The Eagles at the Tacoma Dome last night was a great show. We saw this show (History of the Eagles) when they started back in March at the Verizon center in Washington DC and this show was as good as I remember from then. They put on an awesome show, especially this tour which was a historical walk through their musical compendium from the early 1970’s through The Long Run and into their When Hell Freezes Over reunion when they got back together after being apart for 14 years. It was interesting to get the narrative from Glenn Frye and Don Henley on the forming of the band (and when the other member joined), the creative methods for a lot of their early hits and just how they worked together for the last 40+ years to create this great music.

They played a great retrospective of Eagles music and even included some great songs from Joe Walsh such as In the City and Life’s Been Good. They even played an old James Gang cover Funk #49. In my opinion, some of the highlight songs from last night were; Lyin’ Eyes, Tequila Sunrise, Peaceful Easy Feeling and a cool, funky version of Witchy Woman. Of course my favorite song was Hotel California which was their first encore. It was cool to see Don Felder perform this song Sunday night and then the Eagles perform it Monday. I almost expected them to get together during this show and perform together…but I guess that will (can’t) ever happen.

All in all (and aside from the picture restrictions, obligatory drunks and seat cheaters) the music made this an incredible show that I am really glad I was able to see.

Tonight was Peter Frampton at Chateau Ste Michelle Winery in Woodinville Washington. I love this venue (especially on a sunny summer evening), but the fact that it is a winery and they have wine sales in the venue during the show, and no apparent limit on how much you can buy, inevitably the crowd gets drunk and belligerent about half way though the show although tonight I was pleasantly surprised with the lack of inebriation around me. How refreshing.

I was a little worried about taking photos given Peter Frampton’s recent shenanigans which landed him in the news recently when he took and tossed a fan’s cell phone for filming one of his shows. They made it a point prior to him coming on stage that he doesn’t like people filming and no pictures can be taken after the third song. The photo police were out in force at song four making everyone put their cameras and phones away, so needless to say I only ended up with a few shots tonight.

The show opened up with Buddy Guy, one of the best guitarists and blues musicians on the planet, and he put on an outrageous show. He made it a point to mention how he doesn’t play from a play list and really just plays what he feels and from the vibe he gets from the audience, which seemed to really work as the crowd absolutely loved him. It was a special treat when he went walking through the crowd while he was playing. You don’t see that too often. His set was an hour, but I could have listed to him all night.

Peter Frampton came on and did a great job as well, although with the tension around the picture and video restrictions, I think people were just a little less than enthusiastic about his performance (just a smidge I think). He put on a great show however, and really demonstrated his phenomenal guitar playing ability. He jammed out solo after solo and even performed a few instrumentals. It was also pretty cool to see Don Felder come out and play Hotel California with the band.

A great night of music, but I think what I enjoyed most about the evening was driving the hour+ home with the top down on a starry, 70 degree, Seattle summer evening.. Priceless for sure.

Final concert of my 3 concerts in 3 cities in 3 days was back home in Washington at the Gorge Amphitheater to see Slash and Aerosmith. A perfect ending to my concert weekend as I was able to go with Toni and the kids, and it was my birthday J

We had VIP for this show and were supposed to get a question and answer with Joey Kramer, Brad Whitford and Tom Hamilton, but with what happened to Joey Kramer earlier in the week which resulted in a canceled show in California, they changed things up a bit where we were able to get a very unique and interesting view of their sound check. This was actually quite cool to see, where Steven Tyler came out and obviously took charge of getting things in order for setting the stage and the sound just right. As Joey Kramer wasn’t playing drums tonight, his spot was filled by his son Jesse, who Steven was taking extra time with. I think this must have been (if not) Jesse’s first show replacing Joey, (then one of) his first as they were running through a ton of their songs getting the tempo and pace just right. It was actually real cool to see them rehearsing and getting set-up. Definitely a treat to get a few full songs and a ton of snippets of others in such a small, intimate setting.

The show started promptly with Slash featuring Myles Kennedy who always put on a great show. They played 11 songs including one of my favorites Anastasia and of course some great Guns N’ Roses songs such as Sweet Child O’ Mine and Nighttrain and It’s So Easy with Duf McKagan. I always like to hear some of the Velvet Revolver music and they chose Slither, which I think is one of the best. They closed their one hour set with Paradise City which the crowd absolutely loved.

Aerosmith came on just around 9:00pm and absolutely tore it up. We had incredible seats just off the left of the stage where Joe Perry was set up and real near the end of the center stage extension. Steven Tyler is an incredible performer. He really knows how to get the audience going and has just an incredible amount of energy. He is almost as active on the stage as Mick Jagger (and there is no one which moves as much as him on stage). They put on a great show playing a great mix of the hits such as Love in an Elevator, Cryin’, Rag Doll, Toys in the Attic, Dude (Loos Like a Lady) and of course their greatest hits, Walk This Way, Dream On and Sweet Emotion.

This was an end to an absolutely wonderful three days of airports, hotels, taxis, cheap food and minimal sleep. Certainly an adventure I will never forget.

Number 2 of the 3 concerts in 3 cities in 3 days.

Another shows at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. Tonight was an evening with Yes who performed their albums Fragile and Close to the Edge in their entirety as well as some of their other hits with a couple of their new songs splitting the two albums. This was my first Yes show and it was definitely a different vibe, beckoning back to the care free early seventies with extra long cerebral, progressive album rock that you just don’t hear any more.. The title song Close to the Edge is over 18 minutes and took up nearly an entire side of the album. It was just fantastic watching Steve Howe work his magic with the guitar. The lead singer was exceptional, and although is not their original singer John Davison absolutely spot on sounded to Jon Anderson. They closed the show with an encore of I’ve Seen All Good People and Owner of a Lonely Heart.

I had a great seat just a row back from stage right where Steve Howe was set up and performing and aside from the incredibly drunk and obnoxious idiots on either side of me, I had a great time at the show. It never ceases to mystify me why someone would get so drunk before a show which they paid a lot of money to see, and to watch a band and listen to the music that they obviously love, but set themselves up to not remember any of it. It was fortunate for me that the venue wasn’t sold out and although I had to leave my awesome seat, I was able to move back to an empty seat further back where people were much more mellow and obviously there for the music and the band.

Now back to Seattle for Aerosmith tomorrow night!