captain2man
08-05-2002, 04:34 PM
Well - unfortunately - I posted a nice long review of this past Saturday's show, but, I apparently did it while there were problems with the board - so it's completely lost.
But - for the sake of the board....I'll try it again.
I was supposed to meet up with my friend, Harry, but - he bailed out on me - so I was at the show solo.
I saw that the doors were at 8 - so, I figured that the first band would go on at 9, and Zebra would be on by around 11....wow - was THAT estimate ever off!
I headed directly to the bar for a pint of Sam Adams summer brew (not as good, I must say, as the winter brew).
The openers - Silver Tide - hit the stage just before 10. I had to endure about 30 minutes of 300th generation Guns 'n' Roses-style hard rock, with some of the silliest, most contrived rock star posing I've seen in a long time. A fan was on stage right, which seemed to act more as a vehicle for blowing around the lead guitarist's hair then to actually function as a cooling mechanism. Not one iota of originality - a shame, because, they weren't half-bad musicians. I actually spoke with the bass player after the show for awhile - and he seemed like a nice enough guy. They are from Philly, and are signed to Clyde Davis's new label - J Records. They don't have anything out - but have had opening slots on some pretty big shows (i.e. Journey a couple of weeks ago on L.I., and some arena opening slots in Philly). Those guys must have one hell of a manager.
The crowd was pretty thin for them - with no one really moving too close to the front...but, it looked like some people liked them (I wasn't one of them).
After this - I spotted the Jukebox Hero (the wheelchair gave it away) - and I introduced myself. It was great meeting a fellow board member....see you again soon, bro!
Next up were Bad Animals. This is the Heart tribute band which features Mark "The Animal" Mendoza on bass (ex-Twisted Sister & The Dictators.....I will say now that the Dictators' 'Manifest Destiny' is an awesome album), Teddy Cook (ex-China Rain, Great White, and Dio) on guitar, keys & backing vocals, and Gina Stile (ex-Poison Dollys) on guitar & vocals, playing the Nancy Wilson role (did I mention that ex-Poison Dolly's drummer, Gail Kenny, used to work with my mom?? I have an old Poison Dolly's t-shirt stored away in a box somewhere).
Now I'm not a big Heart fan, I must admit...but, if I were, I would totally have been into them. They did a great job - and it seemed like a LOT of the audience was there for them.....the crowd was very into them. I didn't catch the drummer's name...but he was excellent. Over the course of the set, they played Magic Man, Crazy on You, Barracuda, Kick it Out, Heartless, Straight On, Bebe le Strange, If Looks Could Kill, What About Love?, and one Zep cover - Rock and Roll. I'm missing a few songs....please forgive me.
Surprisingly - quite a few people left after their set.
After some delay - Zebra took the stage a little after 1 a.m. (ouch!). The crowd was ready to rock.
The opened up with As I Said Before (not surprising), then they went into Wait Until the Summer's Gone. Over the course of the evening they played Tell Me What You Want, One More Chance, Peter Gunn Theme/Slow Down, Who's Behind the Door? (which ended Randy's acoustic portion of the set), When You Get There, Take Your Fingers From My Hair, The La La Song, Bears, Time (part of the acoustic portion, obviously), Arabian Nights, one other new song I didn't catch the title of....and I'm definitely blanking on some others (maybe someone else can fill it in for me?). The encore consisted of 2 Zep covers - Immigrant Song & The Ocean, and 1 Montrose song - Rock Candy.
A few songs into the set, Guy had some technical problems with (I think) his drum pedals. It did kill some of the momentum of the early part of the set....Randy was going to do his acoustic portion right then - but the problem got fixed in time.
What can you say? They rocked - the audience was totally into it. Randy did address the new CD issue once...just saying very matter-of-factly that the CD is done, but just wants to make sure it gets the proper promotion. Makes sense to me.
Now - what's a review without a little bit of Monday morning quarterbacking, right??
Personally - I can do without Randy's acoustic portion. I don't mind hearing him do "Time", or a little intro to Who's Behind the Door?, but a full 15 minutes of the acoustic stuff is too much for me. If I wanted to see Randy acoustically - I would go to one of his MANY acoustic shows...I'm there to see Zebra. Just my opinion...I'm sure lots of people get into that part of the set - I'm just not one of those people. Some may say it's a good dynamical change in the set.....I call it a momentum-breaker.
I also don't need to hear EVERY song from the first album. Hey - it's a classic - I don't deny it...but I could definitely live without "Slow Down" & "When You Get There" (in my opinion, the worst song from that 1st album), in favor of maybe a couple of more obscure ones from either NTL or 3.V.
I'm also not too keen on their choice of covers. Immigrant Song was kind of cool. I know The Ocean is a staple....but I'm not sure why they would pick such a weak Zep song to cover (again - just my opinion - hold your tomatos). Also - I love that first Montrose record....but Rock Candy isn't all that great a song (not to mention it's already been done as a cover by both Lita Ford & L.A. Guns) - I would much rather have heard Bad Motor Scooter, Rock the Nation, or Space Station No. 5. I think Felix has a great voice...but I'd rather hear them do "Little Things".
The bottom line is I guess I'm just a selfish fan who would rather hear more Zebra songs than overdone covers or an elongated acoustic solo set.
OK - that's it for the "glass half empty" part of the review. In the end - the show rocked.....I know that a lot of the country never gets to see these guys...and we on L.I. get several chances a year to witness rock's best-kept secret - so I don't want to make it sound like I'm complaining or anything....but, like I said, what's a show review without some "wishful" commentary, right??
After the show - I purchased the Zebra video. Oh wow.....absolutely classic. I know those videos were made at the dawn of MTV, and videos were pretty primitive...but those have to be some of funniest, campiest videos I've ever seen. The music is great, of course....but those videos are absolutely hysterical. The Zebra guys must absolutely cringe when they watch those. Well worth the $20!!!!
Just 2 notes to self: (1) why is it that the one song they DIDN'T play from the first album is the one that's my favorite? (Don't Walk Away), and (2) why do I always get to stand in front of the guy who has to scream "Tell Me What You Want" from the 2nd song in??
But - for the sake of the board....I'll try it again.
I was supposed to meet up with my friend, Harry, but - he bailed out on me - so I was at the show solo.
I saw that the doors were at 8 - so, I figured that the first band would go on at 9, and Zebra would be on by around 11....wow - was THAT estimate ever off!
I headed directly to the bar for a pint of Sam Adams summer brew (not as good, I must say, as the winter brew).
The openers - Silver Tide - hit the stage just before 10. I had to endure about 30 minutes of 300th generation Guns 'n' Roses-style hard rock, with some of the silliest, most contrived rock star posing I've seen in a long time. A fan was on stage right, which seemed to act more as a vehicle for blowing around the lead guitarist's hair then to actually function as a cooling mechanism. Not one iota of originality - a shame, because, they weren't half-bad musicians. I actually spoke with the bass player after the show for awhile - and he seemed like a nice enough guy. They are from Philly, and are signed to Clyde Davis's new label - J Records. They don't have anything out - but have had opening slots on some pretty big shows (i.e. Journey a couple of weeks ago on L.I., and some arena opening slots in Philly). Those guys must have one hell of a manager.
The crowd was pretty thin for them - with no one really moving too close to the front...but, it looked like some people liked them (I wasn't one of them).
After this - I spotted the Jukebox Hero (the wheelchair gave it away) - and I introduced myself. It was great meeting a fellow board member....see you again soon, bro!
Next up were Bad Animals. This is the Heart tribute band which features Mark "The Animal" Mendoza on bass (ex-Twisted Sister & The Dictators.....I will say now that the Dictators' 'Manifest Destiny' is an awesome album), Teddy Cook (ex-China Rain, Great White, and Dio) on guitar, keys & backing vocals, and Gina Stile (ex-Poison Dollys) on guitar & vocals, playing the Nancy Wilson role (did I mention that ex-Poison Dolly's drummer, Gail Kenny, used to work with my mom?? I have an old Poison Dolly's t-shirt stored away in a box somewhere).
Now I'm not a big Heart fan, I must admit...but, if I were, I would totally have been into them. They did a great job - and it seemed like a LOT of the audience was there for them.....the crowd was very into them. I didn't catch the drummer's name...but he was excellent. Over the course of the set, they played Magic Man, Crazy on You, Barracuda, Kick it Out, Heartless, Straight On, Bebe le Strange, If Looks Could Kill, What About Love?, and one Zep cover - Rock and Roll. I'm missing a few songs....please forgive me.
Surprisingly - quite a few people left after their set.
After some delay - Zebra took the stage a little after 1 a.m. (ouch!). The crowd was ready to rock.
The opened up with As I Said Before (not surprising), then they went into Wait Until the Summer's Gone. Over the course of the evening they played Tell Me What You Want, One More Chance, Peter Gunn Theme/Slow Down, Who's Behind the Door? (which ended Randy's acoustic portion of the set), When You Get There, Take Your Fingers From My Hair, The La La Song, Bears, Time (part of the acoustic portion, obviously), Arabian Nights, one other new song I didn't catch the title of....and I'm definitely blanking on some others (maybe someone else can fill it in for me?). The encore consisted of 2 Zep covers - Immigrant Song & The Ocean, and 1 Montrose song - Rock Candy.
A few songs into the set, Guy had some technical problems with (I think) his drum pedals. It did kill some of the momentum of the early part of the set....Randy was going to do his acoustic portion right then - but the problem got fixed in time.
What can you say? They rocked - the audience was totally into it. Randy did address the new CD issue once...just saying very matter-of-factly that the CD is done, but just wants to make sure it gets the proper promotion. Makes sense to me.
Now - what's a review without a little bit of Monday morning quarterbacking, right??
Personally - I can do without Randy's acoustic portion. I don't mind hearing him do "Time", or a little intro to Who's Behind the Door?, but a full 15 minutes of the acoustic stuff is too much for me. If I wanted to see Randy acoustically - I would go to one of his MANY acoustic shows...I'm there to see Zebra. Just my opinion...I'm sure lots of people get into that part of the set - I'm just not one of those people. Some may say it's a good dynamical change in the set.....I call it a momentum-breaker.
I also don't need to hear EVERY song from the first album. Hey - it's a classic - I don't deny it...but I could definitely live without "Slow Down" & "When You Get There" (in my opinion, the worst song from that 1st album), in favor of maybe a couple of more obscure ones from either NTL or 3.V.
I'm also not too keen on their choice of covers. Immigrant Song was kind of cool. I know The Ocean is a staple....but I'm not sure why they would pick such a weak Zep song to cover (again - just my opinion - hold your tomatos). Also - I love that first Montrose record....but Rock Candy isn't all that great a song (not to mention it's already been done as a cover by both Lita Ford & L.A. Guns) - I would much rather have heard Bad Motor Scooter, Rock the Nation, or Space Station No. 5. I think Felix has a great voice...but I'd rather hear them do "Little Things".
The bottom line is I guess I'm just a selfish fan who would rather hear more Zebra songs than overdone covers or an elongated acoustic solo set.
OK - that's it for the "glass half empty" part of the review. In the end - the show rocked.....I know that a lot of the country never gets to see these guys...and we on L.I. get several chances a year to witness rock's best-kept secret - so I don't want to make it sound like I'm complaining or anything....but, like I said, what's a show review without some "wishful" commentary, right??
After the show - I purchased the Zebra video. Oh wow.....absolutely classic. I know those videos were made at the dawn of MTV, and videos were pretty primitive...but those have to be some of funniest, campiest videos I've ever seen. The music is great, of course....but those videos are absolutely hysterical. The Zebra guys must absolutely cringe when they watch those. Well worth the $20!!!!
Just 2 notes to self: (1) why is it that the one song they DIDN'T play from the first album is the one that's my favorite? (Don't Walk Away), and (2) why do I always get to stand in front of the guy who has to scream "Tell Me What You Want" from the 2nd song in??