Zakk Wylde is the leader of the Black Label Society and he has quite the army of followers. The ValAir Ballroom was rumbling with the strains of 3 heavy bands that worked their way up like a rally from one guy who introduces the next who introduces the main speaker.
Priestess led things off to set the mood. These 4 guys hail from Montreal so they are on quite the trip through free country. They brought their straight ahead metal sound to people awaiting their leader. They were good at starting off the heavy night, but some comments were made about their songwriting. These guys have a good sound, but a way to go. They are worth keeping an eye on.
Black Stone Cherry made a lot of new fans last night. They brought their brand of Kentucky hard rock and had existing fans along with them for the ride. They played their new single and other tunes from their debut CD. Each member brought a ton of energy to the performance. The singer, while usually the eye of the hurricane, got swept up into the energy the audience gave back to them. The two Les Paul guitar attack worked in their favor as the singer took most of the leads, but traded off with the other guitarist. It's good to see long hair coming back around and these guys all created a whirlwind with it while playing. The ending of their set was classic as the two guitar players put their heads together and played the guitars behind their heads. The bass player then stood in front of the drummer with his bass offered up as a sacrifice while the drummer played it with his sticks. The guitarists then went to opposite sides of the stage and knelt to make some noise. They suddenly got up with the last remaining chords of their set and thanked the crowd. Visually, this was brilliant and something I hadn't seen before. Nice guys and they met everyone they could at the merch table after the show.
The crowd had been chanting "Zakk" most of the night. The front of the stage was blocked by a BLS curtain as the crew set up the stage. Zakk and the boys hit the stage with some light sounds until the curtain dropped and the metal began. Zakk had the crowd in the palm of his hand while a pit was formed and the fists were raised. He kept the rhythm going for quite some time with new songs and old. Midway through the set, he sat at a keyboard and played several songs from there. It surprised me that this guitar hero was tickling the ivories like a pro and was willing to bring the beat down for a bit. He still retained the heavy while offering up a tribute to Dimebag while a roadie brought a Dimebag T-shirt out and set it on the far left amp. There were 8 double stacks of Marshalls across his backline and after several songs at the keyboard he turned them back up for a few more stomps in the Wylde. Zakk them went into a long guitar solo that culminated in the National Anthem. This guy almost had smoke coming from his finger tips as he played. Most long guitar solos tend to bore after a short bit for everyone except the hardcore fans. Zakk has such a command that he could have been playing any of his tunes as the crowd was just as much into the solo as his songs.
The Iowa Chapter was out for Zakk last night and it was declared good. Catch these bands and get there for all three!
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Bret Michaels Rocks Des Moines
Bret's first club show in Des Moines was a sold out success. He probably could have sold out Val-Air Ballroom in Des Moines. The owner sold 300 tickets and maybe a few more for this show and mentioned that he could have sold a thousand if he'd had the room. The owner, John, was cool enough to let the first 50 ticket buyers into the club at 6pm for a meet and greet. This basically consisted of a soundcheck set and Bret finished it by signing about everything offered and taking pictures.
Before Bret came out to soundcheck, we were treated to his backing band, Evick. Pete Evick seemed to be in charge of making sure the stage sound was just right so that Bret would be pleased when he came out for soundcheck. While I was hoping we'd here an Evick original, we were treated to covers we all knew. They played tight versions of Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, Cold Gin, and Walk This Way. Pete handled both lead guitar and lead vocals while Ray and Chuck held down the bottom end groove. I hope that John was listening because Evick is a group that needs to be playing Keyster's with their own show.
Bret came out for a four song soundcheck and the sound was good. Your Mama Don't Dance got things rolling so he could here what the harmonica would sound like and he grabbed his acoustic to hear how things sounded on Every Rose Has Its Thorn. Bret brought out his electric guitar for Fallen Angel and then rocked us all with Nothin' But A Good Time. The sound system sounded great and he touched on a few things with the band before coming to the front of the stage for signatures and pictures. I was fortunate enough to get the newest CD signed as well as get a picture. I also asked when we would here something newer from him. Bret said that POISON ENTERS THE STUDIO AFTER THE FIRST OF THE YEAR! This was news to me as I hadn't heard for sure if Poison would be doing any new recording from any online source. Of course Poison is taking their show back on the road for the summer and Bret wants to come back to Keyster's next year.
During the break, I visited with Pete Evick a bit and he asked a favor. Bret has a video camera and he's just getting into the internet a bit more. He would like to take video from every night and put it on YouTube. They were having trouble getting what Pete described as a firewire cable to get the camera to hook up to the PC. Being a computer guy, I was able to grab a couple of cables from CompUSA for them and I'm sure the USB2 cable I found should be proved to be the right cable today. I had it looked up online, so that helped.
The Gibbs Brothers opened the show this night and they sounded great as they did last week. It seemed like a very similar set and they should be doing their own shows at Keyster's, too. While their cover or Kickstart My Heart seems a tad loose and Roll With The Changes picks up and slows down in spots for my taste, the originals sound great and the guys do a good job of getting the people in attendance into their stuff and ready for the headliner.
Evick came out after the house tape had played You Shook Me All Nite Long and Welcome To The Jungle. Evick started up with some noise and after the opening chords of Talk Dirty To Me were played, Bret came bounding out on stage ready to start the party. Bret got a feel for this sold out crowd and adjusted his expected set list in some major ways. He just had a feel for what we wanted and when it was time to deliver it, which meant he delivered all night. The set list that was supposed to happen is below what was actually played:
SETLIST
Talk Dirty To Me
Rock N Roll All Nite
Bittersweet
Sweet Home Alabama
Driven
I Won't Forget You
Your Mama Don't Dance
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Unskinny Bop
Raine
Something To Believe In
American Band
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Fallen Angel
ENCORE
Nothin' But A Good Time
WRITTEN SETLIST
Talk Dirty To Me
Rock N Roll All Nite
Look What The Cat Dragged In
Driven
I Won't Forget You
Party Rock Band
Your Mama Don't Dance
Raine
Sweet Home Alabama
Bittersweet
Something To Believe In
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Unskinny Bop
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Fallen Angel
ENCORE
Nothin' But A Good Time
As shown above we didn't get to hear Look What The Cat Dragged In or Party Rock Band, but we did get American Band. Chuck told me that he had played that song twice before and was shocked when Bret called it out, but he didn't miss a beat or a break in the song.
I've seen Bret 3 times with Evick as the Bret Michaels Band and they just keep getting better and tighter. The breaks, the breakdowns, the solos, the backing vocals, and the show were spot on. Chuck was singing along and adding backing vocals while holding down the beat. Ray was adding a few backing vocals and rocking out at the front of the stage while manhandling his bass. Pete was playing the solos spot on as we all grew up on them while providing backing vocals and a guitar foil to Bret for the show. The party was led by Bret Michaels calling the plays as any great quarterback. Bret and Evick make for a tighter combination than seeing Poison live. I'm not saying it's better as Poison is a classic and they play a pretty loose show that allows for each member to do something a bit different if they want. Bret's led Evick to be a very tight band playing the Poison classics tighter and cleaner than Poison while making this a Bret Michaels show.
One of the things I was really looking forward to for this particular show was taking Becky to the show. It's always fun to attend concerts, but when you go alone or with a group you tend to enjoy just about everything except the slow songs and when you get excited about something during or after the show, you don't have anyone to really enjoy and share it with. Concert buddies are great, but swaying with your loved one to a great ballad is a better way to experience things in my opinion. I can't wait to take her to Guns N Roses in Ames, IA.
Go see Bret on the nearest tour stop and enjoy the party he brings. Also, keep your ears peeled for some possible information about an upcoming show!
Before Bret came out to soundcheck, we were treated to his backing band, Evick. Pete Evick seemed to be in charge of making sure the stage sound was just right so that Bret would be pleased when he came out for soundcheck. While I was hoping we'd here an Evick original, we were treated to covers we all knew. They played tight versions of Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, Cold Gin, and Walk This Way. Pete handled both lead guitar and lead vocals while Ray and Chuck held down the bottom end groove. I hope that John was listening because Evick is a group that needs to be playing Keyster's with their own show.
Bret came out for a four song soundcheck and the sound was good. Your Mama Don't Dance got things rolling so he could here what the harmonica would sound like and he grabbed his acoustic to hear how things sounded on Every Rose Has Its Thorn. Bret brought out his electric guitar for Fallen Angel and then rocked us all with Nothin' But A Good Time. The sound system sounded great and he touched on a few things with the band before coming to the front of the stage for signatures and pictures. I was fortunate enough to get the newest CD signed as well as get a picture. I also asked when we would here something newer from him. Bret said that POISON ENTERS THE STUDIO AFTER THE FIRST OF THE YEAR! This was news to me as I hadn't heard for sure if Poison would be doing any new recording from any online source. Of course Poison is taking their show back on the road for the summer and Bret wants to come back to Keyster's next year.
During the break, I visited with Pete Evick a bit and he asked a favor. Bret has a video camera and he's just getting into the internet a bit more. He would like to take video from every night and put it on YouTube. They were having trouble getting what Pete described as a firewire cable to get the camera to hook up to the PC. Being a computer guy, I was able to grab a couple of cables from CompUSA for them and I'm sure the USB2 cable I found should be proved to be the right cable today. I had it looked up online, so that helped.
The Gibbs Brothers opened the show this night and they sounded great as they did last week. It seemed like a very similar set and they should be doing their own shows at Keyster's, too. While their cover or Kickstart My Heart seems a tad loose and Roll With The Changes picks up and slows down in spots for my taste, the originals sound great and the guys do a good job of getting the people in attendance into their stuff and ready for the headliner.
Evick came out after the house tape had played You Shook Me All Nite Long and Welcome To The Jungle. Evick started up with some noise and after the opening chords of Talk Dirty To Me were played, Bret came bounding out on stage ready to start the party. Bret got a feel for this sold out crowd and adjusted his expected set list in some major ways. He just had a feel for what we wanted and when it was time to deliver it, which meant he delivered all night. The set list that was supposed to happen is below what was actually played:
SETLIST
Talk Dirty To Me
Rock N Roll All Nite
Bittersweet
Sweet Home Alabama
Driven
I Won't Forget You
Your Mama Don't Dance
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Unskinny Bop
Raine
Something To Believe In
American Band
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Fallen Angel
ENCORE
Nothin' But A Good Time
WRITTEN SETLIST
Talk Dirty To Me
Rock N Roll All Nite
Look What The Cat Dragged In
Driven
I Won't Forget You
Party Rock Band
Your Mama Don't Dance
Raine
Sweet Home Alabama
Bittersweet
Something To Believe In
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Unskinny Bop
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Fallen Angel
ENCORE
Nothin' But A Good Time
As shown above we didn't get to hear Look What The Cat Dragged In or Party Rock Band, but we did get American Band. Chuck told me that he had played that song twice before and was shocked when Bret called it out, but he didn't miss a beat or a break in the song.
I've seen Bret 3 times with Evick as the Bret Michaels Band and they just keep getting better and tighter. The breaks, the breakdowns, the solos, the backing vocals, and the show were spot on. Chuck was singing along and adding backing vocals while holding down the beat. Ray was adding a few backing vocals and rocking out at the front of the stage while manhandling his bass. Pete was playing the solos spot on as we all grew up on them while providing backing vocals and a guitar foil to Bret for the show. The party was led by Bret Michaels calling the plays as any great quarterback. Bret and Evick make for a tighter combination than seeing Poison live. I'm not saying it's better as Poison is a classic and they play a pretty loose show that allows for each member to do something a bit different if they want. Bret's led Evick to be a very tight band playing the Poison classics tighter and cleaner than Poison while making this a Bret Michaels show.
One of the things I was really looking forward to for this particular show was taking Becky to the show. It's always fun to attend concerts, but when you go alone or with a group you tend to enjoy just about everything except the slow songs and when you get excited about something during or after the show, you don't have anyone to really enjoy and share it with. Concert buddies are great, but swaying with your loved one to a great ballad is a better way to experience things in my opinion. I can't wait to take her to Guns N Roses in Ames, IA.
Go see Bret on the nearest tour stop and enjoy the party he brings. Also, keep your ears peeled for some possible information about an upcoming show!
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Bret Michaels Returns To Des Moines
I have tickets to 3 upcoming local concerts. Bret Michaels will be at Keyster's. Black Label Society and Black Stone Cherry are playing the ValAir Ballroom. Guns N Roses will be in Ames. Three great upcoming shows! That will put my yearly total at 18, which is one shy of last year's 19. I'm sure there may be another one or two to tie or put me over.
Out of the three, I'm most anxious for the one this Saturday. I get to take my woman to see Bret Michaels. He's being backed by Evick, a great band from back east. As a few previous posts will show, I was fortunate enough to meet Evick on two occasions while backing Bret Michaels. Evick performed with Bret at Waterstock Rock 2005 and I got to meet and hang with the guys at the dividing fence after the show. Pete, Ray, and Chuck were as cool as could be signing things and telling stories of the road. Pete Evick is a Metal Sludge fan and we talked about that website for a while. Later that year I caught the Bret Michaels show in Davenport, IA, and again Evick was backing Bret. I peeked into the window while Evick was soundchecking and Pete saw me and motioned me to come inside. After the show, we all hung out. My roommates, Steph, and I were just having a blast visiting with Evick, Big John, and even meeting Bret Michaels to get a picture and autograph. We took a group photo that night with everyone except Bret to publish on Metal Sludge to put some rumors about Big John's employment to rest. They were truly one big happy and fun family on the road. I tried earlier this year to get Pete Evick in touch with anyone and everyone about getting Evick on Waterstock 2006, but it fell through or didn't work out. I knew Bret would be there with Poison and it just seemed right that Evick should be on that bill this year, too. I hope they get on this next year.
I've been fortunate enough to meet Bret Michaels on two occasions. Steph was kind enough to help me get to meet Bret in Cedar Rapids in 2004 at 3rd Street Live. I was part of the first small group (all women except me) to get on Bret's bus for a short meet and greet after his show. He was very gracious and funny and even though he didn't have to, he asked me what my daughter's names were when I mentioned that they loved his song Raine and enjoyed the video. The second time I met Bret was in Davenport and it was just a brief spot in line for a picture on the steps of his bus. The really cool thing was that I mentioned I was anxious to hear Menace To Society from his CD Songs Of Life. He started into a verse and I joined him for a couple lines. He looked at me and said, "Yea, you got it." I actually sang with the guy I grew up seeing on MTV for about two lines of a song! Now that's cool!
With my ticket for Saturday night's show, I am supposed to be able to meet Bret and the guys from Evick before the show. I've e-mailed Pete to let him know I will be there. It will be great to see the guys again and welcome them to Des Moines for what could be the first of many times. It even looks like this show may have already sold out and they just announced it at the LA Guns show last Saturday.
I've heard stories and rumors posted online about Bret Michaels. Some are completely idiotic, but most have a very common theme. This is a guy who loves to play music live and he's always gracious to those he meets. I've seen this up close in two very small encounters and can see why this guy is still at it.
Poison was my rebellion as a kid and seems to be that as an adult. I was struck by the guitar and attitude of Talk Dirty To Me the first time I saw it on MTV and have followed the band ever since. Being a singer, my favorite of the 4 was always the guy who has the same name as me. Bret has a lifelong battle with diabetes and in spite of that has been rockin' and rollin' for over 20 years. To keep doing what you love at the level he does says something about what you love and what you are capable of. Bret is still drawing a crowd doing Poison tunes, solo CD tunes, and even a few covers.
Check out the bands I've listed in the Upcoming Shows area. Tell me what you thought. Most of all, support the artists who are doing this. They need us as much as we need them.
Out of the three, I'm most anxious for the one this Saturday. I get to take my woman to see Bret Michaels. He's being backed by Evick, a great band from back east. As a few previous posts will show, I was fortunate enough to meet Evick on two occasions while backing Bret Michaels. Evick performed with Bret at Waterstock Rock 2005 and I got to meet and hang with the guys at the dividing fence after the show. Pete, Ray, and Chuck were as cool as could be signing things and telling stories of the road. Pete Evick is a Metal Sludge fan and we talked about that website for a while. Later that year I caught the Bret Michaels show in Davenport, IA, and again Evick was backing Bret. I peeked into the window while Evick was soundchecking and Pete saw me and motioned me to come inside. After the show, we all hung out. My roommates, Steph, and I were just having a blast visiting with Evick, Big John, and even meeting Bret Michaels to get a picture and autograph. We took a group photo that night with everyone except Bret to publish on Metal Sludge to put some rumors about Big John's employment to rest. They were truly one big happy and fun family on the road. I tried earlier this year to get Pete Evick in touch with anyone and everyone about getting Evick on Waterstock 2006, but it fell through or didn't work out. I knew Bret would be there with Poison and it just seemed right that Evick should be on that bill this year, too. I hope they get on this next year.
I've been fortunate enough to meet Bret Michaels on two occasions. Steph was kind enough to help me get to meet Bret in Cedar Rapids in 2004 at 3rd Street Live. I was part of the first small group (all women except me) to get on Bret's bus for a short meet and greet after his show. He was very gracious and funny and even though he didn't have to, he asked me what my daughter's names were when I mentioned that they loved his song Raine and enjoyed the video. The second time I met Bret was in Davenport and it was just a brief spot in line for a picture on the steps of his bus. The really cool thing was that I mentioned I was anxious to hear Menace To Society from his CD Songs Of Life. He started into a verse and I joined him for a couple lines. He looked at me and said, "Yea, you got it." I actually sang with the guy I grew up seeing on MTV for about two lines of a song! Now that's cool!
With my ticket for Saturday night's show, I am supposed to be able to meet Bret and the guys from Evick before the show. I've e-mailed Pete to let him know I will be there. It will be great to see the guys again and welcome them to Des Moines for what could be the first of many times. It even looks like this show may have already sold out and they just announced it at the LA Guns show last Saturday.
I've heard stories and rumors posted online about Bret Michaels. Some are completely idiotic, but most have a very common theme. This is a guy who loves to play music live and he's always gracious to those he meets. I've seen this up close in two very small encounters and can see why this guy is still at it.
Poison was my rebellion as a kid and seems to be that as an adult. I was struck by the guitar and attitude of Talk Dirty To Me the first time I saw it on MTV and have followed the band ever since. Being a singer, my favorite of the 4 was always the guy who has the same name as me. Bret has a lifelong battle with diabetes and in spite of that has been rockin' and rollin' for over 20 years. To keep doing what you love at the level he does says something about what you love and what you are capable of. Bret is still drawing a crowd doing Poison tunes, solo CD tunes, and even a few covers.
Check out the bands I've listed in the Upcoming Shows area. Tell me what you thought. Most of all, support the artists who are doing this. They need us as much as we need them.
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