I celebrated my 50th birthday in style, performing at a fun, family-oriented festival with 2 great bands. My family took me out for a bodacious brunch before my afternoon of active duty. It was wonderful, opening cards and presents from my 2 boys and Sabina. Turning 50 is certainly a milestone, yet I do like to think of it as the end of the 40's and not the beginning of the 50's. Either way, it's just a number.
I made my way up to Woodstock City Park, very close to where we lived in Towne Lake for a few short years. The event was 97.1 The River's Wing & Rock Fest, an embarrassment of riches in the chicken wing culinary art form and rock band method of entertainment. The weather was nice, not too terribly hot and humid. I scored a decent parking spot, as a guard allowed me past the chain to park, unload my pedalboard and Fenders, and even remain through the rest of the day. I did unload and change into my RWD getup, complete with my red wig, white pants, and gold chain. A band playing party rock anthems was on before us. Their drummer was absolutely killing it. I was impressed with the mix from front of house.
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| Kaedy Kiely & English Nick announce Running With Desire & toss out t-shirts. |
We were up next: Running With Desire. We played 2 distinct sets, with the Van Halen material first to allow Sam to escape to his next gig. I had reviewed my material and even brought my charts - those solo sections still confuse me. The Ampeg rig was small yet powerful - one of Shane's newest acquisitions. Small is a relative term here; on a grand, covered stage, a 6x10 cabinet can be diminutive in stature. It had plenty of heft for the big rock show. Actually, the full bore rockers were thunderous up there. Panama never rumbled so authoritatively. All in all, I felt good about the vocals and bass performance. We shared the stage with local radio personalities Kaedy Kiely (here) and English Nick (here). Good people who were highly complimentary and remarked on our wigs, guitars, and get-ups. I'm working on channeling my inner Michael Anthony, short of swilling from a Jack Daniels bottle. It's a long road to rewinding back to the glory days.
A very special thanks to Bob Tewksbury for his generous photographic efforts, allowing me to post these for your perusal. We had a grand time, and it shall be noted that J.T. announced me as Pat Benatar - I have since been prompted to find a new wig!
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I was surprised to be going on break with time to change into our U2 personas and return to the stage to play another set. This time, Shane was on the drums and we were off to Where The Streets Have No Name. The clouds had thickened and it wasn't before too long that the rain started. It was light rain that continued into a good shower. Sometime during the 5th song or so, with a decent representation of holdouts braving the elements, the clouds parted. Sun came out, and J.T. wasted no time in announcing that it was indeed a Beautiful Day. Good deal! Love playing Get On Your Boots from the No Line On The Horizon album; glad we've kept it and surprised it's not played more on the radio. Seriously, it was a good set. When we get together, it seems the U2 stuff always gets the shaft. Granted, it's a lot of material. Plus, if we're rehearsing with Sam, then it doesn't make sense to go over songs he wouldn't even be playing on. I am looking forward to our upcoming show in September that we're being asked to play only U2 material. With Sam, by the way. Should be a good experience that could prompt us to ramp up our repertoire and really dig into this band that has millions of fans and is still going strong with a new album ready to drop. Their cliche tunes can get a bit weary. I hope to broaden our scope. The crowd enjoyed this set. They hung in there through the rain. In fact, the crowd seemed to be even bigger than before the rain started. On top of all of that, Sabina and the boys showed up, holding signs proclaiming "FIFTY IS NIFTY!" and "WE LOVE YOU DADDY!" It was very cute to encounter my very boys from the stage - one of those odd juxtapositions that certainly shake one up a bit. Good clean fun on my birthday!
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...there's talk on the street, it sounds so familiar...
Next up was Brent's Eagles project New Kid In Town, a most excellent tribute band that has assumed the exacting task of replicating the precise studio creations that Glenn Frey and Don Henley have overseen since the early '70's. It was a tremendously stressful rearranging of the stage prior to our "soundcheck". With 5 vocalists, too many guitars, keyboards, the bass amp traversing the stage (and in the process, losing power via a faulty power cord, in spite of its age), we had our hands full. It really seemed to take forever to get everything checked and balanced, but hey, at least we looked good. White shirts, black ties, dressed for success. It was a very good show. Vocals were spot on, and the guitar parts rang true. What a repertoire! Great Joe Walsh album cuts as well as a healthy sampling of Eagles radio favorites. I look forward to day that this band can tackle some deeper cuts. I know several people who firmly believe that Desperado was the best album they ever put out. That was back before all of the hits and when they were still a quarrelsome quartet. Not certain that that's what would get this band to the next level, but I like the idea of an acoustic mini-set inserted somewhere with perhaps a medley of the country-flavored fare. At the very least we need to toss in the sappy Best of My Love; that tune defines that greatest hits album that I wore out in my youth.
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| Cheesy grin from the birthday boy. |
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