Emergency Medical Doctor

Rediscovering Brian Setzer

Well, after a summer and fall of U2 and Toby Keith, followed by a month of Christmas carols, I was entering a music void. While DonXML has some pretty interesting pics on his site their a little too metal for me. So I decided to finally rip all my CD's to the computer and came across Brian Setzer's Guitar Slinger. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed his rockabilly style from way back when he was with the Stray Cats. So I got The Dirty Boogie and NitroBurnin Funny Daddy, along with his Christmas CD.

If you are looking for music that rarely slows down from track to track, and has a full orchestra that is as tight as any you will ever see then Brian Setzer and his Orchestra on any CD are worth it. While his most recent venture, Nitro Burnin, his voice is a little less strong than in the past, he still rips a guitar on par with the best of anyone in the last 25 years. Oh and if I had a big red convertible Cadillac El Dorado convertible with a white top and white leather, it would be the only music blastin'!

Toby Keith Rocks

Well, for all you rednecks out there, the redneck-piney nation gathered in Holmdel,NJ one week ago when Toby Keith came to town.  It was a great show from beginning to end. While the venue of PNC Arts center is never great(the acoustics are for crap, so they play the music loud and over-modulated no matter who is playing so everyone on the lawn seats can hear), he was great!

Having never seen him live I was not sure what to expect. I was not disappointed, he even did the Taliban song and the Willie smokin' weed song. The concert was patriotic and inspiring in every sense. I felt as if I was in my favorite bar with all my buddies...the crowd was loud and raucous, but extraordinarily well behaved for the amount of alcohol that was being consumed. I think they sell more alcohol in more varieties at the PNC then any other venue I have been to!

Unfortunately, I am never good at remembering setlists and I could not find it online, so if you want to know what he is playing, then go see him...Look for me I'll be the redneck-piney sitting next to you!

U2 in New Jersey

360°, myself and the wives were lucky enough to go to see U2 at the Continental Airlines arena the other night. As is typical there was a barbecue grill incident in the parking lot.  There was also an extraordinarily funny episode of crying over spilt urine.  To say that our seats were good is an understatement. We were in the third row rear stage left. This is an area right in front of steps where Bono, and the rest of the band would enter the great circle portion of the stage.  The last time that I saw U2 was in the late 1980's as part of the Unforgettable Fire tour.  Too far back for me to even recall whether or not they were good in concert.

Here is the set list:

05/18/2005 Continental Airlines Arena - East Rutherford, New Jersey
City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo / Stories For Boys (snippet) / Pump It Up (snippet), Elevation, Gloria, The Ocean, Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet), Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own / No Regrets (snippet), Love And Peace Or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet The Blue Sky / Please (snippet) / The Hands That Built America (snippet) / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet), Running To Stand Still, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Where The Streets Have No Name, One
encores: Zoo Station, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, All Because Of You, Yahweh, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Bad / 40 (snippet)

While there were many older songs that could have replaced some of my least favorites such as, Zoo Station, the fly and, bullet the blue sky, I will say that the remainder of the night was extremely good, excluding the appearance of three teenage punkers called the Bankrobbers who Bono brought onstage to jam with the band. I didn't pay over $100 to see the bankrobbers so I think this pissed off many fans. This had to be staged or part of some type of contest.

Overall I  have to rate the concert a B+.

EAGLES East Rutherford,NJ-Awsome Surprise!

Last night went with 360⁰ and the wives to see the Eagles in concert.  I am not sure exactly what I expected having never seen them before.  I also was thinking well this is the Reunion tour that is going on forever so they are probably all tired out, won't get my monies worth, etc.  WELL, boy was I wrong and totally surprised.  This was one of the best concerts I have been too in quite a while.

The Band was extremely tight. So much so that I do not think that I could figure out who was leading. Their individual vocal ranges were very strong.  The choice of songs in the setlists were one after another of their greatest hits. Joe Walsh was a complete trip!  I did not expect solo career songs but when “Boys of Summer” began it definitely made my night.

The classic “Desperado” for closing was haunting and left the crowd exhausted and satiated as the final cut.

Springsteen Lost on the Campaign Trail

I am a former, big Bruce Springsteen fan. Unfortunately, as he and I have both matured our ideals are changing.  I thought that with The Rising and many of the great songs that were there we may have been back on the same track, but with the recent campaigning for the Kerry group and his associations with moveon.org I find I was wrong.

Unfortunately, he is a great musician, songwriter, but from the beginning he is not very smart. He was easily ripped off by his managers early in his career, and now he is allowing these groups to rip off his name and music.  Of course I do not doubt that he believes that he is behind a winning leader in Kerry.  His allowing them to use him is what gets me.

The baton from the Hollywood Elite, the Pearl Jams, the Dixie Chicks, etc. , has been passed to him and he has accepted.

There will be no more Springsteen in my house for sometime. Hopefully, he will come back to just music without politics and we can reunite in the future.

Rest in Peace my springsteen CD's.

Van Halen Concert Review

Tuesday, June 22,2004- East Rutherford, NJ

EDD-IE, EDD-IE!!!

The chant began half way through his guitar solo, He stopped looked at the crowd, eyes welled up with tears, a standing ovation, a wonderful moment for him and the crowd.  He proved that after a dry, bland tour so many years ago, divorce and mouth cancer he was still the best guitar player in the world! (This despite the fact that he is beginning to look and sound like Keith Richards!)

Son Wolfie came on at the end of the solo as well to make it completely solidify the moment, and perhaps a look at the future of Van Halen.

Prior to this I thought the concert was good, but not great, from there though it soared!! Sammy, great entertainer, kept the momentum going until the end.  The Red Rocker seems as young and as fresh as ever, never seems to get tired of his line of work.

Overall, a great show, there are probably seats available for tonites show so head out.

The Set List :

Jump . Runaround . Humans Being . Up For Breakfast . Bass Solo . Somebody Get Me a Doctor (Mike on lead vocals) . Poundcake . It's About Time . (Drum Solo) . Top Of The World . Unchained . Why Can't This Be Love . Eagles Fly (Sammy Solo Acoustic) . Deeper Kinda Love (Sammy Solo Acoustic) . Learning To See . Best of Both Worlds . Guitar Solo (Featuring Wolfgang Van Halen) . Dreams . Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love . Right Now . You Really Got Me . When It's Love.

Tesla

Well, got a chance to see Tesla the other night at the Starland Ballroom. First, let me say that this is a great small venue to see a band.  Plenty of room, various levels so you can see the show, and plenty of bar space, so you do not have to wait to get a drink.  It was a litle bit of a drive, but certainly easier and less expensive than some of the big arenas.

The opening band was PoDunk.  They are a band from Dallas.  In fact that was one of the few things I remember about them, because they kept repeating, “We're Podunk, and we're from Dallas!”. Otherwise, I did not care for them, nothing specific, just did not like the songs they chose to play.

Tesla on the other hand was very good.  They were real tight musically. They played about 6-7 songs from their new album, “In the Now”, all of which were the ones I wanted to hear, and played all of their old hits that I wanted to hear as well.  They mixed in plenty of acoustic guitar, and for a small place the lighting was excellent.

So if they are coming to your town, check them out, it was a show worth seeing.

Van-Halen Here We Come

VAN HALEN Returns!!

http://www.van-halen.com/newsite/news.html

For those of you who are interested, Van Halen ( with Sammy Hagar) is coming to a city near you starting this June.  Having seen the Sammy and Dave tour a couple summers back, the Sammy part of the show will for sure be hot!  Hopefully Edward and the rest of the boys can light it up again!