rtbuck
Senior Member
“My Summer Vacation”
By Bucky
Summer officially began for me on June 14th as Blue Oyster Cult played a rocking set at Artpark in Lewiston, NY. I had been a fan of B.O.C. since being intrigued by the cover of their ‘Agents of Fortune’ album at a friend’s house around 1977. Despite now looking like a men’s Friday night bowling team B.O.C. still sound tight as ever especially with Rudy Sarzo playing bass. They played a great set of B.O.C. classics such as “The Red & The Black”, “Before the Kiss a Redcap”, “Cities on Flame”, “Hot Rails to Hell” & of course “Godzilla”, “Don’t fear the Reaper”, & “Burnin’ for You”. They did surprise me by pulling out “Black Blade”, “Buck’s Boogie”, & “Golden Age of Leather” but my favorite part of the show was hearing “Then Came the Last Days of May” as the skies had darkened, the stars were shining, & the cool night air breezed through the outdoor venue.
Three weeks later on July 5th I was back at Artpark to see Pat Benatar with Neil Giraldo (that’s how it was billed). I wasn’t sure what to expect (even wondering if it would be an acoustic set because of the way it was billed) but she rocked the venue! Opening the set with “All fired Up” Benatar & the band then played hit after hit including “Shadows of the Night”, “Invincible”, “You Better Run”, “Precious Time”, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, “Love is a Battlefield”, “Promises in the Dark”, & “Heartbreaker”. I knew all of her hits but didn’t realize she had enough to fill a whole set list! The highlight of the show came when Benatar dedicated their next song to Caylee Anthony & the band played an intense & emotional version of “Hell is for Children”.
The summer was getting hotter as was the music & up next on July 19th Cheap Trick took the stage at Artpark just two days after their stage collapsed in Ottawa, ON. Cheap Trick opened the show with their usual opening number “Hello There” from their ‘In Color’ album which pumped up the crowd. The band then jammed for a minute or two to an instrumental version of the Move’s “Brontosaurus” before getting the party started with another cover by the Move (made famous by Cheap Trick) “California Man” (actually during Cheap Trick’s version of the song which is on the ‘Heaven Tonight’ album they also play part of “Brontosaurus” during the middle of the tune). Rick Nielsen joked about the Ottawa incident by saying “We love Lewiston…but we hated Ottawa!”. Cheap Trick was phenomenal playing a total of 19 songs mixing old stuff, new stuff, & of course their hits including tunes such as “I Can’t Take it”, “I Want You to want Me”, “These Days”, “The Flame”, “High Roller”, “I Know What You Want”, “Sick Man of Europe”, “Come On Come On”, “Don’t be Cruel”, “Ain’t That a Shame” & “Surrender”.
They surprised me by performing “Gonna Raise Hell” for an encore before closing out the night with “Dream Police” & “Goodnight Now”. At one point of the show Rick Nielsen picked up a young kid of around 7 years old & brought him up onstage. The kid had on a ball cap, a white shirt with a bowtie, & holding a checkerboard inflatable guitar. Neilson took the inflatable guitar & gave the kid his guitar to strum while the rest of the band backed him up with a rhythm.
A few weeks later on August 12th I went up to Lockport, NY to see Queensryche. In my life I’ve seen Queenryche four times (The first time was in 1983 opening for Twisted Sister in a club). I like them & know a lot of their material but I’m not a super fan of the band. Unfortunately, because there were no seats I had to leave after 10 songs because of my back condition. Queenryche never seems to disappoint & this time was no different as they opened the show with “Get Started” from their latest album ‘Dedicated to Chaos’ (which is a very good album). After that they played a good mix of songs including “Damaged”, “I Don’t Believe in Love”, “Hit the Black”, “My Empty Room”, “A Dead Man’s Words”, “At the Edge”, “The Thin Line”(which had the entire crowd singing along with it), “The Real World, & the final song I heard was “Screaming in Digital”. As I said it was a good show & the one thing I have to make note of is the fans. Seeing all of the other shows this summer the bands have their followings of dedicated fans as well as the normal fans who just like to attend concerts. At a Queenryche show there are mainly hardcore fans of the band & I almost felt out of place because I didn’t have a Queensryche T-Shirt on. I thought about buying one at the show but I ended up buying an autographed copy of Operation Mind Crime II instead.
… Oh well, I will return with my final 3 concerts of the Summer which actually made this the best summer for Concerts EVER!!!
Bucky
By Bucky
Summer officially began for me on June 14th as Blue Oyster Cult played a rocking set at Artpark in Lewiston, NY. I had been a fan of B.O.C. since being intrigued by the cover of their ‘Agents of Fortune’ album at a friend’s house around 1977. Despite now looking like a men’s Friday night bowling team B.O.C. still sound tight as ever especially with Rudy Sarzo playing bass. They played a great set of B.O.C. classics such as “The Red & The Black”, “Before the Kiss a Redcap”, “Cities on Flame”, “Hot Rails to Hell” & of course “Godzilla”, “Don’t fear the Reaper”, & “Burnin’ for You”. They did surprise me by pulling out “Black Blade”, “Buck’s Boogie”, & “Golden Age of Leather” but my favorite part of the show was hearing “Then Came the Last Days of May” as the skies had darkened, the stars were shining, & the cool night air breezed through the outdoor venue.
Three weeks later on July 5th I was back at Artpark to see Pat Benatar with Neil Giraldo (that’s how it was billed). I wasn’t sure what to expect (even wondering if it would be an acoustic set because of the way it was billed) but she rocked the venue! Opening the set with “All fired Up” Benatar & the band then played hit after hit including “Shadows of the Night”, “Invincible”, “You Better Run”, “Precious Time”, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, “Love is a Battlefield”, “Promises in the Dark”, & “Heartbreaker”. I knew all of her hits but didn’t realize she had enough to fill a whole set list! The highlight of the show came when Benatar dedicated their next song to Caylee Anthony & the band played an intense & emotional version of “Hell is for Children”.
The summer was getting hotter as was the music & up next on July 19th Cheap Trick took the stage at Artpark just two days after their stage collapsed in Ottawa, ON. Cheap Trick opened the show with their usual opening number “Hello There” from their ‘In Color’ album which pumped up the crowd. The band then jammed for a minute or two to an instrumental version of the Move’s “Brontosaurus” before getting the party started with another cover by the Move (made famous by Cheap Trick) “California Man” (actually during Cheap Trick’s version of the song which is on the ‘Heaven Tonight’ album they also play part of “Brontosaurus” during the middle of the tune). Rick Nielsen joked about the Ottawa incident by saying “We love Lewiston…but we hated Ottawa!”. Cheap Trick was phenomenal playing a total of 19 songs mixing old stuff, new stuff, & of course their hits including tunes such as “I Can’t Take it”, “I Want You to want Me”, “These Days”, “The Flame”, “High Roller”, “I Know What You Want”, “Sick Man of Europe”, “Come On Come On”, “Don’t be Cruel”, “Ain’t That a Shame” & “Surrender”.
They surprised me by performing “Gonna Raise Hell” for an encore before closing out the night with “Dream Police” & “Goodnight Now”. At one point of the show Rick Nielsen picked up a young kid of around 7 years old & brought him up onstage. The kid had on a ball cap, a white shirt with a bowtie, & holding a checkerboard inflatable guitar. Neilson took the inflatable guitar & gave the kid his guitar to strum while the rest of the band backed him up with a rhythm.
A few weeks later on August 12th I went up to Lockport, NY to see Queensryche. In my life I’ve seen Queenryche four times (The first time was in 1983 opening for Twisted Sister in a club). I like them & know a lot of their material but I’m not a super fan of the band. Unfortunately, because there were no seats I had to leave after 10 songs because of my back condition. Queenryche never seems to disappoint & this time was no different as they opened the show with “Get Started” from their latest album ‘Dedicated to Chaos’ (which is a very good album). After that they played a good mix of songs including “Damaged”, “I Don’t Believe in Love”, “Hit the Black”, “My Empty Room”, “A Dead Man’s Words”, “At the Edge”, “The Thin Line”(which had the entire crowd singing along with it), “The Real World, & the final song I heard was “Screaming in Digital”. As I said it was a good show & the one thing I have to make note of is the fans. Seeing all of the other shows this summer the bands have their followings of dedicated fans as well as the normal fans who just like to attend concerts. At a Queenryche show there are mainly hardcore fans of the band & I almost felt out of place because I didn’t have a Queensryche T-Shirt on. I thought about buying one at the show but I ended up buying an autographed copy of Operation Mind Crime II instead.
… Oh well, I will return with my final 3 concerts of the Summer which actually made this the best summer for Concerts EVER!!!
Bucky
