concert review – The Cosmic Clash

Live music review: Acid Bath headlined killer extreme metal bill in Houston

April 2, 2026 Case Cockrell 999 Views Acid Bath, concert, concert review, Dax Riggs, extreme metal, Goatwhore, hardcore metal, High On Fire, live music, metal music, Necrofier, obituary, Review, Sammy Duet, Stabbing, White Oak Music Hall

The 2025 reunion of Louisiana hardcore metal legends Acid Bath has been triumphant, as it heads into its second year of gigs featuring stacked lineups and fans showing up by the thousands to experience it. At White Oak Music Hall near the Houston Heights area, a diehard crowd showed up ready to experience the short-lived yet massively influential out-of-the-swamp sludge kings. Acid Bath’s reunion tour is going on a year strong. Each show features extreme metal legacy acts and rising underground metal hardliners. For the March 28 stop, Acid Bath brought Houston brutal death metal outfit Stabbing, H-Town black metal institutions Necrofier, legendary Oakland power trio High on Fire, and Tampa death metal legends Obituary. A bone-crushing lineup of all proportions, this gig didn’t lose its hell-raising spark until the last note.

Redd Kross 29th St Ballroom Troy Gonzales

Live Music Review Troy Gonzales

Live music review: Redd Kross and their Rock n Roll Party swept through Austin

April 1, 2026 Troy Gonzales 566 Views 29th Street Ballroom, Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends, concert review, concerts, Dale Crover, indie rock, Jeff McDonald, live music, Phaseshifter, Redd Kross, Review, rock n roll, Steve McDonald

On March 27, longtime L.A. indie rockers, Redd Kross brought their “Rock ‘n’ Roll Party” to the 29th St Ballroom on a somewhat chilly Austin night. During a run Steve McDonald has dubbed their “Victory Lap” tour, the band is continuing the momentum they achieved in renewed adoration for their latest self-titled album (sometimes referred to as the “Red Album), recent documentary, Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story, and their memoir, Now You’re One of Us. We were lucky to have gotten member Jeff McDonald back for this show as he had been sidelined by a contagious virus for a couple of dates, forcing the band to become a power trio. While fans might have been disappointed to not get McDonald for their show, I’m sure Redd Kross would have won us over easily had gifted player not made it to Austin.

Author & Punisher 2 Far Out Lounge Justin Clark

Case Cockrell Live Music Review

Live music review: Author & Punisher delivered relentless spectacle to Far Out Lounge crowd

March 31, 2026 Case Cockrell 634 Views Author & Punisher, Black Magnet, concert review, concerts, Far Out Lounge, hardcore, industrial hardcore, live music, metal, Nocturnal Birding, Portishead, Review, Tristan Shone

The industrial hardcore underground thundered into Austin on Sunday March 8, bringing a stacked bill to South Austin’s The Far Out Lounge and Stage showcasing some of the genre’s heaviest and strangest acts. Author & Punisher, the project of San Diego’s Tristan Shone, employs custom “drone” and “dub” machines. Formerly a solo act, Shone now collaborates with guitarist Doug Sabolick (A Life Once Lost, Ecstatic Vision). With a table of unique contraptions, Author & Punisher delivered a relentless spectacle to a Sunday night crowd.

Case Cockrell Live Music Review

Live music review: Experimental rockers Puscifer played Bass Hall on their Normal Isn’t Tour

March 25, 2026 Case Cockrell 1045 Views art rock, Bass Concert Hall, Bass Hall, concert review, Elysium, experimental rock, hard rock, live music, Maynard James Keenan, Puscifer, Review, rock n roll, Tool

Maynard James Keenan is 61 years old and still works with three bands, releases music at a steady rate, and still tours the globe like he’s 31. From fronting the progressive metal behemoths Tool, hard rock supergroup A Perfect Circle, and on Tuesday, March 24, at Bass Concert Hall with experimental rock stage spectacle-makers Puscifer, Keenan and his meticulously chosen associates take on his utmost creative oddities with undeniable passion. Like his outsized arena outfit Tool, Puscifer has maintained consistent membership throughout their history that sculpts a well-oiled machine that showcases Keenan, English co-vocalist Carina Round, and multi-instrumentalist Mat Mitchell, feeding the loyalists once again with their latest studio record Normal Isn’t for their 2026 tour that demonstrated no creative burnout – and a statement on the current concert industry itself.

April Dawne Live Music Review

Live music review: Phish at Moody Center – Whatever You Do Take Care of Your Shoes

July 1, 2025 April Dawne 5332 Views concert review, jam band, Jon Fishman, live music, Mike Gordon, Moody Center, Page McConnell, Phish, Review, rock n roll, Trey Anastasio, whatever you do take care of your shoes

I’m still processing last weekend’s rollicking two night Phish run in Austin at the Moody Center. The last time the nerdy foursome from Vermont played Austin was on a sweltering July day in 2018 outside and I was in the midst of an on-again/off-again thing that was off who also happened to be at the show.