Surprise, surprise! I guess if I had done some looking at my ticket, I'd have realized that Firehouse was not going to be at the show in Clear Lake. Apparently, they had booked a date somewhere else for that night. I did look at my ticket and it showed the show time as being 7pm. J-Dub got an IowaTix ticket and his looked just like mine except that it said 8pm. Well, his was right, so we did a lot of standing in line. It was truly worth it, though.
We arrived about 5:50pm and had to grab a bite to eat. Fortunately, there is a wonderful BBQ place next door. They are BBQ, Blues, and Booze or something like that at McKenna's. They were playing some great blues music and served up some brisquet that was fantastic. It's right next door to the Surf Ballroom. We came out when were done eating and the line had grown longer. It was only about 25 people when we pulled in to park, but now the line was going from the front door to the parking lot and back around the building. We happened to hit the line right at the corner of the parking lot. It turns out there was a line going around the other side of the building, too. We stood out side until they opened the doors at 7:10pm.
While in line, J-Dub pointed out that Fred Coury was walking past us. I told J-Dub to hold my place in line and took off after Fred. I hollered ahead asking for a signature. Fred's handler said to wait until after he'd had a chance to shower, but Fred turned to the side and motioned me to hurry up and get up there and he'd sign my item. I had taken their new greatest his CD cover and he signed it. I asked if they had anything special planned for Cedar Rapids since I'm going to that show, too, and he said he didn't know. With that I wished him well and headed back for the line.
Even with it being a sold out show and being that far back in line, we were still only 3 people from the barricade in front of the stage. It was packed pretty tight since. I was able to notice that the Surf had expanded their stage quite a bit to accommodate this show. There weren't as many lights from the light rig and there was no place for the fireworks, pyro, or the backdrops. This was going to be an "in your face" stripped down show.
After waiting until 8pm in that spot, Quiet Riot hit the stage with a lot of energy. I was close enough to the stage to really realize what a heavy hitter Frankie Banali is. That guy truly pounds the skins. Kevin was a bundle of limbs flailing getting the crowd into the show from the opening chords of Metal Health. They went through the identical set from St. Joseph, but since they had more time with only 3 bands going on, they added to more songs that Kevin played acoustic guitar on. They did Thunderbird and I can't tell you what the second one was. They did the hits like Cum On Feel The Noise, Mama We're All Crazee, and the closer Metal Health, but also songs like Red Light Mama Red Hot, which had some other cover tunes mixed into it, and The Wild And The Young, which still needs to be slowed down to let that guitar riff breath. It was a great show and these guys put their soul into it. You could tell they were pretty excited at how full and ready to rock the crowd was.
Ratt hit the stage with Wanted Man and then rode right into Slip Of The Lip and Dance. They sounded tight and they just took control of the stage every second. Warren was really having a ball with this crowd and even just stopped to hear us all make some noise. He led into Way Cool Jr. and then they added Nobody Rides For Free, since they, too, had extra time to play. The last 5 just rolled into each other with ease and cohesiveness. Lack Of Communication, Lay It Down, You're In Love, and Back For More led into what everyone was waiting for, Round And Round. Jizzy had us singing along, pumping our fists, and banging our heads to each of these. Robbie, John, Warren, and Bobby were all smiles and sweat throughout. Bobby stood on his drums just to take it all in. Robbie did some sort of Lemmy imitation singing his backing vocals at times. John had some great harmonies on the leads and an awesome voice backing up Jizzy. They just could hardly believe how nuts the place was for them. Jizzy had to stop and tell us he'd never played the Surf before and since he was a little superstitious he wasn't planning on flying anywhere after the show.
Even though Cinderella didn't have all their stage trappings, they still put on a phenomenal show. They have an electronic sounding intro that I suspected that Fred put together and it turns out he did. More on that later. They opened with Night Songs and led into Last Mile. They did Still Climbing, Push Push, Somebody Save Me, Shelter, and the rest of their hits. It's been great to hear Still Climbing in the set. I've enjoyed it both times. Shelter is a blast since Tom lays down some sax on it, but I totally missed it last night due to helping get a guy thrown out. The crowd was going nuts in a bad way at times with Cinderella on stage. Fortunately, we were able to stand our ground and protect the kids and women that were around us. Nobody's Fool was a highlight of the show for most people there. They closed their main set with Gypsy Road and then got the encore call. They did Don't Know What You've Got and Shake Me to close the night.
I can't wait to hit the road in an hour and see the full blown show with Firehouse again. I'm still wondering what Kevin meant about having something special planned for tonight, too.
After the show, I had the chance to get a Tom Keifer pick, meet Inga and try to talk her into a Naked Beggars T-shirt, and get a few more autographs and pictures. I met Frankie after the show and he signed two CD covers for me and was kind enough to take a picture. I also met Jeff Labar and did the same. Fred came out and he took a picture with me, too. They were very kind and since I had forgotten to ask Fred about that intro, I took the opportunity to do so. I had told August in St. Joe that it sounded like something Fred would do and Fred had a huge smile letting me know I was correct in my assumption. J-Dub got pictures, too, but wished he'd had his Metal Sludge shirt on.
J-Dub said that he had gotten to meet all of Ratt, but I missed out on that. He got their autographs on pictures he had taken over the last couple of years.
I met David, a huge WASP fan, again. David had been at the WASP show a few weeks ago and introduced himself. He let me borrow his sharpie last night and joked that he was my handler. David also told me that he got to meet the QR guys and that he even hung out with them in the hotel room while they each took turns showering. David had some funny stories that I hope he shares with everyone soon. It even turns out that David and I live just several blocks away! It's weird we have met in Omaha and Clear Lake, but haven't seen each other in Des Moines. I take that back. He was at the Vixen show, too.
I also got to meet the guy who puts together The Geography Of Nowhere blog at http://spaces.msn.com/members/geographyofnowhere and I'm hoping he puts up a review, too. He should be at the Cedar Rapids show tonight. Turns out his name is Dave, too.
This was a great show and once I get the pictures developed, I will post them. Go support these bands. I want to see them again and here new tunes from each of them!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment