Well 2016 is over with (thank god),
2017 is under way and I just went to my first concert of the year last
weekend. It is time to look back at my
2016 calendar and go over all the shows I went to last year…see what kind of a
year it was for concerts.
2016 started off strong with a trip
to New Orleans to see our beloved Radiators for their annual reunion shows at
our beloved Tipitinas. I have seen the
Radiators far more than any other band, and I love and miss them every
day. Tons of Minnesota friends made the
trek down to the other end of the Mississippi River and it was an incredibly
fun weekend. I am bummed that I had to
miss out on 2017’s reunion shows last weekend, but I will be back down there
next year.
Then it was back home for a
bittersweet concert with Black Sabbath on their ‘The End’ tour. It was a great
show with Ozzy’s voice still strong and foreboding, Tony Iommi’s classic chunky
metal riffs piercing my soul, and Geezer Butler’s evil bass shaking my organs
loose and standing my hairs on end…but it was also sad bidding farewell to my
all-time favorite metal band…the guys who started it all.
Looking over the list, there was not a bad show in the bunch
except maybe the Prince tribute show. I
am not a Prince fan and would not have gone except my friend Penny McCartney
flew in from Boulder to go so I went too.
The reason I missed the boat on the whole Prince phenomenon was because when I first moved to Minneapolis from Wisconsin in 1984 my
roommate got to the dorm room before me and sort of by default owned the
room/stereo. I was into high school metal like Van Halen/Judas Priest/Scorpions
and had never even heard of Prince.
This guy had Prince posters covering every square inch of the walls and
blared Prince music non-stop 24/7. Within hours of moving to Minnesota I
hated Prince and I never got over it. The tribute
concert was long (we left early), not well produced and an amateurish
disappointment.
Other than that the year had a lot of highlights and
incredible concerts, but my favorite show was probably Dead &
Company…partly because it contained 3/6ths of my all-time favorite band, and
partly because it was at Alpine Valley…hallowed grounds. I had not been there in almost 20 years and
it was like seeing a long-lost friend or putting on an old pair of comfortable
jeans. I grew up a 20-minute drive from
Alpine Valley and saw countless incredible concerts there in high school
(AC/DC, Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Dio, Scorpions, Triumph, etc…) not to mention
14 Grateful Dead shows while in college.
On the drive from my hotel to Alpine
Valley a strong sense déjà vu began setting in, and then pulling into the lot I
got the biggest smile on my face that I could not get rid of if I wanted to…I was home
again. We found a spot fairly close to
the front on the left side of the main road and set up camp. It was just like old times…half-naked hippies
playing Frisbee, hacky sack, drinking beers, passing joints, eating parking
lot food, selling tee-shirts. I ran
into lots of friends and it was like going back thirty years to the
mid-80’s. Same good people and same good
vibes everywhere. And the concert was
awesome too…this latest post-Jerry incarnation of the Dead is by far my
favorite. I am looking forward to seeing
them again this summer, but I wish it was at Alpine Valley instead of Wrigley
Field.
Another
killer show was the Sammy Hagar concert.
A cool neighbor of mine had two VIP tickets ($150/each) and he could not
go so he just gave them to me.
So my buddy Mitch and I used them, which got us right up to the stage,
private bar/bathrooms and free food. Before the show Mitch was hanging
outside with our friend Thor Ekblom, so I went in to the Wayzata Beach VIP club to get some
dinner and drinks. There were a lot of rich yacht-type people in the swanky club. I had a table all to
myself and an incredibly nice, well-dressed couple named Mike and Wendy asked
to sit at my table. I chatted them up
amicably and before long they were buying me drinks and laughing and I think we
became friends…which is awesome because the guy is very connected in the
musical world. Mostly 80’s bands that I
do not care much about like Survivor and .38 Special and Toto, but he also was
friends with Bill Graham and is a Radiators fan. So anyways, after
trading stories and laughing it up for awhile he gave me his card and told me
to call him anytime if I needed anything.
I gave him my card (Sneaky
Sweets blog card) and he said we need to stay in touch, which we did for awhile
by email.
The show
itself was a blast. Don Felder’s long Eagles set was awesome, but almost too awesome…was he lip synching? I
hope not. But Sammy…holy moly he rocked out and I loved it. I used
to be pissed at him for daring to replace David Lee Roth in Van Halen, but now
I dig him. And the band was loose and
tight…what a great lineup with Michael Anthony from Van Halen on bass and Jason
Bonham of Zeppelin heritage on drums. Sammy and Michael were drinking plenty of tequila onstage
and just having a blast. ‘When The Levee Breaks’ was incredible, and he played
some old Montrose stuff which was cool.
I am glad I finally got to see Sammy. It was a killer night, and I even got an
electric glo-light sword that Sammy was playing with onstage which I gave to my
son Jake.
Special
mention goes to AC/DC with Angus and Brian still rocking hard but hopefully not
for the last time, to Springsteen for always putting on a great epic show, to
The Who, McCartney and Paul Simon for proving that old guys can still bring it
at a high level, to Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde for proving that old girls
can still bring it at a high level, and to the two house parties with the NOLA Suspects
and Raw Oyster Cult…Ted Booker always knows how to throw a killer party.
Anyways, here is what I
managed to see last year:
1/15 & 1/16/16 – The Radiators @ Tipitinas – New
Orleans, LA
1/25/16
– Black Sabbath @ Target Center – Minneapolis, MN1/29/16 – Blue Oyster Cult/Jefferson Starship @ Medina Ballroom – Medina, MN
2/14/16 – AC/DC @ Xcel Center – St. Paul, MN
2/23/16 – Warren Haynes @ Fitzgerald Theatre – St. Paul, MN
2/28/16 – Disney On Ice @ Target Center
2/29/16 – Bruce Springsteen @ Xcel Center
4/9/16 – Marvel Universe Live @ Target Center
4/13/16 – Taj Mahal @ The Dakota – Minneapolis, MN
4/22/16 – The Fab Four @ Medina Ballroom
5/1/16 – The Who @ Target Center
5/4 & 5/5/16 – Paul McCartney @ Target Center
5/14/16 – New Orleans Suspects @ Bunkers – Minneapolis, MN
5/15/16 – New Orleans Suspects @ Ted Booker’s house, MN
5/21/16 – Prairie Home Companion @ State Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
6/14/16 – Paul Simon @ Orpheum Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
6/25/16 – Bad Company/Winery Dogs @ Hinckley Casino – Hinckley, MN
7/9/16 – Dead & Company @ Alpine Valley – East Troy, WI
7/13/16 – Camile Baudoin & Curt Obeda @ Viking Bar – Minneapolis, MN
8/20/16 – Metallica/Avenged Sevenfold/Volbeat @ US Bank Stadium – Mpls, MN
9/2/16 – Garrison Keillor @ State Fair – St. Paul, MN
9/8/16 – Australian Pink Floyd @ State Theatre
9/10/16 – Sammy Hagar/Don Felder @ Wayzata Beach Club – Wayzata, MN
9/29/16 – Dark Star Orchestra @ Skyway Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
10/5/16 – Def Leppard/REO Speedwagon/Tesla @ Xcel Center
10/13/16 – Prince Tribute Concert (w/Stevie Wonder) @ Xcel Center
10/28/16 – Raw Oyster Cult @ house party – Minneapolis, MN
10/29/16 – Raw Oyster Cult @ Bunkers
12/1/16 – Mofro/Parker Millsap @ First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN
12/3/16 – Disney On Ice @ Xcel Center
12/6/16 – Stevie Nicks/The Pretenders @ Xcel Center
12/22/16 – Dumpstaphunk @ Hook & Ladder – Minneapolis, MN
And
looking forward to 2017, besides the Kris Kristofferson concert I just saw over
the weekend I also have tickets for: Red
Hot Chili Peppers, Tesla, Subdudes, Def Leppard/Poison/Tesla, Burton Cummings,
Three Dog Night, Neil Diamond, Iron Maiden, Dead & Company, Roger Waters, Billy
Joel, and Guns N’ Roses.
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