Evening started off on the wrong foot. Security gave me shit about my camera. Security is not a difficult job. If you let people know what the rules are, I think most folks are interested in going along with them in order to have a good time. The Barney Fife security at Piere's (I blame security and Piere's management for this) should have posted a sign regarding what is and is not allowed at the door, before you get all the way through the 12th precinct pat down and have your ticket torn by the gate attendent. Nevertheless, I was sent back to my car to drop off the camera, had to go back through security, return to the same teenage security prick that denied my entrance the first time so that he could ignore me for the next ten minutes to get back in. Ahh. Finally inside. My friend Chris meets me with a cold beer and all is well again. He went off in search of a restroom. No sooner standing there by myself, a radio person from The Bear 98.7 walked up to me and said, "Would you like a backstage pass to meet the band?" Well hell yes! So he says it's his last one and he has to unload it on somebody, why not me? Perfect. Immediately, I was tossed in with a group of contest winners and escorted to the backstage area to meet Tesla, again (see TESLA review from 3/1/08). In no time, I had some autographs, shook some hands and asked Jeff Keith whatever happened to the song, "Oklahoma Bound." He said the song is still to be included on his still someday forthcoming country album. Back to my spot on the floor, mybuddy Chris says, "Where'd you go?" I said, "Strangest thing happened when you left to take a piss..."

The first band up was called Damage, a five piece from California. Heavyrock band sound. From where I was standing, one of the guitar players looked almost like a hispanic version of Ace Frehley from Ace's hard drinking solo days. They had a girl in the band that danced a lot, sang some vocals and played a little bit of cello. We waited the whole set for her boobs to pop out of her top, but that never happened. Overall, not a bad band and they closed with a raucus version of The Beatles' "Come Together."

I have to give a lot of credit to The Leo Project. It takes a lot of courage to suck that bad in front of that many people. These guys are from Kansas City, MO, which basically means it's a fair bet they have day jobs at Hallmark. At best, they're pretenders with no street cred as a rock band. Gestures from the singer like clutching his heart during a sappy lyric made him look like a runner up to an American Idol reject. I haven't seen such a faux rock star act since the last Saliva show I attended. It gets worse...they closed the show with their rendition of a Mr. Mister song (bad enough in it's own right) called "Broken Wings." First of all, that's just gay. Next of all, that's gay. Last of all, it has got to be the most boring and repetitive song to play live. Look guys, if you're reading this, a little hair goop on a school boy haircut doesn't make you a rock star, especially if you spend your Sundays sipping tea and eating cookies at Grandma's house. The Leo Project is just the kind of band to avoid.

Tesla was very good as always. The set list was a little different this year, considering cuts from the new record and so on. This is not a heritage act. They continue to make strong studio records. During the live show, they deliver the goods with confidence. The absence of Tommy Skeoch is over shadowed by the more than ample talents Dave Rude. A few years on, Rude's personality seems to be a good and welcome fit with the band and fans seem to accept him very well too. Hopefully Tesla will make another swing back through the heartland on this tour.

TESLA SETLIST:
Forever More
I Wanna Live
Modern Day Cowboy
The Way It Is
Breakin Free
Hang Tough
Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)
Song & Emotion
Shine Away
So What
Love Song
Fallen Apart
What You Give
Signs
Into The Now
Frank Hannon and Dave Rude solos ending with a piece of Queen's We Will Rock You
Comin' At You Live

ENCORE:
Rock Me To The Top

MEET & GREET: Tesla (Jeff Keith, Brian Wheat, Frank Hannon, Dave Rude, Troy Luccketta)

A near capacity crowd came out for Robert Randolph and The Family Band. Mostly a crowd of 30 somethings, most refugees of the last Bonaroo Festival or Dave Matthews concert. Surprisingly no patchouly oil which was fine by me. Perhaps that awful fad has passed finally. Having seen RR&theFB once before, I expected a little more energy behind the show. Much of the set was derived from the Live At Wetlands CD, but performed with somewhat less enthusiasm. Nevertheless, they found common groove on "Shake Your Hips", a crowd pleaser where the band invites several ladies from the audience to come on stage and dance throughout the song.

Black Joe Lewis was an interesting opening act. This is a 6 piece touring outfit with a hybrid sound of vintage blues and Motown.

ROBERT RANDOLPH
BLACK JOE LEWIS

This is one of the most bad-ass tours on the road today! Got to Chicago plenty early, which was good because finding a place to park in the area surrounding Park West is very difficult. As luck would have it though, I found one of the few available free public parking spaces along Armitage Ave. and it just happened to be in front of this cool little neighborhood Irish bar. Lucky for me I still had plenty of time to get to the venue, which was within view from the bar. After a few leisurely bottles of Blue Moon, I headed down to Park West to get my VIP credentials. To my surprise, there were a LOT of VIPs, but I was well within the first 25 people waiting. It was a cold wait, because despite the sunshine, the line formed in the shade and the wind from the lake was very cold. Nevertheless, made some new friends while standing in line - which always happens at Sammy Hagar and Van Halen events. We received our VIP wristbands, special edition VIP t-shirts, and a miniature Chickenfoot magic 8-ball and then we were asked to wait outside a little while longer. I took the opportunity to go back to the bar where I had been before and used the restroom, dropped my stuff off at my car and headed back to Park West.

Once inside Park West (only VIPs were allowed in early) I headed straight for the stage and found a spot right between Joe Satriani's guitar effects pedals and Sammy Hagar's mic stand. Made a few more friends while standing there, securing our spots at the edge of the stage before the general admission folks were allowed in.

Davey Knowles, known best for his work with the group Back Door Slam, opened the show with a brief but impressive acoustic set. This kid looks all of about 17 years old, although older than that I'm sure, but he's very talented as a blues guitar player.

The Chickenfoot show exploded with a lot of energy, musical power, wattage, and kick ass enthusiasm from all the band members. Having seen several incarnations of previous band members solo and group outings, I was surprised to see Chickenfoot's stage stripped down to basic lights and amps. Gone are the Margarita Waitresses (sadly) from Hagar's Waborita shows. Absent are the silliness and campiness of the Waborita shows as well. No big Van Halen ego size stage, no illuminated logos behind the drum kit, no runway into the audience, no video screens. This was straight ahead rock n roll performed by veteran musicians that took this band right back to the basics of a new band. Despite the million dollar lifestyles, they keep it down to earth and raw. This is easily one the best and must-see shows of the year.

SETLIST:
AVENIDA REVOLUCION
SOAP ON A ROPE
SEXY LITTLE THING
OH YEAH
RUNNIN' OUT
GET IT UP
DOWN THE DRAIN
MY KINDA GIRL
LEARNING TO FALL
TURNIN' LEFT
FUTURE IN THE PAST

ENCORE:
BAD MOTOR SCOOTER - Montrose cover
HIGHWAY STAR - Deep Purple cover

The bonus track, Bitten By The Wolf was in there too, I just don't recall where.

CHICKENFOOT
DAVY KNOWLES

The venue is an abomination. To call this room a fitting concert hall is to call your garage a proper sitting parlor. In fact, it is not a concert or entertainment venue at all. It's a bingo or horse betting room that has been converted into temporary concert space. Think twice before seeing anyone here. Picture a college lecture hall for about 800 people. Tiers of seating with little short walls in front of each row of seats. Each wall with small flat screen tv monitors spaced about three to four feet apart. Now picture the room as a long rectangular box, with tiers of seats running lengthwise. No matter what seat you sit in, you have better odds than the roulette table of having your view obstructed by one of these screens or one of the support pillars inside the room. Now, with all of that pictured, imagine if you will a stage situated along one end of a long wall, facing only half of the room. Before Eddie Money took the stage, the audience was introduced to the 5 sexiest horse jockeys of Hoosier Park. Thrilling to say the least.

There are two undeniable truths about Eddie Money. First, he is one of those artists that racked up hit after forgotten hit on FM radio during the late 70s and 80s. Sometimes you forget that because they don't play him much anymore, but he filled a 75 minute set with nearly all hit songs and still didn't get to perform all of them. Second, Eddie Money has become one of those acts that is best remembered by listening to CDs or vinyl, not a modern day live concert, Barrell chested and seemingly out of breath a large portion of the show, Money spends entirely too much time calling out to the fans, "I love you guys." He's a veteran performer, so why hold the mike out for the audience to sing much of the lyrics. Whether you find it endearing or annoying, Money tours with his young daughter as a part of the band. She sings the duet with dad, "Take Me Home Tonight" and she sings her own set of two songs solo. Yes she's talented, much like an American Idol contestant. Dear old dad must be proud, but it also cuts into the 75 minute contract that dad signed to do his show.

SETLIST:
Two Tickets to Paradise
Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star
Baby Hold On
Gimme Some Water
Can't Keep a Good Man Down
Rock and Roll the Place
Trinidad
Think I'm in Love
Take a Little Bit
Drivin' Me Crazy
Take Me Home Tonight (duet with Jesse Money)
We Should Be Sleeping
Walk on Water
Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye cover
Higher and Higher (performed by Jesse Money)
Baby, Now That I've Found You (performed by Jesse Money)

EDDIE MONEY

Sold out show! Extremely hot and muggy temperature outside, which only made matters warmer inside at Woody's, a small club that holds about 250 according to regulation, but I'm told they sold between 350 and 400 tickets for this show. Lots of craziness, including any number of people behind the bar that probably didn't belong there - that's always a good sign of a great party. Ragweed kicked it for the better part of the show, which lasted about 2 hrs and 30 min.

A lot of times we get a local or a nobody act for support with CCRW shows and that's the way it is. The Rustlanders were an excellent support act for Ragweed. The Pennsylvania based band did an outstanding job, performing mostly tracks form their self titled indie release. The band sounds much better live than the disc, but the music is the same honesty and integrity of heart that we've come to appreciate from Ragweed.

SETLIST:
Hammer Down
Dimebag
Cold Hearted Woman
Deal
Seventeen
42 Miles
Anywhere But Here
Number
Soul Agent
Fighting For
Wanna Rock N Roll - Ray Wylie Hubbard cover
Don't Need You
Record Exec
Boys From Oklahoma - Gene Collier cover
Merry Xmas
Late Last Nite - Todd Snider cover
Brooklyn Kid

All this plus a generous handful of tracks from the upcoming Ragweed album, due out in September, including 51 Pieces

CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED
THE RUSTLANDERS

Another hot and sticky day in southern Indiana. I arrived at the Bluebird early. Met up with Grady Cross and got caught up on a few autographs that I missed the last few times around. Went to lunch at Scotty's Brewpub, just up the street. Watched the White Sox blow a 5-1 lead over the Cubs, who won 6-5. Did a little record store browsing and bagged a few real hard to finds from my list. That was cool. Got back to the Bluebird in time for The Rustlanders, again a real down to earth, quality band. This happened to be the last night for them as a support act on the Ragweed tour, so they played a little longer and threw in a killer version of Bob Dylan's Highway 61.

SETLIST:
Alabama
Lighthouse Keeper
Look At Me
Deal
Leaving Tennessee
Hammer Down
42 Miles
Anywhere But Here
Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who cover
Number
Lonely Girl
Then Came Lo Mein - Robert Earl Keen cover
Time To Move On/Boys From Oklahoma
Late Last Nite - Todd Snider cover
Wanna Rock N Roll - Ray Wylie Hubbard cover
Winona's Big Brown Beaver - Primus cover
Keep On Rockin In The Free World - Neil Young cover

All this plus a generous handful of tracks from the upcoming Ragweed album, due out in September, including 51 Pieces

MEET & GREET: Cross Canadian Ragweed (Grady Cross, Cody Canada, Randy Ragsdale, Jeremy Plato)

MEET & GREET: The Rustlanders (Chris Rattie, Corry Drake, Jason McIntyre, Junior Tutwiler)

CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED
THE RUSTLANDERS

Of the four Ragweed shows I've seen in the past few weeks, this topped them all. Set list was heavy on the clssics, the band had just come off a string of 6 dates playing only 30 minute sets as a support act for Kid Rock and Lynyrd Skynyrd and they were in great spirits to finally be able to play a full show again. In fact, Cody Canada commented early in the show that he was tired of playing 30 minutes a night and that we'd better be in for the long haul. Bogart's holds about 1,500 people, so a crowd of about 300-400 meant the place looked pretty vacant.

The Magpies were a solid support act from Cleveland and played a full 45 minutes. I reckoned their music somewhat to Lowell George era Little Feat and they really cooked. Ragweed treated their opening act with style and class, inviting the Magpies back on stage to play with them for Time To Move On.

MEET & GREET: Cross Canadian Ragweed (Grady Cross, Cody Canada, Randy Ragsdale, Jeremy Plato)

CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED
THE MAGPIES

Assuming you like Loverboy, they sound pretty much the same. They look very old and considering the lyrics of most of their songs, it just seemed a bit weird for old geezers to be talking about hot girls in love, getting lucky and turning them loose. Also ironic was the fact that the band was actually working ON the weekend, not FOR the weekend. The crowd on hand seemed more delighted by the music than the food. They were of course, lovin' every minute of it. Most were there to dance and relive the 80's. Most of those folks suffered from over confidence without grace.

Also scheduled to appear and I had every intention of seeing was Billy Squier. Unfortunately my 3 year old decided to melt down over the fact that we were not there to play the Rib Festival's carnival games, so we bailed out early and missed a good portion of the entertainment. Having said that, I must admit it was pretty funny when my son pulled his pants down in the middle of a crowded lawn just to show everyone his weiner! My wife didn't find that half as funny as I did. Fortunately the people in our vicinity thought it was pretty hilarious too.

BILLY SQUIER SETLIST:
Lonely Is the Night
Strange Fire
My Kinda Lover
More Than Words Can Say
She's a Runner
Little Miss Intent
G.O.D.
Fall for Love
 (L.O.V.E.) Four Letter Word
Don't Say You Love Me
The Stroke
Rock Me Tonite

ENCORE:
Calley Oh
The Girl's All Right
Everybody Wants You

LOVERBOY SETLIST:
Notorious
Lucky Ones
Lady of the 80's
Take Me to the Top
It's Your Life
This Could Be the Night
The Kid Is Hot Tonite
When It's Over
Hot Girls in Love
Turn Me Loose
Working for the Weekend

ENCORE:
Lovin' Every Minute of It
I'm Alive

Wow, what an evening in so many ways. Got to the show after the opening band Sledd. In an unusual shift in venue direction, Murat Egyptian Room actually had rows of reserved seats instead of General Admission. Tesla sounded great, by the way and Jeff Keith in particular was at the best I've ever heard him sound. The band opened with Forever More from the new CD and the first several songs were powerhouse. Luck was not among my cards however, as a particular ESG Security guard found pleasure in busting my balls for no apparent reason, other than "Barney Fife" syndrome. See, the difference is most of us will wake up tomorrow and have a natural sense of self esteem. ESG employees do not. They have to create a scene with otherwise peaceful concert goers in order to feel good about themselves and pump up the peter meter. So anyway, Bubba from ESG wants to see my ticket and wants me to walk over here and go over there. Eventually he calls in his boss to make me go downstairs where "we'll talk about" my particular infraction, what ever that was. Turns out he claimed to his boss that I "assaulted" him (wow, where did that come from?) and they need my ID, police might be called, etc etc. Now, in my defense, look at the history of this website. First and foremost, I'm a music fan. That's obvious. Second of all, I spend the time to write up my recollections and memories of each show with passion. It's pretty obvious that I'm not a trouble maker and I'm not there to look for trouble. Last, look at any of my reviews involving ESG Security in the greater Indianapolis area. They suck. They have a grandiose sense of self importance and they intend to ruin an other wise great concert with a runaway sense of authority. I attend concerts all over the country and have yet to see any venue managed as poorly as venues who hire ESG. So, bottom line is that I was ejected for enjoying a great show for the first time in 259 concerts. Based on everything I heard while there, Tesla was great! Forevermore, Into The Now, Modern Day Cowboy, Too Late For Love, Steppin' Over, Time, Breakin' Free were among the nuggets performed tonight.

Meet & Greet: Tesla (Jeff Keith, Frank Hannon, Brian Wheat, Dave Rude, Troy Luccketta)

Plenty of surprises on hand for tonight's event. The show got started about 30 minutes late, but instead of leading off with an opening act, Queensryche took the stage for what would become a performance of three distinct suites of songs selected from three of the band's acclaimed albums: Rage For Order, American Soldier and Empire. Fans were treated to generous portion of tracks from Rage For Order. To the best of my recollection they were: Neue Regel, I Dream in Infrared, Surgical Strike, Screaming In Digital, Walk In The Shadows, and I Will Remember. The lights were out briefly then the band was joined on stage by real soldier, AJ Fratto for the American Soldier set. This is Queensryche's most recent release and frankly a very strong collection of songs based on hundreds of interviews conducted with real American soldiers who fought in wars from WWII through present conflicts. AJ Fratto was also featured on the American Soldier disc and added his menacing hard core rap to the live set. This suite contained other surprises as Geoff Tate's daughter joined him for a duet. Based on solid tracks, the American Soldier suite featured Sliver, The Killer, If I Were King, Man Down!, A Dead Man's Words, and Home Again. Once more, The lights were out briefly then the band was joined on stage by Lita Ford. This was an interesting way to present the support act. Lita and Jim Gillette performed three songs, using Queensryche as their band. Lita sounds just as she did in 1989. I'm a little curious as to why she would only perform three songs and that said, even more curious as to why two of those were selected from her latest CD (which is getting horrible reviews by the way). Her new brand of music is sort of like vintage Lita Ford meets Nine Inch Nails. So she and Jim performed Crave and Patriotic SOB from the new record before wrapping up with Close My Eyes Forever, featuring a duet with Geoff Tate singing Ozzy Osbourne's original parts. Lights out one last time to scoot Lita off the stage and introduce the final suite of songs from Empire. I think they were: Best I Can, The Thin Line, Silent Lucidity and Empire. The entire cast came back out theatre style and took final bows for the audience. Excellent show.

Situated in the heart of the University of Illinois, the Canopy Club played host to perhaps one of the best Ragweed shows I've witnessed. There are some remnants of the old theatre featured on the interior walls, but otherwise a hallowed hulk of an old theatre with a balcony full of seats that had seen better days. After a long week and a 2 hr drive from Indianapolis, I was happy to take a balcony seat and let others vie for the front of the stage. Also, with a 1 hour change in time zone and a 1 hour dicrepancy in show time from the venue website, the concert got started at 10pm according to my watch and ended around 1:30am. Add to that a 2 hour drive back to Indianapolis and it made for a long, but rewarding evening.

This looked to be a large crowd and if my ticket number (749) was to be any indication, it must have been close to sold out. The advertised venue capacity is 750.

I refer to this concert as the "Easy Rider" set, because the counter-culture, classic film Easy Rider was playing on the cinema size movie screen behind the band throughout the show. The band was tight and the set list was a showcase that spanned the band's entire career in just under 2.5 hours.

SETLIST:
To Find My Love
Time To Move On
42 Miles
Anywhere But Here
Blue Bonnets
Blues For You
Boys From Oklahoma
Burn Like The Sun
Confident
Deal
Don’t Need You
Drag
This Time Around
Ain’t Easy Being Me
Times They Are A Changing - Bob Dylan cover
Jenny
Leaving Tennessee
Lighthouse Keeper
My Chances
Number
Overtable
Overtable Interlude
Pretty Lady
Sister
Alabama
Seventeen

CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED
SETH JAMES

I'm not sure how much money can be lost or gained by booking two events on the same night, but Dance Night at The Vogue was not to be cancelled for the Ragweed concert. It did however make for some interesting people watching on the way out, but that's another story. This concert had to start earlier than usual and end by 10pm in order for the dance club to have it's turn.

Hung out with Grady Cross for a few minutes after sound check and Jeremy Plato after that. If metal is up your alley, Jeremy recommends the new Slayer and new Megadeth realeases. He shared pictures of his car and that sort of thing. The show started with a brief set from Ha Ha Tonka, who were OK as warm up acts sometimes go.

The Ragweed set was strong, despite the element of a time clock hanging in the balance. Nice size crowd on hand, despite no radio support. The set list came down something like this,. Again, no particular order: 51 Pieces, Cold Hearted Woman, To Find My Love, Lawrence, Lighthouse Keeper, Overtable, Overtable Interlude, Pretty Lady, Sister, 42 Miles, Anywhere But Here, Boys From Oklahoma, Burn Like The Sun, Carmelita, Dead Man, Crazy Eddie’s Last Hurrah, Drag, Fightin’ For, Hammer Down, Hey Hey, Merry Christmas From The Family, My Chances

But the night was far from over. Following the show, Cody Canada met with fans near the bus and shared in some conversation, wine and good will. Before long he suggested we all go to a bar, which led us to Old Pros Table (OPT) around the corner. The Alley Cat was a strong suggestion, but vetoed by the notion Cody might not be able to get a decent wine there - probably true. Merch guy, Nathan, came along as well. Once inside OPT, Cody must have loaded about $15 into the juke box. Cody was enjoying the conversation about music, but soon grew tired of the OPT sports oriented atmosphere, so he invited my friend and I back to the bus to continue the talk for another hour or so. There we were joined by Grady, Jeremy and Brian (Brain). Very cool end to my vacation to say the least!

MEET & GREET: Cross Canadian Ragweed (Cody Canada,Jeremy Plato)

CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED
HA HA TONKA