Mammoth WVH w/Hooker Hill
The Rialto / Tucson, AZAugust 22, 2023
It was a very warm and humid evening at The Rialto in Tucson, AZ for the opening night of Mammoth WVH’s - Mammoth II headlining tour. The opening band was Hooker Hill, a local Tucson band, formed in 2019 by longtime musicians, Chot Walters and Paul Sterling. Hooker Hill is composed of Queen Cass (vocals & keys), Chot Walters (drums and percussion), Paul Sterling (bass), and Si Jargo (lead guitar). Hooker Hill has a distinct heavy groove steeped in hard rock with an intensity of soulful vocals. These four put on a tight, high-energy performance and had the crowd sweating and ready for Mammoth WVH.
After Hooker Hill had left the stage, and the crew started to bring out Mammoth WVH’s gear, you could feel the anticipation and energy growing at a good pace. I could hear many people in the crowd around me talking about how many times they had already seen Mammoth, and how excited they were to see a full headliner set by them. As soon the lights went down, the hands went up with cell phones to capture this awesome moment. Wolf Van Halen (guitar/vocals), joined by Frank Sidoris (rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals), Jon Jourdan (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Ronnie Ficarro (bass, backing vocals), and Garrett Whitlock (drums), opened up their set with “Mammoth”. When originally recording this song, Wolf used his father's original Frankenstrat guitar for the solos. Next up was, “Mr. Ed”, which was the opening track of Mammoth’s self-titled debut album. During the recording of it, Wolf used the original Electro-Harmonix Micro-Synthesizer that his father, Eddie Van Halen, used for the 1981 Van Halen track "Sunday Afternoon in the Park". I think one of the best moments of the evening for me personally, was during the next song, “Epiphany”. Everything about it was great, sounded great, lots of energy, hand clapping to the beat, and when about halfway through the song, Wolf took aim at me with his pick while I was taking a photo of Frank Sidoris. I must admit, he had good aim. After hitting my hand while holding my camera, I looked up to see him with a big smile and a little laugh. It just shows how much he loves what he does and has so much fun doing it. After that special moment, for me at least, they then went on to play, “I’m Alright” and “Talk and Walk”. “Talk and Walk”, is a Japanese bonus track / Digital Deluxe edition bonus track for their debut album, which made it a special little bonus addition to the setlist. “Miles Above Me”, “Horribly Right”, and “You’ll Be The One” closed out the first half of the setlist. To kick off the second half of the set list, was “Like A Pastime”, which Mammoth finished off very heavily. It was cool to see that they could bring it even harder when needed. They slowed it back down a little with the next couple of songs, “Stone” and “Think It Over”, which Wolf said was his dad’s favorite song. Speaking of Eddie Van Halen, the next song, “Distance”, was the first song I had ever heard from Mammoth. The music video for "Distance" features a montage of clips of Eddie and Wolf throughout the years taken from old home movies featuring the Van Halen family. To close out the main part of the set were, “You’re To Blame” and “Take A Bow”, a huge fan favorite. The intermission before the encore songs was very brief. I got the impression that the band is not a big fan of downtime before the encore. Wolf was asking why they even do it. Was it to build up anticipation? He then asked the crowd if they were “Anticipated enough”. Back to what I had said before, he loves what he does, and I think he would rather play an extra song versus having that break prior to the encore. The first song up for their encore was “Another Celebration at the End of the World”. It really got the crowd worked up again. Unfortunately, just prior to the solo, Wolf had some issues with his amp, so he stopped the song. He told the crowd he had to get it working right because they deserved a quality solo. At one point he even asked if he was being pranked, because he could not believe all the love he was getting from the crowd all night long. Another thing he found impressive was how many people were singing along with him, word for word. So, after a few minutes, the amp issue was fixed and the band jumped right back into the song without missing a beat, and Wolf ripped an amazing solo as promised. To finish off the evening they played the hard-hitting, high-energy mammoth of a song, “Don’t Back Down”. It was a great way to close out the evening. I saw people leaving drenched in sweat and big smiles. It is obvious between the quality albums and top-notch high-energy shows that Mammoth WVH is going to continue to climb higher and get bigger. Mammoth is definitely what they are and will continue to be. Speaking of big things, on September 1st, they will be in Phoenix, AZ with Pantera and opening for Metallica. Along with opening for Metallica, Mammoth WVH will have another headline tour this fall with Nita Strauss opening for them.
MAMMOTH II - TOUR
Sep 1 – Glendale, AZ – State Farm Stadium #
Sep 3 – Pryor, Ok – Rocklahoma
Sep 5 – Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theatre ^
Sep 8 – Albuquerque, NM – New Mexico State Fair
MAMMOTH II - FALL TOUR
Nov 3 – St. Louis, MO – The Dome at America’s Center #
Nov 4 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave ^
Nov 5 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue ^
Nov 7 – Columbus, OH – The Bluestone ^
Nov 9 – Chicago, IL – The Vic Theatre ^
Nov 10 – Detroit, MI – Ford Field #
Nov 11 – Grand Rapids, MI – Elevation at the Intersection ^
Nov 13 – Toronto, ON – The Danforth Music Hall ^
Nov 14 – Montreal, QC – Théâtre Beanfield ^
Nov 15 – Boston, MA – Big Night Live ^
Nov 17 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom ^
Nov 18 – Philadelphia, PA – Keswick Theatre ^
Nov 19 – Baltimore, MD – Rams Head Live ^
Nov 21 – Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theater ^
Nov 22 – Lake Buena Vista, FL – House Of Blues ^
Nov 24 – Houston, TX – Warehouse Live Ballroom ^
Nov 25 – Dallas, TX – The Factory in Deep Ellum ^
Nov 26 – Austin, TX – Emo’s ^
Nov 28 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theatre ^
Nov 29 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot ^
Nov 30 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory ^
Dec 2 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory ^
Dec 3 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox ^
Dec 4 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater ^
Dec 7 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues ^
Dec 8 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues ^
Dec 9 – Los Angeles, CA – The Belasco ^
^ Headline Show
# Supporting Metallica
