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The more things change, the more they stay the same. This old adage was proved true last night in the parking lot outside the Judas Priest/Whitesnake show at Family Arena in St. Charles, as this slideshow here proves.

Steve Truesdell

A Judas Priest show now. View More "Then and Now" photos.

Sure, the metalheads in attendance may have gotten a little grayer and wider around the midsection, but party must go on. If you're unfamiliar with the cult classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot, a short documentary chronicling the scene outside a Priest show in Maryland in '86, let me explain the film's salient characteristics: Budweiser, Priest singalongs and general badassery by some of the finest metalheads in the greater East Coast region.

From Heavy Metal Parking Lot

Above: A Judas Priest show then. View More "Then and Now" photos.

A clip of the original documentary is below.

Egan O'Keefe battled the sweaty, spazzing crowd for photos of Saturday's So Many Dynamos CD release show. Check out her slideshow here!

Egan O'Keefe

View entire slideshow.

Good times were had by all at the Tap Room last night at the RFT Music Awards Presentation shindig. Thanks to everyone -- winners, nominees, fans, supporters -- who came out to the event to honor this year's winners. As our slideshow reveals, things on display included:

Friendship:

Stew Smith

Eric from Bunnygrunt (left) and two members of The Humanoids. View full slideshow here.

Beer:

Stew Smith

The Trip Daddys and Bunnygrunt. More photos here.

Awards

Stew Smith

Luca Brasi. More photos right here.

And even a little bit of making out...

The blanket of humidity over Kiener Plaza on Monday -- whose idea was it to have the press conference outside? -- didn't seem to deter the mood of media and baseball officials touting Sheryl's Crow's free concert planned for the All-Star Weekend.

Photo: Nick Lucchesi

Sheryl Crow on June 22, toting the newly unveiled National League All-Star jersey, in Kiener Plaza in St. Louis.

Crow, a Missouri native (and former Rockwood School District music teacher, and former Georgetown Apartments resident), highlighted her Missouri roots and allegiance to the St. Louis Cardinals during a brief speech Monday to the assembled, sweating members of the press.

As reported earlier today, the concert is scheduled for July 11 beneath the Gateway Arch. Rumors had been going around for more than a month that Crow -- who also sang the National Anthem at last year's All-Star game in New York -- would be the performer this year.

More photos and video are after the jump...

German DJ Paul van Dyk performed last night at Home Nightclub, drawing club-goers with Germany T-shirts, furry leg warmers and at least one LP-toting super-fan. PVD was in the Lou last year as well and performed at Dante's Nightclub. (See photos from that show.) Below are photos from his gig last night in St. Charles:

Photo: Egan O'Keefe

View a slideshow of Paul van Dyk's June 16, 2009 show.

Photo: Egan O'Keefe

View a slideshow of Paul van Dyk's June 16, 2009 show.

Photo: Egan O'Keefe

View a slideshow of Paul van Dyk's June 16, 2009 show.

Better than: Streaming last night's show via the Internet, as a friend was doing.

Photo: Stew Smith

Phish on June 16, 2009 at the Fox. View concert slideshow.

It took about three hours for Phish's show last night at the Fabulous Fox Theatre to reach transcendence. This occurred at the precise moment the quartet started its triptych of songs known as Mike's Groove -- i.e., "Mike's Song," "I Am Hydrogen" and "Weekapaug Groove." As the Stevie Wonder-styled funk backdrop and bassist Mike Gordon's lead vocal turn sent the sold-out crowd into a body-shaking frenzy, something in the music shifted -- imperceptibly at first, but then more obviously as the song continued.

After dancing around it for much of the show thus far, the Vermont quartet had finally hit its stride. "Mike's Song" melted into the mellow daydream "Hydrogen" (a bluesy song that featured some delicate, evocative guitar work), which itself segued right into the upbeat, twang-funk limb-loosener "Weekapaug Groove." By this point, the trio of songs had become an intricate, tightly braided jam, carried forth by the chemistry between the band members, the crowd's enthusiasm and an impeccable, unshakable groove.

(View a concert slideshow.)

"I want to make sure your voices echo across the Mississippi and into downtown!" And so went the "Heys!" -- the fist-pumping of a couple thousand Rise Against fans, shouting for social change during the Chicago punk band's set Saturday night. And if fans needed any reminder of their setting, the neon glow of P.T.'s and Dreamgirls signs was there to remind them, as well as probably lure in a few after the show ended about 10:30 p.m.

(View a slideshow of the concert.)

But wherever the setting, Rise Against singer Tim McIlrath never fails to get his fans appropriately charged, even if they're already shit-faced. If you managed to get the set list, please post in the comment section. However, the band's set did sound much like what they've been doing this tour. (Here's a set list from the June 6 show on this tour.)

Maybe it was the fact that the sun had went down, or the impressive stage show (all that smoke! and three spotlights!), but Rise Against's characteristically intense performance was what its fans have come to expect. The headlining band owned the night, topping buzzy newcomers the Riverboat Gamblers, and the kinda ok-they-really-are punk legends Rancid.

Photo: Todd Owyoung

Rise Against on June 13, 2009 outside Pop's in Sauget, Illinois. More photos.

Around 1:10 a.m. or so, MSTRKRFT dropped bits of Daft Punk's "Da Funk" into its DJ set. The crowd - or what was left of it - at the Pageant naturally went apeshit, fueled as much by free Bacardi drinks as it was by the French techno-funk. And sure, at that hour, nothing is better than hearing an awesome dance jam.

(View a slideshow of the concert.)

Photo: Egan O'Keefe

MSTRKRFT. More photos here.

But aesthetically, it highlighted the shortcomings of the Canadian duo's 90-minute DJ set. Dropping Daft Punk in a room full of techno-heads and hipsters is the equivalent of throwing Madonna on at a gay club - it's an easy, lowest-common-denominator move. (Just ask the between-artist DJs, who dropped Daft Punk at least twice a set to keep the crowd happy.) And MSTRKRFT is better than that - especially because the pair has dozens of fine remixes under its belt, like the version of Justice's "D.A.N.C.E.," which it did play.

Show review is here. Pics, kindly sent by Ken Stoner, after the jump...

REVIEW BY KATIE MOULTON; PHOTOS BY STEW SMITH

Despite labeling White Rabbits' performance at the Firebird last night a "homecoming show," at first the only parts that looked homegrown on these prodigal sons were the bottles of Bud Heavy they swigged onstage. Formed in Columbia and relocated to Brooklyn in 2005, the band's online bios play up this move as if they made the trek by covered wagon: "[WR] come to NYC via the arid plains of the Mid West..."

SLIDESHOW HERE

"I think our manager wrote that. Obviously somebody who's never been to the Midwest," said guitarist and vocalist Greg Roberts, speaking at the packed show.

If you're looking for a story about down-home boys selling out their turkey-hunting fatigues for skinny jeans and keys to success in hipsterdom -- or if you want to hear about local kids injecting the Big City with Mizzou-rah sensibility -- you're not going to find it through this looking glass.