I learned something very valuable after attending my first Motorhead concert.

I don’t like Motorhead.

I already suspected as much.  A few years back I bought a used copy of Overkill - one of the albums considered a classic by their fans - and it didn’t do anything for me.  It’s one of those things that just doesn’t click.  As a metal fan there’s no reason I shouldn’t like them, but it doesn’t work for me.

Anyway, the main reason I went to the concert was to see the other two acts on the lineup - Reverend Horton Heat and Nashville Pussy.  I figured the addition of Motorhead was a bonus.  I thought maybe they were like a lot of bands where you have to see them live to appreciate them.  But I don’t.

The show was advertised to start at 8:00.  I showed up around 7:45, right as Nashville Pussy took the stage.  That’s right, the show started early.  Maybe it was advertised for 7:30 somewhere else, but starting a show early really sucks. 

I’ve seen Nashville Pussy a few times before and while they usually put on a good show, their performance was letdown.  First off, the vocals were buried way into the mix, a problem that continued into Reverend Horton Heat’s set.  The other thing is that the band seemed off and the overall performance wasn’t as good as usual.  Maybe it had something to do with the limited amount of time they had for their set.

Frontman Blaine  Cartwright can always be counted on to say something great during their shows and that night was no exception.  One of the DJs from local station KQRC introduced the band, and about midway through their set Cartwright asked the crowd if the radio station played any of their music.  After the crowd screamed that they didn’t, he asked if they played any Motorhead and got a similar answer.  The look on his face after that was priceless.

Despite the sound problems, Horton Heat put on a great set, mixing old and new songs.  The only other down side was the set length, but it wasn’t really surprising for an opening act.  The new songs held up next to the classic material and the crowd really got into it.

I stayed for most of Motorhead’s set but left before the first encore.  Their sound was the best of the night and the band was tight.  The crowd was completely into them and the area in front of the stage was absolutely crazy.

Regardless of my personal opinion of them, I completely understand why people like them.  Kind of like my feelings toward Dave Matthews Band or Phish - I don’t like them but I understand why people do.  Now Nickleback is a different story….

Hard Rock Haven has a great review of Saturday’s Steel Panther show in Kansas City. The show quickly sold out and I thought about getting some tickets off Craigslist but in the end I wasn’t up for driving an hour each way to go see it.

I started to get nervous the afternoon of the Chickenfoot show when I did a search for concert reviews (which I usually don’t do) and saw that with the exception of a couple of songs the band was sticking to their one and only album. With everyone’s background it didn’t make sense to do this, especially since I was hoping for at least one Satriani song as a guitar solo.

Well that turned out to be true but the show didn’t turn out to be as bad as I feared.  The band sounded great together and gave the songs more life than they have on the album itself.  One of the suprising things - for me at least - was how much the crowd was into it.  The Uptown Theatre was sold out and I figured a lot of the people were there to hear some Van Halen songs and “I Can’t Drive 55″ but they were really into every song in the set.  The band put on a great performance despite the questionable setlist.

The opener - Davey Knowles and Backdoor Slam - was fantastic.  Again, I didn’t think the crowd would be into a relatively unknown opener but it seemed like most people were into them.  Davey Knowles, the singer and lead guitarist, gave a dynamite performance and displayed some incredible guitar playing.

As for the venue, the Uptown Theatre isn’t a bad place to see shows, but the chairs they set out on the floor are absolutely horrible.  I felt like I was in a middle seating flying Delta economy.  At least the building was air-conditioned.

Nostalgia tours are always a dicey thing.  You always run the risk of seeing a group where someone (usually the singer) has completely lost it, making you embarrassed to be there.  This is why I was on the fence about seeing Ratt and Extreme at the outdoors Crossroads venue in Kansas City this past Thursday.  I think it was the summer of 2001 when I went to go see a “Voices of Metal” show at the Missouri State Fair that had Stephen Pearcy in the lineup.  It was bad - possibly the worst show I have ever seen.

On the other hand I saw Extreme twice during their heyday and they were really good.  I don’t think I would have gone to just see Ratt, but the chance to see Extreme again convinced me.

The venue itself isn’t too bad.  It’s attached to a restaurant with a great beer selection so I was able to grab a piece of pizza and a beer before the show started.  I think I read somewhere that the concert area holds around 1500 people, so it’s a decent size.  I would estimate around 700 people were there that night.

One of the interesting things about these ‘hair metal’ shows is that you get a lot of people dressing up like they did 20-25 years ago with varying results.  A few guys still had their long hair and the women brought out their tight fitting outfits and ultra-high heels.  The floor of the venue is covered with wood chips so it was amusing to watch them try to walk with their heels on.  The other thing is that a few people brought their kids which I always hate - it reeks of a dad trying to prove to his kids how cool he is.

Something nice about Crossroads - things were priced incredibly reasonable.  Sodas were $2.00, my slice of pizza was $3.75, beer was $3.00.  I’m so used to being screwed when I go anywhere these days it’s nice to see something like this.

Anyway, the show started around 8:00 with openers Swirl, a hard rock band from LA and whose sound fit in nicely with the rest of the nice.  They were still a little rough around the edges, but they had a lot of good songs.  They were good enough to warrant picking up the album.

They played maybe around 40 minutes and after a quick stage setup Extreme took the stage.  Despite the relatively small size of the crowd, they put on an incredibly good show.  Their sound was great and they put a lot of effort into putting on a good show.  Gary Cherone’s voice still sounds as good as it used to and Nuno hasn’t lost a step in his playing.  Based on my memory, here’s what they played (not in order):

Decadence Dance
It(’s a Monster)
Star
More Than Words
Play With Me
Rest in Peace
Am I Ever Gonna Change
Cupid’s Dead
Hole Hearted
Take Us Alive
Get the Funk Out/Wanna Be Startin Something

Pretty good set list and the highlight was the cover of “Wanna Be Startin Something” at the end of the set.  It’s one of those things that wasn’t expected and the band just nailed the song.  ”Take Us Alive” was another unexpected but great choice since it’s probably the best track on their latest album.

Extreme’s set went a little over an hour and Ratt went on stage.  The first couple of songs (”Tell the World” and I don’t recall the other) were really rough.  Stephen Pearcy’s voice sounded terrible and it was down low in the mix.  However, after that rough start the sound improved quite a bit.  That being said, the sound didn’t get that much better.  The band as a whole was pretty sloppy and Pearcy’s voice is in pretty rough shape.

Some of the songs I remember them playing:

Tell the World
Lay It Down
City to City
I Want a Woman

They also played the entire Out of the Cellar album in order, except for saving “Round and Round” for last.  Their entire set lasted about an hour and a half.  Their performance wasn’t as bad as I expected, but not as good as the last time I saw them as a band (maybe around 1999 opening for Poison).

I’m glad I went, but I doubt I’ll be going to see Ratt again unless they have another good opener.  It’s too bad because they have a lot of great songs and there’s potential there for a great show.

May 30th was the annual Kansas City Rockfest put on each year by 98.9.  Just a few thoughts since I didn’t end up staying that long.

First off it was hot.  Really hot, like Tattooine.  I decided to go this year because I figured it wouldn’t be too hot at the end of May.  I certainly learned my lesson on that.

So anyway, I packed up my sunscreen, one unopened water bottle, and a camera (as per the rules they posted) and went on my way.  The concert was at Liberty Memorial, but I ended up parking at Union Station for $20.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it was like when you’re in Vegas and you think you’ll walk somewhere because it’s only a few properties down the strip.  Even though they’re right next to each other it takes forever to get from one to another - probably a good 20 minutes.

One of the interesting thing was the number of scalpers buying and selling tickets.  It was around 3:30 and things started around noon, so the $40 face value tickets were now being sold for $20.  On top of that, the scalpers were buying people’s tickets for $10 so they could sell them for $20.

Once I arrived at the concert I was suprised by the sheer number of people.  Obviously 50,000 tickets sold is a lot, but it’s one of those things that doesn’t click until you see it in person.

There were plenty of beer tents serving crappy beer so there wasn’t a wait for that.  There weren’t as many concession stands and someone told me it was a 45 wait in line to get a hot dog.  Here’s another thing - they kept hyping that no food or drink would be over $5.00, which turned out to mean that EVERY food or drink item was $5.00, including the cup of lemonade I got.

I was supposed to meet a couple of people at a specific spot but couldn’t find them.  I went to go check out Parlor Mob’s set on the second stage.  I didn’t expect much that early in the day but they were really good - a solid blues based hard rock band that really seemed to click.  I ended up ordering their album from Amazon based on the strength of their set.  They had a pretty small crowd in front of the stage which was suprising based on the sheet number of people there.

After that finished I moved over to check out Corey Taylor’s set.  Despite owning two Slipknot albums I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of them or Stone Sour but there was a lot of talk about his first solo show.  He pulled out a few suprise covers like Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” and the “Cheers” theme.  His set was good, but not great.

After his set I found the people I was supposed to meet.  However, I was nearing the end of my day when something in the air scratched my eyeball.  It was killing me so I decided to leave and let the good Dr. McKeon look at it.  Apprantly what I should have done was fashioned an eye patch to cover it so I could have stayed.  Anyway, I got some numbing drops and I was happy.

I left during Shinedown’s set and from what a lot of people were saying, they were the band everyone wanted to see, even over the headliners.

One other interesting thing is that as I left (somewhere around 6:45).  I saw lots of unused tickets on the sidewalk leading up to the Liberty Memorial and even saw a small stack stuck under a minivan’s rear windshield wiper.

So that was it.  However, I do have a plan for next year:

1.  DO NOT buy tickets ahead of time.  Don’t fall for the hype of it being sold out.

2.  If it’s too hot, just stay home.  If the weather is nice go and pick up some cheap tickets from scalpers.  If that doesn’t work out just go see a movie or something.