Cradle of Filth, Ace of Spades, Sacramento... and a mother's tale

Dani Filth, Cradle of Filth

Last night, I did something that I never, ever thought I'd do. I went, with my eldest daughter, to a Cradle of Filth show.

Richard Shaw, Cradle of Filth

If you're a parent, your kids probably have one band or singer that you just can't get along with. It's mandatory, right? For some, it''ll be Beiber. Others, One Direction. My sweet, shy, polite, innocent-teen-daughter??? It was Cradle of Filth. This black metal, heavy-on-the-Anglo-Saxon-cuss-word, and hell-and-brimstone-spitting band that my young-teen daughter played really, really loud, and which I, as the parent, didn't want her singing along to. Not singing Those Words, nor wearing T-shirts with Those Words on them. Just doing the right parent thing, OK?

Cradle of Filth, Ace of Spades, Sacramento

Those days are well past and now, she's all grown up and very well too, if I might say so, and last night we together watched Cradle of Filth together, live, at the Ace of Spades in Sacramento.

Dani Filth, Cradle of Filth

And yes, they were very entertaining. Of course they were. Provocative? Of course they were... that's the intent, right? But entertaining and fun. Hellishly and emphatically, yes!!!

Cradle of Filth, Sacramento, USA

Those of you with Beiber kids? Bet you do the same thing one day. New Direction... if they stay together that long. (Personally? I think you have a harder job than I did!) Hang in there, you can do it... and the T-shirts are a little more wearable in polite company that those of Cradle of Filth. Unless you really want to make an impression. Evil grin.

Cradle of Filth continue their tour of the USA and Canada--see if there's a show near you! Latest album, Hammer of the Witches, is out now.

Full photo gallery with many more photos: http://www.alisontoon.com/-/galleries/music/cradle-of-filth