Waterstock 2005

My head is now pounding and I wouldn't have it any other way. First it was Vixen on Friday night and then Waterstock yesterday. I got more sun, I saw some friends, heard songs I've grown up on, heard some new songs, and met some great people in some great bands! How's that for a short review? Oh, all right, here is the breakdown of Waterstock.

Slaughter was frst up. I know a lot of people bag on these guys, but they do have some great songs and they were great to me and my friends after the show. Their set list was:

Wild Life, Take Me Away, Burnin' Bridges, Spend My Life, Mad About You, Eye To Eye, Heaven And Hell (Black Sabbath), Real Love, Fly To The Angels, Up All Night.

Mark Slaughter was still hitting all the high notes with ease and they sounded great. Jeff Blando is a great guitarist and it was good to hear them play Take Me Away from Back To Reality. Dana Strum always puts on a good show. He was the most hyper of the group on stage.

It was cool to hear them cover Sabbath and they were just plain tight. I had the pleasure of meeting the guys after the show and got them to sign my Back To Reality CD and take pictures. I asked when some new music would be out and they are supposed to be writing for it soon. I also asked about Blas Elias' participation in it and they really want him to be involved. It sounds like every other drummer is just keeping his seat warm while he's doing Blue Man Group.

Skid Row came roaring out to Slave To The Grind, Piece Of Me, Makin' A Mess, and All New Generation. They hit us hard and didn't let up. Johnny Solinger is just getting stronger each time I see them and I really don't miss Sebastian Bach much at all at this point. Johnny is putting on an energetic show and is great at getting the crowd involved. Dave "Snake" Sabo and Scotti Hill were all over the place getting some head banging going. Rachel Bolan looked a little spaced out for a while and even kind of pale, but he still got around to each side of the stage, sang Psychotherapy with energy, and held the bottom end rock solid. I'm not exactly sure who the drummer is, but he held it tight and Scotti and Snake helped him out in a few spots by coming back and reminding him of a couple of fills and breaks. The drummer kind of has the Phil Varone tattooed look going on and sported a spiked mohawk.

The rest of the set was 18 & Life, Monkey Business with a guitar trade off, Riot Act, I Remember You Too, Get the F&ck Out, Psychotherapy, I Remember You, Thick Is The Skin, and the encore of Youth Gone Wild.

I always love hearing All New Generation and Thick Is The Skin. I told the guys at one point I had those two songs on the Best Buy music CD they would play when customers were shopping at my store. I always had people asking who was doing those songs.

(We heard from several sources that there was a misunderstanding with Scotti and he had to leave Waterstock after their set. I hope he's doing fine and still had a great day.)

Skid Row had so much energy and got the crowd pumped in a crazy way. They know how to work that stage and get the crowd going nuts for them. This was the most energetic show of the day and most everyone I talked to was at Waterstock to hear Skid Row.

Bret Michaels came out with the energy everyone expects of him. He is the consumate showman and keeps things loose and fun. Backing him up was the band Evick, who some of you may know from Metal Sludge's 10 Questions. Evick sounded great backing Bret up and they had all of the solos and rhythms down and fairly tight. This was only their second show out and you can tell them have put in some time getting things right for Bret. There was some stage volume problem, but they took care of that and the sound was great out the front anyway.

Evick kind of surprised me with their playing and some improvisation. During Unskinny Bop they each got a turn at their instrument to shine and used it to good effect. They are still learning some of the less obvious cues of Bret and as this tour goes on, you will see one very tight band. I'm going to have to catch Bret's tour again soon.

Bret's set started with my favorite song, Talk Dirty To Me. He followed with Look What The Cat Dragged In, Bittersweet (I wish more people knew this song!), I Won't Forget You, Something To Believe In, Sweet Home Alabama (He had to get Pete from Evick to sing the right verse. Pete, you should know this song! :), Your Mama Don't Dance, a new song that had the lyric I Like The Way You..., Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Unskinny Bop, Fallen Angel, and the encore Nothin' But A Good Time. Not a bad set list. I did miss Raine, New Breed Of American Cowboy, and thought he might do Open Road (Bret did this on Nashville Star.) or All I Ever Needed. My wish list would include It's My Party and Menace To Society! Bret knows best, though, as the crowd did go nuts over every move he made and every song he played. It helps to have a young and hungry band backing him up, too!

Bret made the promise to be back next year and I hope that means he is bringing Poison!
While Foreigner was playing, I had the absolute pleasure of meeing the guys in Evick. I honestly didn't realize that was who I was talking to, but the bass player, Ray Schuering, and I chatted away and we eventually hit the topic of Metal Sludge. I then asked him what his band was called and once he said Evick I knew I had read about them on the Sludge. I asked him if he had broached the subject with Bret and he said they hadn't. We all know of a long standing fued between Bret and Stevie Rachelle, but I told him that he ought to just ask Bret about it in an innocent way and just let Bret answer the question about how he feels about Sludge. At this point Ray brought Pete and Chuck over. We talked about their band backing up Bret, more about Sludge and the idea of Pete writing a tour diary (He isn't doing it. They need job security and how much can you really talk about the fans you meet in every town. You gotta have some dirt and some juicy stuff! What could possibly happen backing up Bret on tour? Well some stories about Big John might be fun, but Rikki Rockett has already given us the scoop on Big John, hasn't he?), and who the guys in Foreigner are. The drummer apparently lost a bet on Kelly Hansen being the singer and Jason Bonham playing the drums. Of course, once I shared this information, it was time for them to move back to the backstage area where they could watch Foreigner in action. I had Evick sign my program before I let them head out, though. This is a fun group of guys and now I have to find a way to catch Evick live with their own tunes!

Foreigner headlined, but the crowd seemed thinner at this point in the day. Foreigner rocked and they really put on a great show. They started out with Sad Monday, Double Vision, Head Games, and Cold As Ice before slowing down with Waiting For A Girl Like You. They launched into Blue Morning and then my favorite, Dirty White Boy. At this point I was visiting with Evick, but I could hear Foreigner being the tight band they are and playing songs I knew by heart. They wrapped up with Juke Box Hero (with a little Led Zeppelin interlude) and then came out and encored with a Led Zep tune in dedication to Jason Bonham's father and then Hot Blooded.

Kelly Hansen is a great singer who hits all the notes Lou Gramm used to. Kelly also has a great stage presence and energy and really looked like he should be fronting Foreigner from here on out. Jeff Pilson really seemed to be an invigorating energy for Mick Jones. Jeff was all over the place with that bass of his. Jason Bonham was the rock solid drummer you would expect from a Bonham. He and Pilson were tight on everything. Mick Jones looked like he was having fun and I hope he continues to tour with this lineup and even record with them. This is a great band. He had a Sax player who played some guitar and a keyboard player that knew every note. This is one tight band and I hope they keep it going.

It was such a great day! I saw people from my softball team there. I saw J-Dub. I saw another guy I used to work with at Best Buy, and best of all I got to hang out with Steph and Anne all day. Steph took lots of pictures and I hope to have them up in the Concert Pictures section of my blog later today. If I remember anything else as the day wears on, I will add it.
Go see and support these bands!