Paff

Today I saw The Regrettes, and they're really fun. I'd recommend anyone go see them if they come to your town (and they tour extensively, so it's highly likely). Really need Chris Hansen to accompany them on tour though, in light of their 16-year old lead singer and her seductive stage persona. Some clips:

BearFan

Edgar Winter, Alice Cooper, and Deep Purple


Went to the show last night in Dallas, lots of fun


Edgar Winter -- really impressive. if you closed your eyes, you would swear there was a 30 year old singing. His voice was great, really fun set. His band was insanely good, an actual good guitar, bass, and drum solo. I have never been a massive fan of his, Free Ride, Frankenstein, etc I always liked .. but I think I will give his albums a listen. I'd like to see him do a full set. I was very pleasantly surprised.


Alice Cooper ... another 70 year old singer that sounds good. Energetic show, the usual cool stage show. I was not overly impressed by the new songs ... but fun with Alice as always.


Deep Purple. They were much less energetic, makes sense given how much older they all are compared to the other bands, but man they sounded good. It was Ian Gillan's 72nd birthday last night. Airey snuck in a few bars of Happy Birthday during Knocking at your Backdoor .. which if I was Ian, I would not want to see what Don had in mind for a birthday present. I thought Ian sounded good, better than when I saw them 2 years ago ... maybe some extra birthday energy. They played 2 off the new album, they sounded good


Really good bill and a fun time. We had perfect seats under a giant fan that made this the best outdoor show I have been to in Dallas comfort-wise in the summer. I'm picking those seats from now on. Might go to more shows there now.

DaveWadding

I saw the same show in Phoenix a few nights ago. The ampitheatre was so empty near the start we got upgraded from the lawn to like the 13th row center. It was a great show, but Ian's voice is really shot, he can't get to those high registers anymore. Especially starting the show with Highway Star and Fireball, but he settled in nicely after that.

BearFan

Was more crowded in Dallas, most of the seats were full (about 90%) and some people on the lawn .. not a huge crowd, but not bad

Daytripper

BTW, did you ever hear that scrapped Propaganda reunion album that they made around 2000? It was about 80% completed.

Pointyskull

08/24/17
Joe Ely/Alejandro Escovedo
City Winery - Chicago

Terrific acoustic show, with the two of them alternating songs. Great storytelling and music. Damn!
I've seen Al a bunch of times (with band and without) but this was my first time for Joe - and the guy lived up to his iconic status, imo.

d2cheer

Sounded awesome! Nickelback should have played a few more rockers vs. their mellow hits and it would have been perfect. No idea who Shaman Harvest is they didn't play.

Ky-Fi

I saw Alejandro earlier this year for the first time--he's fantastic. I was loving it, too, because the theater was kind of an upscale place that mostly features classical and jazz shows, with a fancy wine bar for the intermission--it was awesome when he launched into "I Wanna Be Your Dog."

slybone

Shamens Harvest is from Columbia, Mo. A band I used to play with did a show with them in 1997. Didn't know they were still around.

dex14

Pointyskull

Everytime I see him I wonder why he's not a household name.

His 'Dog' cover is blistering...

bunkaroo

Anathema at Bottom Lounge, Chicago. First time seeing them and they did not disappoint.

Rex Fenestrarum

I did not. What I would really like to have heard was the original, "made entirely on computers" version of A Secret Wish. THAT would be something, and you'd think in an era of "special editions" and "25th Anniversary Editions" it woulda been released by now... but nope.

Jason

I saw this show last night.

Missed part of Edgar Winter but saw him play Frankenstein. Very short set. Would like to see more in a smaller venue.

Alice Cooper is great. Saw him with Motley Crue a few years back and thoroughly enjoyed it. No real surprises and the new material sounded good. He does the whole schtick and he's still got it. Solid band too. Again, would like to see him headline somewhere for a longer set.

Deep Purple sounded really good, but man do they look old. I had to look it up, and the combined age of Deep Purple is 344 years. My biggest problem was the short set list, but the performance made up for the relative brevity. This is billed as 'the long goodbye' tour, and sadly I think we're reaching the point where these "farewell" tours are actually farewell tours.

PerryD

Insomnium, Lacuna Coil and Epica last night at the Forge in Joliet. Great show, awesome sound for that venue.

Raul3

Leaving tomorrow for Ohana Fest. I'm going Saturday only, Friday is for Disneyland.

Jason Bovberg

Front row center for Joan Osborne singing Bob Dylan tunes! (Even got her set list after the show.) Fantastic. Only my second time front row. The other was in the early '90s for Cowboy Junkies.

Paff

Stiff Little Fingers for the first show of their American tour, celebrating their 40th anniversary as a band. They still bring it, and the new songs are as powerful as the classics. Jake Burns' voice was in top form, although he's packing on the pounds a bit. Not fat-shaming, but c'mon man, I wanna see more SLF shows and buy more albums, and that can't be good for his health!

But what really blew me away? The opening act, the Norwegian garage rock band Death by Unga Bunga. I felt like I was back at the Whisky in 1979, seeing The Nerves or The Plimsouls (and yes, I know one of those bands evolved from the other shut up). Yeah, I love when the old power pop bands come back around, but there's something exciting about seeing young guys playing that sort of music. You kinda forget how old you are.

A clip of a show earlier in the year:

Paff

So here's a great story.

Tonight was Marshall Crenshaw y Los Straitjackets. I'm a cheap MFer, and didn't want to buy advanced tix because there was a service charge. Besides, as late as 5PM tonight, the venue still had tickets for sale. So I just go there. Guess what? Sold out. Hell, as I'm walking up, some desperate guy is trying to get tickets from me.

I wasn't sure what to do, I kinda loitered around the club for a bit. Before long, someone walks up and the same desperate guy hits him up for tickets and gets one. So I figure there's a remote chance. I wait around, maybe 30 minutes, hitting up everyone for an extra ticket and keep getting shot down. Some old dude gets out of his Uber, I ask for a ticket, he says "no, I'm on the guest list". But as he walks in, he suddenly turns around and yells "hey buddy!" to me. Seems his guest list included a +1, so he offered it to me!!! I ask him what he's drinking, he says "I'm fine". What about paying him the door price for a ticket? No to that too.

So yeah, I get into a sold out show for fucking free.

And what a show. Los Straitjackets played about 20 minutes of their surf rock, then Marshall Crenshaw joined for a combo of his original songs plus some surf, Buddy Holly, and Beatles covers. And god damn, his voice was super strong. Great set, and got him to sign his first album for me. Man, shit like that doesn't happen often.

Dubya

Waited through an hour of pouring rain to get in to the front row of the pit for Green Day on 9/1. Just as I got dry, Billie Joe took a water nozzle hose and...sprayed me directly in the head. My pics from the show = https://www.flickr.com/photos/223254...57685030058742

Daytripper

Wait, WHAT?? You mean a Kraftwerk like version of "A Secret Wish"?? Great, now I have a mission. Here are some tracks off that scrapped album. If you want the entire thing, PM me here and I'll get it to you. It's quite good!

Daytripper

I saw Depeche Mode on 9/7. And never again. I've been purchasing their music since 1982 and have seen them nearly 20 times over the last 30 years. But these guys just need to call it quits. While I still like their studio work somewhat, even that has become subpar to their best work. Arguably 1984-1992 with "Ultra" and "Playing the Angel" thrown in. And they used to be so great live. The past three tours however supporting their last three albums have had almost the same exact set list each time. But I went to this show with an open mind any way. And found nothing enjoyable about it. This band has long checked out. They are just going through the motions at this point. There was nothing exciting, no energy. It felt so tired. Right down to the boring stage design and backdrop/videos. And the crowd was the worst I've ever seen at a D.C. show. People were either just standing there lifeless or were sitting down. Dave Gahan could barely muster anything from them with his signature yelling to get them to cheer. Since these tours are cash cow for them, they are never going to change a thing. And that makes me both sad and angry.

Daytripper

@Rex Fenestrarum, did you ever see this?

Daytripper

Saw Alison Moyet last night in D.C. (9/11). My God, that voice. I had only ever seen her twice before. Twice on the Yaz reunion tour. She is just amazing.

Chrisedge

Saw X and Skating Polly last week in Vegas. I had to hit one of their September shows because I won a customized photo album created by Exene as a prize from their recent Kickstarter campaign.

X


Skating Polly


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