Jane's Addiction - Voodoo Music Experience, New Orleans - Halloween 2015

This is the last of my posts from Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans' City Park on Halloween night 2015.  Babes In Toyland to this set by Jane's Addiction to Public Image Ltd to Ozzy and Friends (Slash, Tom Morello and Geezer Butler).  As I said in the other posts, it was a helluva night of music and worth the mud, mayhem and new pair of sneakers I had to buy the next day.  If you want the whole story, check out the links to those other posts, here we'll talk about the Jane's Addiction set.



When the Voodoo schedule came out it was cool to see that basically Jane's would have a 75 minute set "opening" for Ozzy.



I thought the whole current Jane's tour had them playing all of "Ritual de lo habitual" and they posted on Facebook saying they would be doing this album in full at Voodoo, so that was the expectation this night - all of Ritual and then encore with 2 or 3 other tunes or maybe a 10 minute "Chip Away" jam.



The set started as expected with the Spanish spoken word intro and right into "Stop!" 



We then immediately realized it wouldn't be a full "Ritual" set as they skipped "No One's Leaving" and went into the third track instead, "Ain't No Right" (by the end of the night we would get five of the nine tracks off "Ritual")



This current lineup of the band features three of the four original members with Perry Farrell on vocals and various noises, Dave Navarro on guitar and Stephen Perkins on drums.  Chris Chaney has replaced Eric Avery on bass and made himself known at this point in the set with the instantly recognizable opening bass line to "Mountain Song" off "Nothing's Shocking"



Next up was the ridiculously catchy (I was humming this thing for at least a week after the show) "Just Because" off 2003's "Strays" album



We were then back to "Ritual" for an epic "Three Days" followed by the funk of "Been Caught Stealing"



Perry asked the crowd if we were ready to go "Up The Beach" which of course led into "Ocean Size" the killer opening tracks to "Nothing's Shocking"



Perry then asked the crowd if they were ready for a slow one and promised the guys in the crowd that it would be worth it because this next one would get the ladies in a romantic mood.  It was "Classic Girl" which I haven't heard them do in years and is a favorite.



The night would end with a pair off their self titled album.  First "Whores" to end the main set, then they brought the steel drums out front and a chair for Dave to lounge in for the sing-a-long of "Jane Says"







The only problem, that was a great SIXTY minute set.  They started on time and walked off 15 minutes before their schedule which was a complete bummer.



My guess is this was related to the weather and perhaps they were asked to cut it short in hopes to get Ozzy on earlier before the place was completely flooded/mudded out (which is exactly what ended up happening, causing the cancellation of the whole next day.  Not a huge deal for me.  Would have been cool to see The Cult and Third Eye Blind again as I haven't seen them in years and I keep getting told I have to check out Zac Brown band live and chances are this was the only time that was going to happen...oh well)  This would have been a logical plan, but Ozzy started right at 9:30 as he was expected to and if anything went slightly long pulling out some deep Black Sabbath cuts.



But overall it's was minor complaint. Oddly this set went over probably much better than all of Ritual in order would have.  They cut out the more atmospheric tracks and beefed up the set with monster riffing from the other albums.  Not sure Ritual would go over great in front of a mostly casual fan large festival crowd.  And hell I love everything by these guys.  I prob only would have been pissed if they cut Three Days or Classic Girl.



Perry was a great front man throughout the night, welcoming the rain and welcoming the crowd to dance with him through it.  He was also rather funny in his between song banter, at one point stating something along the lines of "There's warnings out there to get to higher ground...so I took some drugs...and then my manager told me that's not what they meant"



Lastly I have to mention the ladies (which included Perry's wife Etty Lau Farrell, Lisa Eaton, Maxine "Mama" Hupy - and if anyone knows the names of the others I'll be sure to tag them in their photos).  As many of the women swooned over shirtless Dave Navarro, Jane's has a bevy of beauties to dance, act out, strip, make out and fly over the stage in violent fashion suspended by hooks in their backs for the rest of us to enjoy.





It's everything that's great about a truly great rock n roll show...and probably the best band I've ever seen open for Ozzy (I didn't see Ozzy on the "The Ultimate Sin" tour with "Master of Puppets" era Metallica opening...I'll give you that one, that would have been hard to beat)



Well done Voodoo Music Festival - made for great Halloween festivities and made us forget the mud until the music stopped and we had to hike out of that deep, sticky stinky slop.



Enjoy the rest of the photos below (click on any of them to super size).  Also if you dug this review, go to the Most People Are Blank Facebook page by clicking here and click the "Follow" button to join to be kept up to date on future posts, to comment, share and take part in our giveaways and contests (some damn good ones coming soon!)  Also follow on twitter at @MostPeopleBlank   As always - Rock on and Enjoy - Paul

 

 

 

 

"What Up 1991?!" - Jane's Addiction (and some NIN) Holmdel, NJ June 6, 2009 concert review

In a recent email to my pal Melissa telling her I was attending the NIN/JA 2009 tour featuring Jane's Addiction and Nine Inch Nails (with openers Street Sweeper Social Club) she responded with the humorous and very accurate "Wow! What Up 1991?!"

Accurate because 1991 was not only "The Year That Punk Broke" (according to the Sonic Youth / featuring Nirvana documentary of the same name), it was also the year Mr. Perry Farrell created Lollapalooza which would feature his band Jane's Addiction's final tour and also feature up and comers Nine Inch Nails in a hot and sunny early day slot (I've always heard NIN sold more T-Shirts on that tour than either anyone else or all the other bands combined...it would be three more years before they took over the world with their mud covered set at Woodstock '94 bringing them to the attention of the masses - happy to say I was there for that one...but did miss Green Day's mud set).

I caught Lollapalooza at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center that year and enjoyed Nine Inch Nails (in what would be the first of about a half dozen times I would see them over the years including just this past October headlining Saturday night at The Voodoo Festival in New Orleans) and LOVED Jane's Addiction.

Eighteen years later I finally got to see them again. I somehow missed them on the various reunion tours they've done (although I remember really trying to get tickets to the Halloween show in NYC for the first reunion, but it sold out too quick). I saw Porno for Pyros numerous times (including that '94 Woodstock as well) and Perry fronting various super groups at benefit shows, but there's nothing like the real thing as Pepsi might say (or is it Coke?)

So Welcome back 1991 indeed!

It had been on and off rain since Wednesday and by the time Saturday morning, June 6, arrived, it was looking overcast and rainy...not usually a problem for shows, but we had lawn seats for this one. Luckily by noon the sun was out and it was in the 70's, an absolutely perfect day for a lawn seat show!

We paid for a VIP parking pass which allows you to park right outside the entrance to the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ. If you don't buy one of these reserved lots passes you have to walk about a mile or further up hill to the venue...no thanks. It also allows you to hear when the bands hit the stage although this information is posted for all the shows on Jane's website. It would be Tom Morello's Street Sweeper Social Club at 7:30, Nine Inch Nails at 8:15 and Jane's Addiction at 10:00pm. While this is called a co-headlining tour, Jane's has been the headliner on every show so far. Perhaps on the second half of the tour they'll trade slots.

Monetarily this tour is a great idea for both bands as while there is obvious alt rock crossover, many fans seem to be die hard fans of either one or the other. I know I would have passed on Nine Inch Nails this summer without Jane's and I heard many with the opposite sentiment while waiting on the will call line which I'll get to in a minute.

I had seen SSSC do a short set at the Road Recovery benefit recently (see my past blog for review) and really truly was planning on seeing them here, but when you're with family and friends and doing the parking lot party...time just goes by and how can you leave those last three beers sitting in the cooler?

So needless to say, I missed their set which word has been for every show that they killed. They've been doing a standard seven song half hour with six originals and a great cover of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes".

I know it's a great cover because there is an open taping policy on this tour! Not just audio, but video as well. Almost every show has been showing up immediately on the various bit torrent sites and YouTube. Actually this show I'm reviewing right now, less than 24 hours later is already on my hard drive...ah technology!

So Suddenly we're finishing our last beers and hear NIN hit the stage and decide along with the rest of the parking lot partiers (of which there were MANY!) that we should go to Will Call, pick up the tix and head inside.

Well I learned a lesson on this night, if you're at the show early, hit will call early to get your tix. There was one Will Call window open and HUNDREDS of people on line to get in. It was slow and kind of annoying listening to some of my fave Nine Inch Nails songs while waiting to get in (Damn...why did "March of the Pigs" have to be so early in the set!). It was while waiting that I heard many complaints from people who came just to see NIN whining about missing them, again I already saw them on this tour and was really there for JA, so it wasn't so bad.

As we get about four people away from the front, they of course open another will call window...so got my tix and then go walk over to the gates to go in.

This was where we noticed the weird security vibe at this show. As I stated it was open taping, so you could bring in audio, video, still cameras, but there was a major pat down on everyone. There was also a heavy police presence with one group of about eight cops standing around waiting for trouble. Someone was worried about trouble from this crowd for no apparent reason. First of all there was a good amount of "older" fans - I mean Jane's has been around 22 or 23 years...hell, Perry just turned 50...I don't think anyone was going to be forming a moshpit. All the cops were cool and I didn't see them hassle anyone drinking from glass bottles or anything...maybe there was a riot at a Nine Inch Nails show here in the past or something? The security issues continued somewhat inside when it came to lawn seating.

Here at Holmdel and most other ampitheatres with lawn sections I go to, they usually have an option to rent a chair for 5 bucks for those who don't want to sit on the grass or didn't bring a blanket. Every time I've gone to a show here in the past, I did this and we all planned on doing this tonight, but when we went inside, we saw the chair rental booths were there full of chairs, but no one renting. A security guard was stationed there and had to get sick of people (like myself) going up and asking him if we could rent a chair to which he would reply, "No, there are no chair rentals at this show." Very odd indeed considering they always rent out a few thousand chairs, so that's potentially tens of thousands of dollars the venue was giving up because why? Were people beaten with chairs in the past? Did they get destroyed? They just did not trust this crowd with anything. Oh well...I was REALLY glad at this point it hadn't rained so I didn't have to suffer muddy ass on the grass.

Although later in the night Perry would say this was a sold out show, it wasn't...but a real nice turn out. We were still able to get a nice spot on the right side of the lawn where we could view the stage and there were also screens on both sides to view as well. Sound was excellent as it always is when I've seen a concert at PNC.

So with the beer drinking, will call line waiting, patting down and rental chair searching, we missed about half of Nine Inch Nails set. They were rocking and excellent as always, with "Mr. Self Destruct" from "The Downward Spiral" being the first song we heard once settled.

They followed that up with a double shot from their 2008 free downloadable album "The Slip" playing "1,000,000" followed by "Echoplex".

The double shots continued with the third and fourth tracks from 2007's "Year Zero" in the way of "Survivalism" and "The Good Soldier".

Their set completed with a pair of singles, "The Hand that Feeds" from "With Teeth" and that 1991 Lollapalooza anthem "Head Like A Hole" from "Pretty Hate Machine" which had the audience screaming for more as the band left the stage.

They returned giving the crowd what they wanted, their biggest hit and another visit to "The Downward Spiral" with "Hurt." From what I saw a great career spanning set which made with the die hards and more casual fans happy.

What I truly came to see would hit the stage in about fifteen minutes, the return of the original line-up of Jane's Addiction!

So for fifteen minutes we wated the mad dash of thousand of attendees running for the beer line and/or bathroom line and then the lights dimmed and the stage lit up with a curtain in front of showing classic images of the band as we heard that acoustic opening with Perry telling us "Right Now you should be here with us..." as the band opened with their epic "Three Days" from "Ritual De Lo Habitual!".

This is such a monster of a song on album and live it reaches new heights. I had been following the setlists of this tour and when I first heard they were opening their set with this song I thought it was a bad idea. "Three Days" takes you on a musical journey of over 10 minutes and while it is a must have in the set list, I didn't know if it would work as the bring in. Well it works with the slow build into the psychedelic / tribal breakdown (with the amazing Stephen Perkins on drums) peaking two thirds of the way through as Perry screams of "Erotic Jesus...plays with his Marys..." and then the final Dave Navarro shredding road trip to the end... amazing and tight - sounding like these guys have been playing together for the last 18 years instead of the last month of this tour.

If you forgot that bassist Eric Avery is back in the mix, you're reminded immediately with his bassline intro to "Whores" from their self titled live debut album. It becomes apparent over and over through out the night what an important roll Avery's bass played in Jane's music. While Navarro gets the real notice as guitar hero, so many of the songs in tonight's set are based on the base line including "Ain't No Right" which comes next. As Perry sings the opening line "I Am Skin and Bones..." you realize he certainly is, but in excellent shape physically and vocally. The muscle tear he suffered early in the tour is no wear to be seen as he prowls and dances around the stage all night.

"Nothing's Shocking" album closer (and also featured on the debut) "Pigs in Zen" rocks out next and then another "Ritual..." epic with the second longest track after "Three Days" the very personal "Then She Did." Another song which shows the expertise Jane's has in slowing bring the audience into a song and building to an emotional peak.

While the boys do the epics well, they also do the balls out riff rock as good as anyone else. "Up The Beach" starts playing, but instead of going into "Ocean Size", it leads into their first real MTV exposure with "Mountain Song." This one brought everyone in the audience back on board and could only be topped with their biggest hit "Been Caught Stealing".

It was about 11:00pm at this point and a decent amount of the audience, having felt they heard most of what they came to hear, departed after "Stealing" as the boys took another dip into the "Ritual" pool with the one suprise song of the night - "Obvious."

The setlist has been standard for this tour with one open slot where they are switching things up. "Obvious" first appeared in the set only a week ago right after Stephen Perkins announced on the website that they were practicing this as well as "No One's Leaving" to work into the setlist. Considering the other choices of songs which have come in this mystery slot, I'm glad we got "Obvious" (the only song I know they've played on this tour that I would have rather heard would have been their great cover of The Grateful Dead's "Ripple" which I think they've only played twice live. At most of the shows they've been doing "Had A Dad" with "1%" as a close second and a really occasional "Standing in the Shower Thinking" - I do love that song too...I think I gotta go check out one of the few Jane's theatre gigs their doing where they probably get more time and play all of these!). Again I was amazed at how tight the band sounded on a song which was just added to the set.

While "Mountain Song" didn't get any hate, I'm sure there were plenty of people who wanted the massive guitar onslaught of "Ocean Size" and after "Obvious" they got it. Only one more song for the main set and it was another from "Nothing's Shocking", it's depraved epic "Ted Just Admit It..." with it's similar structure to "Three Days" with slow beginning to tribal middle and "Sex Is Violent" chant to guitar madness at the end...then the boys left the stage to return a couple of minutes later.

The next song was very fitting considering the beautiful weather as the encore set started with "Summertime Rolls." They had some rocking left to do so "Stop" the first track on "Ritual came next and then the night could only end with what has truly become the bands biggest song, the acoustic guitar and steel drum driven "Jane Says" which had everyone singing along and smiling wide as they left to find their cars for the ride home.

Amazing show and I hope to see them again at least one more time on this tour.

Road Recovery Benefit Concert - NYC May 1, 2009

Road Recovery is an organization that uses music to keep children and young adults from substance abuse...and they throw one hell of a benefit concert!

I went last year and initially the lineup was basically the same: Tom Morello (last year of The Nightwatchman, this year with Street Sweeper Social Club...and of course in the past with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave), Wayne Kramer (of the MC5 - the theme of this year's concert was a tribute to Kramer), Jerry Cantrell (of Alice In Chains), Gilby Clarke (Guns n Roses), Perry Farrell (Jane's Addiction)...no Slash this year, but Billy Bragg instead...I knew the show would rock, but funds being a little tight I wasn't positive I was going to go...then they added Iggy!

So Iggy Pop of the Stooges on the same stage as Wayne Kramer of the MC5?! Detroit Garage/Punk rock history before my eyes?! Okay...I now HAVE to go...

Then things got a little better...evidently without my knowledge, owner of my favorite bar (and singer of some of my favorite songs...and sometimes MC5 current fill-in vocalist) Handsome Dick Manitoba was added to the bill! Also according to the T-shirts available at the show, the drummer from another fave band, Cheap Trick, signed on - good ole Bun E. Carlos! NICE!! (okay...the one little damper - while Bun made the shirt...he for some reason didn't make the show...oh well...hopefully I'll catch Bun and The Trick this summer when they open(?!?! The music biz is NOT fair) for Poison and Def Leppard)...but for now...on with the show...

Ticket said show starts at 8:00 and they were punctual...I was a couple of minutes late and by the time I picked up my tic and got through the metal dectors and went downstairs an opening band was ending and Matt Pinfield (the host of the night) was coming out on stage.

Evidently Pinfield, best known for hosting 120 minutes on MTV, is now a morning show DJ on the one rock station left in NY. That morning he announced we was taking a break from his job and would be entering rehab to deal with his personal issues and was happy to host this benefit.

The show took place at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square which is one of my favorite mid sized venues to see a show. I would guess it holds about 2500 people when sold out (and it was), but instead of the big flat open floor, this venue is tri leveled so you can stand comfortably, never too far from the stage and see, plus there super comfortable cushioned loge seating in the back.

Since I walked in a bit late, most of the seating was taken so I decided to head down stairs to stage level. I was actually able to walk right up to the barrier on stage left with no pushing or shoving, so had a great vantage point for the show to come.

The basic setup of the show was the same as last year - once it starts it doesn't stop for set breaks, it's just a revolving door of some musicians joining the stage and some musicians leaving including some of the kids in the program. While last year the kids' sets were mixed through out the night with the big stars, this year they got most of the unknowns out of the way early (with some guest appearances by the headliners).

So the first band to come one was the Road Recovery Tutors who had Matt Pinfield on vocals for a cover of Nick Lowe's (but made most famous by Elvis Costello) "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding". It was a admirable job on all accounts - a good bar band version of a song most there knew and loved.

Next up most of the tutors left with the exception of the rhythm section for a little hip hop set, the first featuring about 6 or 7 kids who each took a verse or two and it was quite good. Then the rhythm section stayed while another group came out and did a song the hook of which was a sample from Moby's "Natural Blues" played and sung live by the bands and kids.

Pinfield is back out to introduce the next band, Crazy James, which I believe is made up of current/past road recovery participants. I can't tell you how many people are in this band as I lost count...somwhere between 12 and 15, some of which appear to just dance around and look good, but perhaps we just didn't get to hear their songs in the short set. They play a mixture of fun and soulful pop. They were joined on their first song, "Zygote" by Wayne Kramer and Jerry Cantrell and further added to the headcount on stage with Gilby Clarke and Tom Morello on their next song. I believe Jerry and Wayne left leaving Tom and Gilby for their final song, a cover of the Pixies "Where is my Mind?" a great little set that ended with a small fiasco right next to me...

It all started about midway through "Where is..." when this DRUNK (he was doing some SERIOUS pregaming somewhere as they did not serve alcohol at this show) meathead comes barging up between the woman right next to me and the guy she was with yelling "TOM! HEY TOM!" at Morello who was right in front of us, maybe 10 feet back, on the stage. Tom notices the guy and gives kind of a quick look/nod of "okay I hear you now be quiet" but it just makes this guy worse. He says to all of us around him, "Hey he saw me....HEY TOM...yeah I'm a huge Rage Against The Machine Fan....HEY TOM WHERE'S ZACH...TOM!" and he's pushing between this woman and her fella against the barricade....

So the song ends and everyone leaves the stage and now Matt Pinfied and his co-host on his morning show, Leslie Fram, come stand right in front of us at the edge of the stage as they try to announce the next act and moron yells "YOU'RE THIN....YOU'RE SO THIN" at Leslie who is rail thin...she kinda mumbles "thanks" and Pinfield jokingly says "Thank you" and announces Tom Morello and his new band Street Sweeper Social Club are coming on...so the band walks out and it's fronted by Boots Riley from The Coup...Tom Takes his place in front of us and his bandmates are walking over to him to say something and dumbass yells "TOM.....TOM....WHERE'S ZACH...." people are yelling shut the fuck up asshole and Boots looks over and this guy goes "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT BITCH?!"....oh no....Boots does a double take and a "wha?!?" and the dudes says "THAT'S RIGHT, I'M TALKING TO YOU BITCH"....oh man I thought Boots was gonna jump down and punch this asshole....he comes to the edge of the stage and his bandmates kinda tell him to ignore this asshole...

FINALLY at this point, security who was standing right next to us taps the guy on the should and says to calm down as Tom goes to the mic and says something to the effect of, it's unfortunate that at an event against substance abuse, this asshole had to find his way in...to much applause.

As the band launches into their fist song, another security guard comes over and they escort the idiot out...so he barely got to see Tom play...although I think he only really wanted to see Rage anyway. His buddy who was with him stayed, but two minutes later or so, security comes back and asks if he is with that guy and he says, "yeah, it's my brother" and he is led away too, not too be seen again...

Back to the Street Sweepers...If you're a fan or RATM, you'll dig them...same dynamic...rock band with rap vocals...rocking and more funky than heavy...more like Rage and their cover of "Renegades of Funk" than say the angry "Down Rodeo"...I loved it! During the first track, "100 Little Curses" when the final chorus line "except for that muthafucka right there", Tom pointed right to where the yeller was, but he had been dragged out at this point. The guys only got to do one more song (the standard set was more or less two songs each) but make sure to check them out online where there's quite a few of their songs posted and if you're going to see the NINJA (Nine Inch Nails / Jane's Addiction) tour this summer, be sure to get there early as SSSC is opening (I'll be at Holmdel NJ 6/6...can't wait!)

Miggs was up next with a two song set of alt rock that was decent.

They cleared out and Gilby Clarke and Jerry Cantrell along with "Carl" (sorry didn't catch the last name, but he was part of the great backup band all night) did a version of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" dedicated to all those that lost the battle with their various dependencies. A great singalong.

Next up was Billy Bragg. Billy didn't need any backup, just him and his guitar first doing a cover of The Verve's "The Drugs Don't Work" followed by "I Keep Faith". Emotional and extra meaningful songs for the cause.

Next up was a band I had never heard of before, but I hope to see again...Middle Class Rut. An intense two song set by this two man band who share vocals. One rocks the drums and one rocks the guitar - heavily. The second song "All Walks of Life" ended with what looked like an epileptic fit of guitar and drum mayhem...I gotta see these boys do a full set next time they come through...if you like your noise rock hard, give them a shot

Before the "big names" came out we were treated to Ours. I was first introduced to them at the show last year where they did an acoustic set....this year they brought the whole band...moody and gothy with with a psychedelic jam touch that allows them to go beyond the goth tag. Their frontman reminds me alot of a young Perry Farrell (or hell...even a current Perry Farrell as Perry hasn't changed as we would see)...if you dig darkish lush yet rockin music and hate sunlight, Ours is for you

But enough of the opening acts...time for some big guns...

I love Perry Farrell...Jane's Addiction are one of my favorite bands of all time (I thought Porno for Pyros were excellent too...although I really hated "Pets")...so when Pinfield came out and announced Perry and his lovely wife Etty (let me be honest here...lovely is not the word...the woman is so hot she makes parts of your body ache) I let out a whoo hoo as did the rest of the crowd...they opened with Perry's solo tune from the "Twilight" soundtrack "Go All The Way (Into The Twilight)", very cool...where else are you going to get to see him play this one! But the crowd wanted Jane's...

So out come Jerry, Wayne, Tom, Gilby for a super guitar heavy "Mountain Song"...it's really an impossible song not to love live...it's got that classic riff and groove...was hoping we'd get at least one more and we got one of Ritual De Lo Habitual this time "Ain't No Right". Ah yeah...Perry is ready for his Jane's tour...got his rock moves down and sounds great...also, I don't usually notice this about male performers....but good lord did Perry have on the tightest jeans I've ever scene on anyone...I didn't know how he moved in them...it had to be said

So Perry and some of the guitarists leave the stage - Kramer definitely stayed as Handsome Dick came out with Don Was (not sure if he was announced or a suprise, but he played bass on most of the rest of the songs). When the surviving members of the MC5 toured a couple of years back they had quite the mixed bag of guest vocalists depending on which city they played....only two got all around kudos and that was Mark Arm of Mudhoney and Handsome Dick Manitoba of the Dictators (Evan Dando of the Lemonheads did not fair so well I heard). Dick grabbed the mic and said "You can call me Handsome....you can even call me Dick....but don't CALL ME ANIMAL" and they blasted out the Motor City Five song of the same name...oh man...old school at it's finest!!

Next up was a big suprise appearance no one was expecting...actress Juliette Lewis (you know...Mallory from Natural Born Killers) to rock on AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap!" I thought I heard recently Juliette disbanded her band the Licks, but she came out in one of her Licks style one piece rock catsuits and it was fine, very bar band feel...during the song Evan from Biohazard came out as well on Bass and then I noticed the lead singer (and husband to Avril Lavigne) on the other side of the stage with one of his bandmates singing backup...good lord...ever rocker of every type and generation was here tonight!

Juliette left as this was her only song of the night and Jerry Cantrell took the mic for a Thin Lizzy's "Jail Break" (evidently like Dirty Deeds, another of the rock songs every rocker can jam to with little or no rehearsal time.)

The next tune was quite a suprise as Gilby Clarke came out and starts tapping out the keyboard intro to The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" on his guitar! Evan from Biohazard put his bass away and he and Perry Farrell switched off on lead vocals throughout. The key to this song is the "YEAHHHHHHHHH!" scream after the drum breakdown towards the end and Perry did a doozy that would have definitely made Roger Daltrey proud! Very Very Cool!!

We knew the night had to be winding down, so there's really only one question...where the fuck is Iggy?! Oh wait....here he comes....Iggy came out bare chested and in jeans acting like a horny rabid dog....and you find the musicians treat him as such...as he quick struts up to them, getting WAY TOO CLOSE and you can see them thinking that you should treat him like a pitbull humping your leg...just let him finish and move on!

Iggy yelled out for "FIVE FOOT ONE....FIVE FOOT ONE!!" off his 1979 album "New Values"! Quite a suprise choice I thought and it raged much more heavily than the comparatively tame album version. Iggy was all over every inch of the stage and hanging over the audience by holding onto the curtain on stage left, leaning over the photographers midstage (with one "lucky" photog getting quite the goober spit on him by Iggy). The song ended, but Iggy wanted no stoppaged...stomping up to the drummer yelling "Sweet Sixteen....Sweet Sixteen and PLAY IT FUCKING RIGHT!!" (I personally thought the last song was played great, but maybe Mr. Pop disagreed, but it got "Sixteen" off of the "Lust For Life" album started right away and for three more minutes Iggy slithered and stalked the stage. Then it was over....almost...

The players left the stage and the lights went off and there was a video presentation with some great classic footage of Wayne Kramer and the MC5...basically showing how Wayne rocked...lost his way...refound his way...and now rocks harder and Helps others.

Lights came back up and Wayne was awarded not the keys to the city, but the keys to Sing Sing Prison where a good portion of this all star band was going to be performing the next day for some inmates! Wayne thanked the crowd....brought everyone back out plus Little Steven Van Zandt and it was time for only one thing that could end the night right...time to "Kick Out The Jams Motherfuckers!" Goddamn does this song rock with mainly Wayne and Dick Manitoba doing vocals, but others jumping in as well...then it finally was over and it was good...can't wait til next year!