Mary Bell / OC Weekly

Les Claypool of Primus

Primus
Fox Theater Pomona
May 19, 2013
Primus 3-D is an experience most people's senses aren't ready to handle. Mine definitely weren't. I don't necessarily blame it on the band, who opened their crazy new live show to a packed house at the Fox Theater Pomona. Every time I try to partake in a visually intense production like that, I always get a nasty migraine. But it was worth it for the amount of weird, dynamic visuals happening behind Les Claypool, Jay Lane and Larry "Ler" LaLonde. During the opening licks of "Those Damned Blue Collar Tweakers," the crowd got a visit from Salad Fingers, the famous, creepy-looking, post-apocalyptic Internet cartoon.

It was cool to see a character that is very large in the underground alternative world be used in a video for the opening song. The images chosen for the show coincided with every note of their performance. For instance, during some of the instrumental parts of the opening track, Salad Fingers looked as though he were bobbing his head along to the music.

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Gil Perez/ Onionskn

Candyland at Avalon

Seven Lions, Flinch and Candyland
Avalon Hollywood
May 17th, 2013

An abundance of young dubstep/electro aficionados and the stench of cigarette smoke dominated at Avalon in Hollywood on Friday night as the Santa Barbara native Seven Lions (born Jeff Montalvo) unleashed a slew of original tracks and remixes carefully spliced with everything from dubstep, trance, electro and progressive house. Despite playing three shows in three different states in just 24 hours, Montalvo was all business and completely on point as he headbanged with a mop of long, brown throughout his entire set. The 19-and-over "CONTROL Fridays" crowd went wild for Seven Lions' Avalon debut as well as opening acts At Dawn We Rage, Candyland and Flinch. Being that it was also promoter/artist manager Ryan Jaso's birthday, everyone was in attendance including Skrillex, Peacetreaty and Whiiite and there was plenty of cake throwing shenanigans to go along with the epic beats.

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REUTERS/ Steve Marcus

If you were my boyfriend...I'd burn those "Hammer pants."

With Tracy Morgan hosting the Billboard Music Awards this year, we were all anticipating a few shenanigans to go down courtesy of his sharp comedic tongue. Truth be told, we think he played it rather safe. Broadcasting "live" (yet somehow the East Coast once again saw it before us on the West which is total BS) from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and with tons of appearances by favorites like Madonna, Macklemore, David Guetta, Lil Wayne, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj and the "Purple One" Prince, it was obvious that Twitter was about to come alive with squeals from tweens and more importantly, rib-jabbing comments from the cynics. And of course over here at the Weekly, we were just chomping at the bit to see what would be flying around the Twittersphere when the show was going down. Following the hashtag of choice for the show "#BBMA and #BBMAs," we captured a few gems that had us in stitches while this year's Billboard Music Awards kept us both entertained and totally annoyed.

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Andrew Youssef / OC Weekly

The Black Keys

KROQ Weenie Roast 2013
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
May 18, 2013
The lineup for KROQ's Weenie Roast provides a good time capsule of what is currently popular on terrestrial radio, including a number of bands who played Coachella this year and a host of newer, up-and-coming bands who could potentially make the jump to the main stage in the future.

Topping this eclectic assortment of bands were the Black Keys. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have been touring tirelessly and are at the point at which their most recent album, El Camino, seems pretty old. But having played KROQ Acoustic Christmas, Coachella and the Honda Center, the Black Keys proved more than capable headliners as they blitzed through such hits as "Tighten Up," "Gold On the Ceiling" and "Howlin' for You." Auerbach still has one of the fuzziest live guitar tones in the business, and the bespectacled, drum-bashing Carney rocked with razor-sharp precision.

While older folks such as me remember Jared Leto as Jordan Catelano from My So-Called Life, Leto is known to most people as the lead singer and guitarist for 30 Seconds to Mars. They are gearing up for the release of their new album, Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams. Leto worked the KROQ audience the moment he popped up in the middle of the crowd for "The Kill (Bury Me)." Fans ate up every moment, as their show climaxed with blasts of confetti and an all-out stage invasion to end their set.

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Jackie Connor

Charlie Musselwhite and Ben Harper

Doheny Blues Festival
Doheny State Beach
May 18, 2013
Summer festival season officially started in south Orange County over the weekend as the 16th annual Doheny Blues Festival kicked off the 2-day concert series at Doheny State Beach. Although weather remained temperate with cool ocean breezes, the bluesy tunes turned up the heat from all three stages for a sprawling celebration of all things raw, rugged and "down home." Bonafide bluesmen,and housewives with sauced husbands in tow danced around in cheesy cowboy hats to the fine, electricfied tunes of artists like Joanne Shaw Taylor, Tedeschi Trucks Band and headliner Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite. Here's a taste of what we saw this weekend.

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Mobb Deep--See Wednesday

Monday, May 20

Dillinger Escape Plan
Chain Reaction

Dillinger Escape Plan, the New Jersey mathcore band (that's mathrock-meets-hardcore for those who were wondering) stops by the all ages venue Chain Reaction this Monday night, giving hoards of angsty teenage boys something to yell and thrash and freak out about. A Dillinger Escape Plan live show is an entirely different, wild animal--the five-piece group expels a volatile energy akin to releasing years of pent up rage. But this is how they've stayed strong for the last 15 years amid an ever-changing music scene, giving everything they've got, every single time. Fans who can't get enough Dillinger love the band's new album, One of Us is the Killer, which continues to showcase their trademark maniacal intensity. (Erin DeWitt)

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Adam The Bat

Cannibal Corpse

By: Alex Distefano
Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse
The Observatory
May 16, 2013

It's been a while since this many bodies were packed so densely for a metal show at the Observatory. But, when you have two of the most brutal bands on the planet--Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse--performing back to back, I guess a little headbanging hysteria is to be expected. The two bands performed together as part of the Decibel Magazine Tour, also featuring old school East Coast death metal veterans Immolation, LA's up and coming Abysmal Dawn and the Bay Area band Cretin, who have been in and out of the scene since the early 90s.

The sold out how was about one thing and one thing only: Extreme music. People weren't here to mess around. It was saturated with people from the get go, and only filled up more as the night went on.

See Also: Cannibal Corpse Take One Last Bite Out of the Festival Season.

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Brittany Woolsey

By: Brittany Woolsey