Archive for concerts and bands

Day in the Zone ~ Gibson Ranch, Elverta CA. aug 16th 2008


i know i know! it’s been a few days since i have written…
well thats because i have been working my behind off doing shows… so i have decided to drop a little line about each one i have worked at and then later write more detail on each…..ok so here goes…

A Day in the zone ~ featuring Daughtry as the headliner…
also performing ~ Lifehouse
~ tristin Prettyman
~ Ace Young ~ forme Idol alum..
Local Sacto Band ~ Method Echo
this show was absoloutly awesome from the get go… the line-up was great each band complimented the others quite well… Method Echo was very, very good for an unsigned artist… (record companies need to bid for these guys contract) they were (to me) remanisent of Maroon 5. yet a bit edgier in the deliverance of they’re sound… i for one will buy the C.D… then came Ace Young… a former Idol from the same season as Chris Daughtry, Ace worked the female population of the croud into a frenzie as they chanted “take of your shirt” his music for me was a little to “pop” but all in all a good performance..
then came Tristin Prettyman… who’s folky sound gave everyone a chance to relax a bit and take a breather she was very (Jewel like) mellow, maybe a little to mellow for me…. but nonetheless good…
now….. on to Lifehouse… these guys were really good.. i hadn’t realized how many of they’re songs i knew untill hearing them live. i knew every song they played.. they sounded live like you were listening to the C.D.
ok so the headliner now….
Chris Daughtry ~ this guy and his band completely rocked the house… flawless performance, and the sound was awesome. vocals were as good as the first show on the tour… and the band was on point…

seems every year the sacramento radio station 100.5 the Zone come up with great lineups for they’re all day event at Gibson Ranch in Elverta Ca. i for one enjoy it every time i am there and i completely recomend you catch one of these events……

 

Van’s Warped Tour 2008 ~ controled chaos at its best!!!


Here my friends is the lineup for the Warped Tour @ The Sleeptrain Amphitheater / Wheatland, CA.

3OH!3, Against Me!, Aggrolites, Alesana, All Time Low, Anberlin, Angels and Airwaves, Beat Union, Bring Me the Horizon, Broadway Calls, Charlotte Sometimes, The Classic Crime, Cobra Starship, Confide, Danger Radio, The Devil Wears Prada, Dr. Manhattan, Evergreen Terrace, Everytime I Die, Family Force 5, Forever The Sickest Kids, Four Year Strong, GBH, Greeley Estates, Gym Class Heroes, HorrorPops, Katy Perry, Ludo, Mayday Parade, MC Chris, Norma Jean, Oreska, Pierce the Veil, Protest The Hero, Reel Big Fish, Relient K, Rise Against, Say Anything, Set Your Goals, Shwayze, Sky Eats Airplane, Story of the Year, Street Dogs, The Academy Is . . .
, The Audition, The Briggs, The Bronx, The Color Fred, The Fabulous Rudies, The Human Abstract, The Lordz, The Maine, The Saint Alvia Cartel, The Vandals, We The Kings
also not listed on the lineup untill showtime was sacramento band Aurorah….

so there you have 57 bands on 9 stages. other than 1 no show (katie Perry) and a couple of cancellations it went off without a hitch.! thousands of area kids of all ages decended on the venue to run back and forth between the 9 stages to catch they’re favorite bands.
this event was an 11 hour affair filled with music and mayhem ranging from metal to even a hip hop band of sorts. out in the 100+ temps for most of the day and almost no shade to escape the sun it was quite an interesting day with fans frenzied at times from drinking alcohol and heat exsaustion.
rock-med rolled 9 ambulances with situations running from heat stroke to one guy who cmpletely dismantleing his left elbo in a mosh pit. (welcome to Warped Tour Moshing)
so all in all it was a great day and i must say of all the bands i was able to catch, my favorites were Ludo… and Amberlin….

i love to work the Warped tour because i get to see a lot of my late sons friends and i also love the chaotic atmosphere. its not for everyone but for me? it works……

till next time……….. keep rockin!

“So What” PINK’s new song title, and how i feel about the song!!

OK  so today i heard PINK’s new single  “So What” and by the time the song was half way thru, i was thinking just that, so what…..  i have always liked Pink’s music but this half hearted attempt at a (what amounts to a) cheap shot… at ex-hubbt Hart. is lack luster in quality and lacks total “pinkness” i am at best disapointed in this offering by the grittiest voice in female rock i have heard in a long time…

what happened to the emotion that she put forth in songs like “You and your hand”   or the sarcasm in songs like “stupid girls”  i know that she is a better songwriter than she has shown in this (at best) poor choice of the first single from the forthcoming CD…

if indeed you are a true PINK fan, than i am sure you must agree with me and hope as i do that this is just a temporary glitch in the songwriting prowess of her Pinkness…………

Crue Fest 2008 ~ sleeptrain amphitheater

Last night Crue Fest rolled into town  and with a line-up that had every aspect of the rock/metal genre in attendance the stage was set for an interesting evening… and they did not disappoint.

from the leather clad metal-heads pretending to be long lost friends of the motley boys from Hollywood to the to the young children of true Crue fans who have found they’re own niche in the Emo/Scene genre but are lucky enough to have parents who grew up listening to they’re own rebellion based angst driven rock and roll that surely drove they’re parents nuts, so these young-lings of the original Motley Crue fan base accompanied their parental units to this evening of mayhem madness and what surely seemed to be a ride on the wild side….

the nights lineup was as follows opening the show was Trapt.. i must say that i only caught a couple of songs from their set and i was entertained enough to make me visit their Myspace page to investigate further all in all a good (fairly new) rock band i give them 3 out of 5 stars.. up next was Sixx A.M. this is a side project of Crue axeman and co founder Nikki Sixx. in a refreshing surprise this band is different than Nikkis original band. a bit more to the alternative rock side of things.. with dare i say it a pop feel..  i totally dug this band. i give them 4 out of 5 stars…  up next was Buckcherry i have heard this band band before and personally do not care for them, that being said they put on a very energetic set and whipped the crowd into a frenzy of sorts (or maybe that was the alcohol) be cause by the time the played they’re chart-breaking anthem “crazy bitch” the crowd was jumping with crazed energy…

Now time for a venue check…   on what we call the sierra plaza in conjunction with Hot Topic, the gameing producers of Rock Band had a merch booth set up so that fans attending Crue Fest could put together 4 man bands and play on the stage that Rock Band had built into the 45 foot trailer they rolled into the venue so that said 4 man bands could compete for a grand prize that would be later announced to the winner…. as you can guess the crowds swarmed to the Rock Band / Hot  Topic trailer with great purpose… and when all was said and done the winner was chosen and they’re prize that they had no previous knowledge of was revealed… they would be performing on the main stage in front of the entire crowd waiting to see Motley Crue. they would take the stage after the last opening act was finished to play one song, have that 15 minutes of fame that all humans will have at some level at one moment in they’re lives. for these four guys it came on a grand scale, and completely unexpected. un fortunately i was backstage as i had been most of the evening so i was unable to see the (what must have been) deer in the headlights experience for these guys walking out on stage in front of 12,000 plus. i am sure they had fun no score for the Rock Banders.   OK up next on the stage was Papa Roach, local boys from the Sacramento Valley  area… so being the home town boys the crowd went wild. for some reason during P-Roaches set the crowd went insane fights ensued both between men, also between women, and also unfortunately there were cases of domestic violence. we even had a situation where a woman in a wheelchair was assaulted. now please understand that i in no way equate the escalation of violent behavior with Papa Roach. i personally believe it was because the fans all started drinking (heavily) very early and reached (coincidentally) stupidity level at the same time P-roach hit the stage.  as for Papa’s performance… awesome, they totally left it all on the stage for the sac town crowd… i would have to give them 4 to 4&1/2 stars outta 5… they flat out rock the house and even surprised the crowd with a couple of cuts from the first LP, ”Last Resort” and “Broken home” … great show!   ok so now we come to the night headliner and host of Crue Fest, Motley Crue i could sum up the Crue by simply saying They absofuckingloutly showed up…

they handed the crowd they’re proverbial asses on a silver platter. the Crue Kicked ass and took names. from the opening note of “Live Wire” to the final not of they’re encore “Home Sweet Home”  the boys were flat on it… they looked, (without makeup) sounded, and performed like the old Motley Crue i must give the boys 5 stars they were completely and in-explicitly “en fuego” last night…  in short, i for one am glad to see yet another great band from the 80’s glamdays in Hollywood still kickin ass…

p.s.  on  humorous side note i did see another home town rocker from Sacramento’s very own Tesla, singer Jeff Kieth cruising around completely un noticed (except for a few people) with radio personality Pat Martin… and it was amazing to me how many people he was able to just walk by and they had no idea he had just been standing beside them…..

well that’s all for now, see you all soon with another observation from another concert….  hope you enjoyed my ramblings…

the “I sang for Journey” club… I’ll never get in

so i was thinking about this today while listening to various different songs from Journey…  i have actually seen Journey in all of its carnations except in the early days pre Steve perry..  but since that time i have had the pleasure of seeing the band with each front man…

first with Steve Perry – this band i had seen several times on tour supporting various albums ( yes i said albums) such as Infinity, Evolution, Departure, and so on… then in recent years since the “departure” of Steve Perry, there have now been 3 replacements including the most recent Arnel Pineda.

First there was Steve Augeri who did an amazing job although he was no Steve Perry… from a distance he even looked like Steve Perry with a perm.

Then there was Jeff Scott Soto who in my opinion had no business standing on stage with Neil and the boys attempting to impersonate Mr. Perry.. not even close.

And now we come to the Arnel Pineda era of Journey… now for those who are die-hard Fans of Steve Perry, you will find this gentleman the absolute closest thing to the original that could be found. Arnels pitch and tone are so close to Steve that the only way i know it is not Steve Perry is the influction and phrasing that mr. Pineda uses when he sings…  now my only concern is how long on the tour before his voice starts showing signs of stress and he comes to a point where he needs a rest in order to maintain the strength in vocal quality he has shown to this point…  only time will tell! 

i am looking forward to the show here in our area at the Sleep train Amphitheater on September 26th 2008.

along with Journey that night is co headliners Heart, along with Cheap Trick…

wow what a lineup!   should be a rocking night…….

 

 

Just a quick note….. i was right. the Journey performance on Sept. 26th, 2008 was absoloutly amazing! as was Hearts Performance and Cheap Trick…. all were spectacular….