JON ZAL

Your front-row seat to my nervous breakdown

LiveDaily

Backstage in Boston with Stone Temple Pilots

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Originally published on August 1, 2000 at Ticketmaster’s LiveDaily.com

“It’s been an interesting decade, man,” says Stone Temple Pilots’ guitarist Dean DeLeo, who, along with the rest of STP, is backstage at Boston’s Avalon club on Saturday, July 29. In a couple of hours, the group will perform a special VH1.com live webcast concert before a packed house filled with contest winners. Right now, though, DeLeo is reflecting on the long, winding, and often tumultuous journey that his band has been on for the last ten years.

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Live Review: Nine Inch Nails in Anaheim

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Photo by Jon Zal

Originally published on June 7, 2000 at Ticketmaster’s LiveDaily.com

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Nearly five years ago, Trent Reznor ended his tour in support of Nine Inch Nails’ multi-platinum album “The Downward Spiral” and slipped into relative obscurity. A lengthy bout with writer’s block followed before work on a new album began in earnest in 1997. Finally, after spending two years locked away in his New Orleans recording studio, the 35-year-old Reznor emerged last September with the release of “The Fragile” — a sprawling, 104-minute double album—and put the Nine Inch Nails touring machine back in motion.

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Interview: Paul Stanley of KISS

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Originally published on March 17, 2000 at Ticketmaster’s LiveDaily.com

It’s 10:40am on a Thursday, and KISS frontman Paul Stanley, calling from his hotel room, sounds tired — which, admittedly, he has every reason to be; he’s just two days away from launching his group’s final tour, and has spent weeks preparing for a show that involves running around in seven-inch platform boots, flying on the end of cables, and dodging more bombs and pillars of flame than one might expect to encounter during a small war.

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Live Review: KISS in Phoenix

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Photo by Jon Zal

Originally published on March 13, 2000 at Ticketmaster’s LiveDaily.com

PHOENIX, Ariz. — “You wanted the best! You got the best! The hottest band in the world … KISS!”

As the band’s name echoed through the arena, the curtain dropped to reveal rock-and-roll’s face-painted foursome, who were lowered to the stage on a platform that descended from the ceiling, arms raised in a victorious pose. The two-hour show that followed contained all the customary theatrics KISS fans — a.k.a. the KISS Army — have come to expect: explosions, pillars of flame, fire-breathing, blood-spewing, rocket-launching guitars, levitating drum risers, and tons and tons of confetti. There was, however, one subtle yet palpable difference about this gig: the band was saying goodbye.

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Interview: Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters

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Originally published on March 1, 2000 at Ticketmaster’s LiveDaily.com

At the age of 31, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has accomplished more than any musician could ever realistically hope to — and he’s done so twice. Grohl’s initial rise to fame occurred while seated behind the drum kit in Nirvana. After recording just one studio album with the band — 1991’s phenomenally successful “Nevermind” — he became a rock star overnight. In those days, he was known as the shaggy-haired skins-basher who flailed wildly behind Kurt Cobain. And while Cobain’s inability to cope with Nirvana’s success resulted in his tragic suicide, Grohl’s path forked in an entirely different direction.

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