Real Rock Report

Don Felder (Formally of The Eagles)  was first and to my suprise and delight he and his band were outstanding. Playing mostly Eagles songs like Witchy Woman, Heavy Metal (Great version!), Life In The Fast Lane and of course Hotel California where he and his bandmates were joined by Tommy Shaw of Styx! Don played one new original You Don’t Have Me and guess what… it rocked! The band was super tight and talented enough to do justice to every song.

Next up the greatest touring classic rock band in the world  Styx!

Really they are that good. It’s almost unbeleivable how big their performance is. Todd Sucherman may be one of the five best rock drummers alive today… Yeah I said it. If you haven’t seen them in the past ten years or so do yourself a favor and get to their show! You know the hits and they play most of them, Grand Illusion, Too Much Time On My Hands, Fooling Yourself, Blue Collar Man and of course Come Sail Away and Renegade.  Tommy Shaw even came into the audience during a solo… Fantastic!

Foreigner is a band with and without Mick Jones the only original member left. Mick came onstage for the fourth song on and you could feel the enery go up right away when he stepped out.  Again tons of hits, Double Vision, Head Games, Cold As Ice, Juke Box Hero Etc. Not to be outdone by Tommy Shaw Foreigner lead singer Kelly Hanson sent himself out to greet the audience up close! Kelly has a fantastically strong and clean voice perfect for the Foreigner sound! Jeff Pilson is as always a stud on Bass, Thom Gimbal and Bruce Watson are awesome guitar players who fill in wherever Mick isin’t. Chris Frazier is a very tastfull pocket drummer but can turn it out when need be. What could be better than this? Youth choir on I want to Know What Love Is?… Yup. What’s better than that? How about Don Felder and the members of Styx joining Foreigner on stage for the encore of Hot Blooded!  Wow is all I can say.

Is this the soundtrack of summer? No clue but it was in the late 1970′s and early 80′s and has wonderful aches of nostalgia for those who remember while keeping it current for new fans or parents passing along their musical history to their kids.

The only thing I know for sure is that if you like rock and roll I promise you will not find a better tour this summer, one can only hope they can extend the tour!

It is just that freaking good.

5 (out of 5)

J.S.L.

Ughh… Why did I go to this again?

Openeing act was The Raskins a NYC band (Supposedly) I’m assuming they are young, they do their best at trying to sound like a NYC underground (ish) rock band (In other words trying to sound like a Detroit band from the 1970′s) They buthchered a Greg Khin song and did a straight version of Iggy Pops Seek And Destroy. Other than that they had some original songs that to be fair might be less boring in the recorded format.

Next up:

Alice Cooper – Wow what agreat show, loved it! L.A. Kiss official guitar godess Nita Strauss is in the line up now and was on fire, the crowd could not get enough of her because she shreds! Alice Coopers voice has seen better days but it was always growly to begin with. All the theatrics were in place and if you have never seen him perform you must! It’s like rocking out to a Universal Monster Movie.

Motley Crue:

Tommy Lee = Still a beast but seemed like he was phoning it in.

Nikki Sixx = Great as always but seemed pissed off.

Mick Mars = Sloppy and noisy, his solo was horrible.

Vince Neil = Winded after first song, forgot lyrics, voice has lost most of it’s power.

If you like to drink and be sentimental you might not notice how bad Motley Crue is in this day and age. Seemed more like a sad cash grab than a victory lap.

Wait til Alice Cooper does a solo tour and see that instead.

2.5 (out of 5)

J.S.L.