Concert Reviews, Photos, Videos and Rock and Roll Stories from fans who love live music

This was the first show I have ever gone to at a casino. The vibe is certainly not conducive to a rock show. I guess it may not be fair to judge this by a single show, however, this one certainly felt like something was missing. Don’t get me wrong there were great moments like Stephen Stills doing Bluebird and stuff like Southern Cross, but there is an all business “feel” to the whole process around the show. Heavy casino security, not being able to have a drink inside the venue except for water, in quick out quick, the length of show and even the fact of the band (Graham Nash) acknowledging the “captive” audience.

At any rate as I said there were highlights and the big ones for me came from Stephen Stills.  The guy can still play a mean guitar and harmonize with the best of them. In fact he is one of the best ones!

The show started with Helplessly Hoping and You Don’t Have to Cry. I felt these were mellow enough to let the band warm up the vocals and ease into the show. Graham Nash said “we would like to play some songs from friends of ours” and the band went into The Stones Ruby Tuesday. This came off very nicely and at the conclusion because the crowd reaction was so “blah” Nash came back to microphone and said “that was from The Rolling Stones” < I assume to generate some reaction, and Stills pipes in with, “because, they need the money”.  At least this got the crowd laughing a little.

It wasn’t until Guinevere that I really began to hear David Crosby clearly. I am not sure if he was just really warming until this point or what, but his magic kicked about here. They rolled through Marrakesh Express and did a really nice version of Uncle John’s Band that was rolled out with Graham mentioning Jerry Garcia as a friend. It really started to feel like a serious rock show when they played Long Time Gone. I mean this was awesome, a definite highlight!! If I closed my eyes it could have been Buffalo Springfield playing during Bluebird. In fact I did and it was!! Southern Cross was another Stills gem. The tempo felt a little rushed but the extended finish on this was so, so good!  I have to mention at some before Southern Cross someone in the audience yelled out “Southern Cross” Crosby walked to the microphone and said, ” do you really think we would do a set without playing Southern Cross” then he motioned like are you nuts with his doing counter clock-wise circles around the sides of his head. This was another odd moment. Wooden Ships what can you say? Pull out the first CSN album put it on and you are gonna know “exactly” what I am saying.

I go to shows to be taken away somewhere that music can only take me and this got me there!! I scored a setlist from the sound board guys who were more than kind of friendly as we spoke abut their journey with these amazing musicians. The list reads For What it’s Worth but that was changed during the show to Our House, which of course was the sing along song. They finished off with Teach Your Children which went over nicely. The entire show ran less than 90 minutes. The security was all over my camera so I only managed a couple of shots, so forget about video. As I said there were highlights but the entire “casino” vibe has me rethinking a couple of other shows I have tickets for at Casino Rama this summer. Then again row 2 for LIVE can’t be that bad!

Street Sweeper Social Club

I saw Tom Morello back in the late 90’s with Rage Against The Machine here in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Theatre. The songs I knew… the guitrist I didn’t. I was blown away by a style I hadn’t seen or heard beofre in a live setting. Over a Decade later Tom’s new project Street Sweeper Social Club kicked off a great night of alt-funk-rock by hammering the “concert gas peddle” hard.

With Boots Riley on the Mic this band blasted through a 30 minute set that offered some “Rage” flavoured beats and guitar work that of course blew away 1st timers and basically had me nodding at buying the new CD when it arrives on June 16. Here’s a taste…

Nine Inch Nails

After my first NIN concert last fall ..I had seen one of the best light shows I had seen in years along with some great music. It wasn’t a Top 10 for me or anything & I didn’t know alot about the band…but the show was well worth seeing. Tonight’s show was different. Not as many lights and no 25 minute selections off  the slower instrumental “Ghosts”.  Trent Rezner @trent_reznor took the wheel from SSSC and unloaded the Nitric Oxide…. heavy

From the opener “Terrible Lie” till the “get your lighter out” closer “Hurt” These guys played harder then last fall’s ACC show in Toronto. Was it the Morello & Navarro sandwhich? Back in the 300’s behind the soundboard every song sounded bang on. The place was full to 16,000+… and full of NIN fanatics dancing, moshing and loving this show. The intensity of this band is so likeable… you don’t need to know the music… just step inside the NIN-Rock-Chamber. As I glanced around I spotted Richard Beland shooting for Chart… and as he flexed his professional lense I clicked on my trusty Sony while NIN delivered a nice version of David Bowie’s  ”I’m Afraid Of Americans”

By the time “Head Like a Hole” started to wrap itself around us all for the squeeze it seemed as though we were watching the headliners…. maybe we were? This was feeling like a Festival almost knowing there was another wicked band still to take the stage. When the music gets this loud and this good…. the only thing that gets better is when you get the “text message” saying to come down front after the NIN set from our favourite NIN soundmaster. So we get “Hurt” for an encore with lotsa lighters and then go for a walk on the intermission. I overhear some people saying some concert goers are leaving now as they only came for NIN.  We headed down front to stage left and saw Richard again and eventually got some passes in hand…

Janes Addiction

Even the above pass didn’t get us in the PIT but we managed to sneak into the 3rd row just as Janes Addiction took the stage. Right out of the gate that familiar vocal from Perry along with his Bowie-esque outfit and moves… it just drew me in… the presence of  Dave Navarro on the axe and a drummer & bassist that caught my attention right away. 

Navarro and Perry seemed to do their own little shows within the show… as did the drummer who assaulted his intrument…song after song….  the groove was good and it was obvious these guys were connected heavy. By mid set the vocals got even better and the Bass player seemed to shine at times even over the two flamboyant frontmen. 

As we were walking out of the Molson Amphitheatre I heard one fan say to another that “the” moment for him was during “Summertime Rolls” I didn’t know the song…but chose to video it and noticed it getting response from fans who obviously know Janes Addiction. If you look closely behind Navarro while he solos…you can see a couple of his friends grooving to the show.

This show was solid all the way around. A Total ride back to time where I had crawled out of highschool and was trying to figure things out…as was the music scene then. Now as we get “STOP” The band totally ERUPTS…. everyone seems to be on 12 Red Bull and part of Farrell’s costume is off exposing the Corset and his wirey frame as he gyrates on the monitor…holding the Mic out for us to participate!  We Did….

He talks about how nice Toronto the city is, dreadlocks and more and they leave… only to come back with the anticipated Jane Says

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The biggest surprise for me at this show was Billy Joel.  He really brought everyone into the show like we all were in some huge piano bar somewhere in New Jersey. I saw him back around 1983 at the “Aud” in Buffalo, but to say my memories of that show are dim to nil would be an understatement.

The show opened with Elton playing Your Song and then Billy playing, Just the way you are. They were actually facing each other each behind a Black Yahama Grand. The songs had the same feel and tempo and these were solo songs. Next Elton played, Don’t let the Sun Go Down on me with a small band and Billy played My Life. This was a nice show opener. Face to Face piano masters. The flamboyant colourful John facing the conservative back to piano bar roots Joel.

Elton opened his main set with Funeral for a Friend / Loves Lies Bleeding. This song is worth the ticket price alone. I have seen Elton John 11 times (my 1^st EJ show was 1979 at the O’keef Centre) and Funeral is still one of his best songs live for me. He rolled through 11 songs with highlights for me seeming to be the extended piano playing on songs like Tiny Dancer, Madman Across the Water, Rocketman  and Levon. Burn Down the Mission may have been the gem here because I can’t recall having heard this song  live before and I really enjoy the Tumbleweed Connection album era.

I have to say the Elton John Band doesn’t get enough accolades. The Nigel Olsson drums sound like cannon fire at times and Davey Johnstone still plays a mean lead guitar. Davey came out with this awesome Les Paul with the Captain Fantastic album motif on it. It looked really good. I guess with Elton you pretty much get what you expect, stellar piano playing, a great band then a machine gun of classics. The last time out I saw the Captain and the Kid tour in Nov 2006 and was lucky enough to get a copy of my Goodbye Yellow Brick Album signed. I took a couple of pictures of Elton John signing &  caught a really nice close up of his hand as he passed the album back to me. (see below from 2006)

Billy opened his 11 song main set with Angry Young Man. I have to say he was pretty funny telling all kinds of stories and joking about people facing his back and the special effects of his piano turning around every couple of songs. He kept referring to the seats at the back as Hamilton, Ontario. He blasted through a bunch of classics like Allentown, Moving Out and Always a Woman to mention a few. At one point he was out front playing a guitar. I never followed Billy Joel very closely so that was a big surprise. He finished out his set with a rousing Still Rock N Roll to Me and Only the Good Die Young.

There was a very short break if 1 at all and EJ was back with Billy to play I Guess That’s Why they Call it the Blues first then into a Joel song.

Each playing verses of each other songs. Uptown Girl is next then a few more before going into the Beatles Happy Birthday and Back in USSR.  I caught a video of these 2 songs. I wasn’t sure why but I liked the change up.

The encore was candle in The Wind and the very appropriate Piano Man.

It was good show all around. Even at 300 bucks a ticket it felt like good value.

It was kind of like seeing 2 concerts with a gem or 2 thrown in.