Jackyl / Trixter - Englewood, NJ - September 13, 2014 Live Concert Review and Photos & AUTOGRAPH CONTEST

It's hard to write a review of Jackyl without overusing the various forms of the verb "kick" paired with the singular and plural states of the noun "ass."  Well what can you do?  Jackyl kicked serious (ah yes, I forgot you can mix it up with a good adjective in between) ass on Saturday September 13 at Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ.

The night started at 8:00 pm on the dot with local boys Trixter (who have opened every show I've ever seen here...granted, only two so far) rockin the house right.  They had plenty of friends in the audience and I thought rocked harder, had a heavier edge, than when I had seen them in the past.  

They did about 45 minutes playing a solid mix of some newer, like "Machine" of their 2012 album "New Audio Machine" to some classics like "Line of Fire", the opening track off their 1988 self titled debut.  Of course they played the hits as well - "One in a Million" and ending with "Give It To Me Good"

They had a great time and joked with the audience, welcoming them to a private VIP show referencing the low turn out for the show.  It was odd..a Saturday night and a great rock show but there were maybe 200 people in attendance.  New Jersey usually comes out for the hard rock, I don't know what was going on this night.  The upside is everyone got to move up close and both Trixter and Jackyl played like they were playing to an arena full of friends.





When the set ended I looked down and saw one of lead singer Pete Loran's guitar pics at my seat...sweet...and wouldn't be my only souvenir from the night.





Bergen PAC is an old school theatre with a bar out in the snazzy lobby.  Trixter hung out there meeting and greeting fans and taking pics right after their set.  Oddly they had no merchandise for sale.  Good show and it wouldn't surprise me if I end up seeing them again in April when Kix is playing, they always seem to get these shows.





But Paul you ask...what about the ass kickers you spoke of early on?

Well at a little past 9:00 the lights went down as the AC/DC intro music was cranked up.  The cover came off the drum kit and the onslaught began.











It was one of those shows where I was a bit too busy rockin' out (and taking photos...you may notice there is a ridiculous amount of photos in this post - click on them to super size them) to write down the exact setlist in the exact order but it went something like this...












The opened with "My Moonshine Kicks Your Cocaine's Ass" and we definitely had "Screwdriver" pretty soon after and "Down on Me" was the first of many songs off their classic self titled album.  While these do get the biggest reactions of the night, Jackyl is one of those bands that never stopped making albums and they all pretty much kick ass.









A nice surprise was when they busted out a cover of the Allman Brothers Band's "Midnight Rider" during which they kicked southern rock ass as the audience sang along.










"Mental Masturbation" was in there too but the second half of the set was almost all first album goodness..."I Stand Alone"..."When Will It Rain"..."Dirty Little Mind" into "Better Than Chicken" off 2012's "Best In Show".  If you have to ask what could possibly be better than chicken, well I gotta say you should go over to ITunes and download it and find out as lead singer Jesse James Dupree preaches truths like no other.







Then we got "Redneck Punk" and "She Loves My Cock" and suddenly we saw the chainsaw and new it was time for "The Lumberjack." As always Jesse's stool would not survive and would go home in pieces to member's of the audience.  While that was not my souvenir, early in the set guitarist Jeff Worley was playing guitar with a drumstick he got from drummer Chris Worley and tossed it to me when done...nice!  Bassist Roman Glick rounded out the four piece ass kicking machine.









Jesse announced on stage that the band would be going out to the merchandise table in the lobby to sign autographs, take photos and shake hands with everyone.  Five minutes after they left the stage, there they were.  Very cool indeed.  

AUTOGRAPH CONTEST:  I even got an extra one of the 8" x 10" photos I took from when I saw them at M3 last year signed for MostPeopleAreBlank's first ever giveaway.  If you are reading this between September 16 to September 23, 2014, click here to go to our Facebook page.  All you have to do to enter is Follow our Facebook page (If you haven't already) AND like this review on that page.  On September 24th I'll look at all the people who did both those things and randomly pick one winner.  One entry per facebook account.  I'll post the winner's name on the page and contact the winner via facebook messenger and you can let me know where to mail your photo.  No cost to you at all.  We'll see how this goes and I'll make this a new feature if people dig it.






I guess that's about it..the boys kicked ass, I hope they come back soon.  Go Follow the Facebook page to follow our posts (and in addition like this review post on our Facebook as well to enter the signed 8"x10" contest).  Enjoy all the photos below and feel free to comment and share (If you want to use any photos in your blog or article feel free, just give us photo credit and let us know where you post it so we can share the link as well.) As always Rock on and Enjoy!

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers / Steve Winwood - Hartford, CT September 13, 2014 Live Concert Review and Photos

Somehow, with all the concerts I've been to, I had never seen Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers before Saturday September 13, 2014 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.

So what did I think?  Well you all know these songs:
Breakdown
I Need To Know
Listen To Her Heart
Here Comes My Girl
Even The Losers
Don't Do Me Like That
The Waiting
A Woman in Love (It's Not Me)
You Got Lucky
Change of Heart
Don't Come Around Here No More

Well sadly Tom and the boys don't remember these or much else from their first 10 or so years and 7 albums...

Yes, you read that correct...NONE of the above were played in the 18 song set last night.

The night started out good with opener Steve Winwood, so we had a double bill of Rock n Roll Hall of Fame inductees(Winwood was inducted as part of Traffic).  The two acts would take on very different strategies in regards to their setlists.

Winwood opened with I'm a Man from his earliest days with The Spencer Davis Group and announced early on that his hour long set would be classics.  He was true to his word; His nine song set was almost all classics from his days with The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith.  His only 80's song was his number one hit "Higher Love" (He did not play his other number one hit "Roll with It" or "Valerie" and "Back in the High Live Again" which were also pretty big hits for him in the 80's.)  It was a strong opening set and  the crowd gave him thunderous applause and standing ovations numerous times through out (The first time three songs in after playing "Can't Find My Way Home") and at the end the whole audience stood up and applauded for almost a two full minutes as a beaming Winwood waved and thanked the crowd.



Here's the full set list:



I'm A Man (Spencer Davis Group)
Them Changes (Buddy Miles cover)
Can't Find My Way Home (Blind Faith)
Medicated Goo (Traffic)
Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (Traffic)
Empty Pages (Traffic)
Higher Love
Dear Mr. Fantasy (Traffic)
Gimme Some Lovin' (Spencer Davis Group)



Winwood's set ended at 8:30 and there was a half hour break until the lights went down on the packed house and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers came out playing their cover of The Byrds "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star".  A good start to the night!

Now before I get more into the set let me say a few things that I had assumed.  I thought Petty was known for basically doing a greatest hits set.  I understood they have a new album out ("Hypnotic Eye") and actually everyone who bought a ticket got a free copy.  It's okay and I knew of course they would be playing stuff from it, just hopefully not much.  In that respect, they did fine.  They played four songs from it during the night, so they didn't beat us over the head with new material and it gave the heavy drinking crowd (The beer lines at this show were EPIC...Petty fans like to party) plenty of opportunites to pour out into the halls for beer and/or pee runs.

But back to my "Greatest Hits" set assumption.  I know they sometimes do theatre tours such as playing a run of shows at say The Beacon Theatre in New York City or the Fillmore in San Francisco and it's known during those shows the band will forego alot of hits and I say that's awesome.  I dig it when my fave bands do that when they let the ticket buyers know that's the score, but on this Saturday night I was looking to hear the classics...



Well that old adage of you know what happens when you assume came true...



So after the opener they brought out "Mary Jane's Last Dance" which is not a fave at all - but I can't complain, it was a giant hit and I knew I'd be hearing it..this went into the first new song of the night "American Dream Plan B"...okay fine...a pretty weak opening salvo, but not unexpected tunes.



Next up another okay one..."Into the Great Wide Open" and probably around this time I realized this was one mid tempo concert...but some of those old classics gotta be coming soon...



The second new song of the night followed, "Forgotten Man"...Song number six was SURE to be a Heartbreakers classic...

Well, no.

Instead we got two Tom Petty solo hits and honestly ones I dig.  "I Won't Back Down" into "Free Fallin"  Fair enough.  I dig 'em.  Good singalongs...



Now I've since found at this part of the night (8 songs in if you're keeping count) the band, which has so far not played any Heartbreakers material from the 70's or the 80's, will play "A Woman in Love (It's Not Me)" which would have been awesome.  Instead they said something about hoping the crowd doesn't have anywhere to go because it's going to be a late night and they might play anything tonight and busted out The Traveling Wilburys' "Tweeter and the Monkey Man."  They not only played this, but did a 10 minute long ass jam version of it that lost the whole crowd.

Ugh.



After that another new song "U Get Me High" and then Tom says he's switching to acoustic for a few songs which was so odd because if you look at this set list, so far basically NOTHING rocked.  It was so mid tempo adult contemporary so I'm not sure why they felt they needed to lower the volume more, but alas it was one of the highlights of the night when they played "Rebels" from 1985's "Southern Accents".  A great song and a great rendition (let me make it clear that Petty SOUNDS great and so does the band) and gave me hope that I might actually hear some of those songs I expected would be played on this night.

This was followed by another Petty solo track with "Yer So Bad", another decent song.

"Learning To Fly" followed and I dig this song too...three good songs in a row...we're starting to build something here...but instead we get another new tune with "Shadow People" followed by "I Should Have Known It" from The Heartbreaker's 2010 album "Mojo"



Then...finally...a true classic with "Refugee" which went into "Runnin Down A Dream" (granted another solo Petty song, but a great rockin one)...NICE...FINALLY I saw what I thought I would have found out about 80 minutes earlier...that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is a ROCK BAND

Then the encore break...because why keep the excitement level going?

The crowd cheered and the band came back out with another Petty solo song in "You Wreck Me" (which I will say I love and was hoping they would play...I didn't think it would be a given they would play every solo Petty single instead of their own) and then the night ended with "American Girl" one of only three songs they played tonight from The Heartbreakers first seven albums (which is their entire 70's and 80's catalog).

Baffled and bummed was how I left this show.  I would love to hear from others that saw this tour.  Maybe if you're a super diehard fan you loved this setlist? The only thing I know is either I picked the wrong tour to see my first Petty show or maybe this is a standard tour setlist at this point and I missed the golden days by a few years.  I wouldn't go see him again unless I saw the setlist in advance and here's hoping that maybe in a year or two that greatest hits tour I was hoping for will come back around because I'll be there if it is.

Here's the setlist:
So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star (Byrds cover)
Mary Jane's Last Dance
American Dream Plan B 
Into the Great Wide Open
Forgotten Man 
I Won't Back Down 
Free Fallin' 
Tweeter and the Monkey Man (Traveling Wilburys cover)
U Get Me High 
Rebels
Yer So Bad 
Learning To Fly
Shadow People 
I Should Have Known It
Refugee
Runnin' Down a Dream 
Encore:
You Wreck Me 
American Girl

As always click the photos to super size them.  Go to our Facebook page link here to comment, email, share the link or click Like on the page to follow the blog.  Rock on and as always enjoy!

The Quireboys - Elmhurst, NY Blackthorn 51 - August 28, 2014 concert review and photos

Six songs into their late night set at Blackthorn 51 in Queens, The Quireboys - back in the NYC area for the first time in over two decades - played the title track to their 2001 album "This is Rock 'N' Roll" and it was fitting indeed.  This current six piece lineup (featuring Spike on vocals, Guy Griffin and Paul Guerin on guitars, Keith Weir on keyboards, Gary Ivin on bass and Dave McCluskey on drums) is a tight hard rockin unit which brought the goods for all those in attendance on this night.

The whole band was hanging out during the two opening acts and chatting with the fans who have been waiting a long time for their return or (such as in my case) to see them for the first time.  

They hit the stage a few minutes after midnight and played a great 90 minute set with a solid mix of songs from their debut "A Bit Of What You Fancy" through their just released "Black Eyed Sons".

Here's the setlist and photos from the show:

Black Mariah

Too Much of a Good Thing

Misled

There She Goes Again

Roses & Rings

This Is Rock 'N' Roll

Mona Lisa Smiled

Whippin' Boy

27 Years

I Don't Love You Anymore

Beautiful Curse

Tramps and Thieves

Hey You

Mother Mary

Sweet Mary Ann

7 O'Clock

Encore:  Sex Party

In the last day or two, Gene Simmons of Kiss announced that he felt rock is finally dead...well Gene isn't out in the clubs seeing bands like The Quireboys (and the next night Tom Keifer - review coming soon) just killing it with old classics and great new material.

I'm happy to report rock is surely still alive and well and if you're reading this, I bet you know that already, but next time tell your friend and bring them along - I can't imagine anyone going home from The Quireboys show not looking forward to the next one.  Let's hope an annual tour of the US is in the cards (and hey M3 Festival!  nudge nudge hint hint...would love to see the boys there the first weekend of May along with Tom Keifer who already let the cat out of the bag that he'll be attending.  I'd love to relive this 24 hours of hard rock goodness to end the summer!)

As always, you can click on any photo for a supersized version.  Also please come over and like the Facebook page for our website (click here) and feel free to comment.  If anyone would like to use any of these pictures in their blog or article, we have no problem with that - we just ask you give credit and let us know where you are using the photo so we can promote it as well.  Until next time, as always...Enjoy and Rock on!