Disappointed with this news as I had a fantastic ticket in the front row.

You may have lost that show, but they just announced JB and Kenny Wayne Shepherd at Jones Beach Theater August 19.

Yes I guess they went for the larger venue as that will probably be almost a sell out on a Summer night. But of course I lose seeing Joe B up close. I had paid $230 for that ticket.

Btw….I bought his most recent Epiphone Les Paul called the Lazarus based on a 59 Les Paul. It’s very sweet and man has Epiphone been hitting their guitars out of the park in recent years.



It is almost sold out.

My plan to see Genesis almost came to be this past Monday. I refused to pay the exorbitant prices ($250+) and was monitoring an app called Gametime that evening lo and behold I could have gotten into the Garden for $19!!! Lots of cheap seats for sale in the $50 range.

But I just wasn’t feeling the hour ride into the City (and the even worse ride home) and the weather was changing for the worse that evening so I aborted. Now if I was working in Manhattan it would have been a no brainer.

Get one more chance Friday when they play the new UBS Arena in Elmont Queens/Nassau. At least that’s in this county and I can drive there.

If he legit did it just because he's coming back in 8 months for a larger venue, that's really not cool, especially if ticket prices were that much. This isn't some bar band cancelling a headlining tour because they're going to open for the Stones instead; or even A7X delaying their planned but not announced headlining arena tour to open stadiums for Metallica. This is a guy who in a lot of ways is better suited to smaller venues, with dedicated enough fans willing to pay a premium to see him in one..

sorry about that, JohnG.

Fingers crossed for you.

The Westbury Music Fair is a superior venue for an act like Joe Bonamassa and Kenny Wayne Shepard. Seeing an act there is like having them in your living room, especially up close.

Jones Beach is a good venue but for acts that need size to scale with special effects and a large roomy stage. Joe B will look small up there. And you can’t really get that close to the stage so you end up back in the stadium section.

Oh well.

Over the next few months I have, so far...
Billy Joel
Ohio Players
Sammy Hagar & The Circle w/ REO Speedwagon
Sting

We just saw REO Monday night. Very good show - Kevin Cronin still sounds good, and they played several songs I wasn't familiar with - always a nice surprise w/a classic group.

Tonight - Nita Strauss.

Let us know how that goes; I'm seeing her Sunday night, as long as she can get across the border.

I was thinking of seeing Nita last Tuesday but she was playing a small place in Brooklyn that’s tough to get to and her meet n greet is compromised by COVID. You are not allowed anywhere near her so a photo with her looks strange (she stays up on the stage). Maybe next time.

Yeah, we're not doing the meet & greet thing, largely because it's a work day and I'm not sure what time I'd have had to leave for it. It's not quite as odd as Kiss standing behind plexiglass for their M&G pictures, but still.

I get it; Kiss is a bunch of old guys in Covid's target demographic, so a lot of care is required. And while Ms. Strauss is a healthy young woman, I also understand the relatively massive financial exposure she has that Kiss could just shrug off around postponing or cancelling show dates. I'm sure she makes decent money, but not "Gene Simmons is our business manager" kind of money.

would like to go to windsor, ontario to see randy bachman and burton cummings in march....we'll see.

Also a ZZ Top / Cheap Trick show there at some point in the spring.

I've got a ticket for the Summer Toronto show for Bachman Cummings, and am really looking forward to it; I've seen Randy do a couple of songs in a couple of different bars (ah, Toronto), but never seen Cummings, or a full set from Bachman. So bring it on. Because Canadian Rock music starts with The Guess Who.

i sure hope it holds on, they are going back to 50% capacity in windsor at midnight tonight.

Ok I'm in tomorrow night for GENESIS at the brand new UBS Arena in Elmont NY (home of the Islanders). Got a 300 section first row seat near the stage to their right for $75. So I'm happy I didn't have to pay the going rate of $250+ a seat. And I love being in the first row, nobody in front of me to ruin the concert.

Nope, just the ones beside and behind you...

And a thought occurred to me... shouldn't Genesis be followed on stage by Exodus?

I’ve probably seen my last show for the year. The artists I saw in in 2021:

King Crimson / California Guitar Trio
Eric Clapton / Jimmie Vaughan
Blue Oyster Cult / Hilary York
Alice Cooper / Ace Frehley

and a couple of my favorite comedians:

Iliza Schlesinger / Hunter Hill
Taylor Tomlinson

I had a ticket to see Judas Priest, but that show was rescheduled for next year, after Richie’s health scare.

I get it, too. From the sound of things, the VIP stuff started shortly before our early entry time of 5:00. Not sure how early, but no matter.

As for the show, I'm going to mention the local opener for one reason (as this issue recurred during the show). They came out, and for their first two songs, no vocals. There were people singing, but no vocals in the PA. I get that things may not be perfect in that first 30 seconds, but short of equipment failure, how do you not get the mics up for two whole songs? And it didn't seem to be a failure (like a dead mic) because they didn't switch anything on stage. At one point, it was like Spinal Tap at the Air Force base because other music started coming over the PA. Even one of the guys in the band looked around to see where it was coming from.

Second act was Marc Rizzo. Now, I have total respect for what he does technique-wise. The dude can play circles around me. It just didn't seem very musical to me. He played to backing tracks, and it was all instrumental. But it just felt like practice exercises. It could be me - I have the same issue w/some of Nita's tunes at times - but I just couldn't engage with it.

Next up was Black Satellite. The name sounded familiar, but that may have been because of Nita's announcement. Four piece band - singer, guitarist, bassist, drummer. The guitar player looked like one of the goth kids from South Park. I don't think he played a chord or a solo all night, just downtuned lines, so musically is was a bit of a sludgy, muddy drone. They had kind of a bizarre look with makeup designs. And - get this - no vocals again for the first 2-3 songs. This time I could see the sound guy working w/an iPad to adjust the mix, but it took forever, then the vocals were way too loud for a few seconds, then too low again, then finally at a decent level about 30 seconds later. I don't know who was responsible for the sound early on, but it wasn't good.

Nita's band didn't suffer from that. Their sound was on almost from the first note. A couple covers, a couple new songs (including "Dead Alive" with taped vocals from David Draiman), and tunes from "Controlled Chaos". And a drum "solo" - Josh did about a five minute "solo" playing along to other bands' songs, like a Music Minus One thing (basically a mix of a song with one instrument pulled out so you can play along and fill that slot). I've met Josh and he seems like a nice dude, but I don't need to watch him play a drum solo. Maybe I'm a little jaded after years of Peart/Bozzio/Minnemann/etc., but if there's going to be a spotlight solo, it should present something unique. This doesn't. And the show was over in 50 minutes. Not an exaggeration - on at 9:40, done at 10:30. It's a stretch to say I was disappointed, but it wasn't as satisfying as the previous times I saw her.

sting at caesars?

Added two concerts to my list for next year - Alice Cooper with support from Buckcherry at a 3300 person venue - my most intimate Alice show ever, and Iron Maiden with Within Temptation at the local hockey barn

Good thing I love the headliners, and really like all 4 bands - ticket prices are up 20-25% from pre-pandemic, and these were pricey. I can see more marginal bands having issues if they try and charge these prices. But I think all involved are going to try and recoup some of those Covid losses, until fans prove they're not willing to overpay for shows. Which may also take a little time, since us concert fans are a little desperate right now

Also got a less good seat to Maiden than I wanted; TM was having technical issues today, so it took me a good hour to get to buy a ticket.