I was supposed to go to Lynyrd Skynyrd with Bebop Deluxe at The Paladium when I was in freshman year at Holy Cross High School but I got grounded after getting caught skipping classes, but I did finally get to see the original band at the Nassau Coliseum. In a rather odd double bill, Lynyrd Skynyrd toured with labelmate Ted Nugemt who opened on this particular night. They were scheduled to play together again at Madison Square Garden but the unimaginable tragedy that was the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash happened. The show did go on but this time with Ted Nugent headlining and AC/DC opening. The greatest memory I have from this show is Angus Young shredding while on top of Bon Scott’s shoulders as they waded through the Madison Square Garden orchestra.

AC/DC had begun to supplant even the Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent, and would not be opening for anyone else for long as they were on their way to the top of the heavy metal mountaintop.

For those about to rock we salute you…..

Rock on!

GQ

Rainbow starring Ritchie Blackmore, most legendary for his days playing lead guitar for Deep Purple, and the late great Ronnie James Dio were headlining a concert at The Paladium, a great theatre in New York City, with openers, up and comers, AC/DC with frontman, the late great Bon Scott. AC/DC performed their heavy metal thunder but the pumped up audience was clearly in attendance to see Rainbow. There was a giant electric rainbow that went the length of the stage and lit up as the band hit the stage. The band led off with the great “ Man on the Silver Mountain” with Ronnie James Dio in all his glory stalking the Paladium stage but halfway through the song the band stopped playing and ultimately left the stage. After a bit of a delay there was an announcement that the concert was being canceled. Apparently Mr. Blackmore heard a buzz coming from one of the speakers and, being the perfectionist that he is, refused to continue the show. A confused, disappointed crowd received full refunds from their place of purchase as the show was never rescheduled, and we basically got to see future legends AC/DC perform as openers in a small venue for free.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

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GQ

One of my rock and roll regrets is that I did not get to see David Bowie perform in concert more than I did. Bowie has always been one of my favorite artists right up there with Neil Young, Lou Reed, and The Rolling Stones but for some reason I only saw him twice in concert, once at Giants Stadium promoting the hugely popular “Let’s Dance” album, and this first occasion st Madison Square Garden during the “Station to Station” phase of his career. Other than the fact we had pretty good rear orchestra seats at MSG, I do not recall much about this show except for the enormous white tubular lights that backlit the band. I believe this particular tour became the excellent “Stage” double live album. Somehow when David Bowie was in town on tour there was usually some reason I could not attend; even when David Bowie did a whirlwind set of shows, one in each of the five New York City boroughs. Come to think of it, I believe I may have also seen Bowie on tour with Nine Inch Nails (I’ve got to check the archives on that one) but I absolutely did attend the Bowie exhibit st the Brooklyn Museum, which was a dynamic interactive experience. While museums can be cool, they can also be sort of sad too as the outfits and instruments on display were once living, breathing musical ether.

Spiders from Mars

Blackstar

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GQ

Last week there was a furious concert flurry with Dead & Company for the first of two nights at the Nassau Coliseum, Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul with the great Peter Wolf at the Beacon Theatre on Wednesday, Styx at the NYCB Theatre st Westbury, a last minute Friday StubHub bargain with Dwight Yoakam at the NYCB Theatre st Westbury and ending the busy week on Saturday with Paul Anka also in Westbury.

The Dead & Company show featuring John Mayer made for a cool vibe causing the usually “Dead” Nassau Coliseum to come alive again for at least a couple of nights. “Casey Jones” and “St. Stephen” had the mix of young wannabe Deadheads and the “Deadhead sticker on their Cadillac” crowd dancing in their seats and the general admission floor. The band, led by stalwart original members Bob Weir and their long time drumming tandem, is largely a nostalgic throwback these days but quite the professional outfit largely cashing in on the Grateful Dead legacy. The band sounds great and the crowd is largely joyous in various states of intoxication and income brackets . While the Madison Square Garden shows earlier in the week appeared to be a hot ticket, the secondary market for the two Long Island shows took a beating. Just as when the Dead scheduled two nights at Citifield a couple of summers ago, it would seem that, even in New York, there is a limit to how many Dead shows will be supported, in this particular market anyway.

Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul had canceled the end of their “Summer of Scorcery” tour due to Little Steven having taken ill, leaving just the Beacon Theatre concert, where a DVD was to be filmed, and a Boston date. A giant trailer parked in the rear of the theatre with an enormous Gene Simmons’ like photo of Little Steven affixed to the side, left know doubt that the band is not inclined to sneak in to town. Peter Wolf opened with a too short set snd was the epitome of rock and roll royalty as always. Little Steven is obviously a big Wolf fan as I spied him at a Wolf City Winery gig a couple of years ago watching the show from the VIP seats up top. Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul is an eclectic act with the tremendously overweight Steven up front in bandana and draped in scarves, backed by a large professional band with members embarrassingly dressed as 1970’s movie pimps and an excellent trio of dancing, prancing female soul singers who made the show tolerable. Rumors of a Bruce Springsteen appearance were heightened when a bartender told me that the show would end at 11 no Bruce, or 12 with Bruce. Later on I was told it was happening and that the show would end at 11:15. Peter Wolf joined the band for “Sun City” and the Southside Johnny tunes were cool but, for me, the show was a train wreck. I would’ve left early but from the 3rd row center I hung in there for the Bruce Springsteen appearance that never materialized. This is not an act I would go out of my way to see again.

Styx, Dwight Yoakam, and Paul Anka played the next three nights st the NYCB Theatre at Westbury. Styx snd Yoakum played in the “half round” while Paul Anka made the circular Westbury stage his own, as usual, without the need to rotate as the legendary performer did not need any help working the entire venue and getting up and personal with his mostly mature but exuberant fans.

Styx played its entire latest album before an intermission. A married couple in the first row center in matching Styx shirts sang every word to every song to an album about traveling through space a la Spiders from Mars. I give the band credit for highlighting their new material and the audience was mostly polite before they played the late 1970’s arena hits that still bring in the crowds today. The band looks and sounds great snd come back for an odd second helping show tonight! in Westbury.

I was sitting at home Friday and found six dollar StubHub tickets for Dwight Yoakum so, having nothing else to do that night, I drove down the road on the Wantagh Parkway to see a country legend on the cheap. I sat second row center where the vocals were a little low in the mix with an obviously professional backing band drowning Dwight out just a bit. I did not know many of his tunes but the “Suspicious Minds” encore resonated in my head for a couple of days following the show.

Paul Anka sings a lot of songs you grew up with; both those he recorded for himself and those made famous by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and a host of others The Vegas style show highlighted many aspects of Anka’s 60 year career, from riding on the bus with Buddy Holly to “My Way”. I have seen Paul Anka perform on several occasions and his show is always a great evening of entertainment no matter what you’re musical tastes might lean to.

The road goes on forever

Rock on!

GQ

After. Neil Young and Crazy Horse played a pair of historic concerts in Winnipeg this past February that I was fortunate enough to attend despite the polar vortex and 20 below temperatures, Neil and the band reconvened in Colorado to lay down tracks for a new Crazy Horse album

With Frank Sampedro forced into retirement after a freak injury a couple of years back, Nils Lofgren has returned with guitar and tap shoes. The movie chronicling the making of the album “Colorado” is called “Mountaintop”.

This movie documenting the inner workings of the legendary band creating new music in the studio is for die hard fans only. I found it to be fascinating to see how the recorded music is pieced together yet,when completed, the finished product sounds as one cohesive piece. Neil Young runs the show and is a tough taskmaster. The engineer for the project is pushed hard, and is on the ropes at times, but the group preservers and sees themselves to a finished product that ranks as one of the best Neil Young projects in recent years. Many of the songs on this project had surfaced during Neil Young’s most recent solo concerts and his shows with the Promise of the Real but have now been recorded as a decidedly Crazy Horse project.

Neil Young has had many film projects through the years and has a propensity for recording just about everything he does. It is not “Rust Never Sleeps” but “Mountaintop” is an excellent film chronicaling the legendary band members 50 year relationship and their continuing quest to create great music.

There’s more to the picture than meets the eye.

Rock and Roll will never die.

Tonight Bob Seger hits the Madison Square Garden stage one last time as part of his farewell tour. Unlike Elton John and the Eagles who keep returning like a boomerangs to squeeze every last dollar from the New York area, I believe that this is likely Seger’s last appearance with the Silver Bullet Band in New York.

Only time will tell but in the meantime-

Rock on

GQ

Graham Nash performed two of his solo albums in their entirety, “Songs for Beginners” and “Wild Tales”, with a full band this past Friday at New York City’s Town Hall. I was tracking the ticket sales for a couple of days and was surprised to see that although reasonably priced, Nash’s show failed to sell out and ticket prices as listed on StubHub were dropping throughout the day right up until showtime. I had purchased my tickets months ago, but for those who passed on the last minute bargains, they missed a fascinating concert performed by a still vibrant artist who provided insightful anecdotes throughout with an excellent backing band in accompaniment.

And, news flash, the self proclaimed hippie abandoned his bare feet on stage policy by wearing shoes for this performance.

The 77 year old Nash played the two great solo albums one after another with a shott intermission in between, “Songs for Beginners” had been performed in its entirety by a variety of artists this past summer at the Newport Folk Festival when the committee had trouble filling a slot on the second stage this year. While the Folk Festival set was good, it could not match the legendary Nash performing the song cycle himself. He referenced that several of the albums songs were inspired by his then former girlfriend Joni Mitchell and he completed the evening’s performance with a few of his better known “hit” songs, “Just a Song Before I Go”, the mind bending trip “Cathedral”, Graham’s “My Way” AKA the timeless “Our House” and ended with CSNY’s “Teach Your Children”.

I am one who does not have to necessarily agree with the politics of an artist to enjoy the music; Nash’s liberal leanings and anti-Trump references did not faze me, and in fact are expected at a Nash concert. Graham Nash has been outspoken and political throughout his entire career so one should expect that his viewpoint and societal commentary will be interspersed with the great music to be enjoyed. With that being said, however, when Mr. Nash introduced “Prison Song” by making a statement that the NYPD “murdered” Eric Garner it made me downright angry, even furious, and put a damper, for me, on the remainder of the performance. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if in this case it is an outrageously wrong and a simplistic portrayal of the extraordinarily unfortunate circumstances culminating in Mr. Garner’s death. As I write this now, last night an NYPD police officer was killed while performing his sworn duty to protect the citizens of New York City. Mr. Garner’s death was most certainly a tragedy but it was not a “murder” as Mr. Nash so boldly and emphatically proclaimed. Graham Nash has enjoyed the protection of the New York City Police Department throughout his long and storied career, I believe he currently resides in New York City, and he indeed has been, and continues to be, a generational voice for many of us, I believe he owes the women and men of this great law enforcement agency a public apology.

And that is my opinion, for what it’s worth.

May God bless the members of the NYPD and all law enforcement officers who help make it possible to enjoy our freedom and endeavors safely.

Find the Cost of Freedom

GQ

The first time I saw The Who was a huge multi-night event at Madison Square Garden in September, 1979. Kenny Jones was the new drummer, Daltry had cut his hair and John Entwistle was still alive and well playing bass guitar. I can still remember Entwistle singing “Boris the Spider” and “My Wife”. The band was still relevant, vibrant and dynamic with Townshend on a furious mission to rock and Daltry in fine voice spinning that microphone with passion.

Who Are You

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GQ

With Ric Ocasek’s passing this week, I figured I would dig deep into the archives for The Cars concert in Central Park that took place on August 24, 1979. My friends and I would attend every Central Park concert that we could back in the late 70’s. The tickets only cost $4.50 for the orchestra and $2.50 for the balcony and if you did not want to spend any money at all you could hang out on the large boulders beyond the fences and hear the shows just fine. As I recall, The Cars concert was one of those we spent on the rocks within sight of the outdoor venue and, on a side note, where we did the same for a headlining Greg Kuhn Band the following night.

Years later The Cars with Todd Rundgren, and not Ocasek, played at Jones Beach with Blondie opening. Ocasek had stuck to his guns right to the end about not touring with The Cars and only rejoined the band for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony held in Brooklin recently.

Moving in Stereo

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GQ

I’m sitting at JFK airport for a flight to Indianapolis to see Neil Young and the Promise of the Real who are on the road to Farm Aid in Milwaukee Saturday. My flight is delayed so I figured I’d check in and tell you what I did on my summer vacation. It has been a busy concert season with a trip to London, England and Kilkenny, Ireland to catch Neil and the Real with Bob Dylan at two incredible outdoor festivals. Neil and Bob took the stage together at beautiful Kilkenny for the first time since Bobfest at Madison Square Garden which I was fortunate to have attended also. Neil Young and Dylan’s European tours converged for these final two dates and it was an extraordinary finale for the two legends. After my London adventure, I stayed above a pub in Kilkenny, which was just down the road from the hurling field where the event was held, and where I had an incredible no frills whirlwind stay which ended in Dublin where I played tourist for a couple of days.

Upon my return it was on to Newport, Rhode Island for a family trip to the Newport Folk Festival which is always a blast. The weather was perfect, as it was for the two European festivals, and the three day folk festival with three stages and non stop music at scenic Fort Adams on the water was fantastic as usual. As long as the rain stays away it is a great venue. My wife and I had gone to the Newport Jazz Festival years ago during a three day monsoon, leaving us like drowned rats and a tough few days, so anytime you can get a good weather weekend in Newport it is a home run. The wide variety of acts satisfied the whole family and the perfect weather made for a great vacation.

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullett Band started off the summer concert season at Northwell at Jones Beach Theatre back on a rainy night in May for his farewell tour. Despite the rain, the sold out amphitheatre was rocking with Seger playing many of the big hit songs from his great rock and roll albums that dominated 1980’s FM radio.

Smashing Pumpkins with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds was a surprising good show. I’ve never been a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan but they have many familiar hits, and Gallagher was a really strong opening act and he threw in some great Oasis tunes at the end of his set.

Just this week, I was supposed to see Peter Frampton’s finale show at Madison Square Garden Friday but due to a Groupon app snafu I was unable to pull up my tickets on my phone. Saturday night was a surprisingly great Jethro Tull 50th Anniversary Concert at Forest Hills Stadium. Jethro Tull was my favorite band freshman year in high school before I discovered Yes then Neil Young and the first album I ever bought with my own money was Jethro Tull’s “ Warchild”. In recent years and tours, Ian Anderson’s voice has been disappointing and the shows left you wondering if he maybe should have hung up his flute and retired but somehow this tour, with its audiovisual enhancements, was a huge success in my eyes. The limber Anderson balanced himself on one leg and pranced and strutted and entertained under a late summer sky.

The Who’s latest farewell incarnation with orchestra on the other hand was an utter disappointment. While 75 year old Roger Daltry looked and sounded fine, a crowded stage, power outages, and with Pete Townshend’s windmills feeling forced, after the opening “Tommy” excitement, we found ourselves feeling bored and somewhat disappointed. The orchestra tours were better done when Daltry toured solo with “Tommy” and Townshend played st the Metropolitan Opera House with “Quadrophenia”. The farewell 50th Anniversary Show at Forest Hills a couple of years ago was a rollicking good time and how I would prefer to remember the band, along with many of the great arena tours they did through the years.

There was also two nights of Chicago st the NYCB Theatre at Westbury at some point and I’m sure a few other shows I’m not recalling at the moment. The gate to my delayed flight has been changed again so I hope to be wheels up shortly.

Keep on rockin’ In the Indiana world

Rock on!

GQ

Billy Joel’s lengthy residency at Madison Square Garden turned into a massive birthday party this past Thursday.

I have attended many Billy Joel concerts through the years; young, old, with Elton John, large venues, at the Paramount in Huntington (could it really have been 2013?). You knew that this was not going to be an ordinary evening when MSG staff handed out “Happy Birthday Billy” cardboard hats and a variety of Joel baseball type souvenir cards in plastic casings as the crowd excitingly headed up the escalators. The band hit the stage at 8:20 with no opening act and the adoring, seemingly Long Island, audience were in a celebratory mood as Billy sang the soundtrack of the lives to many in the crowd. Video greetings from Pink, Brian Johnson, Don Henley and Paul McCartney were interspersed with the mostly familiar Billy Joel songs performed this night. A surprise guest performance at about the halfway point by Peter Frampton, who will be on a farewell tour this year, added to a joyful event. Mr. Joel’s daughter Alexa sang “New York State of Mind” with dad which led into a Happy Birthday singalong with his youngest daughter who joined the two onstage. There were no Springsteen or McCartney cameos as hoped, not even Howard Stern or Kevin James, but it was all fine. The night was a true celebration of a national treasure, and a seemingly good guy, who has never forgotten where he came from. It’s hard not to like Billy Joel; he’s one of the good guys. He cannot bound around on stage like he once could, but even at seventy it appears the show will go on for years to come.

It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me

Rock on!

GQ