Motionless In White/ Falling in Reverse/ Issues – L.A. January 14th 2017

January 20, 2017 by Leave a Comment

It was a quick one day trip down to L.A., to the Wiltern Theater (one of Toni and my favorite theaters to see a show) to see a few of our favorite new(er) bands, Issues, Motionless in White and Falling in Reverse. Normally we would have been with the kids at a show like this, but we think they have outgrown us, so we must go on our own 😦

It was a great show, with a ton of energy. All the bands were great, but I think Toni and I most enjoyed Motionless.. we have seen them a number of times over the last few years, and even have met them three or four times.. they are a great bunch of guys.. it was too bad that Balz (keyboardist) had recently left the band as he was one of our favorite members, but the guys still sounded fantastic.

It was a fun little trip.

 

 

Filed Under: Heavy Metal

Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Seattle Wa : December 31 2016

December 31, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Another great show from TSO this year. Such a nice tradition for the family every year, we all enjoy the show and music so much. This year was a new show entitled The Ghosts of Christmas Eve with a bunch of different and incredible stage sets, performances, an immense amount of pyrotechnics and of course new music as well as a ton of their traditional songs. The entire cast is just so talented and they all get to show off their talents through the songs they sing, the solos they play and their dancing….simply amazing!

It was a great evening with all of us together again at a concert, it seems like forever since we have all been to a show together. it seems I have been going to more and more shows solo and a few with Toni, but to have all four of us together enjoying the music was a perfect way to end 2016. Can’t wait to see the show next year.

Filed Under: Mix

Boz Scaggs – Seattle WA : November 6 2016

November 6, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Fun night listening to some soft, blues jazz rock from Boz Scaggs at the Moore Theater in Seattle. Loved watching and listening to some old 70’s tunes. He sounded just like he did back then and had a great backing band. It wasn’t a long night of music, but he played the hits and covers and even some newer music including my favorites, Lowdown and Lido Shuffle.

Filed Under: Classic Rock

Five Finger Death Punch/ Shinedown – Tacoma WA : November 5 2016

November 6, 2016 by Leave a Comment

It was a great show last night, but I have to say this was officially my last concert at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma WA. I know I have bitched about it in the past, but this was really the last time I will put up with this cities clear disregard for the concert goers and absolute lack of concern that it takes nearly two hour to navigate their unmarked, un-directed, dark city and residential streets because they block the main entrances to the venue. Totally unacceptable! They have been putting on concerts for so long and in such a convenient location (right off the I-5 freeway) and haven’t yet figured out how to manage the the traffic. Out of all the venues I have traveled to through the US, besides Candlestick Park (which was torn down) the Tacoma Dome is the worst with respect to traffic control…or I should say LACK of control.

The show itself was great. We missed the opening band, but were able to get in to see Sixx:A.M. play the last three songs of their set. This is Nikki Sixx’s new band created after Motley Crue hung it up. Fortunately we were able to get to our seats in time for them to see them perform three of their best songs, Lies of the Beautiful People, Stars and Life is Beautiful.

Shinedown came on at 8:00 and was who Toni most wanted to see. Neither one of us had seen them before, and they are one of Toni’s favorite bands. It is always great to see a band you love so much for the first time and these guys did not disappoint. They had a ton of energy, sounded incredible, really interacted with and got the crowd going and had a great stage show with a ton of pyrotechnics. They had a great set and were spot on vocal and musically. We will definitely see them again.

Five Finger Death Punch came on about 9:45 and absolutely killed it! They had a fairly short set-list with only 13 songs, but each one was powerful and memorable. Ivan Moody (lead vocals) looks like a typical heavy metal singer with a mean look, loud voice and persona of hatred, but it was amazing how nice, down to earth friendly he was. He really has a love for what he does, he makes it a real point to show how much he appreciates the US soldiers, he genuinely loves the audience (bringing about a dozen kids up on stage during the song Burn MF). What was really touching was when he brought his own daughter on stage and sang to her solo the song Remember Everything.  What a powerful voice and very loving moment…not something you would expect to see at a Five Finger Death Punch show. Their set-list was perfect in my opinion.. They opened up with my favorite song of theirs, Lift Me Up, followed by Never Enough, Wash it All Away, Got Your Six, Bad Company (cover), Jekyll & Hyde, Wrong Side of Heaven, Coming down and then the encores (which we had to leave during) Under and Over it and the Bleeding.

All in all, even with the aggravation and disappointment I have with the city of Tacoma and the Tacoma Dome, the crowd was great, the bands performed flawlessly and we had a great time.

Filed Under: Heavy Metal

Ringo Starr & and his All-Starr Band – Spokane WA : October 16 2016

October 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment

What a treat to finally get to see Ringo Starr in concert. It’s hard to believe that I have seen Paul McCartney 3 times and this is the first time that I have ever seen the other surviving Beatle.

I went to Spokane (just about ½ hour flight from Seattle) as I had missed the show in Seattle the week before due to other priorities. They were performing at the INB Performing Arts Center, which was in the convention center downtown in the river front area…very beautiful. Kind of a cool little theater, with the only problem being a very bouncy wooden floor. I was seated in the last row of the pit (3rd row from the stage) and it looked like the seats were temporary and not very well secured to the floor. When people were dancing in their seats, it really made the entire section of seats move with them. Made me a little woozy at times. Other than that, there was a lot of room between rows, the seats fit normal size humans, the lighting was good and the sound was great.

So, the thing with Ringo Starr is that he plays (and has for quite some time) with a group of other really great musicians (the All-Starr Band) who come from many different bands and all have extensive music catalogs of their own. The show is made up of the band playing these hit songs. The members are Steve Lukather (guitarist from Toto), Gregg Rolie (Keyboardist from early Santana and early Journey), Todd Rundgren (solo artis as well as guitar and vocals in many bands through the years) and Richard Page (bass player and singer for Mr. Mister). These guys had great chemistry and were all clearly enjoying performing together and had a great deal of respect and admiration for Ringo Starr. Todd Rundgren seemed to have the most energy of the group running from side to side of the stage and jumping around like a crazy person… I hope to have as much energy and love for what I do when I am 69 years old.

Some of the more memorable songs of the night were, I Saw The Light, Bang the Drum All Day and Love is the Answer sang by Todd Rundgren. Steve Lukather had a couple Toto oldies but goodies on the list such as Africa and Hold the Line. I was very impressed with not only Gregg Rolie’s keyboards, but also his incredible voice on Black Magic Woman. Richard Page (who’s name I didn’t recognize) did an incredible job singing and playing Kyrie and Broken Wings, both very big hits from the band Mr. Mister. Of course the highlight of the show were the Beatles and Ringo songs such as Matchbox, It Don’t Come Easy, Boys, Yellow Submarine, You’re Sixteen, I Wanna Be Your Man, Photograph among others. They closed the show with a great rendition of With a Little Help From My Friends and Give Peace a Chance. I made a little YouTube video compilation and added it below.

I would definitely go to see them again.

 

 

Filed Under: Classic Rock Tagged With:
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