Out of all the band lumped into the late-80s hair metal genre, Cinderella was probably my favorite unless you count Queensryche.  After a decent initial release they released three great albums that shed their hair metal image and headed more towards a blues-rock sound.  My fond memories of them combined with the fact that they haven’t become an embarassment like a lot of their peers convinced me to go see them at the Midland theatre.

I have to say that for the most part they didn’t disappoint.  They band sounded good and put on a good performance.  Tom Keifer’s voice has lost a little with age, but nothing dramatic.  My main gripe with the show was the setlist.  It leaned heavily on their first album and didn’t contain anything from their last album which was unfortunate since it’s one of their strongest releases:

Second Wind
Push Push
Somebody Save Me
The Last Mile
Night Songs
Bad Seamstress Blues/Fallin’ Apart at the Seams
Heartbreak Station
Coming Home
Shelter Me
Nobody’s Fool
Gypsy Road
-
Don’t Know What You Got
Shake Me

That’s almost half the set devoted to the first album and there are a lot better songs that they could have picked.  I see why they did it though, Night Songs is probably their best seller and the one most people are familiar with.  From what I saw, the crowd was really into the show and almost every song they played.  Nostalgia shows like this are always a roll of the dice but they put on a good show and I’m glad I went.

Going into the concert I had no idea that opener Nigel Dupree was the son of Jackyl’s Jesse James Dupree until someone explained to me that 98.9 had been talking it up leading up to the concert.  I wasn’t sure what to expect but he ended up being one of the best openers I’ve seen in a while.  There wasn’t much of Jackyl’s southern rock influencing his sound but instead he gave a hard rock performance that was solid from beginning to end.  I was really impressed and hope to see him again.

Kansas City’s own Federation of Horsepower didn’t fare as well.  It seems like I’ve always missed their sets whenever they’re on a lineup so this was my first time seeing them.  The band was sloppy - and not in a good way.  The songs sounded like they had potential but the sound was so muddled that their set started to get annoying after just a few songs.  I thought this was the fault of the sound crew but my friend told me that they sound the same way every time he’s seen them so who knows.

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.

The last time I saw Kiss live was on their 1996 reunion tour and I was hugely disappointed. Despite being fairly early in the tour the performance was completely lifeless (with the exception of Ace Frehley’s two songs) and it seemed like a by-the-numbers performance. After that I wasn’t really interested in seeing them again.

However, with the release of the excellent Sonic Boom I thought I would give them another chance. I was hoping that the addition of Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer would revitalize the band. Based on their performance at the Sprint Center, that’s exactly the case. Their performance reminded me of their better shows I’ve seen, with an energy I haven’t seen since they put their makeup back on.

The night started off well between finding two dollar parking across the street from the Midland Theater and then buying tickets with a $75 face value for $40 from a scalper.  This is the first time I’ve gotten cheap tickets from a scalper right before a concert.  I’m thinking I might try it again for AC/DC in April.

The set list was about what they’ve been sticking to for the past few years (standards like “Strutter” and “Deuce”) but with a couple of surprises thrown in (most notably “Parasite”, one of my favorite Kiss songs). Unfortunately a couple of my favorites, “God of Thunder” and “Firehouse”, were given the boot but they didn’t play any song that I absolutely despise.

The stage set up was impressive. In addition to the large video screens there were several smaller video screens across the stage with a different set of images for each song. The other usual things you expect at a Kiss concert were there too - a lot of pyro and Gene Simmons’ standards like spitting blood and blowing fire.

I’ve read a lot of complaints about Paul Stanley’s voice and while it’s true that his voice isn’t as strong due to his age, I don’t think it impacted the show too much. The overall quality was good and more than made up for any vocal shortcomings. That being said, I purchased a CD of the show and listening to it the weak vocals are more evident on repeat listenings.

Setlist:
Deuce
Strutter
Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll
Hotter Than Hell
Shock Me
Calling Dr. Love
Modern Day Delilah
Cold Gin
Parasite
Say Yeah
100,000 Years
I Love It Loud
Black Diamond
Rock and Roll All Nite
———————
Shout It Out Loud
Lick It Up
Love Gun
Detroit Rock City.

As I texted my wife, the crowd was mainly my fellow middle age burnouts, a lot of whom brought their kids.  Normally I cringe when I see kids at concerts (like Ratt…really, you have to bring your kids to Ratt?) but for some reason this seemed like a good one for them.  Paul Stanley’s stage rap hasn’t changed much since I was young, but it’s definitely toned down from their non-makeup days.

I absolutely love the idea of being able to buy a recording of a show.  They were available for the Metallica concert last year and the set from Kiss is pretty nice.  It was pretty reasonable at $20 because I figured that this is one of those things they would try to gouge you on.

Lawrence’s own The Dead Girls opened up the show. Despite being an odd match for the Kiss crowd they put on a great performance. I’m completely ignorant on the local music scene but definitely plan on checking them out in the future.

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.