ALICE COOPER Albany, NY October 4, 2018 - Concert Review with Photos and Videos

This show was a last minute decision.  Saw Alice Cooper was in town, seen him of plenty of times before and he and his band never disappoint, so let's do this

There was no opening act and Alice hit the stage at about 8:15 or so.  It was nice to have an early show on a Sunday.  Alice opened with "Brutal Planet" and had the whole audience on their feet for the whole show from the moment the lights went down.

Alice then immediately went into a trio of three classics starting with "No More Mr. Nice Guy."

Then "Under My Wheels"

Followed by "Billion Dollar Babies"

Alice went for a deep cut next with "Grim Facts" off of 1980's "Flush The Fashion." Here's Alice with one of his three guitarists in his great band, Ryan Roxie

Next up was one of my favorite "new" songs "Lost in America".  I say "new" because I realize as I write this that it actually came out in 1994 which is 24 years ago.  Well either way, it's fun and catchy as all hell.  

Another deeper cut with "Serious" from 1978's "From The Inside" was another treat for the long time diehard fans.

We then got a taste of their latest album "Paranormal" with "Fallen In Love"

Then another 21st century track with "Woman of Mass Distraction" off 2005's "Dirty Diamonds" which was followed by guitarist Nita Strauss' solo.

Next up was Alice's 1989 MTV hit "Poison"

Alice went back to 1971 next for "Halo of Flies" which featured a great drum solo by Glen Sobel.

"Feed My Frankenstein" was next and is one of production highlights of the show.  Here's the video I shot below:


Alice then busted out "Cold Ethyl", singing to her, dancing with her and all the while abusing her in the loving way only Alice can.

The love songs continued with the classic "Only Women Bleed" next

Another song from the newest album "Paranoiac Personality" was next before the biggest production highlight of the night. (Pictured is bassist Chuck Garric)


Alice came out in his straight jacket joined by his nurse (played by his daughter Calico Cooper) to tell the tale of the "Ballad of Dwight Fry" during which the guillotine is rolled out and Alice gets beheaded as the band plays a partial version of "Killer" and "I Love The Dead".  Here is the video I shot of the whole thing.

The main set then ended with "I'm Eighteen" with the whole crowd singing along.


After a few minutes, the band came back out to encore with "School's Out" (a bit of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" thrown in).


During the song Alice introduced the whole band including guitarist Tommy Henriksen who got some extra love as he is from Albany.


The show ended with streamers shooting out over the crowd at just before 10pm.  A great show to end the weekend.

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ERIC CLAPTON New York City - October 7, 2018 Concert Review with videos

I had always kind of felt I missed the boat on seeing Eric Clapton in concert. Sure he comes to NYC just about every year for a pair of shows at Madison Square Garden, but when I've look at the setlists I see too many blues covers and too few of his hits.  I dig Slowhand, but not a disciple who worships everything he does.

But when tickets went on sale for his pair of shows this year, I decided it was time to see the guitar legend some call God and picked up tickets for the second show on Sunday, October 7, 2018.

Our seats were in the very last row of section 226 but we had a nice clear shot of the stage and caught the very end of Jimmie Vaughan's set as we took our seats.  I was amazed how much of the audience were already seated.  Vaughan, and Gary Clark Jr. who would come on after him, both played to an almost fully seated enthusiastic sold out crowd.  

Clapton came out a little after nine and played a 14 song set lasting over 90 minutes.

The set started with a trio of blues covers starting with J.J. Cale's "Somebody's Knocking" followed by "Key to the Highway", then Willie Dixon's "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man."  

The immediate thing I noticed and was pleased with was how great Clapton's voice sounded - solid and strong.  The blues set was fine and each song followed a pattern of a few verses, then a piano break, then an organ break and then guitar before closing out the song. Clapton's top notch band includes guitarist Doyle Bramhall II and I have to say I was surprised how many of the leads he played throughout the night, but Clapton was always given a spot to shine during every tune.

The crowd response was strong during this opening trio but the first huge cheers of the night came during the next song, his hit cover of the Wailers' "I Shot The Sheriff."  Here's the video I shot of it below.

Next up Clapton took a seat and treated everyone to an acoustic set starting with "Driftin' Blues", probably the biggest "beer run" moment of the night.  Clapton then started up his cover of "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" which at first had the crowd cheering loudly and clapping along as it appeared many thought this was his acoustic cover of "Layla" as the intro sounded similar, the clap-a-long stopped as the lyrics kicked in.

"Layla" would actually be next and when the crowd realized that's what it actually was this time, the clapping and then singing along was back getting one of the biggest responses of the night.  I've never been a huge fan of this unplugged reworking, but it was nice to hear a song I knew.  "Tears in Heaven" was next and he delivered a solid version that folks loved, just not one of my personal favorites.

At this point the show was more than half over and it was enjoyable; a subdued toe tapper and honestly more or less what I expected.

The acoustic instruments were then put away and the show finally kicked into that higher gear I was hoping for but didn't really expect when the band kicked into the one Cream cover of the night with "White Room."  Here's my video below.

"Wonderful Tonight" followed and it sounded great.  I was actually surprised by the crowd reaction in that it was fine, but for such a big radio hit, not has loud as I would have thought.

The crowd response I was expecting came next as soon as Clapton kicked into the opening riff of "Crossroads."  It was a great rendition with Clapton tearing it up.  The band then stuck with the Robert Johnson catalog with a long cover of "Little Queen of Spades" giving every band member a space to shine.

The main set ended with an amazing powerful rockin' version of "Cocaine" which had most of the crowd on their feet.

Clapton and band came back joined by openers Jimmie Vaughan and Gary Clark Jr. for an encore of Joe Cocker's "High Time We Went", giving Paul Carrack the lead vocal duties.

Overall I would say this show exceeded my expectations.  A few of the performances, especially "Cocaine," I feel were as good as I could ever have hoped to have seen.  Clapton looked great, sounded great and at times showed he could still rip out a solo like few others.

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PAUL SIMON Queens NY 9/22/18 FINAL SHOW review with videos

This past Saturday, September 22, after riding the 7 train from Grand Central for 30 minutes packed in like sardines we arrived at the stop for Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens at about 4:00pm.  There was an hour to go before the gates would open for Paul Simon's final concert.

 

We walked about a mile to just past the famous Unisphere built for the 1964 World's Fair to the security gates and then a short wait until 5:00 on the dot when the tickets were scanned.



Lots of folks sprinted to the general admission standing room only area in front of the stage, while those of us with blankets (not allowed in front of the soundboard unless you bought VIP) found a spot on the lawn.  We were early enough to get a great spot centerfield against the fencing separating the two areas.  Close enough to actually watch the performers on stage, but this was aided by a giant video screen behind the musicians and two large video screens to the each side.



Over the next hour, the majority of the park behind us filled with blankets  and the standing section filled to capacity.  The show was expected to start at 7:00 (it would actually begin at 7:20 and end at 10:00pm) and this last hour before showtime seemed as if the flood gates opened with people filling any available square foot of grass between all the blankets.  An announcement was also made asking those with blankets to condense them as much as possible to make room for these later arriving fans.  

At 7:20, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz came out to introduce Paul Simon (video below).

The lights dimmed a few minutes later and he opened the show with "America", one of five Simon and Garfunkel songs to be played that night.  (video below)

He followed this with his own "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".  He had the entire crowd in the palm of his hand right out of the gate and they would stay there for the whole night.  He then addressed the crowd and played a game of catch with the audience while humorously calling out the ongoing planes taking off and landing at nearby LaGuardia airport throughout the night.  (video below)

Of the 26 songs that would be played, about 2/3 were well known classics while 8 or so were ones that while not everyone in the crowd knew them, and many were hearing for the first time, they worked well within the set.  Simon and his amazing band sounded fantastic.

The set continued with "The Boy In The Bubble", "Dazzling Blue", "That Was Your Mother", "Rewrite", "Mother and Child Reunion" and then everyone dancing to "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard." (video below)  Simon brought out Edie Brickell for the whistle solo in the middle of the song (she nailed it!) and afterward he mentioned how much fun it was to sing about "Rosie - the Queen of Corona" actually in Corona Park.  This was one of the major highlights in a set filled with them.

The classical musicians of yMusic joined Simon for the next three songs starting with "Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War", then "Can't Run But" and Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."  The first half of this classic had a bit of a jazzy arrangement until the full band kicked in mid way through having a very powerful effect and bringing the closing of the song to the next level.  Prior to playing it, Simon talked about how for this final tour he was taking back ownership of this song that he previously had given away.  He thanked Aretha Franklin afterward for her version, but Art Garfunkel was never mentioned at all throughout the night, just semi referenced here.  (Though he would show up in a couple of pictures in a video montage during the final encore section of the show).

"Wristband", "Spirit Voices", "The Obvious Child", "Questions For the Angels" and "The Cool, Cool River" were next before ending the main set with the dance the night away one two punch of "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" and "You Can Call Me Al".

The first encore set opened with "Late In The Evening" which I wish I filmed as it was another of the highlights of the set in my opinion.  This was followed by "Still Crazy After All These Years" and ended with a joyous "Graceland" which also featured the full band bows and ovations as the second encore set would end on a more personal and somber, but fitting note. (see Graceland video below)

The final five song encore set contained three Simon and Garfunkel classics starting with the namesake of this show "Homeward Bound"(The giant "Welcome Home" banner which hung on the stadium just to the right of the stage was a nice touch).  The last full on dance along number of the night was next with "Kodachrome" and then an almost slightly countrified arrangement of "The Boxer" with the full crowd helping out on the "Lie-La-Lie" section. A great "American Tune" followed somewhat ending the show (before the final song) with the same theme with which it began.

And then it was just Paul on the stage alone with his acoustic guitar for a moving version of "The Sound of Silence."  When it ended, there was no long speech, everything had already been said.  Just heartfelt waves to the audience and his final words of "It means more than you could know." video below

If this truly is Paul Simon's final performance, he could not have gone out on a higher note.

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SLEIGH BELLS Holmdel, NJ 7/20/18 - Photo Set

Sleigh Bells played at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ on Friday July 20, 2018.  They opened for the Pixies (that review is here) and headliner Weezer (that review is here).

They started their set playing to a relatively empty pavilion, but by their final song a good amount of the crowd had come in and gave them a really good response.

I have to say I had heard their name, but didn't know anything by them so I don't have much of a review here, just these photos I took below which you might dig.

Click here for photos, video and a review of the Pixies who followed.

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PIXIES Holmdel, NJ 7/20/18 - Photos, Video and Review

After Sleigh Bells' opening set (click here for photos) and a quick break, the Pixies took the stage for just over an hour with a blistering non stop set of over 20 tunes.

 

They opened with "U-Mass" (Unlike the other HD videos included in this review, I shot this for Facebook live, so if you join the Facebook group - the link is at the end of this review - You can check out that opening number.) and closed with an amazing "Vamos" featuring Joey Santiago.  Here's that video:

This was a complete last minute show as a couple of days before, Ticketmaster released a large list of shows with tickets which could be "bought" using the vouchers from the class action law suit they settled a few years ago.  Turned out I had 17 vouchers in my account so I grabbed tix to this and a few other shows.  So the cost was a about a tank of gas...it was so worth it.

It was my first time seeing the Pixies and they were fantastic.

A good portion of their set was made up of tunes from "Doolittle" including a double shot pretty early in the set of "I Bleed" followed "Crackity Jones".  Here's video of those two songs

Along with Santiago, the band features original members Black Francis and Dave Lovering.

Paz Lenchantin has replaced Kim Deal becoming a full member in time to record their latest album "Head Carrier".  

Here's video of Paz taking lead vocals on "All I Think About Now" from that album.

In between they played a ton of great stuff.  The setlist at setlist.fm has every song I remembered them playing, although the person who originally posted it did not have it in order.  I tweaked some of it, it's probably still not completely in order, but it gives you a good idea of what went down.

The crowd was basically at capacity by the time "Vamos" ended and there would then be a short break before Weezer hit the stage.  Read that review with photos and video by clicking here.

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Click any photos to enlarge them to full screen.  Also follow on twitter @MostPeopleBlank   Then, of course, as always - Rock on and Enjoy - Paul