It’s just about that time of year again, where 50,000 Kansas Citians drink beer and get sunburned while a lucky few get their cornea scratched. The 2010 Rockfest lineup was announced, and it’s definately one of the weaker ones I’ve seen. I don’t want to hash through the entire lineup but the fact that Godsmack is headlining the whole thing says a lot. I keep wondering if they had a larger headliner in mind and had them cancel at the last minute.
The biggest problem seems to be that the lineup is too predictable. Maybe it’s my imagination but there are too many bands that seem to come through Kansas City all the time. The most obvious one is Drowning Pool who put on a good show a couple of years ago at the City Market but they were just in town a few months ago. Same with Rev Theory and Three Days Grace.
For all my complaining I’ll probably still go, with everything depending on the arrival of a new baby. The promoters smartened up and scheduled the thing a month earlier on May 15 which should be pretty nice weather. I think the advantage of the weak lineup is that there’s no one I’m dying to see so I can leave whenever and just enjoy myself.
In one of the most unexpected tours to come along in a while, the semi-reformed Public Image Limited will be playing the Midland theatre on April 26.
The end of April is getting filled with a bunch of crazy good concerts. Unfortunately that’s also when my wife is due for our new son.
So to summarize, I will be missing the following shows:
- Jeff Beck, who is the last on my list of living guitarists that I really really really want to see.
- Mastodon playing at Liberty Hall. Not a huge deal since I saw them with Dethklok, but it kills me that they’re playing just a few minutes away from my house.
- Steve Martin playing a bluegrass concert. The guy is an amazing banjo player and I would really like to see this.
- Public Image Limited, who canceled their Las Cruces show that I had tickets to back around 1990 and I’m still bitter about it.
Maybe Paul McCartney can go ahead and schedule an appearance in Kansas City at that time as well.
First off, Alice in Chains announced their latest set of tour dates and they’re playing in Kansas City on 02/21/10 at the Midland Theater. They came through a couple of years ago and even though I passed on it then I think I’m going to go this time. The new singer is good and the new album is decent enough that it should be a good show.
Bon Jovi’s also coming on March 15. Somewhere around New Jersey I lost interest in them as they became more of a generic rock band with a bunch of blah songs. I’ve seen them twice before during their 80s heydey but at this point they interest me so little that I wouldn’t go even if it was free.
The reason I bring up this show I that I saw a link to the ticket packages. There’s six of them, not including the travel package:
Diamond - $1725.00
Emerald - $989.00
Platinum - $575.00
Gold - $365.00
Silver - $142.50
The packages give you a seat whose location is appropriate to the amount of money you spend. For me the kicker is that this is the first time that I’ve seen these expensive packages where there’s no mention of meeting the band. For the most expensive package you get a front row seat and a fucking chair you get to take home and other than a bunch of crap that’s it. You’re paying Bon Jovi $1700 for a front row seat. The $142 package gets you a “second price” reserved ticket, whatever that means, and it doesn’t sound good.
I think what gets me is that this is Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi. They sang “Living on a Prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive”. They’re not the Beatles or the Stones. They’re a hard rock version of Genesis for Pete’s sake. I just don’t get it, but good for them that they’re able to get that kind of money for their shows.
This year November 1 started the Christmas season here in Kansas City, at least on the radio. Both of our light (or is it lite?) rock stations switched to Christmas music until…well I don’t even know when. December 26? December 31?
It’s easy enough to ignore at home or in my car (and I do) but the problem is that those two white bread, limp dick stations are being played everywhere so it’s tough to avoid when you’re out and about. Even my wife’s office pipes in Star 102, including that horrible John Tesh show, which is a whole ‘nother post.
Last year I went on about my problems with these two stations and from what little I’ve heard they still stand. They manage to play the safest, most boring stuff you can find. Oh and what the hell, let’s add a little King Diamond Christmas action:
Entertainment Weekly recently published a list of the 25 best and five worst Beatles songs. I’m not really interested in the “best” list - things like that are completely subjective and can vary. However, for some reason the list of the five worst songs intrigued me:
05 “Flying”
04 “Don’t Pass Me By”
03 “Dig It”
02 “Wild Honey Pie”
01 “All You Need Is Love”
I don’t really have a list of Beatles songs I don’t like as much as I have a list of Beatles songs that I’m really tired of hearing, and it would look something like this:
05 “Twist and Shout”
04 “Birthday”
03 “Let it Be”
02 “Hey Jude”
01 “Hey Jude”
“Hey Jude” goes on there twice because I’m really tired of hearing it and it just goes on and on, especially in concert. Back to the Entertainment Weekly list - the first thing is that having “All You Need is Love” and the worst seems like a bit of a troll in order to get people worked up. Yes, I’m tired of it, but a lot of people - including my wife - really love it. If you want to call it overrated that’s fine, but saying it’s that worst….I don’t buy it. Another thing is the inclusion of “Don’t Pass Me By”. Not only is this my favorite Ringo song, I would probably put it in my top 20 and possibly top 10 Beatles songs. Songs like that are why the White Album is so great - just a collection of great songs and you never knew what was coming up. I also like “Flying” quite a bit but I get that since it may be a little too weird for people. The other two I get as well but to me they weren’t really official songs, just little throwaway bits they had on their albums.
I don’t know where I’m going with this other than it really makes me sad when people slag “Don’t Pass Me By”.
