Happy New Year, one and all!!!!!!
Here it is, ya’ll. My top ten gigs of for the year of 2025. As the year ends, I’d like to thank everyone who’s been attending some gigs during these uncertain times. Celebrating another cycle of some hot nights out to remember for a lifetime, this year brought us some insane tours. As I close out my third calendar year being a superstar writer for Metal Insider, you know that your support is always appreciated and I hope you have a hundred thousand more nights to remember next year – wrapping up 2025 with my favorite concerts. Are you ready for 2026?
10) Mac Sabbath at (Le) Poisson Rouge on 05/01
Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau
Overall, what we saw was surreal. I almost believe Mac Sabbath was a pixie figment of our imaginations, as if Ronald Osbourne pranked us by filling our heads with a haze of the Grimace shake and bewildered us without any semblance of normalcy through some powerful Ozzmosis. Whether real or not, I know that no two Mac Sabbath shows are alike. You will become a fan when they’ve finished their space circus catastrophe. One amusing band, one entertaining night! Mac Sabbath is an example of a stunning show and killer music — a work of art. May was no joke and neither were the concerts. If you’re ballin’ on a budget, they keep the ticket price low and the production value high. Plan your night out, get your tickets to mayhem, and take a friend to witness the sizzling escapades by way of a great time full of tasty riffs, super-sized vaudeville, and Mac Sabbath-fueled fun.
09) Rhapsody of Fire at the Brooklyn Monarch on 09/25
Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau
A hydra of billing like this was custom-built for fans like you and me for maximum metal madness. Rhapsody of Fire, Enforcer, Witherfall, and Striker all contributed to our hearing damage, while continuing to entertain us with some special on-stage tomfoolery throughout the night. All four bands fired up the Brooklyn Monarch, and we had an absolute blast with the talent! Metal ruled in New York! However, if this tour didn’t make it to your area, each act is a lifelong road warrior, so know that you’ll eventually see everyone again. As long as people keep showing up, it’s very easy to see them live on a metal package event like maybe the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, a club headlining run, or genre-specific cruises like 70000 Tons of Metal—the only seasick fiesta anywhere in the world where these groups can perform together on one deck. As for Rhapsody of Fire, it might take a minute until they tour the States again, but fret not. We will see them again in 2027 to celebrate their stellar thirty-year legacy in America and Canada, without the need to sell feet pictures or a kidney on the black market, so that you can witness an overseas performance before then.
08) Cavalera at Warsaw on 03/13
Photo Credit: Chris Loomis
What a show!!! A total hellacious fire-storm of rare and sometimes forgotten deep cuts from Max and Iggor Cavalera laid up by Dead Heat and Necrot. The spring concert season was loaded with some of the heaviest tours of the year. This Third World Trilogy tour featured a stacked lineup to see for a reasonable price if you were looking for a spectacular night out for yourself or with a friend. Max Cavalera is a major supporter of some of the most ballistic bands in our world of music, delivering unforgettable shows for Max and Iggor to unlock the Sepultura vault. This US headline circuit was no different while tracking across the states. All three bands were great. If this project ever comes back to celebrate something else from the early days of Sepultura, we will certainly be there.
07) Cannibal Corpse at the Paramount on 10/17
Photo Credit: Andrew Fiero
The four-act spectacle that blazed across the states has now fully chilled out—a tremendous bill also featuring Municipal Waste, Full of Hell, and Fulci. If you missed this event because you forgot when tickets dropped, no need to worry—part of the appeal of these four road warriors is they will probably tour America again next year, so if either of them is hitting up a local venue, don’t hesitate to go. So if you’re craving Cannibal Corpse-style destruction, a beer stein full of riffs from Municipal Waste, Full of Hell bringing absolute brutality, or death metal exploitation by Fulci, take your day off to plan your next concert night. We need these bands, especially once the new year changes, and your phone notifications won’t stop pinging. All four groups are 100% worth your time and ticket money.
06) Lorna Shore at the Theater at MSG on 10/30
Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau
This event showcased everyone’s signature balance between aggression and atmosphere, weaving gross, sepulchral vocals through pillars of blazing riffs and shackling ambiance. Turning a famous amphitheater into debris and keeping the ticket prices surprisingly low, you can always count on Lorna Shore, the Black Dahlia Murder, Shadow of Intent, and Peeling Flesh to cause major ruination. Now that this landmark billing’s parade of grinding metal is over, every band has definitively sucker punched their mark into the extreme music scenes of the world. All of which is to say, the action was in all four directions for the tour’s last hurrah in New York, bookended by this all-star lineup performing in front of one of the most enormous legions of the entire U.S headline circuit. And we had a good time assisting them in burning the rest of the gas in the tank after a six-marathon run through some of America’s most prominent theaters. You might not be able to catch all four of these bands under one roof again anytime soon, but if you love this kind of music as much as I do, don’t let the scariest part of seeing these acts on their own tours be missing out. If you know what’s good for you and your weekly pay, snag some tickets for a fierce and unfiltered night of Richter scale demolishing slams, irreverent screams from the bowels of the underworld to stir up some serious Cacodemons, and a plethora of mosh-worthy jams to skull bash you right in the cranium.
05) Alestorm at Warsaw on 09/15
Photo Credit: Andrew Fiero
The styles of whimsy that all three bands brought to the evening were just as joyful to witness as the last. The September weather was still warm, but the vibes were piping hot. So whether you’re heading into battle with Glyph, hearing epic tales from Gloryhammer, or learning how to become a sea wolf with Alestorm, all three of these magnetic bands have you covered. Don’t let your budget hold you back. Rally your pack (or go solo) and consider seeing Alestorm your official excuse to throwdown alongside the best of them. It was one of the best metal tours of this year as the fall show season arrived!
04) Alice Cooper with Judas Priest at the PNC Arts Center on 09/26
Photo Credit: Melinda Oswandel
If you’re a heavy metal connoisseur of the old-school variety, this was one of the highlights of your spooky season out of the one hundred things to do in October. Two of the most significant primary influences for their respective genres went above and beyond to create a night to remember, indulging in the blood-soaked Americana of Alice Cooper, getting sliced by the British steel of Judas Priest, and buried in doomy smoke from Corrosion of Conformity. The metal was forging, and the theatrics was flying as you strapped on the leather, slapped on the spikes, and applied the grease paint for an evening of back-to-back bangers from all three acts. This tour was buzzing well throughout the best time of the year, the Halloween season. From reenacting as your favorite caricature in Heavy Metal Parking Lot to attending the show itself, we skipped the guesswork, bought those concert tickets, and made an unforgettable night out of it!
03) Michael Monroe at Racket (New York) on 04/02
It was great to see one of the finest groups performing the kind of music that makes you want to dance or fuck or kick some ass in these modern times; the acoustics and lines of sight are perfect for a venue like Racket to see a show at in the city. The sound carried well wherever you stood, with plenty of general admission space to see an act without anyone obstructing your view. Michael’s return to take over the Big Apple was everything we hoped for. Michael Monroe, you are the man. Hence, fingers crossed haaaarrrrd for Michael Monroe to get involved in touring the states more often. Maybe Hanoi Rocks making their long awaited return to America?
There were a lot of shows we have heard about at every level struggling to sell tickets. As excellent as April and May looked for concerts, the high volume of shows and high prices for tickets or high prices contracted by artists wanting higher guarantees to cover the cost of travel or acquiring a visa, unless it’s a one-off performance like the Monsters of Rock events, if you’d like to lose your face or need a lesson in a high-energy rock performance, see Michael Monroe! He puts a LOT of work into his performances, and it shows. It is one of the finest gigs you will experience no matter the event, with one thought that stick with you for a lifetime: “That was fucking amazing.”
02) Acid Bath at the Brooklyn Paramount on 07/25
Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau
The gig was an overshadowing night of CHOAS AND CARNAGE that flared up in one of the most notable concert venues in New York, the Brooklyn Paramount. What did all three bands do? Take over the venue with heavy slams from King Parrot and the combined phantom menace of Pentagram and Acid Bath. Fucking legends. An iconic night of meteor-sized heavy metal under the influence of Ozzy Osbourne.
01) Blind Guardian at Irving Plaza on 11/25
Planting this epic night firmly at the number one spot of my list, hearts were set on fire as all three bands mixed extraordinary technical proficiency with eclectic styles galvanized with moments of singing and crowd-surfing. Enthralling in their ambition, the latest idea from the Blind Guardian performing all of the Somewhere Far Beyond album was a perfectly executed collection of material simply because of the sheer sorcery that was everyone singing along to the deep cuts like Time What is Time and The Quest for Tanelorn. Everything throughout the show was a holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck, holy FUCK! I cannot believe this is happening moment for me and many others in the best way possible, from the waiting period for the concert to the charged atmosphere at the venue to uniting our voices with three stellar bands also by way of Ensiferum and Seven Kingdoms!
