Rock Never Stops in St. Joseph, MO

I was so glad to be leaving work at 2pm yesterday. Fortunately, the clock seemed to move fast. Auggie picked me up from work so we could head out to see the Rock Never Stops tour in St. Joseph, MO. We hit the scenic route that took us through the town where my daughters live. The only bad thing was that I went through that town and didn't get to see them. At least I get to this weekend. Anyway, we made some good time getting to St. Joseph.

Auggie had this particular beer that he had before in St. Joe so we went to a really nice steak house. It was FANCY! They served us sauteed mushrooms for an appetizer and I ordered a wonderful KC Strip with a baked potato. It was delicious and really hit the spot. The hostess was truly the mostest, too! The only bad thing was that we were pushing time to get back across town to the Civic Center.

When we finally walked up to the Civic Center, we could hear "Overnight Sensation" and knew that Firehouse was opening the show. Before we could get into the building, we were stopped by a young guy with a pad and pen. He is a writer for the St. Joseph newspaper and asked us a few questions for an article he put out today. I was quoted! Below is the excerpt from the St. Joseph News-Press.


"Brett Sites, 36, of Des Moines, Iowa, said he'd made plenty of road trips to see bands in the past, so the 3½-hour drive to St. Joseph was no problem. He'd seen all the bands on the bill three times, with the exception of Ratt, who he'd seen only twice. "Some of them are better (than in their heyday)," he said. "I wish they'd keep putting out new music."While he's still as dedicated today to the bands of his youth as he was years ago, Mr. Sites said he understands why many others in his age group aren't the same way. "You get older and have families. It's harder to spend that hard-earned dollar like you spent it as a teenager," he said." - Jonathan Houghton (Lifestyles Reporter)

Pretty cool, eh? The only thing he got backwards was how many times I'd seen the bands. Ratt is the one I had previously seen 3 times and last night made 4. The others I had seen twice, but last night made the 3rd time. Minor stuff, of course. He was very kind and even gave me permission today to put those paragraphs here.

Anyway, we made it inside during Firehouse's second song. I do wish I had a setlst, but I know they did the tunes Shake And Tumble, Crash, Love Of A Lifetime, Reach For The Sky, and Don't Treat Me Bad. There may have been another one or two, but they seemed to only have a 30 minute set. It was energetic and they really seemed to be glad to be playing. They had a huge backdrop and their sound has always been tight. CJ was really pushing his vocals to the limit and sounded awesome. He had no trouble hitting everything he tried when he wailed. The arena wasn't even half full, but they played like it was packed. After their set, they came back to the merch table and signed autographs. I did get to ask about new music and they are apparently writing songs for a new CD. I'm hoping that means they will have something out in the winter or spring, but that's just me talking.

Quiet Riot came out fists pumping and Kevin was working the audience. He wore the leopard suit and has a new weave that seems a little obvious, but he didn't care. "You say I got a funny face...well f!@# you" was the line he sang. They teased us with the riffs of Metal health and then did a short set of hits that included Mama Weer All Crazee, The Wild And The Young, Cum On Feel The Noize, and closed wtih Metal Health as well as a couple of other tunes. One song ended with some bluesy thing going on and Kevin was belting some Zeppelin as Frankie played a bit of a drum solo. It was great and they were smiles from start to finish. They came out to sign autographs, too, so I had a chance to ask a couple of quick questions. I mentioned that I was going to be at the Clear Lake show and Kevin said to go to the one in Cedar Rapids, too, as they had something in store for that show. It's the last one of the tour, I believe. I hadn't completely decided to go, but now I'm going to have to.

Ratt seemed to suddenly appear on stage and burst into Slip Of The Lip. That's my favorite Ratt tune. Evergy seemed to be the theme of the night and this was by far the best show I've seen Ratt perform. Jizzy was in command and seemed to be perfectly settled as the frontman. Corabi and Crane were playing off of each other on their side of the stage and Warren just played like the rock guitar god he is. Blotzer climbed up on the kit a few times to raise his arm to the audience. When Ratt was onstage, it seemed that most everyone that was going to be at this show was there. According to people on Metal Sludge, that crowd hit about 2600. The arena was about 2/3 full. Ratt's set included Way Cool Jr., Lack Of Communication, Lay It Down, and closer Round And Round. There were probably a couple more, too, as they seemed to have only 30 minutes as well.

When the music started for Cinderella, a black curtain jumped up in front of the stage. There were purple lights behind it and it sounded like the music was something that Fred Coury would have mixed. The curtain suddenly dropped, the lights came up, and Cinderella started into Night Songs. The light show was great, they mixed in fireworks, explosions, and pillars of fire. They had a huge backdrop that was lit cleverly most of the night, too. They played songs like Still Climbing, Fallin' Apart At The Seems, Push Push, Nobody's Fool, Gypsy Road, and more. They encored with Don't Know What You've Got and Shake Me. What constantly impresses me about Cinderella is the talent they have to pull everything off live. They would switch from acoustic 12 and 6 string guitars to the same in electric, play double neck guitars, and even a lap steel. They had a keyboard player who added some nice background and Tom played Sax on Shelter Me and piano on Don't Know What You've Got. Fred came out and did some harmonies once, too. Those guys just have so much talent and put on a show that rivals any band.

Auggie and I had to head out right after the show, but as we exited, we did get the CD sampler of Naked Beggars handed to us. We hit the road and made even better time on the way back since there was no traffic to worry about.

I'm going to see this show again in Clear Lake, but I have no idea how they are going to get that stage and light show in the Surf Ballroom, unless it's been built onto in the last two years. I already have my ticket for that show and it looks like I'm going to get one for the Cedar Rapids show the next night. If you have the chance, go see these bands and try to catch this tour over the next week. 4 bands for about $30 and a show that will blow you away. Just do it!