AC/DC Concert Review

Well, here's another concert review. Its been a good run of concerts here for the last couple of weeks. I saw AC/DC Friday night. Holy cow! Ridiculously good show. It had been sold out for months and I wasn't able to get tix when they went on sale so keep my eye out looking for reasonably priced tickets. No luck up til show day when I checked ticketmaster and they had released more tickets. I scored floor seats at the back of the floor! Not bad for a day of show purchase!

As I said it was sold out and the arena was pppppacked. Didnt see any empty seat anywhere. The opening band was called The Answer. They were from Ireland but had a Led Zep look with an AC/DC sound. Not bad for an opener. Very energetic. The crowd even gave them some love.

The lights go down and an animated video of a runaway train shows on a huge screen behind the stage. The animated train crashes and the opening riff of 'Rock and Roll Train' starts blaring through the speakers. Fire, lights and screams simultaneously erupt as the band hits the stage. The video screen behind the stage actually splits in two to reveal a huge train that looks as though it has crashed through the stage. Awesome!!!

The band ripped through a very diverse range of songs. They played four or five from the new album and hits all the way back to the Bon Scott days. Brian Johnson sounded awesome. I was worried that his voice wouldn't be able to handle belting out the shrieking on tunes like Back in Black but he sounded great. You had no idea he had been on the road for a month of shows. I was thoroughly surprised.

Angus Young is one of the most entertaining guitar players I've ever sen on stage. He didn't stop moving from the minute he got on stage. He was everywhere and completely shredded on his signature Gibson SG guitar. He had an awesome solo during Let There Be Rock where a platform at the end of the stage rose in the air while he played, laid on the ground and did circles and jumped around to the delight of the crowd. They ended their main set on this note to a huge roar from the crowd.

They played most of their big hits from Back In Black, You Shook Me All Night Long, Thunderstruck, Whole Lotta Rosie, TNT, Hells Bells, Dirty Deeds, The Jack, and Let There Be Rock.

After the main set and about 3 mins, the stage started to glow orange and smoke bellowed from the center. The signature sound of Highway to Hell started playing as Angus popped up from under the stage surrouned by the smoke wearing devil horns. They played the song perfectly and ended their encore with For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) with blasts from 6 cannons that flanked the back side of their stage set.

This was my first time seeing AC/DC and I'm glad I did. I've seen alot of concerts over the years, probably near 150 and this was a top 10 all time show for me. If these guys are this good at this age I can only imagine what they were like in their prime.

As before, I took some videos of the show and posted them on my youtube page. You can see them on the bottom of my blog.

Setlist
1. Rock N Roll Train
2. Hell Ain't a Bad Place To Be
3. Back in Black
4. Big Jack
5. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
6. Thunderstruck
7. Black Ice
8. The Jack
9. Hells Bells
10. Shoot to Thrill
11. War Machine
12. Anything Goes
13. You Shook Me All Night Long
14. T.N.T.
15. Whole Lotta Rosie
16. Let There Be Rock -- riser worked; it didn't at the D.C. show
17. Highway to Hell
18. For Those About To Rock We Salute You

3 Doors Down Concert Review

Well, Friday night I saw one of my fav bands in concert, 3 Doors Down. Another awesome show by these guys. I've seen them 8 or 9 times, from when they were nobody's in a small club to sold out shows at arena's and amphitheaters. They really are a great live band with plenty of material from their 4 albums to keep the show interesting yet still appeal to the casual fan. The venue was probably 80% full as this was a makeup show from their cancelled Sept concert when leader singer Brad Arnold had vocal troubles and had to cancel 2 weeks of shows.

They pretty much played their hits this go round though they did play a few tracks from the new album. They had a fairly bare bones stage setup with a huge drum riser and lots of open space between there and the front of the stage along with a huge screen behind them that played video clips and various pictures during the show.

They opened show (if I remember correctly) with The Champion In Me followed by Citizen Soldier and then Away From the Sun. The crowd really came to life during Here Without You and Kryptonite and sang every word to Be Like That. They closed the show with Loser (I think, the Coors Lights took a toll at this point) and they came back from a kick ass encore of Train (what an awesome song live), It's Not My Time and When I'm Gone. I videod a few of the songs and posted them on my youtube page, though I found out my camera microphone appears to be shot so the sound kinda sucks.

Overall another great show from them and well worth the bargain price of $45, especially in this day of $70+ tickets for floor seats. Glad to see at least some bands not giving in to the charge as much as you can for tickets philosophy.

Setlist (approx order and I think these songs are correct)
Champion In Me
Citizen Soldier
Away From The Sun
Let Me Be Myself
It's Not Me
Here Without You
Kryptonite
Landing in London
Duck and Run
Behind Those Eyes
Loser
It's Not My Time
Train
When I'm Gone

Shinedown Concert

So I went to see Shinedown last night at the 106.5 Not So Acoustic Christmas concert. Awesome show! This was the 4th time I have seen them but the first time on their current tour for the kickass album 'The Sound of Madness'. They haven't disappointed me live yet and last night was no exception. Tons of energy, great sound and a completely packed house.

They opened the show with their hit 'Devour' and completely tore up the stage which put the crowd in to a frenzy. They concentrated on songs of the new album as they played nearly all of them, which was fine with me since its one of my favorite albums of the last year. They played the big hits off their first two albums including '45' which the crowd sang every word to at the top of their lungs.

The band got a new guitar player earlier this year and he was an awesome addition. He looked familiar but until I looked him up on wiki I didnt realize why. Nick Perri is former lead guitarist for Silvertide and Satellite Party. Well, about 3 or 4 years ago I went to see Tantric at a small club in town and the opening acts were Silvertide and Shinedown. No wonder he looked familiar....And I'm sure being the opener on that tour was the connection that landed him the job as the new guitarist for Shinedown. He shredded last night and seemed to be extremely fired up playing every song.

After closing the main set with '45' they came back out for a well deserved encore and played their new single 'Second Chance' (my new fav song) which was another crowd favorite. They ended the encore with the first song they ever put out 'Fly From The Inside'.

Overall a great show, well worth the price (especially since it was sold out and I had to scalp a ticket just before showtime). Shinedown are great live and put on a very entertaining show. I've seen them in small clubs and in amphitheaters and they have the same energy regardless of the venue. Not many bands can do that these days.

Setlist

Devour
• Heroes
• Cry for help
• I dare you
• breaking inside
• cyanide
• if you only knew
• left out
• burning bright
• sound of madness
• crow & butterfly
• save me
• .45
• second chance
• fly from the inside
  

OJ Sentencing

Well, it only took 15 years but OJ got what he deserved. Payback is a biyatch.... He gets 15 years for his armed robbery of memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas last year. Thats a shame....He said that 'I didnt know what I was doing was illegal'. Lol. He is playing dumb or just thinking he is above the law all the way to the end. Only in America!

Well, we'll see if he makes it out of prison in one piece. I'm sure he'll have some inmates looking to get in the mix and get them some OJ while he is in the big house. He's apparently eligible for parole in 9 years. It looks like the judge threw the book at him though I'm sure his past troubles had nothing to do with the sentencing...Nope, not a factor.....lol yeah right!

Creed Reunion Rumors

I just read news that Creed may be reuniting for a huge tour in 2009. After the bitter breakup of the band due to Scott Stapp's solo aspirations and the other members forming a new band, Alter Bridge, i find this news surprising. It mentions alot of money is on the table for this reunion to happen but everything I've seen from guitarist Mark Tremonti said he and the other guys would not reunite.

I wonder if the rumors that Alter Bridge lead singer Myles Kennedy is a possible replacement for Robert Plant on the rumored Led Zeppelin reunion has caused Mark and co to reconsider as they would pretty much be sitting around in 2009 waiting for Myles to do the Led Zep thing.

Also, how much money promoters are throwing at them and is there really enough demand after 5 years to fuel a big, successful reunion tour for Creed?

I am a fan of the band as they were getting started in Tallahassee at the same time I was attending Florida State. And I have a family connection of sorts of as my brother worked in a furniture warehouse with the bass player while Creed was just getting starting to get some buzz going in the Tally music scene. All 3 of their albums have alot of good tunes and spent alot of time in my cd player in the late 90's/early 2000's.

I'm a big fan of Tremonti as well. His guitar work is awesome and he really shines with Alter Bridge. We'll see whether this rumor proves true. If so, I'll be picking up a ticket if they come through town.

The Killers CD Review

I just watched 'The Killers Rock Fuse' show they recorded for Fuse and aired on Thanksgiving. Good concert. They cranked through 2 new songs and all their other hits in 30 mins. Brandon I guess has decided his outfit of choice for this album is a blazer with ostrich feathers on the shoulders as he wore this same outfit on their SNL appearance a few weeks ago. He looks like some mariachi singer. He is definitely a weird dude. Must be the Las Vegas living or nightlife.

Seeing this show inspired me to review The Killers new CD , Day and Age. Good disc. Its definitely sounds like their first album, Hot Fuss. The first single is called 'Human' and it has the non-sensical lyrics that I feel is a trademark of The Killers. The song has alot of synth as does most of the disc, giving the 80's vibe that the band brought back in to fashion since their debut.

My favorite songs are 'Spaceman', which is an amusing song about being abducted by aliens that is also the second single, 'Losing My Touch', and 'Joy Ride'. The disc is definitely better than Sam's Town but not as good as Hot Fuss. I'm not sure any album they make will live up to the standard that album set. Overall a good album from one of my favorite bands of this decade.

Turkey Day CD Review-David Cook

Happy Thanksgiving! I figured I'd avoid the turkey coma by posting a CD review on David Cook's debut. Overall great cd, pretty much what you would expect based on his American Idol performances. Lots of low verse, big chorus songs with a very radio friendly sound. Rob Cavallo, of American Idiot fame, produced so he knows how to get some radio friendly music out of his artists.....

Cook and company lined up an all star cast of songwriters including Chris Cornell, Johnny Reznik from the Goo Goo Dolls, Kevin Griffin from Better Than Ezra and Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace. The first single, Light On, was co-written by Chris Cornell. Great tune and a good choice for the first single. Very radio friendly. I think the best tune on the disc is song 1, Declaration, which Reznik co-wrote. Awesome song and it wouldn't shock me if this upbeat, big chorus, rock song is the second single. Other standouts include Heroes, Life on the Moon, I Did It For You, Avalanche, and Permanent.

Raine Maida seems to be Cook's songwriting partner of choice as he co-wrote 4 of the songs on the disc including the above mentioned standouts Heroes, I Did It For You and Permanent. This isn't surpising as Cook said he is a big Our Lady Peace fan and even sang their hit, Innocent, during one of his Idol performances.

There is one 'hidden track' on the CD after track 12. I think its called Kiss on the Neck. Okay tune but my question is why do artists do this? Just stick the song on the cd with a track # like everything else. I don't want to sit through 6 minutes of silence after a track ends to get to it. If its a throwaway song don't include it and release it as a b-side! Very annoying. This song is okay so I probably won't be listening to it again since its a pain to get to but I figured I'd let you know its on there somewhere.....

Overall, this is a good debut for the first 'rocker' to win AI. First week sales were 280k which is respectable in the era of diminishing CD sales.