Blink-182 – Seattle WA : September 17 2016

 

After nearly 20 years of being a big fan of Blink-182, I was finally able to see them perform live. It was a great line-up at Key Arena last night with All American Rejects opening up and putting on an incredible show. They only played 7 songs, but did a great job and sounded great. A Day to Remember came on next and they just blew it out of the park with their show… they did not hold anything back from their energy, performance, stage show and use of inflatables… Jeremy McKinnon (lead singer) even got into a big inflatable ball and walked over and through the whole floor crowd…I have never see that before, really cool! Absolutely amazing performance. Blink-182 came on a little after 9:00pm I think, and their stage showed opened with a big flaming “FUCK”, which was also something I had never seen before and was just so cool (sorry if the photo is offensive, but had to post). After A Day to Remember’s performance, I didn’t see how anyone could improve, but clearly I had underestimated Blink-182… They had a HUGE stage, with a ton of pyrotechnics and even more inflatables. It was worth the wait seeing these guys…I’m sure 20 years ago, they must have had a little bit different show, but last night in Seattle, they were phenomenal.

Joe Walsh – Chateau Ste Michelle WA : September 10 2016

Wonderful show at the winery in Woodinville Washington tonight. Had a great seat, five rows from the front and dead center stage. The only problem was I was on the aisle and was constantly having people walk by to go and buy more wine…as usual, folks could not manage their wine tonight. There were so many people who are going to wake up in the morning (I do pray they all get home OK) and wonder if they had a good time… I am sure they will invent their night in their minds to fill in for the the real memories that the alcohol made them forget. Quite sad really, as Joe Walsh put on such a great show.

Before the show, I was able to meet Joe Walsh. I thanked him for his music, he thanked me for being a fan…we shook hand for an almost uncomfortable amount of time, we got our picture taken and then I went on my way.. He is really a very personable and gracious guy. He made sure he gave as much time to all the folks there to meet him as the wanted, and was very attentive and genuinely caring for his biggest fans.

There was no opening act tonight, which was strange, but nice. When I saw him a few months ago down in San Fransisco, Bad Company opened, which was pretty cool, but having just Joe was pretty cool too. He opened up the show with Walk Away followed by Analog Man. He ended his set with an amazing set of his most popular songs, In the City, Funk #49, Life’s Been Good and Life in the Fast Lane. It was real cool during Funk #49, there was a girl in the other aisle seat next to me, who was have a great time through the whole show dancing. They came up to her a few minutes before the song and they left…the next thing I saw was her dancing up on stage with Joe Walsh and the rest of the band.. How cool was that for her! She must have been in heaven.

One of my favorite songs of the the night was Take it to The Limit, where he dedicated it to Glenn Frey. You could tell by his facial expressions throughout the song, that he still feels very sad about his passing, but did a beautiful job with it.

Well, as usual at concerts at the winery, I had to bail before all the drunks got behind their wheels, so unfortunately I left before the encore Rocky Mountain Way, but am glad I beat the drunks out of the parking lot and onto the road.

Me and Joe:

bryon-joe-walsh

Hall & Oates – Auburn WA : September 9th 2016

Fun show tonight at the White River Amphitheater in Auburn. Love how close this venue is from my house… less than a half an hour to get home after the show.. That is nice.

These guys put on a pretty good show although it seemed as though Daryl was having some issues with his audio as he kept gesturing to the side stage and seemed to just not be 100%…but regardless, they sounded great and were fun to watch.

It was very cool to hear all the those old late 70’s and 80’s songs that I loved so much so many years ago. My favorites of the night were by far She’s Gone, Sara Smile and Rich Girl. They played two encore sets which was pretty cool and kept the crowd going.. Good to see so many people my age up, out of their seats dancing and singing to the music that they so fondly remember.

Another iconic band to scratch off my must see list, and so glad I did.

Zakk Wylde / Otherwise – Las Vegas NV : September 1 2016

What an absolutely incredible show tonight at The House of Blues in Las Vegas… Toni and I quite literally stumbled upon this show as we were checking in to the Billy Idol show last night, getting our tickets and table assignment, Toni saw a flyer for the Zakk Wylde show, with Otherwise opening up. Toni has been wanting to see this show and especially Otherwise for a while and just by happen chance we were in Vegas the same time as the show. I have had the pleasure of seeing Otherwise three years ago in Seattle when they opened up for 3 Days Grace and stole the show then, and I hate to say it (as I am a big Zakk Wylde fan) but they stole the show again! These guys just ROCK! They have so much energy and passion for their art that really shows through in the performance.

They played about 9 songs in their set ending with Soldiers, one of my all time favorite rock anthems. I was able to get video of it, but I think the volume was a bit too much for my camera and it’s a bit distorted, but I uploaded to YouTube if you would like to check it out. I was able to meet the guys from the band after their set and they are all such great guys. We can’t wait to see them again.

Zakk Wylde came on a little after 10:00 and was amazing. We have seen him a few times before and are never disappointed in his performance. I just love the guitar solos and the power of his music.

This was the last night of our 25th anniversary trip to Vegas and we could;t have asked for a better way to end it than with this show.

Billy Idol – Las Vegas NV : August 31 2016

What a Night!

Toni and my 25th anniversary and we came to Vegas to have some alone time. Billy Idol was playing at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay and we had great VIP seats near the stage.

What an incredible show. We have been wanting to see Billy Idol for some time and we finally were able to in such a great venue as the House of Blues. It was small and had great sound. we were in in VIP seating close to the stage so had an incredible view of the full show.

BillY Idol, Steve Stevens and the full band put on a great show performing many great hits such as Rebel Yell, Flesh for Fantasy, Mony Mony, Dancing With Myself and White Wedding.

What a great performance.

Video of Flesh for Fantasy