Getting ready to fly to Sacramento for the first time ever in a few hours with Don & Jim. Thunder Valley Casino is putting on a concert tomorrow night we are hosting with Anthrax, Living Colour, Corey Taylor and Burn Halo. I’ll also be selling and signing both books on site and will have merch available at the band merch booths. We will also be there hanging Saturday. If you are in the area and coming out or would like to meet and grab a book just follow on Twitter and I’ll post specific places and times I’ll be available. I would assume during most of the concert there may be time as well while the bands are playing. Should be a fun weekend.
Saw Ted Nugent in NJ on Tuesday night. I realize Ted is a polarizing figure to many. When we had him on TMS had a massive amount of equal love and hate for him being on. My position on Ted is that I love his music and his guitar playing. That’s all it’s about for me. On some of his other stuff I have mixed feelings, but the guy is still a machine on stage and his band kicked ass. Derek St Holmes still sings amazing and Mick Brown and Greg Smith were locked in strong. Really fun show. I appreciate Ted’s very vocal support of TMS as well which he expressed from the stage. That support from the fans and the artists is so cool and important to what we do. Me, Don & Jim hung with him some pre show (pics on my Twitter and Instagram) and he was as entertaining as always. There were a few protesters in front of the gig. One interviewed Don. He told them he was also protesting….that Rob Grange wasn’t in the band. Seeing this guy try to figure out what Don was talking about was hysterical. Like I said, for us it’s about MUSIC above all and Ted rocked!
Caught Queen with Adam Lambert last night in NJ. Pretty remarkable that for the most part Queen are filling arenas (sold out MSG and The Forum in LA) with no opening act against all the competition out there this Summer. Speaks to the power and timelessness of their music. I have seen the band with Freddie, Paul Rodgers and now Adam Lambert. Stating the obvious, nobody is Freddie. But I liked Paul very much in the gig and Lambert was totally different, but also very strong. Lambert is way more flamboyant and really gets into the Freddie pageantry of the frontman role. His voice is pretty remarkable and he was clearly moved to be able to sing Freddie’s songs (as he stated) and play in a band that was important to him and so many around the globe. Queen are MASSIVE outside of the US. Here they are an arena act, everywhere else stadiums. As a matter of fact they recently did a gig in front of 500,000! Queen in 2014 is more a celebration of the music and a tribute to Freddie. Lambert is very much his own guy in the role, careful not to impersonate (no half mic stand or similar clothes, etc), but also very much about doing the material as close to Mercury as possible. Different from Rodgers who put more of a bluesy spin on it. I interviewed Brian May before the show and he told me they wanted to get back to being a little heavier and more classic Queen. The show had a little bit of a too long middle of ballads and solos, but with the two key guys being in their mid 60’s, and playing over two hours, it gave others a break. Highlights for me were “Now I’m Here”, “Stone Cold Crazy”, “Fat Bottom Girls”, and many others. Just amazing songs! Brian is one of a kind in his playing and sound and Roger sings and plays very well, especially for his age. He had an assist from his son at a few points in the show as well. Brian told me he is unsure how long he and Roger can keep doing it and where it goes from here, but loves Adam and said he thinks Freddie would have also. The demand is there for more shows and maybe even an album but seems nothing is set yet. Had a great hang after with Roger and Brian and they are just class gentlemen as well as rock icons. You will hear the complete Brian May interview in my podcast very soon as well as clips of it in both radio shows. In the short time I had with him we got into some great stuff.
Speaking of my podcast episode 3 is up now on Itunes and at www.podcastone.com with Brad, Kelly and Jack from Night Ranger. This is all new and has not aired elsewhere. We discuss lots of stuff including Brad’s time in Ozzy. It is free worldwide so download it now and be sure to subscribe to hear it each week. Thanks.
