John 5: The Observatory - Santa Ana - 1/24/25

Jan 29

The second annual John 5 NAMM Jamm took place at the Observatory in Santa Ana, California. The vent takes places during NAMM week in Anaheim, California. The lineup features headliner John 5, Marty Friedman, Nita Strauss and Nikki Stringfield with Patrick Kennison. Lots of guitar shredding would be happening on this night. Even before doors opened, the line outside was massive with fans just waiting to hear live music even on a Friday night.
Up first were Nikki Stringfield with Patrick Kennison. They are currently on tour with Marty Friedman and made the first stop of the tour at this show. Stringfield is primarily known as one of the guitarists for The Iron Maidens, the world’s only all-female Iron Maiden tribute band. They’re currently on tour supporting their debut album, Apocrypha. Even before they started, the venue was packed almost to capacity. The lights went out and the crowd cheered as Stringfield and Kennison made their way to the stage. Their show consists of acoustic guitars which made for a nice sound. Some of the songs performed included “See Me Die Again”, “Lunacy”, and “Suffer the Masses”. Stringfield let the audience know that she also performs for The Iron Maidens and would be playing a special song for us. The final song of their performance would be an acoustic version of “Aces High” originally by Iron Maiden. They said their goodbyes, then left the stage. The night was already off to a good start and the show was just getting started.
Nita Strauss has made a name for herself in the music industry. Her career includes being a guitarist for Alice Cooper and Demi Lovato as well as being the first female signature guitarist with Ibanez guitars. In 2023, she released her second instrumental album, The Call of the Void. The lights went out and the theme song from the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day played over the speakers. The theme ended and Nita Strauss and her band came out. The first song performed was “Summer Storm”, the first song from the newest album. Strauss wasted no time in shredding away and getting the audience riled up. Strauss played a few more hits including “Mariana Trench”, “Alegria”, and “The Quest”. Next, Strauss announced that her newest album had a lot of guest vocalists and that the next few songs would have a guest on stage to sing. The guest singer was Kasey Karlsen who also sings for the band Deadlands. She will be serving as the touring vocalist for Strauss’ upcoming tours. Karlsen delivered heavy vocals during the tracks “The Wolf You Feed”, “Digital Bullets”, and “Dead Inside.” The final song of the performance was “Victorious”. This was just a warmup show for Strauss as she has an upcoming tour with Apocalyptica, so it won’t be long before SoCal gets another dose of Hurricane Nita.
Marty Friedman is most famously known as a former guitarist of thrash metal legends, Megadeth. Before and after Megadeth, Friedman has enjoyed a very successful solo career and, so far, has released 13 studio albums. The latest album is Drama which was released in 2024. Friedman came out to the stage by himself. He started by speaking to the audience about an unfortunate incident. He spoke about how you’ll notice that he was by himself and not with his band. Unfortunately, his band from Japan were unable to join him for the show due to them being stuck at U.S. customs and weren’t let into the country despite them having all the proper paperwork. Instead of canceling his performance, Friedman agreed to perform by himself using backing tracks of his songs. The first song he performed was “Amagigoe”, a cover song originally made famous by Japanese singer, Sayuri Ishikawa. Even without his band, Friedman put his heart and soul into his performance. The next few songs were “Whiteworm”, “Tearful Confession”, and “Illumination”. Friedman took a quick break to talk about how upsetting it was to not have his band with him and that it was really weird being on stage by himself. Even then, that didn’t stop him from performing for his fans. The show sadly came to an end with “For a Friend” before Friedman thanked the audience for coming out and reminded them that he’d be back with his band at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood on February 22nd. Friedman put on an amazing performance and surely his shows on the current tour will be packed.
John 5 is currently one of the most underrated guitarists. He is currently the guitarist for hair metal legends, Mötley Crüe. He’s also best known as a former guitarist for Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson. He has also enjoyed his long and successful solo career releasing ten solo albums so far. The latest album was Sinner released in 2021. The lights went out and the venue once again cheered with excitement as John 5 and his drummer made their way to the stage. The first song performed was “Strung Out”. John 5 wasted no time in showing his skills and he played to perfection. The next few songs were “Que Pasa”, Crank It - Living With Ghosts” and “Howdy”. John 5 took a quick break to say hello to the audience and thank them for coming out and for supporting him after all these years. He played a few more hits like “I Am John 5”, The Ghost”, and “How High the Moon”. The song “The Black Grass Plague” is one of his most fun songs played live in that, not only does he play his guitar, but he also brings out a tiny guitar to play and the switches to a banjo for the finale of the song. He also treated the audience to a Queen cover of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”. After that, he played “First Victim” and brought out a special guitar that was see-thorough with a green liquid inside, so it moved around like a lava lamp. Now, at the end of the show, John 5 reminded the audience that he joined a band and would play a medley of some of that band’s greatest hits and see if we could recognize them. He played bits of all of Mötley Crüe’s greatest hits from their first four albums. He finished the show, thanked the audience once again then left the stage. All four acts were amazing, and this NAMM Jamm only happens during NAMM week, so if you find yourself in the area, be sure to check out the event because there’s a different lineup each year.

John 5