkness”. With Chouinard setting the foundation behind the kit, singer Mike Golarz sang over the music while guitarist Nick Testone put forth a ceasless set of six-string pyrotechnics. I was positioned on the side of the stage where Testone was standing for most of the band’s set and I found myself watching his hands move along the guitar making it scream out each note. It made for an interesting side note to just enjoying the band as a whole.

A couple of times Golarz let his hair cover his face almost entirely, rendering him as unidentifiable as the singers in 1980s thrash band videos. Of course, he has way more of a sense of melody so that made the vocals even more interesting to hear.

I’ve heard both “Dead To Rights” and “Into The Flames” in concert long before they made their way onto the new album, so I was familiar with those tracks already. The same can be said for “Believer” and “The Hunted” from their debut EP. But having a bit of familiarity with those tunes didn’t rob any of the enjoyment I got from hearing them on this night. Judging by the reaction of the highly supportive crowd, which was quite liberally seeded with ALL SINNERS loyalists who at one point where even calling out bassist Bruce Morrison with cries of “Bruce, Bruce” like they were waiting for Springsteen to come on stage or something, those songs went over just as well as they have in any of the band’s past shows that I’ve been at.

Giving the show a bit of exclusivity, the band debuted two songs live for the first time. The first was “So Evil”, which much like its studio version counterpart, has a dark kind of vibe going for it, lending a cinematic flair to the song as a whole. And the thunderous stomp came through even more pronounced. Plus it got pretty lively at the end when you got four deafening screams from Golarz ahead of the song’s ending.

The other song they played live for the first time was “The Reason” which is the closest the band comes to doing a ballad track. I liked the studio version but it was great hearing it live and the solo from Testone was as invitingly tasty live as it was on the disc.

Preceding “The Reason” was the song “World That’s Burning”, which is one of the three tracks that have been given the video treatment. And no wonder since it is yet another power and fury rocker track.

The set closed out with “The Hunted” and it was safe to say that ALL SINNERS had the crowd in their hands as they put on one hell of a rock and roll show.

Set List

• “Embers Rising” (Taped Intro)
• “We Own The Night”
• “The Wave”
• “Lead Me Into Darkness”
• “Dead To Rights”
• “So Evil”
• “Into The Flames”
• “Believer”
• “World That’s Burning”
• “The Reason”
• “The Hunted”

A YouTube video of the band’s entire set can be seen HERE!
For more on ALL SINNERS, check out their website https://www.allsinnerscult.com

It wasn’t long after ALL SINNERS left the stage that DANGEROUS TOYS came out in attacking fashion to begin their headlining set.

They hit you hard and fast with the song “Outlaw” but I quickly noticed that something seemed off with the vocals from singer Jason McMaster. There was something going on with the sound mix that his vocals were getting lost at points in the song.

At first I thought it was my earplugs diluting the sound or something. But it wasn’t that and I could hear the music just fine. So to the best of my figuring, it was something to do with actual sound mix of the show. Two things kind of bear me out on this. At the end of “Outlaw”, in the video I found online, you can see/hear bassist Mike Watson asking for “more bass for the bass player” (something he’d ask for at least once more during the show). The other thing was that for about the first half of the show there was a problem at points along the way with understanding the vocals. Now I’m a pretty good fan of DANGEROUS TOYS so it isn’t like I don’t know the words to “Gimme No Lip” or “Boots in the Gutter”, but if you’d questioned me right at the show, I would’ve been hard-pressed to tell you what McMaster was singing.

While that was annoying to me, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy the rest of what was going on during the first half of the show. Musically, DANGEROUS TOYS was on fire with guitarists Scott Dalhover and Paul Lidel shredding their way through “Take Me Drunk”, “Ten Boots (Stompin’) and “Sugar, Leather & The Nail”, while both Watson and drummer Mark Geary provided the thumping foundation for everything else along the way.

For all the notice I took of the sound issues in the first half of the show, everything seemed to get fixed up nicely for the second half of the show. Starting with a killer rendition of “Queen of the Nile”, the vocals cleared up and I had no problems hearing McMaster’s vocals loud and clear.

I loved the double shot of “Pissed” and “Paintrain” from the ‘Pissed’ album. I had it in my head to ask the band in the meet and greet if they ever considered adding “Hard Luck Champion” to their setlist because it is one of my favorite songs from DANGEROUS TOYS. But of course, I forgot to do so. Still my love of the ‘Pissed’ album is always satiated with these two songs.

There’s a video online from the show for the song “Sport’n A Woody” and it was a killer rendition. I loved how McMaster worked in a couple lines from the Dead or Alive pop song “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”, and his reaction to the crowd actually singing those lyrics back to him.

With a rousing version of “Teas’n Pleas’n” keeping the adrenaline running on high, the crowd got a nice little treat when DANGEROUS TOYS broke out a song called “One’s Too Many”. If you don’t recognize the title, don’t be alarmed. It is a brand new track that is planned for their new studio album due out in 2026. And I can’t wait because I thought the song was freaking awesome!

In the lead up to their set closing performance of “Scared”, Jason McMaster played with the crowd a little bit asking if they knew what the title of the next song would be. He played this out for a couple of minutes and the wiseass in me was truly considering yelling out “Freebird” in a nod to the concert cliche of people yelling that song’s title out no matter what show they are. But I held off doing it so as to actually avoid the cliche. But if I had done it, I wonder what the reaction would’ve been. You can see a video of the “Scared” performance HERE!

Once the band launched into “Scared”, it was a rollicking performance to close out the show, I was left feeling, like the rest of the audience I would both hope and assume, that I had been thoroughly rocked from beginning to end!

Set List

• “Outlaw”
• “Take Me Drunk”
• “Sugar, Leather & The Nail”
• “Gimme No Lip”
• “Hold Your Horses”
• “Boots in the Gutter”
• “Ten Boots (Stompin’)”
• “Queen of the Nile”
• “Pissed”
• “Paintrain”
• “Hangman Boogie”
• “Sport’n A Woody”
• “Line ’em Up”
• “Teas’n Pleas’n”
• “One’s Too Many”
• “Scared”

For more on DANGEROUS TOYS, check out their website: https://dangeroustoys.us