I'm a little behind in the threat, but I saw Jackson in DC back in May. Agreed, great show. I am not a superfan, and it was a pleasant surprise when I recognized so many songs, although I was a little embarrassed when I realized half of the songs I recognized were actually by him and not Mister Mister or Howard Jones like I always thought.

I felt a little bad for Joe when he painfully rose and shuffled off the stage before the encore. The man looked like he's experience some serious fibromyalgia. .

Last night I saw Lil Ed And The Blues Imperials at the local fair.........a pretty good Chicago blues band that's been around for 35 years and the night before I saw Mr Blotto a good Chicago based jam band and on Friday I saw Without U2 a good U2 tribute band and on Thursday.I saw The Breakfast Club an 80's tribute band.

Big fan of Lil Ed - saw in in a Berkeley CA when I was in Navy, shortly after their first release.
Glad to see Mr Blotto still kicking it. They released a number of pretty decent to damn good albums back in the day.

In a real first, I got a concert last night because of Covid that I wasn’t originally going to get. Originally planned for the summer of 2020, the Motley Crue / Def Leppard stadium tour was not going to cross the border. But due to all the scheduling delays and changes, they were able to fit in a Canadian date this time. And while it was originally scheduled for 2020, this tour would have been a perfect festival tour in the summer of 1990. Sometime after Dr. Feelgood was released, but before Adrenalize, when these two bands were probably the biggest names in rock and roll.

While everyone raved about the 4 names on the bill, it did turn out there was a 5th unannounced band, Classless Act, a neo-Glam act. They sound like what they are – a band inspired by the 80s Glam Metal music and playing it straight up. They were okay, although they only got 20 minutes.

The first attraction is getting close to her 50th year in the business – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts put on a much more energetic set than the last time I saw them, and that made me happy. The guitar work was great, and Joan still sounds very good; her vocal style has stood the test of time. And it was almost all classics, all the time – Cherry Bomb, I Love Rock and Roll, I Hate Myself for Loving You, Bad Reputation. Anyone in music would love to have one of songs on their resume, and she has all of them and more. A good quick 45 minute set, lots of love from the fans, and off she went.

Up next was my least favourite of the big glam metal bands, Poison, but I’ve softened on them over the years. I still think the stuff from their first album was their best material and wish they had stayed sleazier than they did. In another universe, maybe they did, and we didn’t get some of the lighter stuff we got later. While I really liked opener Look What the Cat Dragged In and Talk Dirty to Me, I’d have to think long and hard if there was a popular glam metal song I hated more than Every Rose Has Its Thorn. But the crowd loved it, and their other stuff as well.

In something that surprised me, Def Leppard came on next; I’m guessing they’re alternating on this tour. And it was a very professional, well executed set. They did a couple of songs off the new album – I respect them still trying, the only ones that did any recent material - but of course their set was dominated by Hysteria, with 6 of the 10 tracks performed. I much preferred the songs from High and Dry and Pyromania, though. 35 years on, and I’m still over-exposed to Pour Some Sugar On Me and Rocket, and it still sounds less genuine than Bringin On the Heartbreak or Foolin’. But aside from shortening a few of the vocal lines, everyone in the band still sounds great, without any falling off.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for the headliners; while the rhythm section of Motley Crue still sounds great – Lee is a monster on the kit, and Nikki actually sounds better than he did – the internet memes about Vince Neil are true. He has no wind left, and so was almost talking through the lyrics instead of singing. But the most surprising thing for me was the songs he had the least trouble with – the higher pitched, faster paced material from the first two albums; Too Fast for Love, Live Wire, and Looks that Kill all sounded really good. Back to that alternate universe, and Motley Crue could have become a thrash act listening to those songs live. Of course, it was mainly the Feelgood and Girls, Girls, Girls material that got the crowd jumping, but those were much more strained. It was a pretty exhaustive career spanning set, including a medley of all their covers from over the years, so I was happy to see it, since the last time I saw them was a shorter set. They closed with Kickstart My Heart – send them home happy – and everyone headed for the exit.

One thing that surprised me was the audience; while I was expecting my generation to be the whole audience, with maybe a few people who were conceived to the music being played, I was not expecting as many of the current young generation to be there repping for Leppard and Crue as there were. Glam Metal fell off the world’s radar in a hard way and is a lot different from today’s metal. To see that there are as many kids finding these bands as there seemed to be is surprising.

The other thing that surprised me is that we’re still getting Garry Glitter material; Do You Want To Touch me was a moderate hit for Joan, and Rock and Roll Part 2 was a throwaway cover for the Crue, but given everything that happened, I would have thought he’d be cancelled completely.

All told a good night, and I’m glad I went. It’s been almost 30 years since I saw Leppard, and the memory has faded. I still have holes in my Glam Metal concert collection, but the top of the list was well represented last night.

The first of my two concerts in Montreal, I’d decided I’d see Greta Van Fleet here instead of in Toronto to avoid any rushing after their Friday date in Toronto. Plus, I figure it would help make them a little special and give me a break from the norm by being in another city for a long weekend.

The opener was a young blues rock guitar prodigy named Hannah Wicklund. And she was really good, for a 23 year old white girl (not being condescending, honest). I am glad to see there are still young people coming up who like to play this kind of music, and she did establish some rapport with the audience in Montreal’s Cathedral of hockey.

The second act was a big motivator; I’ve seen the Pretty Reckless before, but I wanted to see them in a big arena, and it helped sell me on coming to this. The PR’s set was really good; 50 minutes of prowlin’ and howlin’. I’m always torn on lead singer Taylor Momsen; she’s angry, and loud, and embraces her sexual heat on stage like few others. But I’m always a little concerned about what turned her from Cindy Lou Hoo into her current persona. Her music, lyrics, drug history, anger, and sexual challenge are a mix that screams “bad things happened to me in Hollywood”. Going to Hell and Heaven Knows were the big songs for the crowd, but Only Love Can Save Me Now was probably my favourite performance.

Here I’ll interject a complaint about the venue; The Bell Centre is a great venue for hockey – steep inclines in the seats, and a fourth deck to make sure people have great sight lines while still being close to the action. But that fourth deck sucks for concerts; it’s a really high space, and the crowd noise is deadened if it’s not over the top loud.

Thankfully, when headliners Greta Van Fleet took the stage, it was over the top loud. The crowd went nuts and stayed that way. And it struck me, for all that they’re a rock and roll band, they were getting a pop audience reaction. Like Elvis / Beatles type squeals, screams, and tears. While I’m not their target audience (I have heard this music a lot before, after all), their primary audience loved it. Many people in my generation deride them as a Led Zeppelin cover band, but I remember the same thing being said about Whitesnake, and Great White, and many others since. But GVF are the real deal; live, there’s more to them than just Zeppelin; hints of Queen, and Bowie, and Purple, and the Allmans. And they get to take advantage of being a great early 70s rock band for the kids, while not being seen as grandpa and grandma’s music. (check the math)

Every vocal howl was real (and longer than the recorded versions), songs stretched out with breaks and jams (no doubt to let the singer rest his vocals), their stage show was full of fire and lights, and they have a bunch of songs which are incredibly good. The ballads brought out lights, the hits had people screaming every word, and the show had great energy.

I had no emotional connection with the band beforehand, but the muddy start of Highway Song gave me chills, and Safari Song really set the energy early. Of course, they’re their breakout songs, and I don’t have connections to their deep cuts, but their hits are real hits, and live, they’re home runs. I do think they’d benefit from a second guitar to add depth. The bassist is the keyboardist, which also hurts depth, but for a four piece, they make a lot of noise.

I don’t know if they can last – his vocals were burning out by the end of the 90 minute set, and they’re only 2 albums in. And pop fans are notoriously fickle. Plus they’re never going to be popular with the rock intelligentsia, because of their crass populism. But I’m glad I got to see them, in case they are a shooting star across the heavens, and not a lasting thing.

Always glad to see people discover Hannah. We saw her open for Marshall Tucker about 4-5 years ago, and I've been a devoted follower ever since.

Sunday night marked the last of my Covid concerts. 2 ½ years after purchasing a ticket and planning the trip to Montreal, I finally got to see one of my favourite dance bands, and the biggest spectacle in Heavy Metal. German industrial gods Rammstein opened their North American stadium tour with an outdoor show at Parc Jean Drapeau. And it was every bit the spectacle that everyone says it is. Now I understand why they don’t come to North America very often (1 Toronto date in their history) – the cost and effort must be insane.

The stage was an industrial landscape of steel and lights, with at least 20 fire rigs embedded all around the 10 story tall set up, and atop the 4 towers scattered throughout the crowd. At points throughout the show, it felt like a concert in the middle of a natural gas plant, there was so much fire in the air. The field towers also came with massive confetti cannons that turned August into a snowstorm. Plus, there was enough lighting across multiple colours that they probably had to warn the airport not to land in the park. And there was one burst of white fireworks towards the end, but only one was okay. More would have been overkill. They used the second stage for the orchestra, and to open the first encore, and then they crowd surfed back to the main stage in rubber boats. Spectacular visuals.

As for the music, it was very, very good; perfectly executed – except for one technical glitch in opener Armee der Tristen. The songs from the new album are strong (Zick Zack, Zeit, and closer Adieu, especially), and we got enough of the classics to keep everyone happy. Their connection with the audience is amazing for a band with only one song with English lyrics. And most of the audience don’t sprecken ze Deutsche. Links 2-3-4 and Sensucht were strong early, but it was the closing wave into the first encore (yes, we got two) that was the strongest part of the set – Deutschland, Radio, Mein Teil, Du Hast, and Sonne is a really incredible run of songs. We did get Pussy as part of the first encore (no NC-17 video, though), and the second encore of Rammstein, Ich Will, and Adieu marked a phenomenal way to mark the end, before they ascended 7 stories up to wave auf wiedersehen to the audience. Just an overall phenomenal event from the headliners

I also understand the decision not to bring a real opener, as they had their 10 piece piano led orchestra do classical arrangements of Rammstein material on the second stage. Interesting, but really not loud enough to make a big impact on the 45,000 person audience. They did support a couple of the songs during the main set, which added depth, but for the most part, they were unnecessary.

And the closing observation – thanks be to the Metal Gods regarding the weather; we had massive thunderstorms and tornado black skies all afternoon, but I was only hit by a few drops by the time I left for the site; we had no rain while the show went on, but it started to rain again as I walked back to the hotel. While I feel bad for the people who got there early, for me, the weather window aligned perfectly.

and the setlist, spoilered for length

Here's some of my favourite pics, spoilered for length, (check the scale of the band in the purple lit shot)

Looking forward to the Sacred Rose Festival this weekend. Only going Friday, though. Main draw is Phil and Friends, but joining Phil Lesh's band of misfits will be Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline of Wilco, so the band has been named Philco. Should be a good ol' time.

Thanks for the review of the Rammstein concert above, I was on the fence about going to the September 6th MetLife show but I received an email that they had $25 dollar tickets for sale and since this is a spectacle show, sitting way back is an advantage to take it all in so I’m going! :

It’s been a quiet Summer for concerts (did just see Loverboy/ Styx/ and REO Speedwagon at the Beach) but that changes with a big show this Wednesday night, Roger Waters at the Garden! We have had these tickets since 2020 so it’s nice to finally see old Rog in person. I hear it is a great show.

Damn, for $25, I'd go for the show even if I had to bring my ipod so I didn't have to listen to the band on stage. It cost me $150, a plane ticket, and a couple nights in a hotel.

The reality is I’m running out of legendary bands to see; the number of touring acts from the 60s and early 70s is very limited, even if you stretch the definition of rock as far as it goes. The ones that I haven’t seen who can still play near sell outs in baseball stadiums can probably be counted on one hand. So even though I don’t consider myself a fan, I went to see one of those handful – Elton John in his first of two nights at the Rogers Centre, on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.

It turns out it was a very enjoyable 2 ½ hour show; more of a watch concert than a participation concert, but the most important thing held – Elton John still sounded like Elton John. He’s dropped the upper range completely (this really hurt Tiny Dancer), and slowed a couple of songs down, but for the most part, his vocal tone was good. And there were enough changes in pace that you could tell it wasn’t a backing track. They showed his hands playing the piano a lot, but whether the sound was coming from his piano, or the backing keyboardist, I couldn’t tell – hard to see that distinction from the upper deck. And the biggest accommodation for his age – he did the songs seated on the piano bench; no dancing around for him.

I knew his setlist going in, (as does pretty much anyone who knows pop music), so I knew there was some songs I liked. And after the set, I liked some of them more than I did going in; Candle in the Wind (the Marilyn version, not the Diana version) was better than I expected, and 50 year old Your Song was A LOT better. I’m Still Standing had a much more nostalgic feel than the original 80s single did – especially accompanied by a video of John’s guest appearances and parodies across the decades. I’d never heard Have Mercy on the Criminal, and it blew me away – the closest to piano blues I’ve ever heard from Elton. But for me, the closing pair were huge – Crocodile Rock (with the crowd doing the la – la, la, la, la parts) and Saturday Night were my personal favourites going in, and probably stayed that way.

We didn’t get his new number 1 single (the Britney duet), and we didn’t get Can You Feel the Love Tonight from the Lion King, but I’m fairly sure he covered everything else. Certainly enough to give me what I wanted from an Elton John show. And while it wasn’t enough to make me a fan, it certainly reinforced the respect that he is due as a singer and songwriter, even here, at the end of a 50 year career

Setlist, Spoilered for Length

If Elton John was one of the biggest acts of the 70s I hadn’t seen before, last night’s band was on the same scale, only from the 90s – Pearl Jam. I’d been trying to get a ticket to this sold-out show for 2 years (Covid again), and thanks to a guy’s wife being stuck at work in North Bay, I was able to score a ticket with less than 48 hours to go. And thanks to PJ’s anti-scalping stance, I was able to get it at face value. So I was stoked to be able to finally cross them off my shopping list, even though I haven’t kept up with what they’ve done in the last decade or so.

The harsh reality is in a better world, Pearl Jam wouldn’t exist; Mother Love Bone would have been the breakout stars of the Seattle scene, and we never would have gotten this wonderful unique mix of talents that came together after Andy Wood died. But we did, and music is better for it.

The show opened quietly, with the first half dozen or so songs being more introspective. Daughter led it off, followed by Come Back and Sometimes, before playing Her Majesty by The Beatles – PJ’s always been a band that pays attention. After another couple of tracks, they jumped the energy up with Pink Floyd’s Interstellar Overdrive and their own Corduroy.

It was Even Flow that really took the audience to another level though. In reviewing setlists beforehand, I wasn’t sure they would play it – they don’t every show – but they did this time. And the crowd went nuts. After that, they played some more – including part of Cinnamon Girl after I Got Id – and closed the main set with a ripping version of Rearviewmirror.

For me, as a casual Pearl Jam fan, it was the encore that will always be memorable though – just about everything I love about Pearl Jam shoved into 20 minutes of music. We got Light Years (dedicated to Gord Downie), shout outs to various charitable organizations they had invited to the venue, a raging version of Do the Evolution, the tour debut of Eddie’s version of Last Kiss, and the thought-provoking Jeremy. At that point, Eddie called an audible, and what was going to be Leash instead turned into Alive. The venue houselights were turned on before they finished it (the ACC does that to everyone past 11), but they finished Alive to a rapturous audience. And then, to really send the crowd home happy, they launched into Rockin’ in the Free World. We get a lot of Rush and Neil Young pandering here, but with Pearl Jam, it felt real; they share Neil’s world view, and play it with him a lot (including here previously), so it felt like a legitimate statement. And they nailed it.

More generally, it felt to me like Pearl Jam have managed to find a balance between doing what they want and what the audience wants, without losing themselves in the business or becoming a parody of themselves. I was struck by the similarities to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band; since I never saw PJ before, I can’t tell if that’s their own evolution, or it was always there, covered by that layer of grunge. But they clearly deserve their place as one of the most respected and loved bands of the last 30 years.

Setlst, spoiled for length:

Tonight is the first show in Toronto. Anyone going?

I wish! But I'm seeing Pat Metheny in Ottawa on Monday and Robert Fripp in Toronto on Friday. Should be a fun week even without Porcupine Tree.
But I wouldn't mind PT.
Enjoy the show, John!
.

saw alice cooper tonight.

an electric guitar barrage. 3 guitar players, a bass, (a very very loud bass) and a drummer.

glad i brought ear plugs.

interesting show, guillotine and all.

every single song was in the same key.

one and one-half hours of loud.

i really couldn't tell you if it was good or bad or indifferent, i am to old to judge something like this, but my bride wanted to go, so...............

I didn't do Porcupine Tree. Aside from Wilson's reputation in Prog circles - and I'm not a prog guy - I know nothing about the band. And I elected to go see the Eagles after all (more on that later).

Renny, Alice never did have much of a vocal range, and it's basically 3 chord rock and roll with some 70s glam thrown in. But's one of a handful of artists on my go see every time list, because it's such a good time.

You often regret the things you don’t do more than the things you do; that was the quote that was stuck in my head when I made the decision to see the Eagles on Saturday. I’ve spent 35 years proclaiming them the most overplayed bad in the history of rock and roll. And for the most part, I haven’t liked their California country rock sound. But as I said with Elton John, I’m running out of legendary bands to see, and even worse, I’m running out of the ones I can. So, I decided to go.

And it turns out it was a good thing; the way they organized the set allowed me to set down 35 years of reflexive dismissal and really listen to them. Billed as a full play and Greatest Hits set, the opening act was many of the original artists (with symphony and choir when appropriate) playing one of the top albums of all time (between 20 and 50 depending on your source) from front to back, thereby getting it out of the way, and allowing me to judge them based off their career, excluding Hotel California.

I don’t own a single Eagles album; since about 1990, I’ve changed the channel when their music comes on; they played a two hour set of 18 songs that excluded all Hotel California material. And I still knew …EVERY…SINGLE…SONG…. From opener Seven Bridges Road to closer Heartache Tonight, and the smashes of the encore, every song ingrained in my memory through sheer osmosis.

And it turns out, I’m a Joe Walsh fan; he can still really play his guitar. While his vocals aren’t great, that was always part of his charm. And his self-deprecating humor (the police reports tell me I had fun in Toronto; I don’t remember though) And while the audience connected with all the music, I’d say they connect with him the most. Life’s Been Good and Rocky Mountain Way got some of the bigger reactions of the night, and Funk #49 let him show off what he still has left.

Vince Gill sounded great doing some of Glenn Frey’s material, though he didn’t really get to show his guitar skills. Deacon Frey also sounded great doing some of his dad’s stuff, although I understand he’ll be moving on soon. Don Henley still sounds like Don Henley, and alternated between the drum kit, and centre stage. We even got a Tim Schmitt vocal lead. And five part vocal harmonies up and down the setlist. Which never happens anymore.

I will say it didn’t convert me completely; while I enjoyed the Walsh stuff, Boys of Summer (Henley), Take It Easy (Deacon) , Tequila Sunrise (Vince) and Already Gone (Deacon / Vince) many of the other songs were just kind of there. And my personal 3rd most overplayed song in history was in the encore; I’m still not a fan of Desperado.

I’m not going to run out and buy a bunch of Eagles music; I’ll likely never see them again. But what this show did was teach me, live and in person, that you only get to be the most overplayed band in the history of rock and roll by being an ungodly talented group of musicians, able to write songs that both connect with large audiences, and that stand the test of time. And for all the talk and debate that has taken place about Hotel California’s place in the pantheon over the years, the truth is, the Eagles would deserve to be the legends they are, even if that album had never existed.

Setlist, spoilered for length

That opening set when they play the entire Hotel California album is pretty sweet because there are a few under played gems in there like Wasted Time/ Victim Of Love/ Try And Love Agian/ and the epic The Last Resort. Of course you get the way over played title song, New Kid In Town and Life In The Fast Lane (but all hits).

To me The Eagles are a machine, a guitar machine and are a pleasure to see in concert. This from a guy who didn’t like them till Joe Walsh joined with Hotel California.

Big night tonight in NYC at Radio City, Porcupine Tree makes their triumphant return! Last time I saw them was at this venue in 2010, so it’s been 12 long years.
I’m hearing very good things about the tour so far, 3 hours of music.

Just got my Porcupine Tree CD yesterday after I don't know how long waiting for it. Sadly, the tour isn't coming close enough for me to go.

Tonight is (presumably) my last Elton John show. We saw him earlier on this tour, and he said "we won't be back", but sure enough, when they announced this stadium run, there was a date here. No-brainer for me.

My wife and I went down to the city and a wonderful dinner at Il Corso on 55 Street and then headed over to Radio City at 7ish.
Long long line for merch even that early.
PT went on right at 8PM because of the strict curfew at 11.

Opened with Blackest Eyes and we were off, great sound, stunning visuals and avant-garde lighting. I’ve never heard them sound so good. Newcomer Randy McStine on guitar and vocals did a great job. Also newcomer Nate Navarro held down the bottom end.

Heard a few of my favorites like Drown With Me, Evenless, Sleep Together and a real crowd pleaser Anesthetize. That one got the joint jumping.

A triumphant return to form, will Steven Wilson continue PT now that the tour is getting rave reviews? We shall see.