alantig
Zombie Four, DFZ
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2012
- Messages
- 14,942
Man, what a weekend.
Started out with Joe Bonamassa - first time I got to see him. I was supposed to go see him about 12-14 years ago, but there was either a conflict with my son’s baseball, or rain, or both. That was a free arts festival show. This was not. 2:15 of non-stop fantastic playing. There was a guitar for sale before the show - he played it onstage and signed it (they specified the song). After the show, I saw three people with guitar cases. Don’t know if they were all the same deal or what. Lots of stuff from the new album (which is very good), quite a few covers of classic stuff. The band is tight as all get-out. I believe this was the first tine I’ve gotten to see Anton Fig in person, and he didn’t disappoint. Reese Wynan was on keyboards - saw him a couple times with SRV and once at Experience. What a player. The main set ended with “I Can’t Quit You Baby” and “How Many More Times”. My buddy said, “Jimmy Page never played those songs that well.” He also said, “Man, he makes that look so easy.”
The highlight for me came about 2/3 of the way through the show. Joe introduced the band, then said, “You may have noticed we have an extra amplifier on stage.” Well, yeah, I did, but I thought it was his - I hadn’t seen his amps behind the plexiglass shields (there was some glare there). “We want to bring out a friend to join us.” So, instantly, I start thinking of Pittsburgh guitarists who might join him. I’m ashamed to say the first one I thought of was Glenn Pavone - possibly the best Pittsburgh blues guitarist and one of my favorites, but ashamed because he died a few years ago. Still the first name to pop into my head. Donnie Iris? No - not a blues player. Joe Grushecky? That’s a possibility. Joe said, “This man comes from Austin, Texas...”. Well, who’s touring around here? Nobody came to mind. “You know him from his work with Joe Ely...”. And I said - way too loudly - “No way!” Yes way - David Grissom! One of my favorites. We very seldom get special guests here - this was maybe the third or fourth in my nearly 50 years of going to concerts. They tossed of solos and did not disappoint whatsoever. I pretty much floated home.
Sunday, it was off to Cleveland for one of my favorite bands of all time. Sorry, Shawn. My first show on the End Of The Road tour, just four months shy of the 40th anniversary of the first time I saw them on the Dynasty tour. Yes...it was time for Kiss! They did not disappoint whatsoever. The stage set was out of this world. The band is pretty tight - it’s pretty obvious they love having Tommy Thayer in the band. Paul’s voice is not at its strongest, but he seems to have learned how to compensate for it. Gene’s voice hasn’t lost a thing. There have been accusations of lip-syncing, but I didn’t see anything that would make me think that happened - put it this way, if Paul lip-synced, it was the best job ever. I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to the set lists - saw them, but didn’t commit them to memory. So there were several “oh yeah, that’s right” moments when certain songs came up. I really felt my excitement building when “Rock And Roll” started on the PA before the show because that was the last song before the show started. My legs were bouncing like crazy. Being the last tour, I really expected things to hit me hard (I’ve become way emotional at these things as I’ve gotten older - the Who and Elton John shows later this year are going to be tough), but I was fine through the show. Until “Black Diamond” - that’s my favorite Kiss song and has long been one of my favorites to play. I really felt myself choking up on that one. And then again when the drum riser went up at the end of the song and revealed the cat tapestry from the Love Gun/Alive II era. I’d never seen that live before, and it put a real lump in my throat. I was pretty much in heaven. And the best thing is I get to do it again in less than two weeks - without the 2.5 hour drive home afterwards! (And I’m still hoping for additional dates close enough to drive to.)
Started out with Joe Bonamassa - first time I got to see him. I was supposed to go see him about 12-14 years ago, but there was either a conflict with my son’s baseball, or rain, or both. That was a free arts festival show. This was not. 2:15 of non-stop fantastic playing. There was a guitar for sale before the show - he played it onstage and signed it (they specified the song). After the show, I saw three people with guitar cases. Don’t know if they were all the same deal or what. Lots of stuff from the new album (which is very good), quite a few covers of classic stuff. The band is tight as all get-out. I believe this was the first tine I’ve gotten to see Anton Fig in person, and he didn’t disappoint. Reese Wynan was on keyboards - saw him a couple times with SRV and once at Experience. What a player. The main set ended with “I Can’t Quit You Baby” and “How Many More Times”. My buddy said, “Jimmy Page never played those songs that well.” He also said, “Man, he makes that look so easy.”
The highlight for me came about 2/3 of the way through the show. Joe introduced the band, then said, “You may have noticed we have an extra amplifier on stage.” Well, yeah, I did, but I thought it was his - I hadn’t seen his amps behind the plexiglass shields (there was some glare there). “We want to bring out a friend to join us.” So, instantly, I start thinking of Pittsburgh guitarists who might join him. I’m ashamed to say the first one I thought of was Glenn Pavone - possibly the best Pittsburgh blues guitarist and one of my favorites, but ashamed because he died a few years ago. Still the first name to pop into my head. Donnie Iris? No - not a blues player. Joe Grushecky? That’s a possibility. Joe said, “This man comes from Austin, Texas...”. Well, who’s touring around here? Nobody came to mind. “You know him from his work with Joe Ely...”. And I said - way too loudly - “No way!” Yes way - David Grissom! One of my favorites. We very seldom get special guests here - this was maybe the third or fourth in my nearly 50 years of going to concerts. They tossed of solos and did not disappoint whatsoever. I pretty much floated home.
Sunday, it was off to Cleveland for one of my favorite bands of all time. Sorry, Shawn. My first show on the End Of The Road tour, just four months shy of the 40th anniversary of the first time I saw them on the Dynasty tour. Yes...it was time for Kiss! They did not disappoint whatsoever. The stage set was out of this world. The band is pretty tight - it’s pretty obvious they love having Tommy Thayer in the band. Paul’s voice is not at its strongest, but he seems to have learned how to compensate for it. Gene’s voice hasn’t lost a thing. There have been accusations of lip-syncing, but I didn’t see anything that would make me think that happened - put it this way, if Paul lip-synced, it was the best job ever. I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to the set lists - saw them, but didn’t commit them to memory. So there were several “oh yeah, that’s right” moments when certain songs came up. I really felt my excitement building when “Rock And Roll” started on the PA before the show because that was the last song before the show started. My legs were bouncing like crazy. Being the last tour, I really expected things to hit me hard (I’ve become way emotional at these things as I’ve gotten older - the Who and Elton John shows later this year are going to be tough), but I was fine through the show. Until “Black Diamond” - that’s my favorite Kiss song and has long been one of my favorites to play. I really felt myself choking up on that one. And then again when the drum riser went up at the end of the song and revealed the cat tapestry from the Love Gun/Alive II era. I’d never seen that live before, and it put a real lump in my throat. I was pretty much in heaven. And the best thing is I get to do it again in less than two weeks - without the 2.5 hour drive home afterwards! (And I’m still hoping for additional dates close enough to drive to.)
