Cheap Trick/ZZ Top 8/28/19

ZZ Top ticket

This was a rare concert of not just one but two bands I had never seen before.  Cheap Trick had opened at one or two concerts I had been to but for some reason (most likely drinking in the parking lot) I had not actually seen them. Besides the fact that the concert was on a Wednesday, drinking did not even sound remotely appealing to Kyle or I since we were both still fried from a boys trip to Austin, Texas with 12 of our buddies the weekend before.

There was a bit of synchronicity going on this particular evening since some of our friends were across town watching the Smashing Pumpkins, which happened to the band I was watching at this very venue the only time I had been busted smoking a joint. I also thought it was pretty cool that some badasses from Texas were coming to me right after I had gone to Texas.

For me Cheap Trick was the equivalent of the appetizer for this concert. For the life of me (probably due to still being fried from the weekend before and eating scraps of gummies before coming in) the only songs I could recall knowing I liked were “I Want You to Want Me,” “The Flame” and “Surrender,” but besides their cover of “Don’t Be Cruel” I knew there was one more song I just could not think of. After playing a bunch of songs I did not know they finally rolled out a 1, 2, 3 punch of the aforementioned songs plus the one I was forgetting, “Dream Police” to end their set. Ironically “Dream Police” is my favorite song of theirs. Robin Zander sounded pretty fucking amazing (especially considering he’s 66 years old) and the whole crowd got a kick out of Rick Nielsen’s crazy guitars, especially his guitar with five necks. Not to be outdone, the bass player was creating out-of-this-world sounds with a 12 string bass which I did not even know existed.

If Cheap Trick was the appetizer then main entrée was ZZ Top. My first memories of ZZ Top are courtesy of MTV with the beards (before it was a cool hipster thing), the cool cars, the fuzzy guitars and of course the music. I did not realize that they were on their 50thanniversary tour until I bought the tickets. 50! As in five zero. Equally impressive is that the lineup of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard (ironically the only member without a beard) never changed during 50 years.

They opened with my favorite song off of Eliminator “Got Me Under Pressure” and from then on kept the boogie going. Billy and Dusty came out playing a matching custom fender bass and telecaster with a wild paintjob that was blacklight friendly and were in sync not only musically, but with a movement that I can only describe as a strut. They slithered around the stage in unison as they reeled off some of their biggest hits and even busted out the fuzzy guitars for “Legs.” I thought the encore of “La Grange” and “Tush” replete with matching shiny jackets was a fitting end but for some reason they came back after leaving the stage for a double encore of Elvis’ “Jailhouse Rock.”

Even though I am certain they could have played for much longer if they wanted to these guys came out and took care of business for about an hour and 20 minutes and then they were out. This was ample time to give the crowd a taste of why ZZ Top has endured 50 years together and why Jimi Hendrix once cited Billy Gibbons as one of his favorite guitar players.

SETLIST: Got Me Under Pressure, I Thank You, Waitin’ for the Bus, Jesus Just Left Chicago, Gimme All Your Lovin’, Pearl Necklace, I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide, I Gotsta Get Paid, My Head’s in Mississippi, Sixteen Tons, Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers, Just Got Paid, Sharp Dressed Man, Legs, La Grange, Tush, Jailhouse Rock

Journey 7/15/08

Journey

I have a picture of Marvin, Sam, Macy and myself at this concert. I look super baked which was nothing new for me at a concert but to actually see a picture of myself in that state is comical. Cheap Trick was opening and I was fairly upset that we could not drag ourselves from drinking beer in the parking lot in time to see them. I was never a huge Cheap Trick fan outside of “I Want You to Want Me” and “Dream Police” but c’mon these guys are a solid piece of rock and roll history.

Thankfully we did get in to see all of Heart’s set. I had never seen any of the three bands at this concert and Heart was the one I was most excited about. I lived through Heart’s “80’s MTV phase” where they were pumping out hits for the masses but the real Heart to me has always been their stuff from the 70’s like “Crazy On You,” “Magic Man,” “Barracuda,” “Kick It Out,” and “Straight On.” Quite simply Heart fucking rocked. I was blown away by Ann’s vocal performance. She poured her all into those songs like the songs were brand new even though she had been singing them for decades.

Journey was one of those mega bands you just could not avoid growing up unless you were living under a rock. They had so many hits showcasing a great mix of slow songs and heavier songs but they were never quite the same once Steve Perry left the band (just like nearly every other band that loses their vocalist). Enter Arnel Pineda, a Filipino singer that had just been appointed Journey’s singer about eight months prior to this show. Watching this incarnation of Journey was an absolute mindfuck. If I closed my eyes Steve Perry was singing but when my eyes were open I saw a tiny Filipino man with a shit ton of energy flying around the stage singing his heart out. He was clearly enjoying himself and I think it is safe to say that all of us in attendance were also enjoying ourselves.

Journey:Heart:CheapTrick