L.A.M.F. at Bowery Electric, NYC - November 15, 2016

Tuesday, November 15, 2016 was the first of three sold out "Very Special Performance of Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreaker's L.A.M.F." by Walter Lure (of the Heartbreakers, The Waldos), Wayne Kramer (of MC5), Tommy Stinson (of The Replacements, Bash & Pop, Guns n Roses) and Clem Burke (of Blondie) plus various special guests at The Bowery Electric (a late show after this one was added at the Marlin Room at Webster Hall).

Tickets said 8:00pm so me and my buddies Jimmy and Kev took the train down and got to the club about 7:15.  We went downstairs where the show was taking place and literally no one else was there yet.  Checked out the merch table and each picked up a signed poster (only 30 available...not sure if that was overall or just for this show) and the boys got a shirt and some CD's.  I grabbed some beers and we planted ourselves in a spot over on the right side of the stage.



By 8:00 the place was about 2/3 full when New York Junk took the stage.



They are always good and by the end of their rockin set the place was jam packed.



We then witnessed the quickest set change ever.  I believe it took The Threads four minutes tops to get ready before kickin off their fantastic high powered set.



I shot a whole lot of video at this show and here's one of The Threads doing "Scream and Shout"

After the Threads we wondered aloud which side Wayne Kramer would be on (we knew Tommy Stinson would be right in front of us) and it turn out that Wayne's awesome photographer Tracy Ketcher happened to be right next to us and let us know Wayne would be right here too.  NICE!

Then the setlist was taped down (oh yeah, it came home with me) and we saw Cheetah Chrome (of The Dead Boys) would be joining the band for a few tunes.  We already knew Jesse Malin had been rehearsing with them and Handsome Dick Manitoba (of The Dictators and the owner of the best bar in NYC, Manitoba's) was announced on the poster (although a bit of a bummer he only did one song - although what a killer performance - video below).  The only other special guest we didn't know about was Lynne Von.  Debbie Harry of Blondie showed up at the late show, but alas not at ours.  Excellent job by all special guests.



The band soon came on stage and it was a loose, at times chaotic, killer set.  Sure some lyrics weren't right here and there and sure Tommy didn't have much patience waiting for some of the special guests to come on stage (or waiting for some whiskey to be brought his way), but goddamn it was true rock n roll...literally in our faces.

It was a 17 song set and below are the nine I got on video.  It really is so close it's almost like you're there, so I'll let you watch and enjoy for yourself.  Below I'll also post about 40 or so photos from the show as well.  Afterward I had the pleasure of meeting Wayne and Clem whom I've never met before.  Tommy unfortunately was not in the hang around mood this time out, but I did get his pick (Thank you again Tracy!) as well as Wayne's.  A damn near perfect night of good times and great music.

Setlist:
Born To Lose (Tommy on vocals) - video

Baby Talk (Tommy on vocals)
All By Myself (Walter on vocals)
I Wanna Be Loved (Jesse Malin on vocals)
It's Not Enough (Jesse Malin on vocals)
Chinese Rocks (Walter and Tommy on vocals) - video

Get Off The Phone (Walter on vocals)
Pirate Love (Jesse Malin on vocals and Cheetah Chrome on guitar) - video

One Track Mind (Walter on vocals)
I Love You (Lynne Von on vocals) - video

Goin' Steady (Cheetah Chrome on vocals and guitar) - video above includes this
Let Go (Wayne on vocals)
Can't Keep My Eyes On You (Clem on vocals)
Do You Love Me? (Wayne on vocals) - video

You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory (Jesse Malin on vocals) - video above includes this
Kick Out The Jams (Handsome Dick Manitoba on vocals) - video

Too Much Junkie Business (Walter and Jesse Malin on vocals) - video above includes this

If you dug this go to the MostPeopleAreBlank Facebook page by following this link and click the "Like" button to join (as shown below) to be kept up to date on future posts, to comment, share and take part in our giveaways and contests! 

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

I have to do a special shout out to this gal.  She was perhaps the most "excited" fan in the house and during the second or third song of the set just wandered on stage and was mesmerized by Tommy's bass playing to the enjoyment of Wayne.  Then you'll see below as she dances front and center when Wayne was singing "Do You Love Me?"  You'll also see an appearance by her in one of the videos. All I can say if she is reading this is - ROCK ON!

Me with Wayne Kramer and Clem Burke

Concert Review: Manitoba - The Bowery Electric, NYC January 26, 2012

     Handsome Dick Manitoba is back with a great new band made up of old friends and bandmates including Daniel Rey (guitar) and J.P. Patterson (drums) from Manitoba's Wild Kingdom along with Dean Rispler (bass). The band is rounded out by Ross The Boss also from MWK and the Dictators (not to mention Manowar - saw quite a few Manowar fans in attendance and numerous signs of the hammer being thrown in the air throughout the night.)

     This was my first time at The Bowery Electric, a multilevel club/bar a block away from where CBGB once was, which is co-owned by Jesse Malin whose birthday just happened to be this night. It must be nice to be able to throw a party like this to celebrate!

     My buddy and I took the train down from Poughkeepsie and cabbed it to the club getting there about 8:45 or so. We walked in and were directed down the stairs through the velvet curtains into a great tiny space to see a show! There's a small low stage with maybe 20' x 25' feet in front of it, then you can walk up about 5 steps to a long narrow bar space (with an additional small extra bar room with a mini bar at the back.)

     Not many folks there when we arrived - maybe 40 tops, but seeing how small it was we knew this joint was gonna be packed for the second gig ever by Manitoba! Two more friends arrived, we drank, chatted, watched the three openers and at 11:30 on the dot, the lights went down and the theme song from "Chariots of Fire" played as the band came on stage - very epic indeed!

     As expected the place was PACKED.  I saw a sign on the wall saying occupancy was limited to 108, but I think it had to be closer to 200. The show had sold out a few days prior, but I'm sure those in attendance did did not just include all the folks who scored a tic, but also those lucky enough to know someone who could get them on the guestlist.

     The "Chariots" theme ended and the band blasted into "The Party Starts Now!!" by Manitoba's Wild Kingdom. As stated above, this was the band's second show ever (the first being part of the "Light Of Day" Festival about two weeks earlier) but they sounded like they'd been playing together for years...and well, in essence they have been in various combinations.

     "Party..." was followed up by a Dictators triple shot with "The Next Big Thing", "Avenue A" and Baby, Let's Twist". Just about every song in the set with preceeded with an energetic and always humorous tale from HDM. The setlist that followed was:

Haricut and Attitude (Manitoba's Wild Kingdom)
Pussy and Money (The Dictators) - This is absolutely one of my faves and was glad they played it!
Who Will Save Rock n Roll (The Dictators)
Prototype (Manitoba's Wild Kingdom) - This was so friggin rockin! Awesome!
Slow Death - The Flamin' Groovies cover that was done by the Dictators
Faster and Louder (The Dictators)
New York New York (Manitoba's Wild Kingdom)
Stay With Me (The Dictators).

     "Stay With Me" was a great end to the main set which lasted about an hour.  We knew there had to be at least a little more to come when the band left the stage. Amongst cheers they came back about 5 minutes later starting off the encore set with the obvious choice of "Two Tub Man" which included an extended band introduction in the middle.

     "Tub" was followed by a great suprise for the crowd that wasn't even noted on the setlist (I nabbed Dean's setlist after the show as shown below). HDM introduced the club's proprietor and Birthday boy Jesse Malin who joined the band for the last two numbers.

     The first of these was a KILLER version of The Stooges "Loose!" Jesse basically took main vocals on this while HDM rocked out and did some back up. The night was ended with the punk tinged surf rock of another cover the Dictators did - "California Sun" which featured HDM and Jesse trading off verses. Then it was a done and I was off to catch the last train home to Poughkeepsie. Great show and hopefully we'll be seeing Manitoba playing out often.