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#203
Date January 20, 2007
City Bloomington, IN
Venue IU Auditorium
Headline CHIEFTAINS
Support Liadan
Ticket $45.00

Certainly a more relaxed and more traditional Irish presentation than the last time I saw The Chieftains. Last time, the program was largely a Nashville influenced affair, due to their then current release Down The Old Plank Road. This evenining's program found the band performing traditional Irish folk music, supplemented by a variety of other talents. Missing in action this evening was fiddler, Sean Keane, replaced admirably by Jon Pilatzke. Jon and his brother Nathan have performed with The Chieftains numerous tours before as Irish Step-Dancers. Cara Butler from Long Island, NY was also along for this tour, performing her Traditional Irish Dancing and Step-Dancing. Ryan MacNeil added keyboards and vocals. Harpist Triona Marshall and fiddler Maureen Fahy rounded out the band.

As if this wasn't treat enough, six girls from Limerick, Ireland who call themselves Liadan joined the band for a portion of the show with song and dance.

THE CHIEFTAINS
LIADAN


 
#204
Date January 30, 2007
City Bloomington, IN
Venue Bluebird
Headline CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED
Support N/A
Ticket $15.00

Another great show by one of the hardest working bands in America. There wasn't a huge difference between this show and their latest CD/DVD release, Back To Tulsa, however the band took a break midshow while Cody Canada previewed a few songs acoustically from the new studio album they're currently working on. Still one of my favorite touring bands.

CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED

#205        
Date February 02, 2007        
City Columbus, OH        
Venue Schottenstein Center    
Headline ROCK STAR SUPERNOVA
Support The Panic Channel, Dilana, Juke Kartel
Ticket $60.00        

Potentially one of the worst tours ever cooked up. Even the t-shirts sucked! This was billed as a Supernova headline tour, featuring Tommy Lee, Gilby Clarke, Jason Newstead and whoever they selected as their singer from the show. Instead, they take the television show on a live tour. Regular viewers of the show must have had their favorite contestants, so finalists were invited to come along for the ride. On television, you can think whatever of the contestants. In a live concert environment (one that was poorly attended incidentally) the proof was blatantly obvious that none of the finalists were ready for prime time in a concert arena. They are actors portraying musicians and that is so clear when placed on the same stage with real musicians. For Supernova, the show was overpowered by the blinding light show. Jason Newstead was replaced by Johnny Colt due to an injury ( a wisely and timely executed injury I might add...at least Jason doesn't have to suffer through this dismal affair every night of the tour!). I can say that Dave Navarro's band, Panic Channel was worthwhile and perhaps the only redeeming quality of the show.

ROCKSTAR SUPERNOVA
THE PANIC CHANNEL
DILANA
JUKE KARTEL

 

#206
Date March 02, 2007
City Indianapolis, IN
Venue The Vogue
Headline WOLFMOTHER
Support Icarus Line
Ticket $20.00

Wolfmother is a band that should make a mark in the world of rock 'n' roll. Their original music isn't all that original, but it's good. It's good because it so clearly harkens back to the early 70's haydays of rock music, before corporate America and MTV took over. This power trio from Australia studied the licks, lyrics and crunch of early Black Sabbath and Jimmy Page. They keep it simple, no need to over complicate the music when you're playing hard rock 'n' roll. Their debut CD peaked at #22 on Billboard's chart, not bad at all considering rock 'n' roll is supposedly dead and the music industry is crying over lost revenues. Touring North America in support of their first record on a major label, the band is storming across the country playing gigs of all sizes to enthusiastic fans. That my friends is a welcome sign for rock music. Wolfmother howls.

The Icarus Line was far less impressive. Active on the Los Angeles underground scene for many years, it's difficult to understand exactly what direction the band seems to be grasping toward. On the one hand, they seem to borrow from The Stooges, yet they also sounded very Robert Smith/Cure-esque at times. Still, their image fits neither of these influences. Their official website was last updated in 2004, which seems to give some indication as to the level of enthusiasm they put into the music.

This show will also be remembered for reasons less enthusiastic. During the Wolfmother set, I received a distressing call that my wife's brother had passed away.

WOLFMOTHER
ICARUS LINE


#207
Date April 05, 2007
City Indianapolis, IN
Venue The Vogue
Headline BLACK LABEL SOCIETY
Support Sanctity
Ticket $25.00

Personally, I'm not a fan of the modern music Ozzy Osbourne. He had his day for sure. For numerous years however, I feel he's been a mockery of his past achievements. The Osbournes tv show should have proven that. Nevertheless, I like a lot of his music. The perfect alternative is Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society. Zakk has been Ozzy's guitarist and songwriting mule for several years. Black Label's music doesn't stray far from the same type of music Zakk contributes to Ozzy. It's not rocket science. Give the devil his dues, Zakk Wylde is a master guitarist/musician/performer. He could easily be a king size fish in just about any pond he wants to play in. Make no mistake, just because he shreds metal for a living doesn't mean the guy can't play any type of music he wants. There are not many players out there who can match him style for style, riff for riff.

The show started out for us a cold adventure, waiting behind the venue for band autographs. Everybody was happy to oblige. Zakk was no where to be seen and word was he would arrive by car minutes before show time and bolt inside to do his show and would exit as quickly. This was no joke. Supposedly, the guy is as nice as he can be and formerly hung out with fans regularly before or after shows. We heard he hasn't been the same since Dime was shot dead by a fan in Ohio 2 years ago. Now picture this...Zakk Wylde...easily 6 and a half feet tall, SDMF (strength, determination, merciless forever)...testosterone made from gasoline...nordic viking stage image...t-shirts and other items that say things like: 100 Proof Chaos, Doom Crew Inc, Too Tough To Die, Mess With The Best/Die Like The Rest, Passing Through Hell Destroying Everything In Our Path, etc...and scared shitless of his own fans, who are numbering fewer than half a dozen and toting nothing more dangerous than permanent black sharpie markers. That's your real Zakk Wylde, an image as fake as a preacher on tv.

The show itself was OK. I didn't love it as much as I thought I would, but I didn't hate it either. The sound wasn't nearly as loud as I expected and the vocals were mostly buried in the mix. The guitar solos were impressive, particularly the acoustic guitar solos. He seemed to have the most fun then. The audience was predictably and annoyingly smashed. The venue was predictably oversold. One could not help but think of The Station fire and Great White from time to time throughout the show. We heard the entire opening act set through the backstage door, while waiting for the Poofter to show up. For the most part, Sanctity was as good a support act on a small venue tour can be expected to be. The guitar player clearly laid out some old school shred.

You might look for Zakk to change his band name soon to the Pink Label Society or Maybe the Red Hat Society. I don't think the Hell Bent For Leather routine is going to last long when people find out what a panzy he really is. If I could paraphrase my buddy Shane, he said something like: if Dime knew what a pussy Zakk had become, he'd punch Zakk in the face. Indeed.

MEET & GREET: Black Label Society (Nick Catanese, John DeServio, Craig Nunenmacher)

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY
SANCTITY


 
#208
Date April 29, 2007
City Lafayette, IN
Venue Lafayette Brewing Company
Headline THE BEARS
Support N/A
Ticket $14.00

Adrian Belew and his pop band, The Bears, packed the second floor stage at Lafayette Brewing Company for a crowd pleasing show. The concert got off to a rocky start, with the inclusion of support act, Michael Kelsey. Kelsey is something of a one-man-band and local-yokel who plays guitar, sings, mutters, and uses numerous electronic effects to supplement his act. Clearly, the guy has some chops, but hasn't settled down enough to take his music seriously. He just sort of gets-off on stage, while goofing around, re-tuning and playing with his various electronics. It's like watching a real life Jack Black in School of Rock.

The Bears were up next and to much fanfare they arrived. The first song, Complicated Potatoes, was energetic enough to start the show off right, but the sound mix was bad, almost tinny at times. The venue incidentally is a large hall on the second floor of a warehouse type building in downtown Lafayette. Plenty of wood floors, plaster walls and exposed wood rafters in the ceiling to make for a nice warm sound if desired. The second song, something off the new record, fizzled fast due to a failing microphone. It took the sound crew several minutes to repair the problem, but a veteran band knows how to roll with such situations and so they did. Belew and Fetters improvised and kept everyone entertained until a solution was found. The set list was filled with classics from the original two releases from the 80's, The Bears and Rise And Shine. It was good to hear these again. There were many songs drawn from the latest two releases as well, Car Caught Fire and Eureka, which kept the show balanced and fresh. As the evening's show developed, the band caught fire and the sound was corrected. The Bears were once again phenomenal. Last time I saw The Bears (Phoenix Hill Tavern, Louisville, KY) they added King Crimson's Red to the set list. Despite my hopes and desires, no Crimson was performed in Lafayette this night. Encores included The Bears rendition of She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain (yes, that's right) and Bears classics, Superboy and Fear Is Never Boring.

Adrian and the band were gracious enough to hang out after the show to talk to fans.

MEET & GREET: The Bears (Adrian Belew, Rob Fetters, Chris Arduser, Bob Nyswonger)

ADRIAN BELEW and THE BEARS

#209
Date May 05, 2007
City Stateline, NV
Venue Cabo Wabo Tahoe
Headline MAD ANTHONY XPRESS
Support N/A
Ticket FREE

This was the bright spot in a weekend at Lake Tahoe, NV that was to include three sold out performances by Sammy Hagar. Unfortunately, the day before the first show, Sammy was reportedly ill with a severe upper respiratory infection and had lost most of his voice. So here we are, in Lake Tahoe, holding tickets to three cancelled shows. All was not lost however, as former Van Halen bassist and current bassist of The Other Half, Michael Anthony put on a free show inside the Cabo Wabo Tahoe Cantina. This show was not to be missed. The place was utterly packed, hot, smokey and otherwise a difficult place to move about. The ceilings were about 8 or 9 feet high, so even seeing the band was near impossible. But seeing wasn't important. These guys were there to be heard, as Michael and Waborita Band guitarist, Vic Johnson smoked through a brilliant set of old Van Halen numbers (Michael sang vocals), a few cover songs, and Aaron Hagar, Sammy's son and erstwhile manager of the Tahoe Cantina, joined the band for two old Montrose favorites. Best of all, Vic and Michael were accessible to fans in the VIP room before the show and were gracious with chat, autographs and photos.

SETLIST:
Atomic Punk - Van Halen
Running With The Devil - Van Halen
Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin cover
Been Waitin' For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago - ZZ Top cover
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love - Van Halen
All Right Now - Free cover
Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers - ZZ Top cover
Rock Candy (with Aaron Hagar) - Montrose cover
Bad Motor Scooter (with Aaron Hagar) - Montrose cover
Little Dreamer - Van Halen
Going Down - Don Nix cover
D.O.A. - Van Halen
Show Your Love
- Van Halen

MEET & GREET: Michael Anthony

MAD ANTHONY XPRESS
LEFTY LUCY


#210
Date May 21, 2007
City New York, NY
Venue Beacon Theatre
Headline STEELY DAN
Support Sam Yahel
Ticket $125.00

For those who may not be old enough to have lived it and for those old enough who may have forgotten (shame on you), Steely Dan owned FM airwaves throughout a period we call the 70's. Other than Hall & Oates or The Eagles, few artists were responsible for as many hits during that decade. No small wonder then that they were asked to pen the title track to the movie, "FM." The Dan, as fans refer to them, consisted of the core scheme directors, messers Becker and Fagan, who used a broad cast of top notch studio players to hatch intricate, yet smooth, irresistable compositions rooted in R&B and seasoned liberally with doses of jazz and blues. Donald Fagan was centrally responsible for much of the band's vocal and lyrical content, often sordid tales of the shadow side of life: criminal and/or perverted characters with plenty of novelistic details.

Fagan's voice is still good, but not as full as it once was. Interestingly, a back up singer stepped in to fulfill the entire vocal duties on Dirty Work and Walter Becker sang lead vocal for Haitian Divorce. Both songs lost something without Fagan's signature vocal. The lead off track was Hey Nineteen, which became the sacrificial lamb track while Becker found his groove and the sound man found the right balance. After those issues were corrected, the 12 piece band featuring Jon Herington (guitar and tour musical director) blazed.

With a history so rich in hits, it would be impossible to satisfy every fan's desire. By the end of the show, Steely Dan served a 90 minute set, 2 hours with breaks and encores.

The support act, Sam Yahel Trio added nothing to the entertainment value of the ticket price.

SETLIST:
Jeri
Time Out of Mind
Godwhacker
Bad Sneakers
Two Against Nature
Pretzel Logic
Haitian Divorce
Hey Nineteen
Peg
Babylon Sisters
I Got the News
Dirty Work
Josie
Aja
FM (No Static at All)
Kid Charlemagne

ENCORE:
Black Cow
Bodhisattva
Carolyn


STEELY DAN
SAM YAHEL


#211
Date June 19, 2007
City Indianapolis, IN
Venue The Vogue
Headline TED NUGENT
Support Alex Winston
Ticket $30.00

Small indoor venue. Large crowd. Ted Nugent. I got a great night's sleep and my ears aren't ringing at all. What is wrong with this picture?

After a couple hundred shows, you might think I've seen it all and heard it all. This one even surprised me. I intended to get to the show early in hopes of getting some old Dokken CD covers signed by Mick Brown. Ted borrowed Mick for the summer, as he often does, to pound the skins. Mick arrived separate from the rest of the touring trio (Nugent and bassist, Barry Sparks). He was laid back and smiling, as you might expect, and he signed some autographs, posed for a few pictures with fans and even tried flirting with a couple of young locals who barely had enough clothing to cover them. At this point, I was a happy camper. I hoped to get Mick to sign some pieces previously signed by Dokken guitarist, George Lynch, and he did so very politely.

Most of my friends are not going to find this all that surprising. Most people I know already think Ted is a jackass anyway, either because they don’t like his music, hunting or his outspoken view on the 2nd amendment. I still remember the Ted of old, the crazy MF who wore white tights and suspenders on stage with a coon tail tied to his waist.

I had no real intentions of sticking around in hopes of a Ted autograph, but there were fewer than 10 people there, so I figured why not? Ted arrived about an hour before his scheduled show time and was quickly escorted to a makeshift hospitality area. About 15 minutes before show time, tour management came over to where were standing and said, "Ted ain't signing anything." Ok, well we've heard that one before and since the show hadn't started, why not hang out and see what happens. A short while later, a different tour manager came over, apparently he was THE tour manager. He asked the 8 or so fans to huddle around him. We did. He said, "Ted is not going to sign anything. He won't sign your guitar. He won't sign your record album, your photos or your CD covers. Ted will not talk to you. Ted will not even look at you. He will not discuss hunting. He will not reminisce about the old days. This is a public area and I cannot require you to leave, but I am asking you to leave, because Ted will not sign anything anyway. Questions?" One guy said, "This isn't Ted. Ted has always been very generous with fans and autographs." The manager said, "Correction...Ted used to meet fans, not anymore. He's 59 and frankly he's tired of this. He doesn't need this shit. If I let you stay here, Ted's going to come out and you're going to wave your arms and yell Ted's name and that's going to piss him off. All Ted wants now is to come in, do his show and go home. No fans.

This wasn't about an autograph. Some artists will do it some won’t, no big deal. I think I can safely say on behalf of most of the 8 people there, if they had simply said Ted didn't feel like signing anything tonight, please go inside and enjoy the show...most of us would have been cool with that. The problem was the clear anti-fan message broadcast by Ted's manager (Ted hired him so he's Ted's representative), a complete disrespect for the people who have been buying albums and concert tickets for literally decades. From that point forward, I knew I would not enjoy the concert and left. Very sad day for rock n roll.

 

#212
Date June 28, 2007
City Indianapolis, IN
Venue The Vogue
Headline PSYCHEDELIC FURS
Support Stereo Deluxe
Ticket $20.00

The Psychedelic Furs performed Indianapolis for the first time in their career, June 28, 2007. This was the first stop of three warm-up dates in the U.S. Before joining forces with fellow 80's bands, The Fixx and The Alarm, for their Rockin' The Colonies Tour. Given this was a warm-up show and the first show of the pre-tour, the performance had a few flaws, but very enjoyable overall. The band consisted of core members Richard Butler, Tim Butler, John Ashton and Mars Williams. They were further augmented by a brand new drummer, who incidentally had only played with the group 3 days, and a keyboard player. Clearly the drummer was out of time with the band on a few occasions, notably on my own personal favorites, "The Ghost In You" and "Heartbreak Beat."

One of the things that separated a band like the Furs from most of the 80's New Wave was they never tried to demote the guitar. They also boasted a saxophone on many tracks. These were critical points of differentiation from the synthesizer and drum machine pop sounds of the time. This fact was never more apparent during their performance, as the guitar and sax were forefront throughout the show.

No one is as young as they used to be and today's Psychedelic Furs are as good a reminder of that as anyone. Gone is the Richard Butler we knew from MTV videos, spaced, gaunt and introspective, replaced by an older man who had gained some much needed weight and gregarious throughout the show. From my seat, this fellow looked more like British actor, Alan Rickman, than an 80's pop icon. As for this journalist, I'm probably 100 extra pounds since purchasing what was a once a brand new LP record called, "Mirror Moves."

MEET & GREET: Psychedelic Furs (John Ashton)

PSYCHEDELIC FURS
STEREO DELUXE


 
#213
Date July 16, 2007
City Indianapolis, IN
Venue Music Mill
Headline TOTO
Support N/A
Ticket $35.00

This was easily the largest crowd I have seen at The Music Mill, which was somewhat surprising given the $35 ticket price (a little higher than most for this venue). Toto took the stage promptly at 8:30 showtime, no opening act) and performed a near two hour set. While the band suffered from various members' ailments, they were far from short-handed. Session bassist, Leland Sklar, filled in this tour on bass guitar while professional sideman to the stars, Greg Phillinganes, handled the keyboards. The show was not without problems, notably in the guitar department. No doubt a combination of a road weiry Steve Lukather having an off night and a handful of guitar technical problems, the band persevered through the night. In fairness, the technical problems couldn't be helped and Lukather having an off night is better than a lot of guys having a great night anyway. Lots of hits were included in the 2 hour set, including I'll Supply The Love, Rosanna, Africa and Hold The Line. Items at the merchandise table were fairly priced for a little consumer relief. In all, a very good show and congratulations Indianapolis for such a great turn out.

SETLIST:
Falling in Between
King of the World
Pamela
Caught in the Balance
Bottom of Your Soul
Don't Chain My Heart
Stop Loving You
Gypsy Train
Hold the Line
I'll Be Over You
Keyboard Solo
Rosanna
I'll Supply the Love
Isolation
Gift of Faith
Kingdom of Desire
Guitar solo
Hydra
Taint Your World
Africa

ENCORE: Drag Him to the Roof

MEET & GREET: Toto (Simon Phillips, Steve Lukather, Leland Sklar, Bobby Kimball)

TOTO
#214 - 217        
Date July 20 - 23, 2007        
City Cadott, WI        
Venue Chippewa Valley Music Center      
Thursday DEEP PURPLE, The New Cars, Dennis DeYoung, World Classic Rockers
Friday GODSMACK, Fuel, Grand Funk, Uncle Kracker, Saliva
Saturday KISS, Chicago, Collective Soul, Tragically Hip, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Mink
Sunday 3 DOORS DOWN, 3rd Eye Blind, Hinder, Govt Mule, Corey Stevens
Ticket $425.00        

DAY 0:
PreFest Wednesday includes setting up camp, buying supplies, cruising the campgrounds in search of the annual Toga Party, M-80 Beer Bongs and Kiss Army's Dunk Tank. Weather turned rather cool for the evening, so lots of time spent watching girls take their turn in the dunk tank. Lots of buzz heard around the campsites, such as "Will Kiss allow us to take pictures," "How was Rocklahoma?" and "Are you guys renewing here next year?"

DAY 1:
Off to a lousy start with World Classic Rockers...basically a covers band based on three ex-Steppenwolf players, with former one-time members of Journey, Toto, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Santana. These Johnny-Come-Latelies were typically not associated with their respective bands during peak years, with the possible exception of Journey's Aynsley Dunbar. Nevertheless, they are none too proud to announce themselves as though they were in the band when Grammys were handed out. It's just shady what some people will do. It didn't stop there. Instead of performing songs that these players were actually part of, they performed the better known songs that they had nothing to do with. For example, I was eager to hear some of the Santana music that included singer Alex Ligertwood, but instead he performed Oye Como Va and Black Magic Woman. Others did the same. This made no sense to me and did little to get the fans energized. Dennis DeYoung actually impressed me more than I thought he would (since I'm not really a Styx fan to start). This set was filled with classic Styx tracks and a few new DeYoung tunes, as one might imagine. All songs were performed near flawlessly. Alongside DeYoung were former Styx mate Glenn Burtnik and DeYoung’s wife of nearly 35 years as a background vocalist. Despite the set list was a trip back to high school prom night, we were treated to an appearance by Mr. Roboto. Amazingly, Todd Rundgren blends seamlessly into the voice of The New Cars in place of original vocalist Ric Ocasek. I heard a lot of complaining about this set, but honestly it sounded good. If you were not a fan of The Cars, you’d likely not be won over by The New Cars, but in all fairness, they were pretty good. There were also some Rundgren solo hits thrown in for good measure. The highly anticipated Rundgren staple, Bang On My Drum All Day, got off to a rocky start due to a new (misguided) acoustic arrangement, but ultimately changed course, built a full charge and pleased the crowd once again. I still can’t figure out why someone as accomplished as Rundgren would want to front a band like The Cars. My primary reason to see Deep Purple was to finally hear former Dixie Dregs guitarist, Steve Morse. Steve’s virtuosity is absolutely amazing and he deserves a round of applause for his own contribution. The rest of the band sounded great too, as did Ian Gillan’s voice, which I had heard was failing in past tours. The guys looked physically fit and ready to roll. I had one, perhaps two, complaints about this set. One, new Deep Purple music isn’t really necessary, so why bloat the set list with it. Two, a personal thing, Ian Gillan’s voice is great, but I get tired of it after about 45 minutes, especially after tolerating newer songs. Nevertheless, kudos to Steve Morse again for filling some pretty big shoes following the departure of Ritchie Blackmore many years ago.

DAY 2:
After hearing their CDs, I was pleased that Saliva doesn’t sound so pop when they play live. I wasn’t especially impressed overall however and one of the guitarists was very annoying to me with his over the top dramatics. This group falls into a category of artists that I commonly refer to as “pretenders.” They act like rock stars and may even try to sound like rock stars, but their image is contrived by the record company and therefore phony. Uncle Kracker was far more entertaining than I thought he might be. Most fans I talked to said it was a slightly disappointing show, but I enjoyed it. Sure Grand Funk Railroad still sounds good for what they do, but like Todd Rundgren to The Cars, what is Bruce Kulick doing with these guys? I've heard Kulick has a new project in the works with the former lead singer of The Knack. Bruce, you're in a league with players like your brother Bob, Steve Lukather, Paul Gilbert and many others. Why GFR and The Knack? Next up, Fuel...This group is one of those that in my opinion suffers from what I like to call Boston-Syndrome (all songs start to sound alike). I won’t say they’re bad and I won’t say they’re good, just monotonous after three or four songs. The new lead singer is too fake, a pretender, a Justin Timberlake wannabe. One of the most impressive shows at Rock Fest 07 was Godsmack. You’ve heard of dueling banjos, dueling pistols, dueling guitars, how about dueling drum kits? No point in explaining it here, just go see them yourself. I had my doubt going in that Godsmack could pull off a headline slot at RockFest, but they were outstanding.

DAY 3:
Saturday and we're halfway through the fest. The day gets off to a start with some local boys from the beer tents and then the band, Mink, who is out supporting Kiss this summer on the 3 date Hit & Run tour. They were added as a bonus attraction early in the day on Saturday. Not a bad band, although they owe much to classic rockers Mick Jagger and David Bowie. Mink is in a difficult spot, touring in support of a CD which won’t be out until August, after the Kiss dates are finished. Cross Canadian Ragweed was terrific once again. What started as a mildly attended show quickly gathered a crowd. My buddy Shane got a call-out due to the fact he was wearing his Oklahoma State University football jersey. The boys joined us back at camp later for some Miller High Life and such. Collective Soul is a great live band that delivers a rock solid punch. They seem to have been somewhat inactive over the past few years, but their set sounded great. Lots of familiar hits. Not so tragically, we skipped The Tragically Hip since members of Cross Canadian Ragweed dropped by our campsite. God bless those boys from Oklahoma. We did make it back over to the stage for Chicago (I'm not entirely sure why) and despite a set that sounded a lot like a soundtrack to my high school prom night, we drank a lot of happy water and had a great time. I'm pretty sure those near us who intended to enjoy Chicago were mildy upset with our antics. Well, my apologies. That's what happens when they book Chicago at a ROCK fest. If I had wanted to go to Adult Contemporary Fest or Easy Listening Palooza, I would have done so. End of sermon. After seeing Kiss more than a dozen times, with and without make-up and just about every conceivable line up of players, it’s difficult not to be critical. There were memorable performances throughout Kisstory, some better than others. This show was the most lackluster Kiss concert I have ever witnessed. The only other artist at RockFest 2007 to exhibit less enthusiasm was Gov’t Mule. Kiss’ set was almost 2 hours including encores. It included zero drum solos, no bass solo, not even a hint of a guitar solo, no obligatory blood spitting, and no smoking guitar. Was this a real Kiss show? The answer is not so clear cut. With scab players Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer in Peter Criss and Ace Frehely’s costumes respectively, the show lacked a certain authenticity. Yes the songs were played with stronger musicianship, if that's what Gene wants, but there was no life to the band. I was reminded of the creedo that ran throughout the Kiss comic book from Image Entertainment, “Four who are one.” This evening was evidence of “One who is Everything” (Gene), “One who is bored to be there” (Paul) and Two scabs happy to collect a check (Eric and Tommy).

DAY 4:
Rain set in for the entire day. We opted out of Corey Stevens early and stayed in the campers. I donned a rain pancho and braved the weather for Gov't Mule. I wanted to like Gov’t Mule. Warren Haynes is an outstanding musician and it’s great to see him carving his own niche outside the umbrella of the Allman Brothers Band. That said, I found their set to sound groaningly monotonous. The stand out song that had it’s own life was “Soul Shine” which came at the end of the set. Another band that comes under the heading “pretenders” in my book is Hinder. The reaction I had to the CD was that it sounded too pop, too phony and too manufactured by the record company. After 200 concerts, it really takes a lot more than the repetitious screaming of the word “F%ck!” to impress me. So I gave these guys a big thumbs down. Irononically, most people I talked to were eagerly anticipating this set, and many were less than impressed when it was over. For me the final two acts, Third Eye Blind and 3 Doors down were not worth enduring the rain and thunderstorms. I could hear most of it from my camper and I'm pretty sure I made the right choice.

MEET & GREET: World Classic Rockers (Gregg Rolie)

MEET & GREET: Cross Canadian Ragweed (Randy Ragsdale, Grady Cross)

DEEP PURPLE
THE NEW CARS
DENNIS DeYOUNG
WORLD CLASSIC ROCKERS
MINK
GODSMACK
FUEL
GRAND FUNK
UNCLE KRACKER
SALIVA
KISS
CHICAGO
COLLECTIVE SOUL
THE TRAGICALLY HIP
CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED
THREE DOORS DOWN
THIRD EYE BLIND
HINDER
GOVERNMENT MULE
COREY STEVENS

 

#218    
Date July 27, 2007    
City Noblesville, IN    
Venue Verizon Wireless    
Headline ZZ TOP    
Support Pretenders, Stray Cats
Ticket $6.50    

With a short set at just under an hour, the Stray Cats rocked a modest crowd who were still filing in for The Pretenders and/or ZZ Top. Those in attendance were treated to a blistering set by original Strays, Brian Setzer, Slim Jim Phantom and Earl Rocker. They sound as polished as ever and have miraculously showed little age from their 80’s MTV days. Chrissie Hynde and her Pretenders also clocked about an hour’s worth of work with a hit laced set. Highlights included “Night In My Veins,” Mystery Achievement,” “Complex Person,” and “Don’t Get Me Wrong.” Brian Setzer accompanied the band as a guest guitarist on the extended jam of “My City Was Gone,” a song ironically associated as theme music for The Rush Limbaugh radio program. Sadly, no “Brass In Pocket.” Of course, no Pretenders concert would be complete without comments from the stage regarding Hynde’s staunch support of PETA and occasional jabs at those who disagree. Whereas we often welcomed Chrissie’s flirtatious nuances throughout the show in past, this year it seemed a little creepy. ZZ Top raised the ante when they took the stage at roughly 9:45pm. At seventy-five minutes, their performance seemed all too short for a headline engagement. The bearded ones got right to work with old time classics like “Been Waiting For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago,” “Cheap Sunglasses,” “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide,” and “Heard It On The X.” There were other surprises too, like “Pincushion” from the slow selling 1994 CD, Antenna.

ZZ TOP SETLIST:
Got Me Under Pressure
Waitin for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago
I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide
Pincushion
Cheap Sunglasses
Pearl Necklace
Heard it on the X
Just Got Paid
Rough Boy
Foxy Lady
Gimme All Your Lovin
Sharp Dressed Man
Legs
Tube Snake Boogie
La Grange/Sloppy Drunk/Bar-B-Q
Tush

PRETENDERS SETLIST:
Bad Boys Get Spanked
Night in My Veins
Talk of the Town
Don't Get Me Wrong
Popstar
My City Was Gone
Hymn to Her
Day After Day
Fools Must Die
Chill Factor
Back on the Chain Gang
Precious

STRAY CATS SETLIST:
Rumble In Brighton
Double Talkin' Baby - Gene Vincent cover
Something's Wrong With My Radio
My One Desire - Dorsey Burnette cover
Stray Cat Strut
Sexy & 17
Gene & Eddie
Too Hip, Gotta Go
Gina
I Won't Stand In Your Way
Blast Off
18 Miles To Memphis
Bring It Back Again
Fishnet Stockings
Runaway Boys
Rock This Town
Built For Speed
I Fought the Law - Crickets cover

ZZ TOP
PRETENDERS
STRAY CATS

 

#219    
Date August 21, 2007    
City Noblesville, IN    
Venue Verizon Wireless    
Headline POISON    
Support Ratt, Vains of Jenna
Ticket $6.50    

The best quote of the evening was a friend's remark to a parking lot attendant, "It's not sold-out, is it?" Although the dip shit teenage attendant thought my friend was serious, he was making light of the fact that so few people were showing up for the show. This was by far one of the weakest attendance shows I have ever seen at Verizon Wireless Music Center, but then Poison is your headliner here. Our mission was clear: Vains of Jenna. Maybe Ratt, Poison, not so much.

Vains of Jenna put on a solid performance to a lackluster crowd, who couldn't pull their heads out of their collective asses long enough to realize this was the best band they were going to see all night. We saw one solitary person in the pavillion who seemed to be into VOJ. Everbody else had the typical "huh?" look going on. The guys played music from their debut CD, one that is NOT available at most retail outlets incidentally, and did a rousing cover of Tom Petty's "Refugee." One thing is for certain, this is probably the largest stage these guys will ever be playing on, because frankly the cards are stacked too high against them ever making their mark. The CD isn't out there, even if somebody was interested enough to buy it. Most casual listeners will no doubt mistake Vains for Veins and when they don't find it, they'll give up way too easily. Worst of all, with such low attendance, they really aren't connecting with enough people at each show. It will be a tough road for them, but I wish them a lot of luck.

Next, we lowered our expectations and geared down for the so-called reunion of Ratt. This included Pearcy, DeMartini, and Blotzer of the original 5 piece band. Of course, Crosby is pushing up daisies and Croucier apparently had better things to do this summer. The best thing Ratt has going for it is that it hired one of the best vocalist/songwriter/guitarists on the LA scene today: John Corabi. One of the worst things Ratt has going for it this summer is the fact that they relegated Corabi to a rhythm guitarist position with occasional background vocal duties. Overall, the band lacks any real stage presence. Pearcy communicates with the audience in short, corny blurbs while Warren DeMartini looks completely uninterested in being there. Otherwise, they don't sound terribly bad.

We cut our losses and headed for the parking lot upon the completion of Ratt's set. The most refreshing part of the night was urinating in the grass while standing next to the car. Oh yeah, and Vains of Jenna was pretty good too.

POISON SETLIST:
Look What the Cat Dragged In
I Want Action
Ride the Wind
I Won't Forget You
What I Like About You - Romantics cover
C.C. DeVille Guitar Solo
I Hate Every Bone in Your Body but Mine
Something to Believe In
Your Mama Don't Dance - Loggins & Messina cover
I Need to Know - Tom Petty cover
Rikki Rockett Drum Solo
Unskinny Bop
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Fallen Angel
Talk Dirty to Me

ENCORE: Nothin' but a Good Time

RATT SETLIST:
Dangerous but Worth the Risk
I'm Insane
You Think You're Tough
Wanted Man
Slip of the Lip
Way Cool Jr.
Nobody Rides for Free
Back for More
Lovin' You's a Dirty Job
Lack of Communication
Lay It Down
You're in Love
Round and Round


POISON
RATT
VAINS of JENNA

 

 
#220
Date August 26, 2007
City Noblesville, IN
Venue Verizon Wireless
Headline RUSH
Support N/A
Ticket COMP

Dinosaurs from my generation typically tour infrequently and have nothing new to explore, creatively speaking. In complete contrast of this dogma is the Canadian trio: Rush. Messieurs Lee, Lifeson and Peart have been crafting their brand of music and lyric for well over 30 years, generally drawing on societal issues and/or Peart’s often tragic personal life. Rush is currently touring in support of their latest studio release, Snakes & Arrows, which I personally believe to be their strongest effort since the mid-1980’s. Not unlike other Rush adventures, the Snakes & Arrows tour came rolling into Indianapolis (technically Noblesville) for a near full house of fans. The pavilion seemed to be full to the last rows of seating, while the lawn was vastly covered, leaving only spotty places to park a blanket and a beer.

It would be remiss of me not to mention this year’s quirky tour gag. So let’s get that out of the way here and now. Geddy’s rotisserie chicken ovens, 3 of them in fact, cooked chickens throughout the concert. They provided a nice warm orange glow behind Geddy where bass amps would be for any other touring band. A chef appeared periodically to check the roasting. All the while the band played on. This is a new twist on the Maytag washer and dryer combo used last time on stage. Next time perhaps a cobbler fixing shoes, who knows?

The set list concentrated heavily on the new record, perhaps a bit more than I expected and perhaps a bit more than necessary. Clearly this was not a “greatest hits” tour. Nine new songs were performed, mostly in the second set. Other albums favored by the set list were Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves, both obvious masterpieces. A number of albums were overlooked completely, some rightfully so and others unfortunately. I suspect a number of people left around 10pm and missed a series of Rush classics toward the end of the show.

Ticket prices were steep, considering the endless array of service fees tacked on by the promoter, the venue and Ticketmaster. Ironically, the fees almost rival the cost of a lawn ticket! But without a doubt, the length and quality of the concert far outweighed the full ticket price. Looking back at the history of Rush’s set lists, it’s easy to see that as the years pass, the set lists get longer and longer and longer. Today there is no time or place for a support artist to join the bill. The show clocks in at around 3 full hours, 3.5 if you count the intermission! This is far longer than most 50+ year old rockers perform these days.

First Set:
Limelight
Digital Man
Entre Nous
Mission
Freewill
The Main Monkey Business
The Larger Bowl
Secret Touch
Circumstances
Between the Wheels
Dreamline

Second Set:
Far Cry
Workin' Them Angels
Armor and Sword
Spindrift
The Way the Wind Blows
Subdivisions
Natural Science
Witch Hunt
Malignant Narcissism
Drum Solo
De Slagwerker
Hope
Distant Early Warning
The Spirit of Radio
Tom Sawyer

ENCORE:
One Little Victory
A Passage to Bangkok
YYZ

RUSH

 

#221
Date Sept 21, 2007
City Indianapolis, IN
Venue 8 Seconds Saloon
Headline BLACK STONE CHERRY
Support Rok Hollywood
Ticket $12.00

One of the up and coming hard rock acts of today, Black Stone Cherry made a stop in Indianapolis for one of only a handful of warm-up shows before heading over to Europe. Since releasing their debut album in 2006, BSC has toured relentlessly as a supporting act for the likes of Black Label Society and Hinder. The venue itself created enough confusion for me. I drove past it, thinking it was a rollerskating rink. Turns out, it's a cowboy bar that occasionally hosts rock bands. There's a giant wooden dance floor in the middle of the building that separates two sections of seating, creating a large chasm in the middle of the audience. Of course, you could stand out there, but there really weren't enough people to fill the place anyway. With such a large building and so much open space, the sound was terrible. The band's CD sounds far better. Aside from that, BSC was energetic and performed a few unexpected covers: the Rick Derringer classic "Rock & Roll Hoochie Coo" and a heavy version of Johnny Cash's "Folsom County Prison." Late in the show, a guitar solo evolved into a full blown version of the Jimi Hendrix classic, "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)." A handful of cowpokes arrived about midshow and were visibly irratated that there would be no bootscootin' tonight. The show was followed by a casual meet & greet .

MEET & GREET: Black Stone Cherry (Chris Robertson, Ben Wells, Jon Lawhon, John Fred Young)

BLACK STONE CHERRY
ROK HOLLYWOOD


#222        
Date October 06, 2007        
City South Bend, IN        
Venue Morris Centre        
Performers SCRAP METAL featuring Matthew & Gunnar Nelson, Mark Slaughter, Kelly Keagy
  Eric Martin, Jack Blades, Jimi Jamison, Joe Lynn Turner, and Jeff Scott Soto
  Also featuring Jim Peterik, Kevin Chalfant, Josh Ramos, Goodbye Thrill,
  Martie Peters Group, 7th Heaven
Ticket $47.00        

A little background is probably in order before my comments on this event. Music news guru/web entreprenuer Andrew McNiece has a globally popular webpage dedicated to the music genre of melodic rock, titled aptly enough: www.melodicrock.com. He has new CD reviews, thorough and intelligent commentary, as well as the ever popular daily music news updates. This is a full time job and the quality of the website shines through as a result. As a celebration of his 10th year with the website, a special concert was planned. The place chosen was the Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend, Indiana, USA, a beautiful venue in the heartland of America. I'm not sure what deciding factors may have influenced the decision to host the show in South Bend, as opposed to a larger American city, but the home of Notre Dame University became the home to MelodicRock Fest for one day in October this year. I believe I heard a statistic that fans arrived from 34 U.S. states and 8 different countries to be a part of this event.

Unfortunately for many, melodic rock has become a very risky business, especially if you plan to earn a living doing it in the U.S.A., where American record labels and FM radio programmers turned their collective backs on the genre many years ago. The genre is also refered to as arena rock, which by definition also recalls it's hayday of excessive popularity, primarily in the 1980's for North America. While interest appears to be alive and well in Europe, Japan, Australia, etc. most of the peak popularity is well past. Today, there are many old school melodic bands still making quality new music, but most Americans would be hard pressed to know that talented, younger artists are creating serious new work as well. American FM radio will not play these artists and if not for a friendly referal or checking out melodicrock.com, you might never discover these artists yourself. Hence, the cause aspect of Andrew's 10th Anniversary concert event.

The day led off with The Melodic Rock All-Stars, a cornucopia of players from various bands: Michael Eden (Eden's Curse) vocals, Vic Rivera (Adriangale / Crunch) guitar, Eric Ragno (China Blue) keys, John Parker (Talon) drums, and Doug O'Dell (Crunch) bass. These guys had an impossible job to do. Having never played together before, they jumped in to save a bill that had already seen 1RKO and Harem Scarem drop out. They were a little rough, but credit to the guys for a valiant effort and give them a few handicap points for never playing together and it comes out favorable for them.

Next up: Kivel Records recording artist Goodbye Thrill. I knew what to expect from listening to their recent debut release and it was certainly no disappointment. Straight away, you recognize both solid musicianship and songwriting. 25 years ago, these guys would have easily been arena material. Here again, perfect example where a listener will have to perservere in finding the CD. It's not at your local Best Buy store and I didn't find it on Amazon either. Check them out live or scout their debut CD at KivelRecords.com. If they can garner enough exposure, they'll do very well.

I was a little less familiar with Martie Peters Group. I had heard a bit from their recent Road To Salvation CD before attending the show. I thought they were better than fair if not a little bit better. Very enjoyable. I believe they have music for download through Apple iTunes.

Kevin Chalfant is a name probably not too familiar to too many rock music fans. He's been involved with a group called The Storm for two records, Two Fires for two records, a handful of solo works and a recent solo release of all Journey cover songs. The Storm could in fact be considered a Journey spin-off group, featuring former members Steve Smith, Ross Valory and Gregg Rolie. Kevin was the vocalist and a guitarist by the name of Josh Ramos rounded out the group. Two Fires was a joint effort between Chalfant and Ramos, bearing similarities to Journey music as well. Kevin's performance here recalled many of the Journey cover songs, nailed perfectly to the originals by Steve Perry (who I understand couldn't hit these notes again today if his life depended on it). If Journey really wants to recapture it's classic sound, this is certainly one of only a few guys who can do it - sensational voice.

I had heard many times that Jeff Scott Soto would blow the roof off the theater. For American fans who are not familiar with Jeff, he is the real deal when it comes to professional showmanship and amazing vocal talent. I was not able to see Jeff during his short vocal stint with Journey in 2006, but it was clearly their mistake that they released him. Journey could have been the perfect vehicle to introduce Soto to American fans, but those fans will now need to research his work on the original Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force albums, Talisman, Soul Sirkus or better yet Jeff's own solo records. You owe it to yourself to check this guy out. If I was a headline artist, there is no way I would let this cat on the bill in front of me! His set consisted of tracks from Soul Sirkus and solo work, as well as covers of Journey, Seal and Prince. For good measure, Stand Up from the Rock Star soundtrack. Sound crazy? Yeah, well apparently you get lots of surprises and 110% energy levels with Jeff Scott Soto. Here again, Jeff's delivery on the classic Journey stuff was remarkable. He nails it, yet his voice is his own too, so you get this feeling that new Journey material with JSS would have been really cool and worth looking forward to. Their loss. Either way, look forward to whatever Jeff does next.

The night's headline event was a group of rock veterans called Scrap Metal. Their roster includes Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger, Matthew and Gunnar Nelson of Nelson, Mark Slaughter of Slaughter, and Eric Martin of Mr. Big. The band is rounded out by support touring musicians Christian Cullen and Joel Hoekstra. The format, if you haven't guessed by now, is a showcase of Night Ranger, Nelson, Slaughter and Mr. Big hits (insert yawn here). Typically, I'm not a huge fan of this particular format. There are a few of these outfits working today. such as Classic Rock All-Stars and World Classic Rockers. It usually comes off a little corny in my opinion. Having said that, this event was much different. The core of the show got off to a start with (as advertised) Nelson, Slaughter and Night Ranger songs. The biggest drawback for me was having the two Nelson boys up there. Everything sounded spot-on perfect, except the Nelson boys gave the outfit a less than credible stage presence. Honestly, I see Nelson as the epitomy of mediochre bands who contributed to the "demise" of melodic rock airplay/support in the U.S. Nowadays, Nelson sports much shorter haircuts. Instead of looking like blonde chicks from Sweden as they did in their youth, they now look amazingly like comedian Ellen DeGeneress. While I'm on this topic, we couldn't help but notice that Kelly Keagy is starting to resemble Will Farrell as well. Look, I'm certain Matthew and Gunnar are really great people, but I just cannot take them seriously. Thankfully, the bench was deep with guest vocalists intended to expand the typical Scrap Metal set well into the night. Most of the guests needed no introduction, such as Joe Lynn Turner, whose flawless set showcased three classic Rainbow songs, I Surrender, Street Of Dreams, and Stone Cold. Seguays came easily, as Jack Blades (Night Ranger/Damn Yankees) appeared on stage for background vocals with Turner. Jim Peterik and Jimi Jamison joined the fray to add classic Survivor music, such as I Can't Hold Back and a version of Eye Of The Tiger to bring the house down, with plenty of guest background and harmony vocals to share from Jack Blades, Kevin Chalfant, Joe Lynn Turner and others. Eric Martin delivered the goods on three Mr. Big numbers, including the highlight of his set, To Be With You. The muti-dimensional talents of Night Ranger were well represented by both Keagy and Blades, who together anchored primary vocal duties for the band's biggest hits. Tonight they included Sing Me Away, Don't Tell Me You Love Me, Sentimental Street and Sister Christian, as well as the Damn Yankees classic, High Enough. The evening concluded with everyone on stage to play Night Ranger's aptly titled anthem, You can Still Rock In America.

In addition, Jeff Scott Soto, Eric Martin, Mark Slaughter, Jim Peterik, and numerous others mingled with the fans in the theater lobby throughout the day. I don't think anybody went away disappointed. Thanks Andrew!

MEET & GREET: Jeff Scott Soto, Mark Slaughter, Eric Martin, Kevin Chalfant, Josh Ramos

SCRAP METAL
NELSON
MARK SLAUGHTER
KELLY KEAGY
ERIC MARTIN
JACK BLADES
JIMI JAMISON
JOE LYNN TURNER
JEFF SCOTT SOTO
JIM PETERIK
KEVIN CHALFANT
JOSH RAMOS
GOODBYE THRILL
MARTIE PETERS GROUP
7th HEAVEN

 

#223
Date October 14, 2007
City Indianapolis, IN
Venue Conseco Fieldhouse
Headline VAN HALEN
Support Ky Mani Marley
Ticket $49.50

Often with rock music, a band can pass a certain point of “legendary” status. Once legendary, they can continue, but at their own peril of becoming nothing more than a cartoon of themselves. The Rolling Stones are certainly a good example of this very point. The marketing hook (and it works every time) is based on the idea that concert goers will pay hundreds of dollars to see an artist who ranks fondly in their memories, even though the event will never live up to that memory. Enter Van Halen tour 2007 - featuring the brothers Van Halen, Eddie and Alex, plus Eddie’s son Wolfgang and former vocalist David Lee Roth – this is another such act.

Ticket prices were painfully out of synch with reality, selling at $149 from the floor all the way up to the second tier of suites. Tickets close to the stage were marketed and sold at $575 each, which included a free t-shirt and a pre-show party. Was this a matter of keeping up with the joneses (The Rolling Stones, U2, The Police, Genesis) or was this a calculated effort to ensure the VH07 tour would gross substantially more money than the VH04 tour with singer, Sammy Hagar?

A solid distraction, although no fault of the venue or the band, was the guy directly behind me, who for some reason thought Van Halen was auditioning new vocalists in Indianapolis. Needless to say, he didn’t get the job and Roth will be performing Tuesday at All State Arena in Rosemont, IL.

Eddie looks healthy and happy. Roth sports a haircut that makes him look like the Duth Boy Paint mascot and Alex of course still looks like an Eskimo. Wolfgang Van Halen played bass in place of Michael Anthony, who was banished from the band some time ago. He did OK, but it was pretty clear that he’s just a kid and didn’t really fit in with the others.

Overall, this show was a bigger stage presentation of the same show Roth performed here as a solo artist September 2006. It was still a state fair quality performance, but placed in the context of a large, high tech, yet simple stage. Whereas the DLR of old was famous for his on-stage athleticism, he now pirouettes in lieu of the big flying roundhouse kicks for which he was so famous. Since Roth doesn’t play an instrument and he doesn’t drink Jack Daniels on stage anymore, he’s got a lot of spare time on his hands.

The stage itself was puzzling to me. Very clearly, there was a large “S” that began as a ramp behind the drum kit and swept around to the front of the stage, then out into the audience. I can only assume this was a nod to former singer Sammy Hagar, as Eddie, Alex, Wolfgang and David don’t start with the first initial “S”. While on this subject, I would have like to have seen Sammy and his band sitting in the premium $575 seats for the concert. At least that might have added a bit more tension to the show. As it was, we were waiting in hopes for one of Diamond Dave’s spontaneous bursts of stupidity to involve Eddie’s son Wolfgang. There’s probably a contract clause in place to prevent that, because it didn’t happen.

Bottom line, if the tickets had not been so outrageously overpriced, the show would have been a solid B in my book, but the fact that prices were so high raises fan expectations. But this is Van Halen. Is a B really what we expect from them, ever? Truth is we missed Michael Anthony. If that wasn’t possible for whatever reason, why not Billy Sheehan or any number of accomplished adult players?

SETLIST:
You Really Got Me
I'm the One
Runnin' With the Devil
Romeo Delight
Somebody Get Me a Doctor
Beautiful Girls
Dance the Night Away
Atomic Punk
Everybody Wants Some
So This Is Love?
Mean Street
Pretty Woman
Drum Solo
Unchained
I'll Wait
And the Cradle Will Rock
Hot for Teacher
Little Dreamer
Little Guitars
Jamie's Cryin'
Ice Cream Man
Panama
Guitar Solo

ENCORE:
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
1984
Jump

VAN HALEN
KY MANI MARLEY


 
#224
Date October 21, 2007
City Indianapolis, IN
Venue Jazz Kitchen
Headline STANLEY JORDAN
Support N/A
Ticket $22.00

Unbelievable. Jordan plays a tapping technique that goes to a whole new level of musicianship. I have longed to see Jordan play since seeing him on the David Letterman Show some 20+ years ago. Stanley Jordan plays not one, but two guitars simultaneously. One guitar is fixed on a stand, while the other hangs about his neck. This was in no way intended to be a novelty aspect of his show. He played with this arrangement throughout most of the night. In addition, he sat at the piano and played guitar and piano at the same time. While we often see keyboardists and harpists make use of both hands in similar fashion, this was like neither of those. The crowd size was ridiculously small, even given consideration to the fact that the venue itself is quite small and this was the second of two shows. Many of the attendees were hangers on from the first show. Once again, it is proven that the most talented entertainers are the least known.

Meet & Greet: Stanley Jordan

STANLEY JORDAN


#225    
Date October 26, 2007    
City Bloomington, IL    
Venue US Cellular    
Headline SAMMY HAGAR    
Support The Other Half, Mad Anthony Xpress
Ticket $45.00    

Former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony assembled The Mad Anthony Xpress for the fun of doing some older Van Halen material, usually at one of the various celebrations at a Cabo Wabo Cantina. This is the first time that I know of where he brings the project out on the road for a larger audience. It was nice that the guys had a chance to stretch out on a larger stage, unlike the cramped quarters of the Cabo Wabo in Lake Tahoe where I saw them last. Having said that, the sound was probably better in the smaller venue. With original vocalist David Lee Roth currently on tour with Van Halen, the Mad Anthony set list wasn’t quite as nostalgic as it was last May. The band is tight however. Victor Johnson sounds spot on to original VH classics. Anthony’s voice is no where near the originals of David Lee Roth, but you can clearly hear what Anthony’s contribution was to the original background vocals. Beyond that, the crowd seemed very happy to see Michael Anthony back on stage for more of a focal appearance than years past.

MAD ANTHONY XPRESS SETLIST:
Running With The Devil
Atomic Punk
Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin cover
Hear About It Later
Little Dreamer
Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers - ZZ Top cover
Somebody Get Me A Doctor
Bottoms Up
Ain’t Talking ‘bout Love

Some technical difficulties delayed the second part of the show. The curtain was drawn across the stage while the band line-ups changed and new equipment was prepared. Once repaired, Sammy and The Wabos kicked the party into overdrive. It officially commenced with Sammy’s confetti/streamer cannon, a shoulder-rocket type contraption that spreads fun all over the venue. Sam looked good and sounded great for 60 and also appeared to have lost some weight.

Somehow, the Los Tres Gusanos act was lost in the mix, because the Wabos were replaced by The Other Half without a set break. Of course, all it took to make that transition was for Michael Anthony to drop by and boot Mona off the bass. For my money, he could have replaced her all night! The now famous waitress aspect of the show was superb. Bloomington offered up some outstanding talent in bikini-wear. I can’t recall the whole set list, but it was a lot of fun! Show ended with Mas Tequila and then an acoustic version of Dreams.

SAMMY HAGAR SETLIST
Sam I Am
Piece of My Heart (Erma Franklin cover)
There's Only One Way to Rock
I'll Fall in Love Again
Open
The Girl Gets Around
Three Lock Box
Best of Both Worlds
Top of the World
Can't Stop Lovin' You
Why Can't This Be Love
Serious Juju
I Can't Drive 55
Heavy Metal
Mas Tequila

Encore:
Dreams

US Cellular Arena in Bloomington is a really nice facility. It is a smaller scale arena used primarily for hosting minor league hockey. The stage orientation allowed for a smaller portion of the arena to be utilized for this show. It was officially deemed “sold out” at show time.


SAMMY HAGAR
THE OTHER HALF
MAD ANTHONY XPRESS

 

#226    
Date October 28, 2007    
City Indianapolis, IN    
Venue Murat Theatre    
Headline SAMMY HAGAR    
Support The Other Half, Mad Anthony Xpress
VIP Ticket $200.00    

After waiting several tours, I finally nabbed on-stage fanatic tickets for this show. Sammy’s stage includes a set of risers that sweep behind the drum kit. Fans have the opportunity to buy a spot and stand there like a crazy Cabo-choir of sorts. The risers seem to hold about 100-125 fans. The view is spectacular looking out into the audience. We arrived at our scheduled time of 5:30pm where we signed in and collected our laminates, complimentary tour shirt, and pre-autographed photo of the band. Each photo was hand signed, not preprinted, so at the very least, it was a great souvenir if someone didn’t get to meet Hagar or another band member before or during the show. The Murat lobby was open to us from sign-in until we had to line up. That meant plenty of strong Cabo Wabo cocktails before the show. We found a bartender with a generous pour and stuck to that plan until show time. All fans entered left of the theater floor and lined up in the order their ticket package was purchased. This created quite a fiasco, because while Hagar fans are wonderful people, they can’t count worth a damn after an hour’s worth of pre-show cocktails. Nevertheless, we had fun provoking security and doing our best to fall in according to number. The wait there seemed a little long and we were getting restless and stupid. One person threw up and was escorted out (a waste of $200), but that made a little more room for us on the risers. Once we got the green light to go in, we were escorted through a stage door to the risers, but not before passing a table of complimentary margaritas in special lime green yardstick glasses. I'm not one to pass up a free jumbo cocktail, especially at a show. At this point, the curtain is still drawn so that the audience cannot see what’s happening on stage.

Mad Anthony Express, a power trio featuring Vic Johnson, JD, and Michael Anthony, was set to open the show. Mike came out and energized the on-stage fans. We held up specially made “No ED” shirts, which Mikey responded to. The curtain gave way and there we were, behind the drummer and facing the near sold-out audience of Sammy Hagar and Van Halen fans. Mikey’s group powered through some older Van Halen classics and a couple of old covers (ZZ Top’s Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers) and (Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song). Before we knew it, the stage lights were baking us into a soppy sweat and the curtain closed.

I should describe the restroom policy for on-stage fans. We were permitted to go use the restroom only two by two and only if escorted by security. I never had to worry about it. We had a break of about 10 minutes or so to re-group before Sammy and The Wabos came out. Sammy was last to arrive on stage and saluted the crowd with his streamer cannon...the party was well underway.

Let me describe the view from the stage risers. First we were dead center over top of the drum kit. The audience view was intense. There was a gal in the front row, to our left, right in front of Vic who was dressed in a Naughty Nurse outfit (it was just a few days before Halloween afterall). We also saw a woman who must have been about 9+ months pregnant and ready to pop. Couldn’t miss her because she pushed her way all the way up front to show her exposed pregnant tummy, complete with a crudely drawn “55” on it (poor kid). Some things shouldn’t be done in public. The on-stage waitresses for this show were a tad heavy on the baby fat to sport bikinis, but sport them they did and after several cocktails, it didn’t matter much anyway. To my left, one of the on-stage fanatics was tossed out for throwing items onto the stage (another waste of $200), but again it opened up more space which we all needed by that time. To my right, Sammy’s wife Kari stood backstage and watched the show. Michael Anthony and his bass tech, Dugie, were back there from time to time as well.

I always say that you meet the greatest people at Sammy Hagar events and this was no exception. The fans are great and they're happy to be there. Before we knew it, the show was over and the band was gone. I would do this all over again in a heartbeat!

MAD ANTHONY XPRESS SETLIST:
Running With The Devil
Atomic Punk
Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin cover
Hear About It Later
Little Dreamer
Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers - ZZ Top cover
Somebody Get Me A Doctor
Bottoms Up
Ain’t Talking ‘bout Love

SAMMY HAGAR SETLIST
Sam I Am
Piece of My Heart (Erma Franklin cover)
There's Only One Way to Rock
I'll Fall in Love Again
Open
The Girl Gets Around
Three Lock Box
Best of Both Worlds
Top of the World
Can't Stop Lovin' You
Why Can't This Be Love
Serious Juju
I Can't Drive 55
Heavy Metal
Mas Tequila

Encore:
Dreams

Meet & Greet: Sammy Hagar

SAMMY HAGAR
THE OTHER HALF
MAD ANTHONY XPRESS

 
#227
Date Nov 13, 2007
City Indianapolis, IN
Venue Murat Theatre
Headline AUSTRALIAN
  PINK FLOYD SHOW
Ticket $36.50

A sensational, spot-on tribute to Pink Floyd. This Australian group has garnered many great reviews from around the world, including the blessings of David Gilmour and Roger Waters. The theater size venue was a perfect setting. The light show and movie reels were true to the Pink Floyd stage show and the colors were stunning. In terms of the instruments played, spot-on perfection for note, tone and clarity. As for the vocals, well two members sang; one sounded much like Gilmour and the other could sound like both Gilmour and Waters. Lady background singers were tremendously talented as well. The show began with a full on presentation of Dark Side Of The Moon, in it's entirety. The band took a short intermission then continued the second half with a variety of PF classics, culled from the entire Floyd catalog. This was one of the most enjoyable and affordable shows I've attended in a long time.

SETLIST:
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
Welcome to the Machine
Have a Cigar
Wish You Were Here
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX)
Astronomy Domine
Learning to Fly
Time
The Great Gig in the Sky
Money
Take It Back
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
Nobody Home
Pigs (Three Different Ones)
The Gunner's Dream
One of These Days
The Happiest Days of Our Lives
Another Brick in the Wall Part 2
Comfortably Numb

ENCORE:
Hey You
Run Like Hell


AUSTRALIAN PINK FLOYD SHOW

 
#228
Date Nov 14, 2007
City Indianapolis, IN
Venue Murat Theatre
Headline TOMMY SHAW and JACK BLADES
   
Ticket $25.00

According to the press, this 07 tour of small venues has been well attended and Indianapolis was no exception. Both Shaw and Blades were in good spirits having recently played Las Vegas and three days off before Indy. The format for the show was a loose, acoustic set of primarily covers in support of their 2007 release, Influence, itself a work of cover songs. Personally, it takes a lot to impress me with an all covers album. I can't imagine why this trend has been so heavily traveled by multi-platinum artists, but they're all doing it. Despite the loose format, the guys sing and play at the top of their game. A song was tossed in from Jack Blades solo album, cleverly titled Jack Blades, as was one tune from the previous Shaw-Blades album, My Hallucination. There was a fair amount of banter between the two artists serving as seguay to the next song. Although humorous at times and well executed, it was clearly a rehearsed schtick that no doubt appears at every show along the tour. Once that became obvious, the banter became schtick and the schtick became a little hokey. The concert was enjoyable however. On paper, the strategy for the show probably looks ho-hum. In fact, I was expecting ho-hum just because I'm not a fan of the all covers format, but somehow it works in this case for these artists. There is a great chemistry shared between Shaw and Blades that makde even the most disasterous plan succeed.

TOMMY SHAW and JACK BLADES

 

#229
Date Dec 10, 2007
City Indianapolis, IN
Venue The Vogue
Headline CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED
Support Back Porch Mary
Ticket $17.00

Sporting a brand new studio record, Mission California, Cross Canadian Ragweed was in top form when the played Indianapolis. Several songs from the new album injected new life into the old set list, yet there was plenty of room in the 2 hr set for older favorites as well. The show kicked off with the opening track from Mission California, Record Exec, and included no fewer than 6 tracks total from the new record. Surprisingly, two tracks from MC were omitted, Jenny and Dead Man, both solid examples of Cody Canada's song writing and lyricism. Two Todd Snider penned classics were covered as well, I Believe and Late Last Night, both of which have been long time Ragweed crowd pleasers. One of the many highlights of the evening featured the song, Leaving Tennessee, which was just recently released as an iTunes single for download. Love it or hate it, the band graced those fans who requiested it with, Boys From Oklahoma, a track they claim they've been trying to ditch from the set list for years now. Of the 4 times I've seen Ragweed live, this was by far the band at their very best and one of the best live music bargains you'll ever hope to find.

Back Porch Mary opened the show in support of Ragweed. They were an interesting mix of garage, punk and country, perfect for any roudy beer drinkin' bar. It's worth mentioning that they did an incredible, punk-country version of the Arlo Guthrie classic, City Of New Orleans.

CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED
BACK PORCH MARY