Great night to get out and finally hear some live music again after the long year of dark stages due to the COVID pandemic. Indianapolis welcomed singer/songwriter Chris Knight with a sold-out* show atthe Hi-Fi Lounge main stage. This was my first live show since Jason Boland, February 08, 2020, also right here at the Hi-Fi Lounge...426 days of no live music!

After a year of not playing live, Chris started off a little rusty but that soon wore away with a few songs and he was back in form. Setlist was acoustic and primarily included favorites like Rural Route, Down The River, It Ain't Easy Being Me, Becky's Bible and more. Audience seemed pleased as well. Knight was flanked by two other players including mandolins, other guitars and a banjo.

Lots of new rules to allow the venue to remain open amid COVID-19 and Health Department concerns. Everybody had to wear a mask throughout the show (except performers) and the Hi-Fi had a staff on hand to very politely enforce this. Most complied but there were a few who were rather obtenate about the rule and insisted on removing their masks. Those people were asked politely three or four times to put the mask on and if they continued to take it back off they were asked to leave. Only only one person was a fool enough to resist and he was escorted out by four bouncers. There were other changes too, including lanes established to wait in line for beer. Otherwise the show was pretty normal.

CHRIS KNIGHT SETLIST:
Rural Route
Little Victories
Becky's Bible
Send It On Down
William Callahan
Nothing On Me
Heart Of Stone
Ain't Easy Being Me
Oil Patch Town
Crooked Mile
North Dakota
Go On Home
Down The River
Cry Lonely
Framed

ENCORE: Jack Blue

JOE STAMM SETLIST:
Dandelion Woman
The Good And The Crooked
High Road Home
Hope It Turns Out
Empty Places
Midwest Town
Pearls To Pigs
Whiskey Dick
Goodbye John
Wildman

CHRIS KNIGHT
JOE STAMM

This is our first show at the new Rock The Ruins concert series at Holliday Park in Indianapolis. This concert series was launched while still under certain COVID-19 restrictions. Tickets were sold in reserved pods of 4 ptickets per pod. As with most COVID social rules, the pods technically abut each otherlike a checkerboard grid, so your pod is adjacent to 4 other pods, meaning there is no 6 foot distancing ion place at all. The ruins themselves are a bit of a history lesson. Get more info about the RUINS here.

The first time I heard The Cactus Blossoms was only a few months ago. I was driving at night and heard them on the radio. Their song me driving at night on the highway reminded me a lot ofa David Lynch movie. Sure enough, a song by The Cactus Blossoms was included in the 2017 reboot of David Lynch's 1990 classic television series, Twin Peaks

The sound is very a simple song writing and vocal formula, a la The Everly Brothers. In today's music scene it sounds fresh and vibrant. While the due did not interact much at all with the audience, the show was near perfect. The set included songs from both CB studio records, such as Stoplight Kisses, Boomerang, Clown Collector, Desperado, I am The Road and Downtown

I wa snot at all familar with Aaron Lee Tasjan prior to the show and in fact he and his band were the show tonight. The sound is difficult to pin down, dare I say categorize, but I started calling it Post Americana Funk. Tasjan lives in East Nashville and draws inspiration from the great song writers of America such as The Byrds and Tom Petty and Todd Snider, while not forgetting the Beatles and post Beatles acts such as World Party and ELO. He then adds some classic 70's funk for seasoning. Great show!

CACTUS BLOSSOMS SETLIST:
Downtown
Happy Man
See It Through
If I Can't Win
Got a Lotta Love
Desperado
Clown Collector
Powder Blue
I'm Calling You
You're Dreaming
Blue as the Ocean
Boomerang
Please Don't Call Me Crazy
Mississippi
Change Your Ways or Die
Adios Maria
Encore:
Easy Way
Stoplight Kisses

AARON LEE TASJAN SETLIST:
Computer Love
Till The Town Goes Dark
Dime
Little Movies
Feminine Walk
Heart Slows Down
Up All Night
Dada Bois
Now You Know
Hard Life
Don't Overthink It
Set You Free

THE CACTUS BLOSSOMS
AARON LEE TASJAN

Sammy Hagar and The Circle was supposed to be part of the opening night festivities at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. I drove through some rain to get there. Upon arrival I noticed that no one was collecting money to park. Not a lot of cars there either. Then when I reached the fair entrance, no one collecting money to enter the fair, whish now seemed very odd. I walke dthe short distance to the Grandstand and noticed there was no line to get in; this was about 15 minutes before gates should have opened. Then I noticed no rides were in operation. Only food wagons and livestock barns were open. I inquired at the ticket office, where I wa stold the fair made the decision about 1 hour prior to cancel the fair and all events due to weather. Long drive there. Even longer drive home.

In this day of modern electronic tickets on your phone, I would have expected a message from Ticketmaster, especially since I had been receiving Ticketmaster emails that day about entry to the show, mask requirements, etc. I didnt receive an email from Ticketmaster until the next day to let me know the show was cancelled and a refund would happen automatically.

Fantastic evening of music with storied guitarist Larry Carlton. We had never been to Ludlow Garage which is a very nice venue for shows. The entire Ludlow neighborhood is one of our favorites in Cincinnati too. The tour contained several dates which specifically indicated An Evening of Steely Dan music. However this show was not designated as such. Still there were plenty of Steely Dan tunes this night, including Black Friday, Don't Take Me Alive and Kid Charlemagne. From Carlton's time with The Crusaders, we heard Chain Reaction. The band included Travis Carlton on bass, as well as drummer Keith Carlock.

LARRY CARLTON SETLIST:
Black Friday - Steely Dan cover
Deep Into It
Sham Time
Oui Ou
Smiles and Smiles to Go
Minute by Minute - Doobie Brothers cover
It Was Only Yesterday
Chain Reaction - Crusaders cover
Black Cow - Steely Dan cover
Kid Charlemagne - Steely Dan cover
Don't Take Me Alive - Steely Dan cover
Put It Where You Want It - Crusaders cover
My Mama Told Me So - Crusaders cover
The Well's Gone Dry - Crusaders cover
Room 335

LARRY CARLTON

First live show ever at The Dynamite Jet Saloon in Monticello, Indiana. Private event for about 25 guests, featuring singer songwriter Jamie Lin Wilson. Great evening of music, friendship and cold Ruby Redbird Shiner.

JAMIE LIN WILSON

First time at The LAwn at White River State Park since they build a permanenet pavilion. Extremely nice facility. The Sword was already on-stage by the time we arrived and from the lawn, they sounded a bit like Zakk Wylde - very enjoyable show.

PRIMUS played two sets, the first consisting of their own songs. After a short intermission, the trio returned to pay tribute to RUSH with a full second set featuring A Farewell To Kings in its entirety. It takes a lot of confidence to perform a RUSH tribute and PRIMUS did a great job of it.

PRIMUS SETLIST
Set 1:
American Life
The Antipop
Eleven
Pudding Time
Groundhog's Day
Wynona's Big Brown Beaver
Seas of Cheese
Jilly's on Smack
My Name Is Mud
Over the Electric Grapevine

Set 2 (Tribute To RUSH: A Farewell to Kings)
A Farewell to Kings
Xanadu
Closer to the Heart
Cinderella Man
Madrigal
Cygnus X-1

ENCORE:
Southbound Pachyderm

THE SWORD SETLIST:
Celestial Crown
Freya
How Heavy This Axe
Tres Brujas
The Veil of Isis
Winter's Wolves
Maiden, Mother & Crone
Lawless Lands
Cloak of Feathers
Cheap Sunglasses (ZZ Top cover)

PRIMUS
THE SWORD

This was a terrific combination of classic rock icons, as Alice and Ace have ofen paired for concert tours in the past also. Ace Frehley has a more than ample band of two additional guitarists, bass and drums and performed a set heavy on KISS classics, with nothing from Ace's post-KISS catalog. Ace's show still includes the light up guitar for New York Groove and his trademark smoking guitar solo - however this night was not one of the better guitar solos from Ace. Also with two guitarists backing him, Ace occasionally dropped into rhythm guitar mode and allowed the hired guns to play his leads, which I found surprising.

The Alice Cooper show is nothing short of spectacular even today, with Alice employing a top notch band with a Nightmare Castle stage show that is as creppy as it is entertaining. Cooper is a master showman though and took full control of the evening to deliver a shock rock show that was worthy of his reputation.

Again the venue itself is also worth noting, as it started off as a temporary stage and a piece of land which over the years and continued investment has become my personal favorite outdoor venue in the Central Indiana area.

ALICE COOPER SETLIST:
Years Ago / Nightmare Castle (Recorded)
Feed My Frankenstein
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Bed of Nails
Rock & Roll - Velvet Underground cover
Fallen in Love
Go Man Go
Under My Wheels
He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)
Social Debris
I'm Eighteen
Poison
Billion Dollar Babies
Nita Strauss Guitar Solo
Roses on White Lace
My Stars
Devil's Food
Black Widow Jam - with "Black Juju" drum solo
Steven
Dead Babies
I Love the Dead
Escape
Teenage Frankenstein

ACE FREHLEY SETLIST:
Rocket Ride
Parasite
Strutter
Rip It Out
Never in My Life - Mountain cover
Good Times Bad Times - Led Zeppelin cover
Detroit Rock City
New York Groove - Russ Ballard cover
Shock Me
Ace Frehley Guitar Solo
Cold Gin / Black Diamond
Deuce

ALICE COOPER
ACE FREHLEY

After an overcast start to the day this became another great evening for outdoor music and Hi Fi Annex wa sthe venue. For a small venue, Hi Fi has done avery nice job of creating an outdoor space, in addition to their indoor venue, for fans to enjoy more space in an intimate if not entirely private outdoor setting.

Morgan Wade started the show with her band and for the most part, her band overpowered her songs a bit, but the fans seemed well engaged. It would have been nice to see her as a solo acoustic act to get the full impact of her songs and lyrics. Never the less, a great show from Morgan and hopefully she returns soon.

Lucero sounded great. Didnt stay for the entire show, it was a week night with work obligations the next day

LUCERO SETLIST:
Texas & Tennessee
Everything Has Changed
When You Decided To Leave
Coffin Nails
Among the Ghosts
A City on Fire
Chain Link Fence
Sweet Little Thing
Downtown (Intro)
On My Way Downtown
To My Dearest Wife
Hold Me Close
That Much Further West
Bottom of the Sea
Have You Lost Your Way?
The War
Loving - Ben Nichols song
When You Found Me
Nights Like These
What Are You Willing to Lose?
Back in Ohio
Smoke
Tears Don't Matter Much

ENCORE:
No Roses No More
Drink 'Till We're Gone

MORGAN WADE SETLIST:
Reckless
Last Cigarette
Don't Cry
Matches and Metaphors
Take Me Away
The Night
Other Side
Suspicious Minds - Mark James cover
Crossing State Lines
Met You
Wilder Days

LUCERO
MORGAN WADE

Once again, back in Cincinnati for another show at Ludlow Garage. This time with friends to see A Flock of Seagulls. I am told that by way of this thing called Mandela Effect, people don't realize that there was always an "A" in front of the word "Flock" but let's not get into conspiracy theories here. This was not so much my type of music to be honest but the band delivered a solid if not short show and the crowd was well entertained past normal bedtimes. A DJ opened the show playing favorite 80s dance hits and then closed the show as an after party as well. Visually the band today looked nothing like the Mtv videos from their youth. In fairness, neither did the audience of grandmas and grandpas, dancing and recalling their youth of some 40 years ago...likely nursing back and hip pain the next day.

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS SETLIST:
Modern Love Is Automatic
Hearts on Fire
Rainfall
Nightmares
The More You Live, the More You Love
Transfer Affection
Say You Love Me
Man Made
Telecommunication
Space Age Love Song
Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)
I Ran

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS

The Jazz Kitchen is easily one of the nicest small venues in Indianapolis. They also recently remodeled the place and did a spectacular job of it. There is now expanded seating and a vastly improved entry and exit pattern. Stop in for a show and see for yourself.

6:00 dinner show with Spyro Gyra. About a 75-80 minute set from the band and the sound was near perfect.

SPYRO GYRA SETLIST
Walk the Walk
What a Fool Believes (Kenny Loggins/Michael McDonald cover)
Captain Karma
Shaker Song
Catching the Sun
Morning Dance
The Unknown Soldier
Dancing on Table Mountain
Old San Juan
Tempted (Squeeze cover)

SPYRO GYRA

This show was a little short on the stories, which are staples of a Todd Snider show, but it was a great set list. Beer Run came early in the evening. Didnt get there in time for Jon Latham.

TODD SNIDER SETLIST
The Get Together
Beer Run
Easy Money
Stuck on the Corner (Prelude to a Heart Attack)
Looking for a Job
Sail On, My Friend
Can't Complain
Moon Dawg's Tavern
Doublewide Blues
Tension
Play a Train Song
D.B. Cooper
Statistician's Blues
East Nashville Skyline
Alright Guy
Ballad of the Devil's Backbone Tavern

ENCORE:
Mr. Bojangles (Jerry Jeff Walker cover)
Free Bird (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)

TODD SNIDER