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Saw this tour last night. I must admit, I went in with so-so expectations. But all three bands kicked ass, and the crowd was totally into it.
Cheap Trick - OK, this was kind of my first time seeing CT. "Kind of" meaning, I sort of saw them once before out my college dorm room's window while partying and totally wasted on senior day. Needless to say, I don't remember much of their show.
Anyway, these guys were very cool. I've always dug their music. Good rockin' party tunes. They were very tight as a band. Zander has a killer voice, and Neilsen broke out some awesome axes, including that wild double-neck that looks like him. Also, the bass player was using this wild 12 string bass, and it sounded awesome. Honestly, I was bummed they were the opening act to Poison, but...
Poison - ...then Poison came on and, I must admit, they were way better than I would've expected. Never saw them before, but they put on a great show. Now, mind you, I'm no Poison fan. I would ordinarily lump these guys in with the low-talent, high-marketing hair bands that led to the downfall of good 80s metal. But, well, I think last night I came to realize that, over time (and long after I had already dismissed them ), they sort of eventually matured as a band. The crowd was waaaayyy into them, and they gradually built their part of the show up to a nice climax. They definitely know how to work a crowd. CC played some killer GMP V's - amber-burst, white, and flame job ones. They were all downright smoking axes. And CC's playing wasn't too bad. His solo was kind of lame - mostly VH-ish copy licks - but otherwise, he was very solid. They definitely left the show off on the right note for the headliner.
Def Lep - Now, I've seen Def Lep a few times before, so no real big surprises here. (My wife's a big fan, so you'll understand. :P ) They put on a great show, and the crowd was loud as hell from where I was. With one exception, the band had killer sound all night. And they were pretty tight as a group.
Joe Elliot's voice has gone south over the years. He definitely can't hit the high notes like he used to. But he seemed to have stepped it up a notch or two since the last couple of tours, so props to the guy for working his pipes back into shape.
There was clearly an effort by the band to work back into their early-ish catalog, which I thought was very cool. They did stuff like Too Late for Love, and Switch 625. And, in doing so, Viv seemed to get a more prominent role that previously, with more of Steve Clark's old parts. Sav had a couple of cool Jackson basses -one with a red cross graphic, and another with a British flag graphic.
Phil's tone was the only one of the band that disappointed a bit. Not sure what was up with that, but he kind of sounded muddy all night. His chops are still there, of course, though. And he used some killer new and old Jacksons - Bela, the yellow double-neck, a couple of quilt-top PC1s, the "London" graphic.
And he also had a new Jackson that I'd never seen before. Bolt-on with a reverse pointyhead neck, painted pickups with sustainer, rosewood (maybe ebony?) with a single sharkfin at the 12th fret, wild green and white graphic with a skull in it. Looked very much like Mike Learn's style, and I'm pretty sure it glowed in the dark. ...Anyone know the spec details on this guitar?
Anyway, very cool show that exceeded my expectations. Thumbs-up, for a good time.
Cheap Trick - OK, this was kind of my first time seeing CT. "Kind of" meaning, I sort of saw them once before out my college dorm room's window while partying and totally wasted on senior day. Needless to say, I don't remember much of their show.
Anyway, these guys were very cool. I've always dug their music. Good rockin' party tunes. They were very tight as a band. Zander has a killer voice, and Neilsen broke out some awesome axes, including that wild double-neck that looks like him.
Also, the bass player was using this wild 12 string bass, and it sounded awesome. Honestly, I was bummed they were the opening act to Poison, but...Poison - ...then Poison came on and, I must admit, they were way better than I would've expected. Never saw them before, but they put on a great show. Now, mind you, I'm no Poison fan. I would ordinarily lump these guys in with the low-talent, high-marketing hair bands that led to the downfall of good 80s metal. But, well, I think last night I came to realize that, over time (and long after I had already dismissed them
), they sort of eventually matured as a band. The crowd was waaaayyy into them, and they gradually built their part of the show up to a nice climax. They definitely know how to work a crowd. CC played some killer GMP V's - amber-burst, white, and flame job ones. They were all downright smoking axes. And CC's playing wasn't too bad. His solo was kind of lame - mostly VH-ish copy licks - but otherwise, he was very solid. They definitely left the show off on the right note for the headliner.Def Lep - Now, I've seen Def Lep a few times before, so no real big surprises here. (My wife's a big fan, so you'll understand. :P ) They put on a great show, and the crowd was loud as hell from where I was. With one exception, the band had killer sound all night. And they were pretty tight as a group.
Joe Elliot's voice has gone south over the years. He definitely can't hit the high notes like he used to. But he seemed to have stepped it up a notch or two since the last couple of tours, so props to the guy for working his pipes back into shape.
There was clearly an effort by the band to work back into their early-ish catalog, which I thought was very cool. They did stuff like Too Late for Love, and Switch 625. And, in doing so, Viv seemed to get a more prominent role that previously, with more of Steve Clark's old parts. Sav had a couple of cool Jackson basses -one with a red cross graphic, and another with a British flag graphic.
Phil's tone was the only one of the band that disappointed a bit. Not sure what was up with that, but he kind of sounded muddy all night. His chops are still there, of course, though. And he used some killer new and old Jacksons - Bela, the yellow double-neck, a couple of quilt-top PC1s, the "London" graphic.
And he also had a new Jackson that I'd never seen before. Bolt-on with a reverse pointyhead neck, painted pickups with sustainer, rosewood (maybe ebony?) with a single sharkfin at the 12th fret, wild green and white graphic with a skull in it. Looked very much like Mike Learn's style, and I'm pretty sure it glowed in the dark. ...Anyone know the spec details on this guitar?
Anyway, very cool show that exceeded my expectations. Thumbs-up, for a good time.
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