Armored Saint rocked the Key Club in Los Angeles, California on Saturday, July 9th. Having access to the backstage area, METAL SHOP Rocks hung out as the band was ready to hit the stage. As I got to the side stage I was immediately greeted by the lead singer of the opening band HIRAX. Even though I missed their set (Katon Hirax, Lead singer) was kind enough to talk to MSR while the band and roadies loaded their equipment to their U-haul… I wished them the best.

Armored saint was scheduled to start at 10:45pm, but as usual, rock bands are never on time. After waiting for about 30 minutes, I could hear the band coming up the stairs on their way to the stage. Jon Bush, Joey Vera, Phil Sandoval, Gonzo Sandoval and Jeff Duncan were all cool and allowed METAL SHOP to take photos of the band.

As expected, Armored Saint Kicked Ass and blasted classics ‘March of the Saint’, ‘False Alarm’, ‘Can U Deliver’… and the new one ‘Left Hook from Right Field’. I want to thank Vince at Metal Blade Records for making this happen for MSR and a big shout out to hottie Sandii Simental… hope to see you soon! Check out the setlist and photos of the show below.

Setlist (7/9/11):

Loose Cannon

March of the Saint

Delirious Nomad

Head On

Human Vulture

After Me, the Flood

Last Train Home

La Raza

False Alarm

Left Hook From Right Field

Reign of Fire

Chemical Euphoria

Encore:

Book of Blood

Can U Deliver

Mad House

(1/15/11 – Day 3) Well, I never made it to the second day of NAMM (I will not go into details, let’s just say I took a spill). Day 3 was great though. As I expected, Saturday was twice as packed and the vibe was awesome. I hung with hundreds of fellow metal dogs and took pictures of members of Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth, Armored Saint, Testament, Yngwie Malmsteen and a few others. I want to send out a special thanks to The Lippin Group for making this happen for METAL SHOP -Ralph

(1/13/11 – Day 1) Even though not to many rock celebs were in attendance, the crowd was fairly large. Hey, it’s NAMM and most of the day was spent looking at a lot of guitars, drums and other instruments. I took photos of instruments that some METAL SHOP listeners may recognize. Oh yeah, and I ran into Megadeth’s David Ellefson! He was in a rush, but still stopped for a quick picture for METAL SHOP! -Ralph

(1/12/11 Pre-Show) The NAMM (North American Music Merchants) convention is held every year in January and is the largest gathering for music instruments and equipment. Today began with me trying to decide if I was even going to get my lazy ass out of bed and go pick up my media badge for this weekend’s show in Anaheim, California. Since today is just set-up day, we were only allowed in Hall E at the convention center. I am glad I went early though because as I walked in, Phil Collen (Def Leppard) and Alex Skolnick (Testament) were making an early special appearance, promoting software for a company named Agile. I snapped a few pictures and I am excited to meet more rock celebs this weekend. -Ralph