Sammy Hagar - Foxwoods Grand Theater - August 2, 2014 Concert Review and Photos

"Oh what a feeling...when we're dancing on the ceiling!"

No I haven't mixed up my concert reviews...I expected to be singing the above song on the lawn at Bethel Woods on Saturday, August 2...but sometimes plans change...

So the plan was for the crew to go check out Lionel Richie's greatest hits tour (c'mon...you don't wanna hear "Brick House" live or air-sculpt a bust during "Hello"?!) but around Wednesday the weather was looking like complete crapola and I wasn't interested in getting soaked for the former Commodores front man.

Then I got a tweet from Foxwoods telling me to text "HAGAR" to try and win front row tix to the Red Rocker on Saturday.  Well I enter and didn't win, but Foxwoods offered half price tix to those that entered.  I've never seen Sammy and the Grand Theater at Foxwoods is perhaps the most comfortable theater there is to see a show...so sorry Lionel...the crew splintered...some went to this...so went to Lionel (where the weather ended up being beautiful) and some went to check out the Winery Dogs.

I SO made the right choice.

Got to Foxwoods with a couple of hours to spare before the show.  Hit up some Fuddruckers for some burgers and headed over to the MGM part of the casino where the Grand Theater is located.  

I stopped at the players club kiosk to get a new copy of my rewards card to scan it and try and win a prize.  I was sporting my Iron Maiden "Killers" shirt and the nice older lady asked me if "that was my new girlfriend?" pointing to Eddie on the shirt.  Heheh...I gave her a brief history of Iron Maiden and their mascot Eddie and she said she would look for that shirt because her grandson liked heavy metal and his name was Eddie.  Rock on Grandma!

So on with the show...headed in and went up to our seats.  Aisle center balcony.  About 6 rows from the top, but this is a small theater (I think holds about 3,000 and it appeared to be sold out) and every seat is great (and did I mention comfortable?!  Extra leg room in front and seats a little wider than standard.  Also great sound in this room).  

The lights went down a little after 8 for a quick video montage through Sammy's career (There was no opening band tonight for Sammy's stop in Mashantucket, CT on his "A Journey Through The History of Rock" tour) and then he and his stellar backing band came out to open with "There's Only One Way To Rock".

Stellar is not being overused in this case.  On bass there's Michael Anthony of Van Halen, Vic Johnson on lead guitar and Jason Bonham on drums.

The show would be a history of Sammy's career mixed with a Led Zeppelin tribute...it was...yeah, I'm gonna say it...the best of both worlds!

I'll give the setlist below mixed with photos from the show (and a video of "Heavy Metal), but have to say this was a great show you should see if it comes to your town.  I've never seen Sammy before and the thing that stands out more than anything is the fun this band has on stage.  You can't fake the smiles and appreciation for the fans that was apparent through out.  

Sammy, I'll be looking forward to your next pass through the area...Lionel, you too..."Hellooooo....Is it meeeee you're looking for......"

As stated they opened with There's Only One Way To Rock and followed it up with Rock Candy from Sammy's days with Montrose

Good Times Bad Times was the first of the Led Zeppelin tunes of the night

Poundcake, from Sammy's Van Halen days was next

I Can't Drive 55

Michael Anthony's bass solo

When It's Love (VH)

Whole Lotta Love (LZ)

Little White Lie

When The Levee Breaks (LZ)



Moby Dick (LZ)

I haven't seen any of Jason Bonham's various Led Zeppelin tribute tours, so maybe he's done this before, but he basically played the beginning of Moby Dick, then the triple screens above him lit up with his Father playing it live and he played along totally in sync.  It was very cool and both father (on the video screen) and son got a standing ovation at the end.

Why Can't This Be Love (VH)

Finish What Ya Started (VH)

Heavy Metal.  I shot video of this one.  Love this tune.  Click here to view it.

Vic Johnson's Guitar Solo

Best Of Both Worlds (VH)



The band left the stage for a very short encore break and came back with Right Now from Van Halen and ended with Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll



The band left and the lights stayed down for a couple of minutes while the crowd yelled for more (at other shows on the tour the band played all of the above along with Van Halen's Dreams and Sammy's All We Need Is An Island) but then they went up and that was it.



A damn good show, but I was surprised at the number of hits Sammy didn't play like Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy and Three Lock Box (and I would have loved to have heard Fast Times at Ridgemont High), but I guess that is just more reason to catch Sammy on his next tour.

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Faster Pussycat - Blackthorn 51, Elmhurst NY - August 11, 2014 Concert Review and Photos

Didn't expect to be heading to this one since I started the day in another country...

Woke up about eight hours north in Montreal after spending the weekend at the Heavy Montreal festival (don't worry...review and plenty of pics coming soon) and knew some of my pals were probably heading down to Blackthorn 51 in Elmhurst to see the always killer Faster Pussycat. Well traffic was light and the border crossing was quick and non-invasive so I found myself in a position to hop a ride and forego sleep for most of another night...

Arrived and hung outside as my friends were waiting for some other friends.  Heard a band doing a pretty killer version of The Stooges' Search and Destroy and I Wanna Be Your Dog.  Wish we had gone in to check them out as the band was called Sexxx Dolls and we met Satyr of the band later between sets and he was entertaining as all hell, regaling us with tales of Stiv Bators who he used to be neighbors with in better days...we look forward to your next gig Satyr...

We did go in for the next band on the bill, The Bowery Boys, who put on a rockin set highlighted by some appearances from some of the Faster Pussycat fellas...bassist Danny Nordahl (along with guitarist Ace Von Johnson on backing vocals) joined them to take lead vocals on a cover of Johnny Thunders "Chinese Rocks" and  back later in their set for a Ramones cover.

AfterBurn was up next with a set of hard rockin tunes including of all things a Bob Seger cover.  I was enjoying numerous PBR's throughout which goes well with the all american Detroit rock of a Seger cover.

So before we talk about Faster Pussycat's set, let's talk about Blackthorn 51 as this was my first time being there.  I dug it.  Low stage up front right inside the door, bar along one wall.  Could hold I'd guess 200 people.  Nice outdoor area in the back.  I hope to be back for more shows.

But we're here to talk about Taime Downe, Xristian Simon, Chad Stewart, Danny and Ace - Faster Pussycat.

The boys hit the stage just after midnight and as always just kicked ass straight through for just over an hour with a set that included a new song and a cover we had not heard them do before.  Here's a bunch of pics and the set list:

Where There's A Whip There's A Way

Cathouse

Slip of the Tongue

Number 1 With a Bullet

Sex Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll

House of Pain

then a new tune called from what I can tell "Pretty Ugly" which is pretty damn good

Don't Change That Song

Bathroom Wall

Danny took over lead vocals for the next two songs starting with a cover of the Ramones'
Pet Sematary which none of us (who combined may have seen Faster Pussycat well over fifty times at this point) have ever heard them do before

then a cover of The Supersuckers' (another always killer band) Pretty Fucked Up 

Taime came back on lead vocals for another cover that is a mainstay in their set, Betty Blowtorch's Shut Up and Fuck

Babylon

And that was it...a full blown hour of rock.  We ended up hanging out for about another hour during which we got to meet and chat with most of the band (all except Taime who retired to the bus).  It was also cool to meet Ricky Byrd, of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts among others, who was there and even got a guitar pic from him after chatting and taking a few photos.

It was a helluva fun night and I look forward to seeing the boys again soon...in about 6 weeks at the 80's in the Park festival down in Florida where most of the crew I went with this night will be joining me as well.

Click on any of the photos to blow them up to supersize and if you could, click this link to go to the Facebook page for MostPeopleAreBlank and join.  Lots of great stuff to come and want to build up a following to try and get some photo passes to share more great shows with you.   Also please feel free to comment.  Share this post as you like and I always let anyone use my photos, please just ask, let me know where you are using them and give us credit and we'll do the same and share your links.  As always...Rock on and Enjoy!

Snazzfest part 2: The Meatmen - Cafe 9, New Haven, CT - July 19,2014 Concert Review and Photos

If you want to read the whole tale of what would become known as Snazzfest or The Night Queen + Adam Lambert opened for The Meatmen, well start by going to view the previous post by clicking here. 

Otherwise I shall give a brief overview or maybe not so brief...we'll see how it plays out...

So I'm in Uncasville, CT at Mohegan Sun Arena and it's about 10:15pm and I'm about two hours deep into Queen + Adam Lambert when during birthday boy Brian May's guitar solo I take a peak at my phone to check the time and check Facebook.

Before heading out on the road earlier in the day I had posted this status:

Evidently while traveling to the casino the following conversation started taking place between my pal Lizzy and Tesco Vee of The Meatmen in the comments section...

I was glad to see Tesco was making sure his art kept pace with the times...and appeared to have enjoyed the show I was currently at.

As stated it was now about 10:15...I know the show is heading into the final run of hits and while I was planning to call Cafe 9 in New Haven as soon as the show ended (before making the hour drive there to find out we were too late,) I figured I'd see if Mr. Vee was still around and asked him what time he was hitting the stage...

I not only got the scoop which appeared that worse case scenario we'd miss some of the set but catch a decent portion of it, but we were definitely going to be seeing the Meatmen on this night.  It was pretty friggin snazzerific news...

Oh and yeah...I'm an awesome friend and so yes, Lizzy did indeed get her shirt (and a sticker too)

Which brings us to hustling out of Mohegan Sun arena as We Are The Champions is still echoing off the walls...

For a rather frustrating 15 minutes, my buddy Kev and his wife decided they had to hit the merch booth (pre-planning and buying their goods BEFORE the show is not quite in their wheelhouse of abilities) but we were in the car at around 11:05 or so...not too damn shabby!  We hit a little bit of concert traffic leaving the parking deck, but thankfully most of the concert goers were drinking and gambling degenerates who were staying for a while.

Let me make it clear I say this with love...had it not been for the New Haven madness to come, I would have been right there along with them.

Sooooooo....it takes just about exactly an hour to get to Cafe 9 and we pull up and it's more or less midnight on the dot and there's a huge ass crowd outside this little ass bar...which we're not sure if that is good or bad as it either means everyone is outside between bands to smoke/get some fresh air before the Meatmen or maybe the damn thing is sold out...

We got a primo parking spot about 40 feet from the door and got in the club no prob and it was indeed the break before the Meatmen...grabbed some beers (in honor of previously mentioned degenerate drinkers at Mohegan Sun), Kev's wife actually got a stool at one of the tables...the place started packing in...

Holy hell it was crowded and hot.  This is a tiny joint and the first time I've ever been.  It's a bit of a drive, but I gotta keep an eye on who they get there because it's a great place to see a show.  It's pretty narrow and not too long and the "stage" is just a tiny alcove by the front window...maybe 8' x 8'...it got hot in a hurry, but again, the beer was a flowin and I wasn't drivin...so life was grand as I was still riding the Lambertian high...

Tesco and the boys hit the stage right around 12:30 and if memory serves me correct, they opened with "Men O' Meat".  Tesko was in his best all American duds and Danny Dirtbag was on bass at his side all night - originally in his very MC5/Rob Tyner-esque tribute wear and afro, but changing and losing attire as the set required.  The band was rounded out by Hindu Kush on guitar and Swarthy "Bun-Length" Franklin on the skins.  Quite the tight rock n roll unit.

Tesco is a hilarious frontman between songs and a raging beast during them.  I didn't write down the setlist so I'm just going to throw out a bunch of the songs I know they played while you ogle the photos...

Well here's "Pope on a Rope"

and "Crippled Children Suck" is a wonderful song to put your hair in a ponytail to...

I know we heard "War of the Super Bikes" and "Tooling for Anus" 

"The Dwarves are the 2nd Greatest Band in the World" and "Triple B" rocked the house

"I Sin For a Living" was the theme song for many in attendance

"Mr. Tapeworm"

They dedicated a song to Jeff Hanneman of Slayer...pretty sure it was "Speed Kills (But It Sure Feels Good)"

A cover of Venom's "In League With Satan" was in there that would have made Cronos proud

"1 Down 3 to Go" now as we all know is "2 Down 2 to Go" was played and I got that on video for Lizzy who started the whole Facebook fun.  Click here to watch.

"Dinosaur".  Danny gets the ladies excited

Of course they ended with the classic "We're The Meatmen (And You Suck)"

There's probably 10 other tunes I'm not remembering.  The show was a blast and a hoot and ended just before 2:00am.  We got to chat a little with Tesco and got some pics with him.  Got some cool shirts and overall, taking into account the opening band for the evening, it was one helluva night.

By the way, The Meatmen's new album is called "Savage Sagas From The Meatmen" and it's killer.  If you read down this far and don't own it, don't be an asshole...go buy it.  And the next time you see The Meatmen are playing some tiny bar or club near you, make sure you let me know so I don't miss it.

If you dug this blog, go join the facebook page by clicking here for more goodness to come.  Feel free to comment, share, etc.  Also if you click on any of the photos they blow up to super size if they are showing up small as you read this.  That's about it...got a bunch of shows I need to get posted on here that I've seen recently and Heavy Montreal fest is this weekend.  Lots to come soon...Enjoy!