Guided By Voices announced a last minute show at Maxwells the day before their sold out New Years Eve performance at Irving Plaza. The “classic lineup” was in perfect form playing somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 songs (writing out their set lists must be a bitch). Bob Pollard pulled off his signature high kicks throughout the night even after polishing off a bottle of Tequila and a large portion of Bud Lights that were in a ice-filled trough behind Mitch Mitchell, who apparently does not breathe oxygen, only cigarette smoke. Check out the photos below.
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Doug Gillard opened up for his former band Guided By Voices at their intimate pre-New Years Eve show at Maxwells in Hoboken New Jersey. Doug played a mix of tracks spanning his solo career and tracks from Gem and Lifeguards. Check out some photos below.

After playing ATP this past weekend, Fucked Up came down to Jersey to play Maxwell’s. As per usual they slayed and lead singer Damian Abraham found all sorts of ways to entertain the crowd. He climbed the bar, stuck empty cups of root beer on his head and even struck what he referred to as his best Morrissey pose (pictured below). Read on for a ton of photos.

Cloud Nothings were the sole opener for Fucked Up’s show at Maxwell’s. The band played a real energetic set of garagey-pop-rock with a great drummer who beat the shit out of the kit throughout the whole set. Read on for more photos.

The Big Four’s European tour is coming to theaters worldwide. Not sure how watching Metallica and Slayer in a movie theater will compare in person besides that either way you will be sitting near smelly dudes drinking heavily. Tickets are $20 and most of each bands set will be shown.

Here’s a listing of the screenings happening in the New York City / New Jersey Area

Cannibal Corpse went on right after Trivium, while their fans gathered to chant the very eloquent “Fuck Trivium!” as they waited for the Corpse to take the stage. Check out some photos of the band shredding by clicking the next button.

I arrived at Mayhem during the end of Black Dahlia Murder’s set and grabbed a few photos before they finished up. See more after the jump and look out for photos of God Forbid, Cannibal Corpse, Killswitch Engage, Behemoth and more from the fest soon.

What more can I say than it’s fucking Slayer! Playing all the hits as one of the headliners on the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Tour. Click next for more photos.

Future of the Left simultaneously sound heavy, dancy and evil. The band’s played an intense set at Maxwell’s as one of the first shows on their current US tour in support of their fantastic new record Travels With Myself And Another. On most tracks the band played 4 string guitars (E-D-G-E strings) which explains the unique guitar tones they have on the record.

The band went on many rants throughout the including topics such as the death of Michael Jackson and educating Americans with the correction pronunciation of the word twat. They also dedicated the song “You Need Satan More Than He Needs You” to the “fuck-twats” in Trivium. Click next for more photos.

Screaming Females are a super talented rock band from New Brunswick with a lot going on soon which includes opening up for bands like Dinosaur Jr and The Dead Weather. The front woman has amazing guitar chops, a great voice and she puts on a really captivating performance. You can check out an mp3 for their song “Bell” at Don Giovanni Records. A few more photos after the jump.

Closure In Moscow are one of the newest signings to Equal Vision Records. They have a more poppy Mars Volta vibe going on. Very cool guitar work in this band. Their debut record First Temple
comes out this week. Check out photos from Bamboozle below.

Vision of Disorder played a set amongst the sea of fluorescent shirts and kids with “Free Hugs” scrawled across their bodies in black sharpie. VOD fucking rocked it though. Check out some pics below.

Metallica are still the reigning kings of metal. They are always amazing live and their Death Magnetic tour was no different. Check out pictures below, unfortunately the photo pit closed before the pyro started!

Machinehead served as direct support for Metallica playing on the massive in the round style stage. Check out some photos below. I overheard a guy tell a security guard, that you “gotta respect Metallica, but Machinehead is fucking sick bro!”

The Sword held their own opening up for the might Metallica at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. Unfortunately, I only caught their last song. These photos are from the first of two Metallica shows in New Jersey that weekend.