Buckcherry In Des Moines, IA

Buckcherry has got to be playing bigger places! These guys put on an awesome show. There are those of us who believe the world needs rock stars and these guys are it!

The openers, The Bangkok Five, were truly happy to be playing on this tour and made comments to such. They were rocking through a set that consisted of most of their new CD they have coming out on Halloween. The singer had a bit of the Iggy Pop thing going on and the rest of the band was like a whirlwind churning out their tunes. Check out their My Space site for more information.

http://www.myspace.com/thebangkokfive

The set list is as follows:
Karmakazi
Diary Of A Teenage Cutter
Dead
Damaged Goods
Tiara (Played for the first time live.)
Chapter 11
Too Much
Spread Eagle
Giana (Played live for the first time.)
Who's Gonna Take Is Alive? (Title of the CD.)

I got to hang with the lead guitarist after the show for a bit and he told me they were going to be on the Cult/New York Dolls tour coming up. That will be a great show to see!

If The Bangkok Five were a whirlwind, Buckcherry were the hurricane! These guys came out and blew the roof off the ValAir! The crowd pressed forward and I have the sore ribs as a result. I was up front against the barricade and there was quite a push that got worse during Crazy B!tch and Lit Up. Josh Todd was constantly moving as you can tell from a few of the slightly blurred pictures. The band was tight and yet the songs sounded loose like all good rock n roll should. I was fortunate enough to meet them after the show and express my gratitude that they have returned and I hope they take over the rock n roll world. There haven't been any true rock stars since Guns N Roses and these guys should be heir to the throne! The set list is as follows:

So Far
Broken Glass
Porno Star
Whiskey
Everything
Sorry
Crazy B!tch (Choruses from Billy Squier's The Stoke and Jimi Hendrix's Fire were used at the end.)
Next 2 You
Ridin'
Lace In The Sun
Dead Again
For The Movies
Slammin'
Lit Up

ENCORE
Crushed

I stood next to a woman who was at her 10th show on this tour and she had flown out from Philly. She was very small so I was a bit worried about her during the show, but there were several girls behind her that had her back as the crush rolled forward. This was her 28th show overall, so she helped me with the set list (I still procured one after the show.) and made me aware of a few things I didn't know about the band. She wasn't even expecting an encore, so it was nice to know that this was a surprise for Des Moines.

I also stood next to a guy who had been to our parties. We had each others back and even had to help move some people backwards to quell the crush and even throw a bunch of people over to security. The security guys were great and kept us taken care of. Some of us got a bottle of water since it was hot up there and they were nice enough to hand me a pick and set lists from both bands. It's good to know there are good people who have your back at shows like this. Too many roughnecks can really be a problem and it seemed that some of the girls were worse than the guys about trying to sneak holes at the barricade.

This show rocks and I hope they hook up with a big tour soon. It would be great to see them on the Motley Crue/Aerosmith tour, which doesn't seem to be making it to Des Moines, but will be in Kansas City. Go see Buckcherry and buy their new CD 15. It rocks from start to finish and I can't wait to hear what these guys have in store in the future!