10/11/19 – UFO @ House Of Blues –
Las Vegas, NV
Okay…it is that time of year again to look back on the previous
year’s live music calendar. It was another fun year with a lot of great shows, some incredible shows,
and not one clunker (well…except maybe Vince Neil, but he was an opener).
The Radiator-reunion shows down in New Orleans are always a great
way to start off the year. It is a huge
annual gathering of cool friends from every corner of the country flying in to
see our favorite band and guaranteed to be a blast. Last year was no exception as I stayed at a
large house with Murphy, Ruby, and Mitch and others. Great music, great food, and very little
sleep…you know the routine.
The Nick Mason concert was a pleasant surprise. Before Pink Floyd blew up into PINK FLOYD (pre-‘Dark Side’) they were
the same insanely talented trippy band, but they were playing auditoriums and
theaters instead of stadiums. I got to
go back in time to those early ‘theater’ days at the Orpheum Theatre with
drummer Nick Mason’s ‘Saucerful Of Secrets’ tour. It helped that as a dutiful, determined and
dedicated Floyd-stoner in the 80’s I listened to the early-Floyd almost as much
as the later mainstream-Floyd so I knew those songs well (except the
unreleased-never-before-played-live ‘Vegetable Man’). The band was amazing with varying
degrees of impressive pedigree (including bassist/singer Guy Pratt who used to
tour with Floyd) and it did not feel like a cover band since most of us lucky
enough to ever see Pink Floyd (with or without Waters) never got to see any of these songs played live. I felt like I was at the Fillmore West in
1970. I recommend this amazing psychedelic treat to any real Pink Floyd
fans.
Sammy Hagar was his awesome timeless self, but the opener Vince
Neil was pretty awful. His voice was somewhat
tolerable (it has not been great for years), but it looks like he has gained
about 100 pounds since he left Motley Crue.
Not surprisingly the Crue is reuniting this year, but I heard the
promotors have told Vince that he HAS to lose weight for the tour. I have tickets for the show here in
Minneapolis…we will see how it goes.
The summer was a flashback to the 60’s as I got to see three of
the biggest 60’s bands ever, including Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones and
The Who. Paul still commands and works a
stadium better than anyone in the world except, maybe…Mick and the Stones. As great as Paul was, the Stones were just
amazing and it was so worth the trip to Denver to catch this show with my
soulie Penny. The Beatles were the best
studio band in the world, but the Stones are still the greatest touring band in
the world. Roger Daltrey and Pete
Townshend from The Who put on another great show complete with a huge orchestra
backing them up for much of the concert.
I love that these old band are still bringing it as such a high level,
but you got to wonder how much longer.
Although…I just bought Rolling Stones tickets for a Minneapolis show in
May!
Tesla, KISS, Lita Ford, Anvil, Slash, and Uncle Acid were all
awesome metal shows, but my favorite metal concert had to be Iron Maiden. I first saw them in 1983 and decades later
they are just as good. The singer Bruce
Dickinson is a rock god. Not only is his
voice still perfect, while his bandmates are chilling with beers and groupies
after the show he is at the airport kicking the tires, testing the gauges and
getting ready to fly the band’s jumbo jet to Peru or Sweden or wherever their next
gig is. He is such a badass. There is never a good reason to miss these
guys when they are in town.
One of the funnest concerts of the year was seeing my favorite
70’s rockers ‘UFO’ in Las Vegas. They
are on their 50th Anniversary/Farewell tour and they were not
scheduled to come to Minnesota, so I found super cheap airfare to Vegas and a
cheap room at the Luxor and went out there for one night. I met some cool people and had a blast. While waiting to get in the House of Blues I
snuck into the VIP line, and when they let us in I ran up and grabbed a spot on
the front rail, dead center. I wore an
old tee shirt from Pete Way’s band (he was the original bass player for UFO)
and the singer Phil Mogg kept pointing at me and giving me the thumbs up. While introducing the song ‘Too Hot To
Handle’ to the crowd he pointed to my shirt and said: “This next tune, which incidentally I wrote
with that bloke. Yeah that was
before the narcotics took over and he bought half of Peru. Good times.”
I had to turn around and show the crowd my Pete Way shirt so they knew
what he was talking about. Coincidentally,
one of the cool people I met who was to my left was a lady from Peru. Most bittersweet line of the night: “Under your feet, the grass is growing…time
to say goodbye.” (from ‘Lights Out’.) At
the end Phil remarked that we won’t be seeing him anymore, unless it’s at a
pub. Sad…until I got home and found out that
UFO had scheduled a Minnesota stop on the final tour, so I get to see them one
last time!
Anyways, here is everything I managed to see last year:
1/17-18/19 – The Radiators @
Tipitinas – New Orleans, LA
1/27/19 – Champions of Magic @ State
Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
1/28/19 – Neil Young @ Orpheum
Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
2/1/19 – Tesla @ Mystic Lake
Casino – Prior Lake, MN
2/2/19 – Dead cover band @ Hook
& Ladder Theater – Minneapolis, MN
2/22/19 – Elton John @ Target
Center – Minneapolis, MN
2/23/19 – The New Orleans
Suspects @ Bunkers – Minneapolis, MN
3/4/19 – KISS @ Target Center
3/9/19 – Winger/Lita Ford @
Medina Ballroom – Medina, MN
3/16/19 – The Subdudes @ Dakota
Jazz Club – Minneapolis, MN
3/19/19 – Bob Weir & Wolf
Bros @ Palace Theatre – St. Paul, MN
4/3/19 – Nick Mason @ Orpheum
Theatre
4/5/19 – Blue Oyster Cult/The
Tubes @ Medina Ballroom
4/13/19 – Doors/Zeppelin/Floyd cover band 'Trilogy' @ Medina Ballroom
4/20/19 – Anvil/Don
Jamieson/Archer Nation @ Turf Club – St. Paul, MN
5/1/19 – The Radiators @ Civic
Theatre – New Orleans, LA
5/1/19 – Honey Island Swamp Band
@ Little Gem Saloon – New Orleans, LA
5/2/19 – Samantha Fish, Dwight
James, Marc Broussard, Geno Delafose, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Big Sam’s
Funky Nation, Rita Coolidge, Widespread Panic, Tom Jones, and Billy Iuso @ Jazz
Fest – New Orleans, LA
5/5/19 – Pink @ Xcel Center – St.
Paul, MN
5/17/19 – Sammy Hagar/Vince Neil
@ Mystic Lake Casino
5/31/19 – Tesla/Dokken @ Myth –
Maplewood, MN
6/8/19 – Paul McCartney @ Lambeau
Field – Green Bay, WI
6/30/19 – Tony Glover Memorial @
Cedar Cultural Center – Minneapolis, MN
8/2/19 – Willie Nelson/Alison
Krauss @ Target Center
8/3/19 – Slash’s featuring Myles
Kennedy @ Mystic Lake Casino
8/10/19 – Rolling Stones @ Mile
High Stadium – Denver, CO
8/16/19 – Los Lobos @ Ordway
Theatre – St. Paul, MN
8/26/19 – Iron Maiden/The Raven
Age @ Xcel Center
9/1/19 – Garrison Keillor @
Crooners Lounge – Minneapolis, MN
9/6/19 – The Who/Reignwolf @ Xcel
Center
9/8/19 – The Revolution (Vikings
halftime) @ US Bank Stadium – Minneapolis, MN
9/10/19 – Crispin Glover @
Parkway Theater – Minneapolis, MN
9/14/19 – Honey Island Swamp Band
@ Bunkers
9/28/19 – Gov’t Mule @ Palace
Theatre
10/7/19 – Little Feat/Larry
Campbell & Teresa Williams @ State Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
10/11/19 – UFO/Armored Saint @
House Of Blues – Las Vegas, NV
10/17/19 – The New Orleans
Suspects @ Dakota Jazz Club
10/19/19 – Deep Purple @ The
Armory – Minneapolis, MN
10/25/19 – Richard Thompson @
Fitzgerald Theater – St. Paul, MN
10/31/19 – The Butanes w/Dave,
Camile & Reggie @ Shaw's Bar – Minneapolis, MN
11/1/19 – Raw Oyster Cult @
Bunkers
11/2/19 – Raw Oyster Cult @
Bunkers
11/19/19 – King Diamond/Uncle
Acid @ Palace Theatre
11/30/19 – Prairie Home Companion
@ Pantages Theater – Minneapolis, MN
12/9/19 – KDWB Jingle Ball (Katy
Perry, etc) @ Xcel Center
12/14/19 – Hot Tuna/Larry
Campbell & Teresa Williams @ Fitzgerald Theater
And looking forward to 2020, besides the Radiators
concerts I just saw a few weeks ago in New
Orleans I have tickets for a bunch of stuff
that I can’t wait to see…including UFO down the road at the Medina tomorrow
night! Here’s to another great year of
live music!
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