Dateline: Saturday morning at 7am.

I’m at the Rock Hall waiting in line to buy tickets for this year’s induction ceremony happening in Cleveland. For the first time ever, tickets are being sold to the public. Brian and I are determined to not be the suckers sitting at home watching it on TV while it’s happening in our own backyard.

Somehow I got suckered into being the one to go buy the tickets, which means I was the one waking up early on Saturday morning. I don’t need to tell you how much that sucked. Secretly, I know this is payback for Brian driving to and from Virgin Festival the past two years while I sat reverse shotgun in the backseat. With the 2009 edition of Virgin Festival on the way, it seemed like a good idea to get on Brian’s good side.

If I could go into the wayback machine, I’d travel back to last year to see the induction of Mellencamp and Madonna. 2007 would have been cool too with R.E.M., Van Halen, and Grandmaster-frikkin-Flash. But since we’re talking 2009, I can tell you that I’m stoked to see Jeff Beck, Run DMC, and I’m also thinking that the prospects of Jason Newsted onstage again with Metallica are irresistible.

Keyword: irresistible.

And that brings us to Saturday night, and the first can’t-miss show of 2009. Austin rockers The Sword took time out from their ongoing schedule of tour dates opening for Metallica to play some headlining dates including a sold out pair of shows in Columbus and Cleveland. Saturday night’s Cleveland bill was fully loaded with rock brutality courtesy of two opening sets from The Doctor Teeeth, and The Suede Brothers.

Music fans got the memo early on about The Sword and have paid close attention to their touring and recording activities over the past couple of years. The packed house at showtime indicates that Cleveland music fans were very aware that the opening double shot of The Doctor Teeeth and The Suede Brothers was one not to miss. And both bands rewarded fans with their standard top shelf performance with The Suede Bros devoting most of their set to new material from their forthcoming disc that is due any day now (read: not soon enough!)

By the time The Sword hit the stage, the normally excellent sound at the Grog had taken an unfortunate turn for the worse – almost as if the band had brought a special 1976 quadraphonic sound system along for the occasion. I’ll be honest – my buddy Pat and I ducked out after a few tunes and took hold of the opportunity to call it an early night. Er, that is if you consider 1am early.

I’ve got good news for those of you that missed The Sword – here’s another rock show that you can put on your calendar of things to look forward to: The Suede Brothers will be hitting the road in March for a week’s worth of shows with Fu Manchu – including a Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day gig (that’s March 17th, for you rookies) at the Agora.

Mark that one down, alright?

The Sword – Freya