- Jan 6, 2015
- 13,680
- 25,357
I just earned more "Good Husband" point than I will ever be able to use, but rather than bury you with tl;dr on how awesome a husband I am here (I'll put it in another thread), I figured we could have a thread on what concerts you have been to recently, or perhaps thoughts on some of the best you've been to and the ones you regret missing.
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Last night, I took the wife to see Don Felder (guitarist for the Eagles in the early days) with a fistful of backup performers who did all kinds of covers of Eagles and similar. That was the opening act, followed by REO Speedwagon (one of the wife's favorites), and ending with Styx (kinda on my bucket list, we both like them).
Don Felder was good in that you knew all the songs, even if they sounded a little different. They also brought out some of the members from the other two bands to 'help out' on a few tracks - most notably Tommy Shaw several times. If they are opening for a concert you're going to, it'd be worth it not to be late like we were.
REO Speedwagon....if the name makes you think of 3 hits from the 80's you'd be about right, but they had about 5 hits and they played all 12 of those tracks (yes, I'm hinting that half the set we didn't recognize). They've been going since 1970, and haven't had much new stuff since the mid 80's, so if you go to hear the songs you know - you'll get those, with some other stuff to fill 60-90 min set. I will say, they were high energy the whole time (maybe that's influenced by my not being to a concert in years). The lead singer was very interactive, talking things up with the crowd between songs, and rarely was there more than 30 seconds between songs unless they were bringing out some help on guitars or percussion. Their set took me through a range of thoughts and emotions:
1. During some tracks, the power is amazing and how are they are going strong after all these years.
2. When the lights shine on the crowd, there are a LOT of women aged mid-40's to late 50's. A lot of big boobs, a few by surgery, most by simply getting fat as they aged.
3. The crowd is OLD....(pause)...damn, I'm old.
4. During some tracks, you wonder why these guys are still playing (tonight, and in general) as it kinda sucks.
Big points for how they closed it out, however. Keep in mind, we're in Charlottesville, VA. The lead asks off stage if they have time for one more (yeah, ok...). So he gives a short talk about how the music people generally respect and support one another, but in his view there was one that stood out above his peers, someone truly special in the industry, so this is for them. That one guy from Gainesville, FL that we're all going to miss. Then they played "Listen To Her Heart" by Tom petty. Nice way to wrap up their set, even if it sounded kinda off.
Then we closed with Styx. I'd have been OK never seeing them, but I'm glad I did. I didn't realize they are still putting out new music. They released a new album last year, but only did 2-3 songs off it during the set as they knew the majority of fans were there for the old stuff. They promised to play at least half of Grand Illusion and didn't disappoint. And while REO left me with a sense of an "All Energy" performance, Styx simply left me overwhelmed by the "Power" they put out through the speakers.
I only ever knew the name of Tommy Shaw, and never thought it through enough to realize the different vocals across their hits. The keyboardist (Lawrence Gowan) was distracting, but very good. It was interesting to see them bring out original bassist Chuck Panozzo for several songs because they never let him near a mic, and when off stage it appeared the stage hands were trying to keep a blind drunk from tripping over cords. Anyway, nearly all you'd want from seeing them live was delivered, at about an 11 on the speaker knob. We were disappointed with no Mr. Roboto, but my God, their closing with Come Sail Away was everything you can imagine and more. I've never really made a bucket list, and I can't say if they'd make it on or be just off the list, but I am very glad we caught them live.
===============
Last night, I took the wife to see Don Felder (guitarist for the Eagles in the early days) with a fistful of backup performers who did all kinds of covers of Eagles and similar. That was the opening act, followed by REO Speedwagon (one of the wife's favorites), and ending with Styx (kinda on my bucket list, we both like them).
Don Felder was good in that you knew all the songs, even if they sounded a little different. They also brought out some of the members from the other two bands to 'help out' on a few tracks - most notably Tommy Shaw several times. If they are opening for a concert you're going to, it'd be worth it not to be late like we were.
REO Speedwagon....if the name makes you think of 3 hits from the 80's you'd be about right, but they had about 5 hits and they played all 12 of those tracks (yes, I'm hinting that half the set we didn't recognize). They've been going since 1970, and haven't had much new stuff since the mid 80's, so if you go to hear the songs you know - you'll get those, with some other stuff to fill 60-90 min set. I will say, they were high energy the whole time (maybe that's influenced by my not being to a concert in years). The lead singer was very interactive, talking things up with the crowd between songs, and rarely was there more than 30 seconds between songs unless they were bringing out some help on guitars or percussion. Their set took me through a range of thoughts and emotions:
1. During some tracks, the power is amazing and how are they are going strong after all these years.
2. When the lights shine on the crowd, there are a LOT of women aged mid-40's to late 50's. A lot of big boobs, a few by surgery, most by simply getting fat as they aged.
3. The crowd is OLD....(pause)...damn, I'm old.
4. During some tracks, you wonder why these guys are still playing (tonight, and in general) as it kinda sucks.
Big points for how they closed it out, however. Keep in mind, we're in Charlottesville, VA. The lead asks off stage if they have time for one more (yeah, ok...). So he gives a short talk about how the music people generally respect and support one another, but in his view there was one that stood out above his peers, someone truly special in the industry, so this is for them. That one guy from Gainesville, FL that we're all going to miss. Then they played "Listen To Her Heart" by Tom petty. Nice way to wrap up their set, even if it sounded kinda off.
Then we closed with Styx. I'd have been OK never seeing them, but I'm glad I did. I didn't realize they are still putting out new music. They released a new album last year, but only did 2-3 songs off it during the set as they knew the majority of fans were there for the old stuff. They promised to play at least half of Grand Illusion and didn't disappoint. And while REO left me with a sense of an "All Energy" performance, Styx simply left me overwhelmed by the "Power" they put out through the speakers.
I only ever knew the name of Tommy Shaw, and never thought it through enough to realize the different vocals across their hits. The keyboardist (Lawrence Gowan) was distracting, but very good. It was interesting to see them bring out original bassist Chuck Panozzo for several songs because they never let him near a mic, and when off stage it appeared the stage hands were trying to keep a blind drunk from tripping over cords. Anyway, nearly all you'd want from seeing them live was delivered, at about an 11 on the speaker knob. We were disappointed with no Mr. Roboto, but my God, their closing with Come Sail Away was everything you can imagine and more. I've never really made a bucket list, and I can't say if they'd make it on or be just off the list, but I am very glad we caught them live.