Moline Was My Kind of Party

If you haven’t read my other blogs than you might not know how much I hate fan clubs, but for once I gave in and joined a pointless fan club so I wouldn’t miss out on premium seats. It’s weird to probably think that this next concert would’ve never happened if it had not been for my mom being drunk in Chicago after a Cubs game.

While driving back to the hotel after that game my mom…wanting to still rock out, I’m sure kept reaching up and turning up the radio. After fighting over the radio for a while with her I decided to give in and let her blast the radio. While dealing with the ridiculously heavy 5 o’clock Chicago traffic and the blaring radio, a song that I had never heard before happen to come onto the radio like it was sent from heaven above. The song was, “Good to be me,” by Uncle Kracker and Kid Rock and to be honest I’m surprised this song didn’t define the summer of 2010, like Kid Rock’s previous summer classic, “All Summer Long.” “Good to be me,” is an amazing song and I instantly feel in love with it along with instantly gaining more respect for Uncle Kracker. The song really summed up my life at that point in time, coming back from a Cubs win and in Chicago on vacation a couple of days before the 4th of July, Damn it feels good to be me.

I never realized until I heard that song in Chicago how big of a fan I actually was of Uncle Kracker’s music, so at the start of this semester when I browsing the Ticketmaster website I saw that Jason Aldean and Uncle Kracker were going to be in Moline at the I-wireless center. The tickets didn’t go on sale to the general public for a couple of days, and the pre-sale fan club tickets were already on sale. Deciding that I didn’t want to miss out on premium seats, again because of some stupid fan club I hesitantly joined Aldean’s fan club and good decent mid range floor seats…It was worth it after all.

The Saturday night of October 23rd came around and I was off to Moline to see Uncle Kracker and Jason Aldean. The I-wireless center is located downtown Moline, right on the river front and thanks to a pretty constant downpour all day the town seemed pretty dull and lifeless. However, as we stood in line waiting to get in, it became clear to me that unlike me many of these people had come to see Aldean and could careless about Uncle Kracker and to be honest before this summer I probably wouldn’t have cared about either one. As they began to let us in security told everyone to take everything out of their pockets and then proceeded to pat everyone down. REALLY? REALLY??? No disrespect to the security guards who were just doing there jobs and I do like to feel safe, but in place that is slightly smaller than the Civic Center, but slightly larger than the U.S. Cellular Coliseum, I don’t think that emptying of the pockets and the pat downs were necessary. But who am I to make that call.

After jumping through some more security hoops such as the hand stamp for floor seaters and countless ticket checks. We made it to our seats safe and secure thanks to the fine security guards of the I-wireless Center in Moline. Thompson Square was the opening act for both of the headliners and this young Country/Rock band who are led by a pretty dynamic husband and wife team was an excellent touch to begin the show that really combined both of the upcoming styles of music later in the show. They played like four songs ranging from their new hit single, “Are you Gonna Kiss Me or Not,” and they finished their segment with Led Zepplin’s, “Rock& Roll.”

Next Uncle Kracker took the stage and to open it up he came onto the stage playing the classic country song, “Swingin,” by John Anderson. U.K. had a unique style to his performance, even though he is not as old or as accomplished as other singers that can get up on stage and tell stories and sing, he pulled it off and his performance was somewhat similar to Hank Williams Jr., in a sense. U.K. played everything from Kenny Roger’s, “The gambler,” to Kid Rock’s, “All Summer Long,” to even his own, “Good to be me,” which I’m pretty sure I was the only person that knew that song in the crowd. U.K.’s part of the show was really good and his performance has prompted me to purchase tickets to another one his shows in Springfield in December.

Jason Aldean came onto the stage next with a burst of energy singing, “My Kind of Party,” to the entire crowd’s delight. However, for the entire night Aldean didn’t sway from the style of playing a slow song then an upbeat intense song, establishing kind of awkward rhythm for the audience and the show. Along with playing some new music from his new album he played all of his hits and the audience definitely got what they came to see. It was no surprise to me or to anybody else in the audience that his encore for the city of MOLINE would be, “Big Green Tractor,” but his last song, which however did surprise me was Kid Rock’s, “Cowboy.” His version of the song was really good and made sure the rowdy country crowd wouldn’t be going to bed anytime in the near future. Overall the concert was an excellent combination of Country/Rock/Hip Hop ranging from the beginning to end and I will definitely be seeing these singers again in the future.

The best ten dollars I ever spent.

I have come to the conclusion that during the summer of 2010 the Rock & Roll gods were on my side because how I heard about this next concert was a fluke. I was surfing the internet one summer afternoon and happen to come across an offer proposed on the Live Nation website. The great and seemingly to good to be true offer was ten-dollar lawn seats at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater in Tinley Park to see Buckcherry and the legendary Aerosmith. Wait, Wait, Yes, that’s right ten-dollar lawn seats to see Buckcherry and Aerosmith, who could turn that down it was like they were paying me to go see them. After multiple double takes I began to think that this offer was still good to be true: Is this an Aerosmith without one or both of the Toxic Twins? Is this an Aerosmith tribute band? Is this another different band, ironically called Aerosmith, but not the original? After doing a little research I found out that thankfully the answer to all of my questions was no and without further hesitation I purchased the tickets.

The concert was on Sunday August 22nd, the day before ICC started back up…yeah talk about great timing. Anyways, this was my first concert in Tinley Park and after hearing countless stories of how incredible the place is, I was more or less ecstatic about seeing this sure to be rowdy concert. For those of you who have not been to the First Midwest Amphitheater let me take a second and describe the area. The Amphitheater is located on a huge hill on the outskirts of Tinley Park, and multiple parking lots surround this mountain of Rock & Roll. The stage is completely outside, but there is an open type building that surrounds and covers that provides premium box seats and private upper boxes. Past all the actual seats there is the lawn, which I would estimate to be about the size of one two football fields that almost wrap around the stage and building.

When we arrived at the concert and pulled into one of the five or six parking lots the sight was pretty incredible. Row upon Row of cars filled with people just hanging out, tailgating, partying, and rocking out to classic Aerosmith. There was no uptight security frowning on the public display of drunkenness, just workers parking cars. It was truly a sight to be hold. Waiting in line for the concert to begin I realized that this was going to be a monumental concert, a huge behemoth of music and rockers. For the amount of people who were there, there was minimal security no metal detectors, nothing and it embraced the feel of those classic rock concert stories that your parents tell you, “Saw The Who back in ’73, yeah four people died during the show, the National Guard was called, but Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey kept playing.” You know stuff like that.

The sight of the amphitheater is a pretty breathtaking sight and finding our grassy seats was a pretty simple feat. I’m not for sure how many people were at this concert, but I’m sure there was somewhere between 50 and 70,000 people. It was nuts. The seats were a classic example of you get what you pay for, the lawn is a ways back from the stage, but for ten dollars it was totally worth it.

The concert started and Buckcherry took the stage and immediately you could tell the party had started close to the stage and would slowly make its way back to end of the lawn. They sounded good and played a lot of new stuff from their new album. The guy sitting next to me kept commenting on how weird of a pairing this was Buckcherry and Aerosmith??? Really? I don’t think it was such a weird pairing, I mean sure they are on two different sides of the age spectrums, but the two bands have a lot in common; High energy rock, High energy lead singers, a classic and unique sound. I would almost argue that Buckcherry is a modern-day Aerosmith, but I’m not going to waste the time. Anyways Buckcherry was really good and they concluded their part of the show with the party favorite Crazy $#%*!

Now it was time for what I had been waiting for the entire night, almost the entire summer besides Tom Petty. Steven Tyler burst Aerosmith onto the night with the song Same old song and dance. Tyler’s high energy performance never lagged throughout the night and his screams never dulled into his scarf draped microphone. Steven Tyler and lead guitarist Joe Perry made the concert a lot of fun with antics such as Tyler hoping into the crowd and letting fans sing parts of Rag Doll, Perry battling his guitar hero character on a mega screen, and their drummer got into the action too with what seemed to be a twenty-minute drum solo where at one point about ten minutes he threw his sticks into the crowd, but proceeded to play them with his hands, feet, and head. Talk about talent. Aerosmith played what seemed to be every song they have ever made and with the encore consisting of Dream on and Walk this Way the epic almost five-hour concert came to tiring end. Aerosmith and Buckcherry’s concert performances may have been my first, but will defiantly not be my last. But I still have one question… Tell me what it takes to let you go Aerosmith?

It’s Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Need I say more?

This next concert story that I’m about to tell is my all time favorite concert that I have ever been to, hands down. The best. The Greatest. Seriously a dream come true…(so what if I’m biased.)

I don’t know when I started to really listen to this singer, I can’t pinpoint a certain date, but nevertheless whenever I started I fell in love with everything about him and he is my overall favorite. His unique songs, his deep intellectual lyrics, his “I don’t care what you think about me attitude,” and his overall coolness. Tom Petty is my hero and I won’t be afraid to admit that I have a man-crush for him. In a list of people who are important in my life it goes as follows, 1.Tom Petty 2. Jesus 3. My parents 4. My girlfriend (sorry Hailey, but you know how I feel about Tom.) In other words, I would take a bullet for Tom any day of the week. Anyways, like I was saying Tom Petty is cool, and there is just something about his lyrics that click with me on a deeper more intellectual basis.

Tom Petty hadn’t been on tour since 2007 and for some reason unknown to me I hadn’t started listening to his music yet, but back in February of this year when I was cruising around his website I read the incredible news that him and his band the Heartbreakers were releasing their first studio album in eight years, Mojo, and were going on tour finally. I looked at the tour dates saw they were playing in Chicago at the United Center on July 17th and immediately called Hailey to release the breaking news. We had already planned a Cub’s game on her birthday, which happened to be the 15th and the concert being just two days away we decided to stay in Chicago for the weekend. The perfect scheduling and timely tour release can only mean one thing, GOD WANTED ME TO SEE TOM PETTY! The one regret I have about this concert is that I didn’t join his fan club (HIS FAN CLUB, PEOPLE, I HATE FAN CLUBS) I don’t know why I didn’t because I missed out on some prime floor seating. The day the tickets went on sale I skipped classes to purchase them and to my great great great great disappointment the closest seats I could get were in the upper bowl. Disappointed I still bought them because I knew it would still be a good show and I would’ve gone up to the United Center anyways the night of the concert and put my ear up against the outside wall if I had too.

July rolled around and after two spectacular days in Chicago filled with a Cub’s win over the Phillies (Philadelphia will you ever learn,) and Giordano’s pizza, it was time to rock out hardcore. This was the first time I had been to the United Center and the overall size was impressive enough. As I sat in my upper deck seat I realized this was my dream come true. Tom will never need an opener in my book, but the hard-rock/southern-rock/metal/country band The Drive-By Truckers opened the show. Before the concert I had never heard of them before, but their edgy unique music made me fan and their song Zip City is probably my favorite from the concert. Probably over half the crowd showed up after The Drive-By Truckers were done and up until that point I was kind of angry as to why these were the closest seats I could get.

Tom and the Heartbreakers opened up the show with the song “Listen to her Heart,” and it was soon clear that this was going to be an amazing but simple show with no useless lasers, light shows, or special effects; just Tom belting out his music. After the song was over he said, “Yeah me and the guys have been asking all week hey when’s Chicago, when’s Chicago,” then he broke into “You Don’t Know How it Feels.” Throughout every song, well except for the five new songs from the Mojo album, the entire audience sang along, there was Tom and the Heartbreakers and 25,000 backup singers. During the span of the five new Mojo songs the a small portion of the crowd refreshed themselves by going to the bathroom and getting another beer, but me on the other hand gladly listened to his new blues-y songs. The highlight of the show for me was during the song “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” when towards the end of the song when the song gets faster strobe lights flashed his presence as he danced around the stage. Their encore was two songs, “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and “American Girl,” in which before he asked, “Are you ready????” Tom Petty went in and out with a bang and never lacked in between. The biggest surprise, however about the band is how good they sounded. I was afraid that being up in the upper deck and their age, that their sound would be distorted, but they sounded as if you were listening to them on a CD, they sounded amazing. Have I seen concerts with more energy and more excitement? Yes, but that’s not Tom’s style and I’m glad he didn’t try to make the show to be that way. His concert was real a display of how music should sound. All I have to say is Tom Petty Rocks, and that’s all I have to say about that.

Blowfish and Rascals. What?

To me, my blogs feel like I’m writing about ancient history, not that they’re boring topics, just that these concerts happened a long time ago, even if was just a couple of years ago. However, this next concert happened earlier this year (really speeding through time now. ) The two headliners were both country superstars, but like some of my previous concerts one of the two was more of my style, whereas the other I wasn’t too overly excited to see.

This recent concert was the Darius Rucker and Rascal Flatts venue at the Civic Center in Peoria. Now before I continue this blog let me just throw this out there this concert was my girlfriend’s idea, seeing is how she is a big Rascal Flatts fan I was kind of obligated to buy tickets. However, I wasn’t dreading it too much because Hootie was going to be there too. Let me stop again and clarify something, for those of you who don’t know the 90’s band Hootie and the Blowfish, go out right now buy their album Cracked Rear View and fall in love with it, because if you don’t recognize the songs “Hold My Hand,” “Let Her Cry,” or “Only Want to be With You,” you obviously must have been dead to the world in the 90’s. Granted I was only four when they released that album, but my mom played that tape over and over again in our Jeep anywhere we went and I thank her for that. But still these are the three biggest hits for the band Hootie and the Blowfish and should be recognizable by anyone. Anyways back to what I was trying to clarify, the lead singer of the Hootie and the Blowfish was Darius Rucker and after a long lay-off from the music scene, Rucker has reemerged and reinvented himself over the past couple of years into a developing country music superstar. Rucker has a very unique somewhat raspy voice and it is hard to not appreciate his music and his own voice turns his now country influenced music into a unique style and feel.

Back to the concert, the concert was on the night of February 18th, 2010 and was part of Rascal Flatts Unstoppable Tour. Our floor seats were about twenty rows back and were pretty good considering that the first ten or fifteen rows were saved for his fan club. I HATE FAN CLUBS!!!!! (Before this concert I tried to get tickets to the Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown Band, Miranda Lambert concert in Bloomington, but the majority of the tickets were already sold to his fan club and when I showed up and stood in line for 2 hours the remaining tickets disappeared in 3 minutes.) The first part of the show was my favorite and my highlight of the night because Darius opened the show for Flatts. Rucker brought a lot of energy to the stage and was laid back in his performance all at once. Rucker started out with many of his recent country hits and then FINALLY played “Let Her Cry” and “Only Wanna be with You.” (It’s a good thing he played them because I probably would’ve left after him, if he didn’t.) Rucker’s laid back performance and story-telling reminded me of another country singer I had seen at the Civic Center, Bocephus. And like Hank Jr. at the Civic Center, Rucker surprisingly sang Hank’s anthem, “Family Tradition,” and as Rucker sang the lyrics “Lord I have loved some ladies and I have loved Jim Beam and they both tried to kill me back in 1973,” Rucker replaced ’73 with ’93, which pleased me a lot because of the direct reference to his days of Hootie. Rucker’s encore was even more pleasing to me because it was “Hold my Hand,” and after he left the stage I continued to chant Hootie.

Next was Rascal Flatts, and the amount of energy Hootie had, was greatly exceeded by Flatts. Their tremendous amount energy let alone was enough to prove they were unstoppable. They preformed all of their hits and many more from their new album. Even though I wasn’t totally digging their sound they were still really fun to see because their crowd interaction was great. Not only did one of the band members joke about how short the girls wear the skirts in Peoria, lead singer Gary LeVox lifted a girl onto his shoulders during one of their slower songs. Overall, I have to admit the band Rascal Flatts are great performers and the put on an incredible show. This concert was great overall and it reinstated my love for Hootie, (Okay, and maybe a little for Flatts as well.)

Country Hootenanny was “Something to Be Proud Of,” Atleast For Some.

With over 100 mosquito bites on my back, a knee that was still split open and broken from a dirt-bike accident, and a camping experience from the previous night that was filled with torrential downpours; the events throughout the summer that led up to this next concert proved to be easily forgotten by this concert performance.

This concert was a Country showcase of many top names in the Country music business that included; Candy Coburn, James Otto, Kellie Pickler, and Montgomery Gentry. Montgomery Gentry, being the primary reason for me going to the concert. Montgomery Gentry is a solid country duo that mixes a heavy country sound in with a reasonable amount of Rock; I feel that they are the newest and best Southern Rock group around. This Country concert was scheduled on August 21st, 2009 at the Illinois State Fair and I was hoping that this concert would be as good as the last one I saw at the State Fair… at least B&D at the Fair.

The night of the 21st finally came around and under ominous looking skies my girlfriend and I, along with many other concert goers were wondering if they were going to get this show in before it started to downpour yet again. Candy Coburn, the opener, of the opener, of the opener, took the stage as a slight mist began to fall. Having not ever hearing of this Coburn before, I was expecting a less than memorable experience and I’m sure after her performance she would’ve liked to forget about it too. Coburn got in a couple of songs as the wind and the rain started to pick up and in the middle of prob her third or fourth song, she slipped and fell on the increasingly slippery stage…FYI: stillettos and wet surfaces don’t mix. Coburn got back to her feet and continued to sing, but her fall and the damp Springfield night put her out of the mood and after performing only a couple more songs Coburn left the stage, leaving us wonder if that’s all we were going to see.

However, the rain let up and the crew dried off the stage and James Otto took the stage. Otto was riding high, coming off of his newest release “I just got started loving you.” Otto was an interesting performance because not only did his hits from his young career, he belted out some deep classic country, soul, mo-town, and some rock. Otto’s classic voice ensures that if his young succesful country career takes a nose dive he can sing and perform in any tribute band. Otto embellishes every trait that a country super star has except a mega chart topping hit, but time is all he needs.

The next performer was Pickler herself, and like Otto she was riding high off of her new release, “Best days of Your Life.” Pickler busted onto the stage with that new hit and continued to crank out her hits that emphasized her unique sound. Pickler sounded good, but her overall performance kind of lagged on as she seemed as if she didn’t want to be out singing while everyone was waiting for the next downpour. Pickler would get the crowd riled up and then bring them back down with a slow song, which even though her slower songs are good the set list needed to be reorganized for the rowdy fair crowd. Pickler was definitely running on fumes and everyone knew it or maybe she was just didn’t want to get hair wet I don’t know.

Montgomery Gentry had a similar entrance to Kid Rock; them being behind a white screen and everyone seeing their shadows, hearing them rocking out, and then the curtain dropped and they exploded onto the stage. I, myself am not a huge country fan and I tend to be more pick and chose of which country songs or artists I listen too. However, listening to Montgomery Gentry made me realize how many hits they actually do have and how they are re-defining or reviving the classic Southern Rock genre. Montgomery Gentry put on one helluva show and are excellent story tellers as well. M&G are definitely worthy of holding the top spot in my category of favorite country band. I know I was a “lucky man” that night, that the heavy thunderous rain held off long enough to see them perform and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing them again.

Who Do You Love? Lonesome George?

The winter is usually a pretty dormant season for concerts with not many people in their right minds wanting to stand out in the snow watching a concert and many indoor arenas preoccupied with indoor sports such as hockey and basketball, the winter isn’t very exciting. However, during the winter of 2008 many of my favorite radio stations such as, 955 WGLO and 1023 MAX FM, broke the news that legendary blues rocker George Thorogood and the Destroyers were coming to the East Peoria Event Center. The word of cheap twenty-dollar tickets in a small shed of an Event center quickly spread to my friends and we knew that Monday March 2nd we would be rocking out to a true Rock&Roll Blues legend.

The tickets were on sale through Co-op record stores and the day they went on sale I was there waiting for them to open expecting another line of ex-cons and old hippies. However, when I got there was nobody, nobody at all, so I knew at least we would have good seats, or so I thought. When the doors opened, I eagerly went inside and asked about the tickets, but the guy who probably drinks alone a lot of the time, wasn’t thrilled to be there at ten in the morning and said, “Uh, yeah, right, about the tickets I don’t think he has dropped them off yet, yeah no he def hasn’t uh try back maybe in a couple of days.” A couple of days???? Really? I thought to myself, who hasn’t dropped them off yet God, Thorogood himself, His buddy Dave who was conveniently locked outside of this guy’s apartment with the stuff? Disappointed and a little mad I left figuring that I wouldn’t get good seats because of this guy. However, I took the guys advice came back the next and “Thank the good lord,” the tickets were there. All the tickets were general admission and after I received them I called up my seven other friends who were going and told them the news.

Monday, March 2nd rolled around and the convoy of people, which consisted of my sister, her boyfriend, Jeremiah, Nick Brand, Jake Schultz, Brandon Whittaker, Ethan Riegler, me, and my old lady traveled down to EP to witness Lonesome George in all his greatness. We skipped on the pre-concert tradition of Hooter’s wings and after arriving at the pole barn type building and surveying the crowd we knew we were the youngest people there. This proved to be a good thing because when the garage doors opened and let us into the main part where the concert was, we out-ran the other aging hipsters and got up next to the stage.

King George’s opening act was a less than memorable blues saxophone player from Chicago. So un-remarkable I can’t remember his name, overall his music wasn’t bad, but they were old and I mean old (If I remember correctly one of his back up guitar players was in a wheel chair) and their music was almost a lullaby that put the would be rowdy crowd to sleep, it was a terrible opening act. However, the half an hour or so of blues that they played got over soon enough and Thorogood was ready to rock. Thorogood came onto a no frills stage, just basic lighting with no banners or special effects. George however, revived the crowd and really pumped life back into the show. He rocked hard as he went through all of his hits and really proved that he could still move it on over. The only downfall of the concert other than the lame opening act was the Event Center itself, the small area enclosed by metal walls created a bad echo that somewhat distorted the sound. Thorogood and the Destroyers were a tremendous live show and that left me wishing I had been alive thirty years ago to see them when they were younger and more powerful than ever. His performance is a guarantee that the aging hipsters that skipped it to drink alone or to get a haircut or something else were sorry.

The Texas Trio and a Splitting Country Duo Get Mixed Reviews

The style of my first concert, being one with a classic rock band mixed with a classic country icon would be the same type of concert as this next one. These two legendary bands performed a spectacular show, however the band that I wanted mostly to see let me down and left me questioning how long they should continue to perform.

Back in the dog days of the 2008 summer, the legendary country duo Brooks & Dunn (just months prior to their announcement that they were splitting up) and the Texas trio, ZZ Top were scheduled to perform at the Illinois State Fair. The news of their performance spread to me by almost simultaneous phone calls from Jeremiah and Nick, both of whom were stoked to see Brooks & Dunn. At the time, if it hadn’t been for ZZ Top touring with them I probably wouldn’t have went, but I did and after getting general admission on the track tickets the day they went on sale, we were set for another sure to be monumental concert.

August 15th finally rolled around and after meeting at Nick’s house and cruising down to Springfield… yep you guessed it, we engaged in the pre-concert tradition(enough said I’m kindof hungry.) Arriving at the concert early wasn’t a problem this time, unlike the last because of it being at the fairgrounds. Once the standing in line, waiting, and the mad dash to get as close to the stage was over, we waited again for the show to start, but were entertained by a huge hot air balloon that flew over head that read Brooks & Dunn and by watching the numerous beach balls that were circulating around the crowd.

Heidi Newfield was the opener for the show and having never heard of her before I wasn’t expecting much, just another time filler basically. However, Newfield’s stellar voice and performance of many newer country songs and older material caught my attention and yes, I won’t lie, I actually bought one of her CD’s after the show. After the unexpected excellent opening performance, Brooks & Dunn were set to take the stage and hindsight would reveal that they probably should’ve been the closer of the show, but oh well I guess. B&D came onto the stage with a burst of energy and fireworks. They utilized every inch of the stage as they made sure there wasn’t a dull moment during their performance. The highlight of the night, besides Frank Beard’s drum set(I will discuss it later, but it was crazy) was Jeremiah shaking Kix Brooks hand and then Nick Brand holding out his ticket stub and him signing it. However, as we fought for the one open spot along the runway where they had both encountered Kix Brooks, when I made it up to the stage to get my ticket stub signed he returned back to the main part of the stage. That experience and my life can be summed up by the lyrics in the classic TV show Hee Haw song Gloom Dispare and Agony on me, “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.” Anyways, B&D went out with a bang playing “Only in America” as red, white, and blue confetti was shot onto the crowd at the end. That ending should have been the end of the show, but however ZZ Top still had to perform. Prior to the opening of their part of the show I had no negative feelings towards the trio of long bearded rock greats, but the beginning when they messed up their opening song, which consisted of the band playing the music to “Gimme all your Lovin” and Billy Gibons singing “Sharp Dressed Man.” I don’t know how a legendary band has such a mix up and especially when lead singer Gibons plays a guitar too with Dusty Hill, I don’t know maybe Gibons was drunk, but either way abruptly ending the song, switching guitars, and starting over wasn’t an excellent start in my opinion. Gibons provided no explanation for the mix up and continued to rock to correct music and lyrics for the rest of the show. This version of ZZ Top redefined the term aging rocker, there were no three-piece suites, no famous guitar spins from their waists, and the highlight for them was Beard’s drum set.(How ironic is it that a band where two of three members have legendary beards and the drummer who doesn’t have one just so happens to have the last name beard.) His drums were absolutly amazing and hard to put into words, but it seemed liked a never-ending row of drums, his drums had drums on them that’s how many there were. My sheer amazement at his drums couldn’t cover up the fact that despite performing all their hits a ZZ Top live performance is a time you can really catch up on your zzzzzzz’s. Overall the country aspects of the concert, B&D and Newfield were excellent, but ZZ Top should’ve hung up their boots a long time ago because they were BAD and Nationwide.

Rock&Roll Revival Tour, Revives My Feelings Towards Kid Rock

After seeing a couple of classic Southern Rock bands and a heavy 70’s rocker, I never would’ve imagined that my next concert would be a unique rapper and musician, that I never liked in the first place.

The week before Saturday January 26th, 2008 my friend Greg came to school announcing that his dad got two complimentary tickets for the up-coming Kid Rock concert at the Bloomington U.S. Cellular Coliseum, for the work that he did while the Coliseum was under construction. Greg, who is almost as Cocky as Kid Rock flaunted the tickets in front of me and my other friends saying that he was going to meet a girl and take her to the concert instead of one us. At the time I really didn’t care because I never liked Kid Rock in the first place and I knew Greg, who isn’t as successful with the Ladies compared to Kid Rock, would never find a date by Saturday. My suspicions were right and Greg, who had burned some bridges between my friends and I, was scrambling the day before for somebody to go with him to the concert. I reluctantly gave in and decided that I should approach the concert with an open mind.

Saturday Night rolled around and like always, we proceeded with my pre-concert meal tradition of Hooters wings. After once again, purging on hot wings and fries we headed over to the Coliseum. As we parked I realized a couple of things; that the floor seats were general admission, we were an hour and half early before the doors opened, the line was already halfway around the building, it was January, and I didn’t have a coat. So standing in line outside at night in the heart of January with no coat was a lot for me to sacrifice to get good a spot to see somebody I didn’t even like.  The time seem to drag by, but the wait in the frigid air would soon be worth it, to much of my surprise.

Once inside the warmer coliseum I didn’t have time to catch my breath because the mad dash was on to get a good spot. We ended up about three rows of people back from the stage. As we waited for the show to start I kept remembering how much I had hated Kid Rock, from the days of riding to school in my older sister’s car and her radio and bass being cranked up to the max, blaring Kid Rock’s Devil Without a Cause album that caused countless headaches. That was the last time I had listened to Kid Rock and before this concert I didn’t realize that he had been mixing his solo rap sound with other styles such as country, rock, and hip-hop, which after this concert would be the first time that I would begin to listen to Kid Rock again, willing.

This concert was just one of his many stops on his 2007 Rock&Roll Revival Tour and to promote his new album Rock&Roll Jesus. On the ticket stubs it said Kid Rock with special guests and Greg and I debated who they would be. Our questions would soon be answered as Rev Run, a rapper and founding member of the group Run DMC took the stage. Rev Run did a couple of songs and was manly in charge of getting the crowd pumped up in between stage changes for the other special guest and Kid Rock. The other special guest, did a really good job in my opinion, was Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band. The J. Geils Band most notably famous for the songs Centerfold, Love Stinks, and Freeze Frame: Wolf performed all these and more with a modern, but classic rock feel. The Highlight of the show for me was as Wolf was singing Love Stinks, dozens of black roses feel from the ceiling onto the stage and Wolf handed them to different women in the audience. After Wolf was finished Rev Run came back onto the stage and introduced Kid Rock. Kid Rock opened his part of the show with the song My name is Rock as a huge reflection of himself was shown on a white screen. After the song, Kid proceeded to play many songs of his new Rock&Roll Jesus album and mixed in many early popular rap songs. The mix of the styles of songs kept the rowdy crowd and me, surprising entertained. Another highlight of his show was where a member of his back up band asked him questions and he proceeded to answer them with a turntable. Also, he had a very funny rap battle with a female member of his band. Kid Rock’s encore was a lengthy performance of the songs Cowboy and Walk this Way, in which Rev Run and Peter Wolf both joined in. During his encore the already wild crowd went even crazier and showers of beer rained down onto us from the upper bowl. After the concert, I thought to myself how could a guy that I didn’t even like in the first place come into Bloomington perform the best concert I’ve seen to date and if it wasn’t for Greg and his dad’s free tickets I would’ve never seen it in the first place? Kid Rock’s Rock&Roll Revival tour revived my liking towards him and the only answer I can think of for my question is,The Rock&Roll Jesus works in mysterious ways.

Concert #2: The Nuge rocks for Weekend Warriors

After my first amazing mind blowing concert performance by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Williams Jr., and .38 Special; the next concert that I saw was 70’s hard rocker, the motor city madman, or uncle Ted, or better yet but simply more known as The Nuge.

Ted Nugent, the outspoken conservative activist for limits on gun control and limits on animal rights; went on tour in 2007 to promote his new album Love Grenade. Nugent came to the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington on August 7^th, 2007 and after consulting with my friends, Nick Brand and Jake Schultz, who are avid hunters; Jeremiah decided to sit this concert out because he isn’t a fan of the Nuge’s music, just his personality, we decided that we had to experience Uncle Ted live in concert. Me, being not such a hunting activist wanted to go because I knew Terrible Ted would perform a crazy memorable show and I had also grown up listening to his albums such as, Double Live Gonzo and Free for All. Nugent’s tickets had been on sale for almost a month before I realized that he was coming to Bloomington, but Nugent must not have very many friends in Bloomington because despite of the time lapse we still ended up with very close floor seats in a very small U.S. Cellular Coliseum

The Sunday night finally came when Nugent was scheduled to shred the town of Bloomington to pieces and after indulging on a pre-concert tradition of gorging ourselves of wings at Hooters we were ready to see the man, the myth, the legend, the Nuge.  Our seats were about 15 rows back from the stage and I knew it would be a perfect view to see Ted destroy the stage. On his 2007 Love Grenade tour, a young Michigan born female rocker by the name of Alex Winston was his opening act and despite playing many original songs, I found Winston a rather lame opening act, even for the older motor city madman. However, Nick and Jake, who based their opinions on her looks, decided that she wasn’t that bad for being just twenty years old. I guess looking back, I should give her some more credit because she wasn’t that bad overall, but my expectations were just too high prior to seeing the Nuge. After Winston and a quick stage makeover that revealed sandbags, canvass netting, and a huge .50 caliber machine gun in the middle of the stage; we knew that Ted and his Love Grenade album were here to make a bigger statement.

To me, Nugent is like a cartoon character. He is highly recognizable by almost anyone, his antics and opinions are very unique and outspoken, and his image of being a 70’s hard-rocker with tight spandex jumpsuits and wild hair is his known look that defines the Nuge to many. When Nugent walked on stage he quickly reassured my first two characteristics by saying, “Hello, Bloomington, How the #!*$ are you tonight,” then proceeded to play Cat Scratch Fever. However, the third characteristic that I mentioned of his tight spandex jumpsuits and wild hair, which I’m glad he didn’t fulfill; was replaced by a pair of jeans, a camo shirt, and a bald clean shaven look. Nuge rocked throughout the night and mixed his new songs from his Love Grenade album in with his classic hard rock. In between rocking out Ted discussed many topics that have made him famous such as his abstinence towards drugs and alcohol, hunting, and his dislike towards many liberal viewpoints. The highlight of the show was his encore, in which, while playing the song Great White Buffalo, Ted mounted his all white Fender guitar on a target across the stage and proceeded to shoot it with flaming arrows from his bow as his band continued to play. After the concert, my voice was hoarse from all the yelling I did and I realized that the Nuge, no matter the age is a unique person and show worth seeing and no matter your viewpoints towards him, he will put you in a Stranglehold; with or without his music.

My Rowdy Friends Haven’t Settled Down

As I sat in my lower bowl seat in a sold out arena my heart was pounding as I anxiously awaited a sure to be, epic Country and Southern Rock concert performed by my favorite band of all time, Lynyrd Skynyrd. This was my very first concert, a dream come true, and an awesome display of vintage Southern Rock and Country that left me crossing another item off of, “My things to do before I die list.”

The music that I listen to ranges from a huge variety of all types, but my overall favorite genre of music is classic rock. As a kid I would listen to my parents old scratched up rock albums, which is how I fell in love with the music and Lynyrd Skynyrd. I don’t know how many times I played Skynyrd’s “One More for the Road” album over and over again, but enough for it to get on my mom’s nerves. My best friend Jeremiah Dailey was the exact same way, except instead of classic rock albums, he listened to, “Waylon and Willie and the boys,” and many other classic country singers. So back in 2007 when, Hank Williams Jr., Jeremiah’s favorite singer and Lynyrd Skynyrd announced their Rowdy Friends Tour we knew that it was destiny and the classic rock and country gods wanted us to go.

The day the tickets went on sale I got up at 7a.m. and headed to the Pekin Bergner’s, which was the closest Ticketmaster. I got to the store and was unexpectedly greeted with a short line of more excited older fans. The tickets went on sale at 10a.m. and the line was just long enough to push me out of the Bergner’s foyer and into the frigid February wind. Being the youngest person in line surrounded by old hippies and ex convicts I was a little nervous standing there with about three hundred dollars in my wallet. However, I survived and when the ten o’clock hour struck there was a mad dash back to the Ticketmaster office. Once the line reassembled itself the first couple of fans got floor seats and I was sure that, being the seventh person in line I would get them too. Being the young naïve fan, I didn’t realize that every other old hippie and ex convicts who were slightly smarter than the others and me would be on their computers buying tickets faster than I could. Disappointed, I soon realized that reality and when it was my turn at the window, I had to accept the closest lower bowl seats that were available. I quickly called Jeremiah and told him the bad news, but both of us decided that it would still be worth it and it would be an awesome first concert.

April 21^st seemed to be a hundred years away as we both waited for the concert, but the day finally arrived and our excitement had reached its boiling point. Jeremiah’s older brother Addison also went with us and after eating a ton of wings at Hooters and running by a gas station to get lighters for, “Freebird,” we were ready. After finding our seats and buying the standard 40 dollar rock T-shirt my heart pounded as I waited for the show to begin. The opening band .38 Special exploded onto the stage with their hit song “Rocking into the Night.” However, the band’s handful of hits were scattered throughout many lesser known songs. Overall, .38 Special went in and out with a bang, but they had a lot of down time in between. After reconfiguring the stage Hank came out to a thunderous applause. Hank was really relaxed, thanks to his friend Jack Daniels, which he brought on stage and took a sip every now and again. Hank made the Civic Center feel small and friendly as his “long lost friend” personality accompanied his songs and countless stories. He played just about every song that he had written and many more by other musicians. Williams outlaw, but fun attitude made his performance very memorable and a definite must see again. After another stage reconfiguration it was time for my dream to happen. At first, I was nervous that the few original aging rockers and replacements of Lynyrd Skynyrd wouldn’t sound as good as the original, but my nerves were settled as they rocked out and sounded almost as good. They belted out countless hits one right after another and the crowd never got bored. During the lighter inducing song, “Simple Man,” my cheap 99 cent Bic broke and I was left flameless for the most important part. Skynyrd didn’t mess around with new or lesser known material; they straight up rocked all of their most famous hits. The older band didn’t tire enough to shy away from their patented double encore, with the second and final encore being, “Freebird.” Yes, “Freebird” chants filled the place and the band played the lengthy Southern Rock ballad. Once the song was over we sat there stunned and realized that this was the first great concert in a long line of more to come. This epic concert was truly amazing and it left Jeremiah and me arguing which one of our heroes was better.