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Concerts, August - September 2000
KISS with Skid Row and Ted Nugent
September 16, 2000 Syracuse, NY
I've been to Syracuse all of three times in my life, but each time I've went, it's been awesome.
KISS ranks up as #1 of all the concerts I've seen thus far, and I like to think that I've seen quite
a few. It's still hard to believe that I actually saw them- it's like getting to do something that
you can only dream about. (And believe me, for a while there back a couple months ago,
I was only dreaming, so I'd like to extend a big thank you to Dave for risking
getting my mother pissed off). Anyways, the day officially started at 4:30 PM, when all four of
us- Dave, Steve, Vanilla and I were on the road headed to Syracuse. Dave drove, Steve
kept doing air drums and air guitar while he was suppossedly "reading", and Vanilla and I were
getting blasted out of the back seat by Skid Row. (Nothing like going to the show before the
show!) We reached Syracuse around 6 PM or so, I hung a thong from Fredericks up on
the review mirror, and we headed towards the Oncenter... Once we finally got inside the
building, Vanilla and I waited and got our asses grabbed for 20 minutes or so (by the same guy,
might I add) till we could get our sparkly KISS shirts, then went and sat down for: Skid Row!
#1: Skid Row proved to be better than I thought they were going to be. I had been given a
mix of some Skid Row / Ted Nugent / Kiss stuff, and decided that Skid Row sucked. But
I guess that goes to prove that you really can't judge a band or performer until you see them
live. Skid Row just rocked for their all too-short 30 minute set. They came out, got the crowd
going, and proved that they have what it takes even if the 80's are over, Sebastian Bach is
Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde on Broadway (and I hear he sucks), and they've gone through a gazillion
different drummers. They played loud and fast with fantastic energy. What more could you ask
of an opening band? Even better, it was Snakes' birthday, and my RED pants matched
his RED pants. Hee, hee. Great stuff indeed, I was very impressed.
#2: I liked Ted Nugent much better on the mix that I have versus live. The man did not impress
me at all; he seemed tired of doing what he was doing, like he didn't care anymore. Even his
politically incorrect ranting was old. Like he was just saying it for the hell of it.
If songs like "Kiss My Ass" and "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang (which are okay songs)
couldn't redeem my opinion of his performance, I guess nothing ever will. Ted was on for one
incredibly LONG and boring hour... too long. They should've cut his set by 15 minutes and
had Skid Row on longer. They had much better energy and stage presence than Ted did
and deserved to have more time out there.Vanilla and I also did not fully understand the
purpose of the damn video during the hunting song, whatever it was, so if someone out
there would be willing to explain it, feel free to let me know.
and finally...KISS!!! What a great show these guys put on. I don't care how much I
spent on my damn ticket, (and I moved up too, so it was all okay) it was worth every 20 dollar
bill it cost. KISS went on at about nine and rocked the house till after 11, and it was great.
Such stage presence and attitude... wow. Paul Stanley is the ultimate showman, ripping off his
shirt right in the beginning of the show and prancing around on stage; Ace just ripped it up on
the guitar- I was fairly floored during his solo section; Gene proved that he is indeed the God
of Thunder (-ous bass, ha ha) and worked the blood for all it was worth during his little solo
section, and of course Peter kept the beats coming strong all nite long. I didn't care for his
solo section- he did "Beth", and it was probably the worst and cheesiest part of the
whole show. I hate the song as it is, but the fact that they had canned orchestral music on top
of it just made the whole thing a little bit worse. And of course it had to be right towards the
end of a great concert that was filled with wonderful songs from start to finish. They even did
an impromptu "jam" kinda thing, playing what they could remember of some songs. I was told
that they didn't do that in Buffalo or Toronto.
The biggest audience thrill had to be when Paul flew out and did a song on
a platform in the middle of the audience; everyone went down and stood around the platform,
girls threw their bras (I wanted to throw mine, but I liked the one I had on too much), people
yelled; it was awesome. The crowd, whether they were 9 years old or 69 years old was just
totally into the band and having a great time. I know I certainly did.
BO DIDDLEY DAY at the Bug Jar, September 2nd, 2000
Yet another milestone in my fairly short life, Diddley Day was awesome. The bands were
just on all nite long, the crowd dug it; very cool indeed. A ton of people
performed, so I'm going to try to get them all mentioned in here somehow, someway. If I leave
anyone out for some reason-and I don't know why becuase I'm going with the video tape
on this one- (Rob's nice and let me borrow it, and my cousin's nice and made me a copy) bitch
at me. I can take it.
The Hi-Risers did their portion of the nite first. Basically, people such as me who signed up to
sing at the show (with the exception of Del Rivers who went on with the Quitters, and Frantic
Frank, who showed off with the Veins) got worked into the Hi-Risers set, which had
somewhere around 20 or so Diddley tunes, ("Surfers Love Call" probably being the most hilarious)
All of them for the most part, were incredibly solid. The Hi-Risers did a fantastic job as both a solo
band and back-up band for the likes of Mike Murray of Whole Lotta Shakin' fame ,
Christina Ginger (that's me!), Ashley Black, Stan Merrell of Lotus STP fame, and Jocelyn,
who did a few songs with them and even played guitar. Out of all of these lucky few that got to
perform with the Hi-Risers, I (and my mom as well) enjoyed Mike Murray's version
of "Diddy Wah Diddy" and Jocelyn's performance the best. I was not too impressed by Ashley
Black or Stan Merrell; the latter growled and shouted too much, the former seemed like
she didn't know what she was singing during "Road Runner". I honestly can't judge myself; I
watched the tape once and cringed the whole time I was on screen. I will say that I had the
best shoes there, it was a great time, and I'm really happy I got to sing with some incredibly
talented people. And I got to sing my song ("I'm Sorry") all over again the next week at Todd
Bradley Day :)
After the Hi-Risers came some guy... I don't know his name, I don't know what song he did,
but he was a guy and was kind of scary. I was told that he works at the Bop Shop.
I'm hoping that he just got up there for the hell of it, because I'd be really scared if he
was serious. It was funny though, and a nice little interlude into the performances of the other
bands.
The Quitters featuring Del Rivers doing
guest vocals for "Ride On Josephine" were up after the scary guy. Mike and Del said it best the
following day on Whole Lotta Shakin' when they quipped that Del was making all of the
dogs in the Monroe Ave. area howl... aside from his voice, which I have to say was more
hilarious than scary, he did a great job up there. He knew that song and pulled it off well. He even
had a whole bag of maracas going for him that Dave Snyder sort of adopted over the course
of the Quitters' set. The Quitters also did "Jaguar" and "Hush Your Mouth" (the last one was
also done at Todd Bradley Day), and of course, did extremely well. Maybe it's just because I
have this thing for Dave Snyder's voice, I don't know. Jaguar was upbeat and rocked well,
while their version of "Hush Your Mouth" sounded like how Screamin' Hay Hawkins (RIP)
would sing it. Lots of growling, yelling, and of course, good singing that just fit surprisingly well into
the tune.Out of all the songs they did, this one suited the band the best. It's one of my new
favourite songs- the Diddley version and the Quitters' version.
Up after the Quitters were The Vertigo-gos
, the only surf band to do Diddley Day. I'm not to sure what song they actually did, so if any of
them are reading this, please don't be offended, and let me know! Their song was very cool-
towards the end they kicked up the distortion a bit and made it sound incredibly spacey and
trippy, which I liked though it's something I usually hate. I got a kick out of seeing them,
since I had not seen them in a while. I was not disappointed with the band in the least.
The best part of the Vertigo-gos had to be Robo Diddley- a wonderfully hand-crafted
cardboard/miscellaneous whatever robot that kicked ass. He died at the end of the song,
which was sad, but great to watch. Robo Diddley RIP.
The Priests followed the Vertigo-gos set with
their own special blend of two Diddley tunes which fit them wonderfully, "I'm a Man" and
"Dearest Darling". The Priests darkened the already somewhat dark and lingering songs till
they were almost black, brooding over the rhythms and lyrics like no one else. The switch
between caterwauling and moaning vocals combined with some great guitar, bass and drums
made their set unique and truly wonderful. I enjoyed it a lot.
Resident XXX movie lovers The Grinders came on up
after the Priests and did two songs as well, "Cadillac" and "You Can't Judge a Book By Its
Cover" (the latter being my second choice to sing). "Cadillac" featured Rob Filardo's sister
Andrea on bg's and she did a great job for her first time up there. I think she sounded good.
Andrea stayed up there and did some rhythm during "You Can't Judge...", a song that the
band had a little trouble starting off, but managed to pull off in the end. Vocally, it was
probably the song that differed the most from any of the Diddley songs done that nite- Todd
didn't follow the melody at all, really- but for some strange reason, it worked. One will never
know...
The Veins followed the Grinders, and although
their singer Dave proclaimed that the set was a "mess" I didn't really hear it.The Veins know
how to rock, do it well, and are great to watch, so I enjoyed them immensly. Their version of
"Pills" was great- out of the three songs that they did, I enjoyed that one the best. It's a fairly
catchy song as it is, but the Veins made it even catchier. I didn't even recognize "Who Do
You Love" at first, and am not too sure how well I liked their version of it. It was a little fast
and somewhat different from the original, but I guess the fact of the matter is that the Veins
adapted it to fit their sound and style. Frantic Frank made his appearance on "I Can Tell"-
he sang and played with the band while Dave just kind of danced around and looked funny in
his glasses... Frank pulled off the vocal attitudes of the song wonderfully and had some great
musicians to go along with him on his endeavor. Great stuff.
The posters, newspaper, and emails announced the debut of the Greasy Chickens at Diddley
Day. I sat wondering who the hell the Greasy Chickens actually were, thinking they'd be new
people or something like that. Um, I was wrong. Really, really wrong. The Greasy Chickens,
for those of you who know your band math, consist of 3/4 of the Quitters, and 1/2 of the
Thunder Gods. (God, I need to get a life).
For those of you who don't that's Dave and Dan Snyder, the ubiquitous Rob Filardo, and
the man responsible for coming up with the Diddley Day idea and saying that I could sing,
Thunderclap Jimmy. Rob was on bass, Dave on guitar/bg's, Dan on drums (which I know he
plays but have never seen him play them, so that was cool) and Jimmy on vox and maracas
doing "Look at My Baby" and "Bo Diddley 1969" (hmm...). Dave did some great guitar work
on "Look at My Baby", but I personally liked "Bo Diddley 1969" (and no, not just because
of the name, sicko!) better. The vocal line seemed to suit Jimmy better, and the little
"Bo Diddley, Bo Bo Bo Diddley" chorus makes me think of a Vegas show song. Don't ask,
I'm on crack.
The legendary Thunder Gods took
the Diddley Day / Bug Jar stage last, and closed the show with a bang doing "Bring it to
Jerome" and appropriately enough, "Rock and Roll", a song that featured some great
bantering between T.C. Jimmy and T. Bunny Blue (or, since I've never heard the recorded
version of this, I'm guessing, Jerome Green and Bo Diddley, respectively). Good stuff there.
"Bring it to Jerome" was a more mellow song, but okay none the less. The Thunder Gods put
on a great set of two songs that had energy even at 2 in the morning, and just rocked with the
best of them; I thought it was well done and executed.
The THUNDERGODS at the Bug Jar Fest August 6, 2000
(Note:I actually wrote up a review for this one, listening to Kiss and wearing my kick ass RED pants... aren't you proud? Now if I can read it...). I had the option to sit home and watch wrestling... or to go see the Thunder Gods at the Bug Jar Fest. Let's just say that even though I enjoy wrestling (for some unknown reason), I enjoy listening to music that's brash, bold, and LOUD even more. The Thunder Gods achieved that task beautifully, performing a high energy action-packed set that even included "Instrument-Drummer Choreography" as I like to call it. (The Guitars went up, Rob went up, the Guitars went down, Rob went down). From the opening strains of "Cursed Idol" and every song there after- "I Do My Rockin In the USA" (a song that, when I first heard it on Christmas Day, caused me to go "Holy shit, Merry Christmas to me!" I absolutely love it, but miss the pianos live) "Cum on Kidz", "It Ain't No Drag", "Soul Crusher", "Crash and Burn Tonite" (the new dance craze) and most notably, "Big Handsome Man"- a song featuring a very cool drum solo by Rob and dedicated to the Handsome Men of the audience (becuase Thunder Bunny "knows how you feel" or something along those lines), one saw over and over just how great a show can be (even if a guitar did come unplugged for a few seconds. That's why there's two.) One Handsome Man thought so highly of himself and the show, he began to dance. Now maybe if he were a better dancer, it would've been okay. I may not have had the opportunity to see them a lot, but I must say that this particular show stands out more than the first time I saw them; last year, at the Edge Fest, this weekend actually, (and it was cold) with tons of other great local bands. The Thunder Gods just rocked, and the addition of Keith was a great move! The man knows his stuff, and it works great with the band.
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