Photos From Rush Concert - 8-7-2010

I promised a few photos from the Rush show:

Make sure to check out my full review of the show with almost 30 mins of (low-res) video.

Concert Review - Rush

Caught Rush last night on the 15th show of the North American Time Machine tour. WARNING -- loads of spoilers ahead so if you're going to see this tour and want surprises, stop reading now and for sure as shit don't watch the videos!

So the premise of this tour is that the band is tapping various eras in its history. I guess they have done that in past tours, especially the R30 tour.

But the big feature this time is the debut of two brand new tunes that are not on any released album yet, although you can buy them as a single on iTunes, and for the first time ever a beginning to end performance of the 1981 Moving Pictures album.

That means Camera Eye people - that means Camera Eye.

The set list is at the tail end of this review, but I have to say the show started out slowly for me. My buddies and I agreed that part of it was due to a 7:30 start time, which meant it was still light out. Things got more exciting when the band was able to unleash its killer light show, which was indeed incredible. The light rig was like some robotic animal and I am not sure I have seen such vibrant colors coming from concert lights before. Unreal visuals.

Oh and the stage looked like a time machine, but one built in the 50s - glowing transistors, huge vacuum tube screens, etc. Like Back to the Future but with low-fi old school technology. A creaky odometer-esque on-screen visual would slowly roll to the year the song they were about to play was released, etc. Pretty neat theme.

The show started with a hilarious video. These guys on every tour take the piss out of themselves more and more. Back 20 years ago it was funny to have little animations of each of them on the screen in the back. Now they are flipping actors in costume. Suffice it to say Alex Lifeson is in a fat suit that makes him look about 350 pounds, and even Neil makes a cameo.

This old school time machine keeps showing up in the videos and of course there is a big red button you are not supposed to push but it keeps getting hit, and when time lurches back and forth, the band on the screen goes from 1975-era Rush (actors, not the real guys), to babies with guitars and drumsticks, to the year 2112 when the band is playing gray haired in wizard outfits. The best one is where they all switch instruments, which you can see in one of my videos below in the solo section of Tom Sawyer. I have never seen Neil be this funny, but here he is, pretending to be ripping Alex's solo in Tom Sawyer...

So, the MUSIC.

Like I said, it started a little sleepy. First four songs -- Spirit of Radio, Time Stand Still, Presto, Stick It Out. On paper that may sound OK, but look at the first five songs of the Snakes and Arrows tour: Limelight, Digital Man (with massive jam at the end), Entre Nous, Mission, Freewill. That really got the blood pumping. Last night, not so much. In fact we were a little underwhelmed until the very end of that first set - once they hit Freewill, we were sold hook line and sinker and it kept getting better from there.

The two new songs are excellent. Well, B2BU is OK - that was another one of those sleeper first set tunes, although it is a really pummeling song. But Caravan has to be one of the best Rush tunes in 10 to 15 years. The center section is very Freewill, meaning it's an insane jam that will make you slap your face and say SHIT when it's over.

Like I said, the end of set one was stellar. Freewill was face smacking as mentioned, Marathon is one of my favorite 80s Rush tunes and they rocked the shit out of it, and the version of Subdivisions that closed the set made me wonder out loud if that is my favorite Rush song. Probably not, but top 5 for sure.

Then the real meat was served - Moving Pictures. Yeah, the first four songs on that album already get played a lot. But it was cool to hear them in ORDER! And then...The Camera Eye.

I have been waiting 25 years to see Rush play that song and they still over delivered. I was so glad to have shot rough video of the end of that song because watching the solo on my computer today, it was indeed as mind blowing on 2nd and 3rd listen as it was when it was happening. The crowd went ape shit, too.

Witch Hunt and Vital Signs were also epic. It was over way too fast but there was more to go. How do you follow Moving Pictures? With the brand new Caravan, which like I said is a fucking excellent Rush song. It took me quite a few listens to really get it but isn't the best Rush that way?

Next up was Neil's solo, which I captured on video (see below). Loved it - he gets better and better every tour. Then some familiar tunes - Closer to the Heart, back from a long hiatus, and the obligatory Overture/Temples from 2112 - always great but could be given a break. Show closed with Far Cry from Snakes and Arrows, which is another truly excellent new Rush effort.

Encore was La Villa and Working Man and I gotta say, watching Lifeson rip the solos in those two songs made my fingers cramp up. No idea how he pulls this shit off.

But hey, don't take my word for it. I was shocked to find that I had video of almost 30 minutes of the show. I will post some photos tomorrow. Enjoy, and for God's sake go see this tour if you can.

Set List:

Video Intro (The Real History of Rush Part 1)
The Spirit of Radio
Time Stand Still
Presto
Stick It Out
Workin' Them Angels
Leave That Thing Alone!
Faithless
BU2B
Freewill
Marathon
Subdivisions

Video Intro (The Real History of Rush Part 2)
Tom Sawyer
Red Barchetta
YYZ
Limelight
The Camera Eye
Witch Hunt
Vital Signs
Caravan
Drum Solo
Closer to the Heart (with new 12-string acoustic intro)
2112 (Overture/Temples of Syrinx)
Far Cry

Encore:
La Villa Strangiato (with polka intro)
Working Man (reggae intro)
Video Outro (I Still Love You Man)
Closer To The Heart Polka Exit Music

UPDATE: Posted a handful of photos on 7/11. Check 'em out!

Montage of Songs from the Show:


Neil Peart Drum Solo:


Moving Pictures:


Just found this excellent hi-def close up video of the intro "History of Rush" video and Spirit of Radio. Dang, which I'd had these seats!

KISS Goes Reggae - Hilarious!

OK this needs no back story except God bless video editing software. Have a chuckle this morning:

Countdown to RUSH!

24 hours and I will be almost to the venue. Sweet! I of course peeked at the set list - very different. But they could play I Think I'm Going Bald five times and I'd be happy to just hear Moving Pictures all the way through, which is the highlight of this tour aside from some brand new unreleased stuff. For sure I will post a review. While I get geeked up, feast your eyes on this!

Ain't In It For My Health - A Documentary on The Band's Levon Helm

The recent excellent and popular rock documentaries The Story of Anvil, Iron Maiden Flight 666 and Rush Beyond the Lighted Stage all whetted my appetite for, well, MORE rock documentaries, dammit! I love behind the scenes access to bands who over the course of their careers have not granted much access - Rush is a great example.

So I was highly stoked to stumble across some PR for filmmaker Jacob Hatley's upcoming documentary on Levon Helm, cantankerous 70-year old drummer from The Band. Old Levon was the one guy in The Band who was from America (the rest were Canadian) and was from the deep south to boot. His autobiography This Wheel's On Fire is a fantastic read if you dig The Band. But it also tears the cover off of any image of that group as a bunch of pals.

The Band basically toured in relative obscurity for years in the 50s and 60s and of course broke through as Dylan's backing band and then on their own. The core lineup splintered with the 1976 concert/film The Last Waltz, which Levon hated. He saw it as a ploy between Band songwriter Robbie Robertson and Martin Scorsese to sell out to Hollywood.

In the interviews below, Hatley even tells a story of how Levon rejected a lifetime achievement award because of his 'demons from the past,' which I read as "I am not going to Hollywood to pick up some Goddamn bullshit award that has anything to do with Robertson." Despite the fact he still plays Robertson's songs every gig, but ahem...

Anyway, the movie is called Ain't In It for My Health, and it was screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June. The movie's Web site is at Ain't in It for My Health.

Hatley spent three years off and on living with Helm, shooting pretty much anything he wanted, editing along the way. The interviews below are from Levon's Web site. They are revealing regarding Levon and the film, but also give some great advice on filmmaking (mostly in the second part).

I have no idea when the rest of the world gets to see this film, but I can't wait.

My Prog Rock EPIC Now Available on CD

Ha ha -- could not resist that title. But as I rehearse with the band for our CD release gig on Sept 10 in Portland (Dublin Pub, 7 p.m.), I cannot help but get into the four more proggy songs on my new CD, A Fear Of Flashing Light.

Yes there are eight other tunes that range from acoustic based storytelling type songs to straight ahead rockers, but I am really digging what I call the proggy songs. Those are tracks 1, 7, 8 and 11 (The Garden, Comfort Zone, The Mokus, and Rescue).

You can check it all out at this A Fear of Flashing Light link.

Also, for anyone who has been waiting for an actual CD version (as opposed to the digital version that came out June 1), you can get that now. Just order from the site and we'll ship it right away. Only $5 including shipping - what a baaaargain! Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Rush Classic Album Series Preview

I know I posted earlier that the fabulous Classic Albums series was going to put out episodes on Rush 2112 and Moving Pictures. Looks like they will both be available on Sept 28, and are still slated to run on VH1 and VH1 Classic around that same time frame. In the meantime, whet your appetite with this killer preview from the Moving Pictures episode:


Rush Classic Albums preview - MyVideo

The Cars to Reunite?

Just like 80s music stalwarts The Talking Heads and The Police, there has always been major doubt about The Cars ever reuniting. Front men David Byrne, Sting and Rik Ocasek all made it pretty clear they did not want to go back in time and reunite with their lesser band mates.

Clearly in the case of The Police, Sting had a change of heart and that reunion tour was very successful.

Based on a random photo thrown up on the band's Facebook page, the four surviving Cars might just have something brewing as well.

The photo shows Ocasek, guitarist Elliott Easton and two other surviving Cars (bass player Benjamin Orr passed away in 2000) in a studio, presumably jamming. This has led to rumors that the band is reuniting for some reason. Clever buzz generation by just popping that photo up on the official Facebook page and letting the wind fan the flames.

The Cars were always a boring assed group live, but you cannot deny that their first few albums were fantastic. They for sure milked a New Wave image, and Ocasek's voice fit that mold for sure, but really they were a good little rock band before success turned them into MTV hitmakers.

Could be interesting to keep an eye on. Here is the photo:

KISS Make First Donations to Wounded Warriors

As noted in an earlier post, KISS plan on donating one dollar from every ticket on the current North American tour to a veterans organization called Wounded Warriors.

Well, the tour just kicked off and in typical KISS fashion, they will make a photo opp out of every town's donation. And, judging from some of the photos so far, the total seems to be about $15,000 per gig. That will add up to a lot of cash! Good for them.

It will also make for some awesome photos and videos, like these from Cheyenne, Wyoming - the middle of the conservative, ranching-based Rocky Mountain states. Perhaps to get the check they need to have the city council in makeup or something. I hope none of these guys ever plan on running for major political positions - these photos will for sure be used by some right-wing political group to discourage the election of clown face paint wearing liberals!

New Iron Maiden Video Marries Alien with Raiders of the Lost Ark

I used to love Iron Maiden's videos back in the day because they would always focus on long shots of the band either playing live (or on a soundstage) or in the studio, donning headphones like the Flight of Icarus video.

I had not seen any of the band's latter video efforts until just this week, when I checked out the band's latest for the new song The Final Frontier. I have to agree with my good friend Pat that El Dorado is a better new song than The Final Frontier but I am just glad to get any new Maiden at all, so there.

The video is very, very high budget and it breaks from the old tradition in that you don't see the band at all in the video. In fact, it's almost a short movie with Maiden music playing in the background.

The beginning is almost like the Powerslave song Aces High set to film and thrown into the future. It's a very cool dogfight sequence. The rest is some kind of weird take on Alien and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but hey that can't be bad, right? And this is for sure the most bad-ass Eddie we have ever seen!

Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think:


The Final Frontier - Director's Cut

Iron Maiden | MySpace Music Videos

Under 14 Years Old? See KISS For Free - No Shit

Now HERE is some KISS news worth sharing. I was watching an interview with the band after its Leno performance Monday and half way through, they say that times are tough so if you are 14 years and under and come with an adult, you get into any summer KISS show for free. A lawn seat, yeah, but free.

If this is true, it's a class move. The band is also donating a dollar from every ticket to Wounded Warriors, a non-profit organization that honors soldiers of the U.S. Armed Forces. Classy part two.

Check it out here:

Story and Music of 2112 To Be Baked Into Guitar Hero Game

OK so this is hella cool. According to Rolling Stone:

It's official: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock has the most epically prog-rock sequence of any music video game yet. Rush have teamed with Activision for the fall release, which features a story-based Quest Mode that includes with hero wannabes playing the entirety of "2112," a seven-part suite from the Canadian band's 1976 album of the same name. The story of the game's final segment roughly follows Rush's opus, and will be narrated by lead singer Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson. "In our story, the caves of 2112 are where our hero finds the lost guitar," says Lee. "This rediscovery of music is much like the Guitar Hero warriors' journey to find the Demi-God of Rock's Legendary guitar, which has been trapped in a cavern."

Peart, Lee and Lifeson join Kiss' Gene Simmons as Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock narrators. Simmons' contribution begins with an introduction asking players to "Come with me, and enter a world populated of Demi-Gods and Beasts. Transform from an everyday person and become the savior of rock & roll."

I love that Rush is getting more and more 'mainstream' without compromising itself. I mean, think of all the kids who will get turned on to 2112 because of this game. Very cool interviews with Geddy and Alex at this video:

KISS on Leno...Um, Tonight Show

Told ya it would be Modern Day Delilah. Still can't figure out if they are lip syncing this or not. The drummer usually gives it away and by the end I am pretty sure it's live. What do you think?

I also wonder how many kids stayed up to watch this like i did in the late 70s? I bet not as many, as you can just key up any KISS video you want on YouTube or use a DVR. Back in the day seeing KISS live on TV was like fuckin Christmas.

KISS Special on A&E Tomorrow, on Tonight Show This Evening

There is so much KISS stuff going on these days, I avoid posting it because it's all over the place. KISS Dr Pepper ad campaign? Really? Don't care...

However, two interesting things are coming up this week. First of all, the band will play on the Tonight Show tonight (Monday) at 11:35 p.m. Leno has always been a huge KISS fan and supporter and they have been on his show before. I predict they will do Modern Day Delilah, and it is always interesting to see how their huge fire and brimstone show translates to a small studio stage.

Second, A&E runs a program on the band tomorrow night at 10 p.m. The trailer looks pretty blah but I do like Tommy Thayer golfing backstage in full regalia. I guess there is a good amount of behind the scenes stuff from a recent Australian tour so what the heck.

An ad I saw said:
"For the first time in their 35-year career, rock icons KISS give you an all access pass to the 'Alive 35' Australian tour. When Paul [Stanley] and Gene [Simmons] decide to launch a spontaneous mini-tour with only one week's notice, the entire KISS family must scramble to make it a reality. Malfunctioning pyrotechnics, faulty flying righs and missing drummers are the least of their challenges."

If you dig KISS, might be cool to check out.

Gilmour to Play on Waters' Wall

Wow. I go off the grid on vacation for a week and Pink Floyd get back together. Well, not really, but close.

According to a Billboard article a couple of days ago, the recent Gilmour-Waters reunion at a charity gig came as an offer from Gilmour, who said if Waters joined him at the gig to do the obscure "To Know Him Is To Love Him" by the Teddy Bears, Gilmour would join Waters onstage for ONE Wall gig to rip his Comfortably Numb solo, presumably from the top of the wall just like in the old days.

Oh please do it in San Jose! Ha ha.

Here are some choice quotes from the article:

Waters says Gilmour emailed him with a tongue-in-cheek offer for them to collaborate at the 2010 benefit on the Teddy Bears' "To Know Him Is To Love Him," in a nod to the pair's famously rough-and-tumble relationship. Waters says he "loved" the idea, and the duo agreed to also round out their set with the Pink Floyd classics "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb."

The only trouble: Gilmour began sending Waters "a number of very musical and eloquent demos of how we could do the song in two-part harmony." Waters then got cold feet and told Gilmour performing the song in that fashion was "way outside my vocal comfort zone," to his "eternal shame."

According to Waters, Gilmour then made him a better offer. If Waters would agree to perform "To Know Him Is To Love Him" at the Hoping Foundation Benefit, Gilmour would guest on "Comfortably Numb" at a to-be-determined show on Waters' upcoming tour featuring Pink Floyd's "The Wall" being performed in its entirety.

"You could have knocked me down with a feather," Waters says. "How f*cking cool! I was blown away. How could I refuse such an offer. I couldn't, there was no way. Generosity trumped fear. And so explaining that I would probably be sh*te, but if he didn't mind I didn't, I agreed and the rest is history. We did it, and it was f*cking great. End of story. Or possibly beginning."

The plan is for Gilmour's appearance to be a surprise, adds Waters.

Are you kidding me? This is a fantastic development and I hope it leads to further collaboration between the two. Hopefully Gilmour will have such a blast on his one show that he'll do a few. WOW!

The audio to the below is from the Live 8 reunion but there are lots of great photos from last weekend:

Waters and Gilmour Unite in Charity Gig

Logged into the "I swore I'd never see this happen" file is the news story I saw on Spinner.com this morning.

Roger Waters and David Gilmour performed four songs together over the weekend at a charity event for the Hoping Foundation Benefit Evening at Kiddington Hall in Oxfordshire, England.

The duo were backed by longtime side guys Guy Pratt (bass and acoustic guitar), Harry Waters (keyboards), Andy Newmark (drums), Chester Kamen (guitar) and Jonjo Grisdale (keyboards). The line-up performed in front of 200 people, raising some £350,000 for the foundation.

They played "To Know Him Is To Love Him," (a cover) "Wish You Were Here," Comfortably Numb" and "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2), and of course this was the guys' first time back together onstage since the Live 8 reunion in 2005.

This is obviously notable because despite the 2005 reunion, the two have not been totally complimentary of the other and most held out little hope of them playing together again.

This totally begs the question, will Gilmour join Waters to rip out his Comfortably Numb lead on top of Waters' giant Wall on any dates on the upcoming tour? Let's hope so!

Alex Lifeson Talks About His Crazy New Amps, Some Tour Spoilers

SPOILER Warning: If you are trying to steer clear of anything to do with the new Rush tour (I couldn't take it anymore and looked at the set list yesterday - it's very different but very, very cool in my opinion. Lots of stuff I have never seen them play live), don't read this post.

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Alex Lifeson must have gotten tired of Geddy having dryers, chicken cookers etc instead of amps on his side of the stage because as you'll see in the below video, Alex now has some pretty whiz-bang visually killer new Hughes & Kettner amps that run along with the theme of the tour (time machines, steam engines etc).

There are some sneak peeks at the set list and of course some of the stage look is given away in this video. But if you don't care, and you dig weird assed amps and yabbing on about gear, watch the video!

McCartney Joins Starr Onstage For Birthday Surprise

Any dream of a Beatles reunion was of course shattered by Lennon's senseless murder in 1980. We did get as good of a reunion possible with the Anthology project. The DVD bonus features of the three surviving Beatles jamming is pretty priceless even though they seem a little tentative around each other.

Of course with Harrison's death a few years later, we have half the band dead. Just like The Who as a matter of fact. So we take whatever we can get when it comes to reunions.

Which leads me to this post. Ringo turned 70 this week. He is on his umpteenth All-Starr band tour and who joined as a surprise guest in New York? The one and only Sir Paul. As reported by Spinner:

All Ringo Starr asked for as a 70th birthday gift on July 7 was "peace and love" from all his fans around the world. However, he was the one who delivered a big birthday surprise to the wildly cheering attendees at his celebratory concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York when Paul McCartney joined the legendary Beatles drummer onstage, fronting Ringo's All-Starr Band for a joyous encore appropriately consisting of the Fab Four's 'Birthday.' Sir Paul, clad in a tight black suit and skinny tie right out of 1964, waggled his iconic Höfner bass in time while delivering his full-throated take on the song. Starr merrily bashed away behind him on his kit alongside his drummer son Zak Starkey, with Joe Walsh joining in to supply guitar pyrotechnics.

And thanks to the Internet (God bless the Internet), here it is:

The Who to Trot Out Quadrophenia Again?

After the band's atrocious Super Bowl performance I was about ready to throw in the towel and say The Who have officially jumped the shark for me, again.

I say 'again' because they jumped it when they had Kenney Jones replace Moon in 1979, again in 1989 when they rolled out the Who Review tour with a full horn section and line of backup singers. And despite the intense resurgence of the band's energy in the 90s through Entwistle's death, they jumped it yet again with the thud of a new album (Endless Wire) and boooorrrring tour I saw in 2006 and reviewed here.

I don't think anything would get me back into an arena to see these guys again. Except perhaps Quadrophenia. My interest and passion for the band was fully renewed in the mid 90s when I saw the guys (with Entwistle of course) tear through the whole album live, with guests Billy Idol as the Ace Face and Gary Glitter as the pedophile.

The performance ripped my head off and Townshend was fully engaged. Something about the music on that album up-levels the band's game, and I would eagerly see even this rather gutless, tired version of the band play Quadrophenia again.

I MAY get the chance, based on what Daltry told Billboard yesterday:

"We're just working out what to do next," singer Roger Daltrey told Billboard.com. "We've got ideas ... We're looking on probably being out there, hopefully if all goes well, in the spring of next year ... We definitely don't want to stop. We feel it's the role of the artist to go all the way through life 'til you can't do it anymore."

While there are tour plans in the works, there are a few things that the Who need to sort out -- namely, the potential of incorporating the band's 1973 rock opera 'Quadrophenia' into the show.

"There are issues with it to make it work at our age," Daltrey said. "I'm 16 years older than when we last did it and I always had a bit of a problem as far as the crowd was concerned, with the way we were presenting the show, the way our position within the piece was explained. For the newcomers, it was narratively a bit of a puzzle, what Pete and I were to this guy on the screen. It needs a revamp. It would be dated to put it out as it is now. We need to fix that area, but I know how to do it."

One more thing that Daltrey cites as a concern is bandmate Pete Townshend's severe Tinnitus, but he believes it's something that shouldn't be too much of an issue with the help of technology.

"It's nothing that can't be sorted out -- just different monitor systems, different onstage volume, which is where the issue is," Daltrey said. "Pete being the addictive character he is, if he gets carried away he tends to turn up his volume to the odd levels, and that's when it causes the trouble. That's one of the problems with rock 'n' roll, once the old adrenaline kicks in."

Sharon Osbourne Sucks - Ozzy Confirms It

As seen on ClassicRock.com this morning, Ozzy confirms in an interview with Pulse Radio that he was against the idea of replacing Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake’s work on his first two solo albums. I blogged about this issue here earlier.

The crux is that in 2002, bassist Daisley and drummer Kerslake were removed from the Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman albums, after they took legal action for unpaid royalties. Their parts were replaced by Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin who were in Ozzy's band at the time.

Ozzy told Pulse Radio: “Believe me, it wasn’t my doing. I mean, I didn’t know that was being done, ’cause Sharon (Osbourne) was fighting all the legal things that were going down at the time. I said, ‘What did you do that for?’ And she said, ‘The only way I could stop everything was if it went to that level.’ And I said, ‘You know what, whatever the circumstances were, I want the original thing back.’ I mean, I wouldn’t have done that.”

Well, mistakes are mistakes and I am glad it's being fixed. Now I can actually get those albums on CD soon.

KISS Manager Bill Aucoin Dies at 66

Breaking sad news in the KISS family. Bill Aucoin, original manager of KISS, has died. Aucoin discovered the band, got them signed to their first record deal, bankrolled their early days, and steered the direction of the band in regards to merchandising, redefining the role of band manager the same way guys like Peter Grant (Zeppelin) and Brian Epstein (Beatles) did.

Put it this way - when I was a little kid and loved KISS, I knew who Aucoin was. Who can name the manager of a recent artist with the same degree of recognition? This is another legend passing away here.

From the AP:

Aucoin, manager who discovered Kiss, dies at 66

Bill Aucoin, who discovered the rock group Kiss and helped build them into a musical and merchandising juggernaut, died Monday in Florida. He was 66.

Aucoin died at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center in Aventura of surgical complications from prostate cancer, said Carol Kaye, a family spokeswoman.

A former television cinematographer, Aucoin discovered Kiss in New York City in 1973 and helped launch the makeup-wearing, fire-breathing quartet into a moneymaking machine.

He financed the band's first tour on his personal American Express credit card when money was tight, but he was well rewarded when the band's popularity exploded in 1975 with the hit "Rock And Roll All Nite."

"He was the fifth Kiss," said drummer Peter Criss, who had Aucoin serve as the best man at his second wedding. "If it wasn't for Bill, there would be no Kiss."

Aucoin first saw the band at a showcase gig at New York's Diplomat Hotel, then brought it upstairs to meet with record company executive Neil Bogart, who signed it as the first act on his Casablanca Records label.

Criss said Aucoin had an eye for what was visually striking and recognized the vast merchandising potential of rock bands in a way that few others could. With Aucoin's help, Kiss became as famous for the vast array of products bearing their likeness — including belt buckles, Halloween costumes and makeup kits, action figurines, vitamins and even a Kiss pinball machine — as they were for their music.

ClassicRock.com posted a great interview with Aucoin here.

The KISS home page has put up a splash screen with some kind words. Here is an image of it:

Movie Review - Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage

I took my loving, patient wife on a date night to see the new Rush documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage. Well, it was actually her suggestion and we have seen Rush a couple of times live, so I knew it was not going to end with a train wreck.

I have read just about every bio on Rush, seen all the DVDs, read all of Neil’s books etc, so my question was, am I going to learn anything new? I did glean a few new nuggets such as Alex Lifeson’s opinion on the keyboard-laden late 80s albums, or Rush’s work with Kevin Caveman Shirley on Counterparts, and why that album is so heavy.

But overall if you are a big long-time Rush fan, there is not a lot of new stuff, bio-wise. However, there are loads and loads of live performance clips, photos and interviews from back in the day that I had never seen. I mean, how did they get a film of Lifeson telling his parents he did not see why he needed to finish high school to pursue a life in music?And who are all those other people in that scene? It looks like an intervention!

The film does an excellent job presenting how the band came together, the bond between Lee and Lifeson, how they all overcame great challenges to stay true to their vision, and how they keep reinventing themselves as a band, to this day.

The new interviews with all three guys are great, especially the Neil interviews, which are very informative and telling. For a guy who is pretty much a recluse, he really opens up in the film.

Some of my favorite moments are the interviews with people who admire Rush, including a couple of very articulate life-long fans, Jack Black (yes Jack Black) and Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins who makes a great case for why Rush is one of the best bands in history despite the fact that they are always marginalized by the powers that be who hold the keys to institutions such as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

One of the musicians interviewed said something along the lines of, it was way back in the 70s and 80s when it was fashionable to not like Rush but that was a long time ago, and they are still around, selling out arenas year after year – you need to get over it and if still don’t like/respect them now, you are just being an old dickhead. Nice.

The one time the filmmakers show the whole band together (offstage at least) is in the rolling credits where the three are having wine in a restaurant and are clearly lit up a bit. They throw jokes back and forth across the table and are clearly really enjoying each other’s company. One would be lucky to have friends as close as these guys are, much less make fucking awesome music together and sell 40 million albums worldwide.

Great job, filmmakers, for allowing us into that private world to see a little bit about what makes one of our favorite bands tick. I DVR’d the film off of VH1 so I can watch it again until I buy the DVD when it comes out June 29. It's just that good.

Concert Review - Iron Maiden

Caught Iron Maiden last night in the second week of their Final Frontier tour. As expected, the band did mostly material from its last three albums, much to the chagrin of many Maiden fans based on Internet chatter. I too wish they had struck a better balance between all the various eras of the band, mainly because I did not know the bulk of the material performed.

The day before, I had put together an iPod playlist of the set list (I had to buy most of it on iTunes), and we listened to it in the car. Great stuff for the most part, but I like to have a better grasp on a band’s music before seeing it live. Especially when the average song length is seven or eight minutes.

But last night, people were into it! It seems for example that Fear of the Dark, a song I had never heard prior to the last tour, is a huge fan favorite. Same with Brave New World. Huh.

The band exploded onto the new outer-space themed stage set after an opening of Mars The Bringer of War by Holtz. The Wicker Man was first and it went on from there. Two things really struck me this time. Bruce Dickinson’s voice was in top form, and Dave Murray was totally on fire. He has always been my favorite Maiden gunslinger even though Adrian Smith might be technically better. But Murray was totally inspired. His leads blew me away and he has that unique tone where he uses the wah pedal only part way engaged so it has that washy sound. Awesome.

Steve Harris was manic and precise as usual, and Janik Gers annoyed me far less than the last two tours. Probably because he has a big role in these latter era songs, as he played on those albums. I really enjoyed the three-guitar interplay, actually. Whether it was a three part harmony or a layer of three totally different parts, it was really interesting. You just don’t see bands with three virtuoso guitarists who equally share the spotlight.

The place was packed all the way back to the lawn. Dickinson joked that Maiden must be getting the overspill from the cancelled Christina Aguilera tour. Ha ha. The set was high energy and if people were pissed at the set list they didn’t let on. People stood the entire time, fists in the air, and again people seemed to know these songs and sang along all night.

Aside from the five older tunes, my favorites were the new El Dorado, which absolutely kills live (and I got the solo order wrong in my review – it’s Smith, Murray, Gers!), and the two songs from A Matter of Life And Death. I wish they had done more from that CD, as I still think it’s one of their best post Seventh Son efforts.

Reviews of the tour have overall been positive, performance-wise. Meaning, people bitch about the set list but in the next breath say, “But Maiden was awesome as usual.”

I think it just depends on when you discovered the band. Before the song Blood Brothers (which Dickinson dedicated to Dio, by the way – very cool), Brucie asked how many people were seeing the band for the first time. A LOT of hands went up and there was a sense of torches being passed. But instead of a KISS concert where the same old torch gets handed off, with Maiden you get a whole new set of tunes to call your own.

Put it this way – one kid I talked to (the son of a friend) brought his Brave New World CD for Steve Harris to sign. He told me that Out Of A Silent Planet from that album is the best song Maiden has ever recorded. He was very adamant about this. I had never heard the song before and I barely knew the handful of songs Maiden would pull live from that album.

But I realized on my way home that to this kid, Brave New World is his Powerslave. Or if you are even older than me, his Killers. This is the CD he probably discovered Maiden with and who am I to say it’s no good? He was rightly stoked they were going to do four songs off of it, as I was stoked last time to hear so much from Powerslave.

It’s very, very cool that Maiden can provide so many different frames of reference for its multiple generations of fans.

We heard that after this short tour of the States there is a World Tour and the band would be back to the U.S. next year. Will I go again? Likely, yeah. And you know what? I have Brave New World stuck in my head and am enjoying discovering some ‘new’ Maiden! Mission accomplished.

Set List:

The Wicker Man
Ghost Of The Navigator
Wrathchild
El Dorado
Paschendale
The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg
These Colours Don't Run
Blood Brothers
Wildest Dreams
No More Lies
Brave New World
Fear Of The Dark
Iron Maiden

Encore:
The Number of the Beast
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Running Free

Short video I took of Wrathchild:


As usual, my buddy Pat who knows Steve Harris from the early 80s got us all passes so we were able to say a quick hi to Steve and then I was able to wander a bit near the latter part of the show to take some close up photos. Here are a few of the better ones overall:

Music Review - New Iron Maiden Single

As I mentioned yesterday, Rush and Iron Maiden recently released digital singles in advance of their 2010 tours. I reviewed Rush's single here and today it's time for Iron Maiden's El Dorado, the single from the upcoming Final Frontier album.

First of all, I am seeing the band perform tonight so I am pretty fired up. The last two tours have leaned heavily on the classics, and now it's time for the U.S. to pay the price with mostly 2000-era Maiden. Yep, most of the songs I will see tonight are from the last three albums - Brave New World, Dance of Death and Matter of Life and Death. I love the latter album but don't really know the other two.

Fellow blogger Vince Neilstein did a solid job earlier this month laying out the debate over the pros and mostly cons of this move. He called the post-2000 material Iron Meh-den, which is pretty funny.

It's a hot topic in metal circles for sure. Me? I wish they would just do a little of everything instead of leaning towards "classic" or "modern." But I am just glad to see them at all.

OK the song. It's a tad under 7 minutes, and is pretty typical prog-metal from Maiden. I am always hoping for something as catchy as Two Minutes to Midnight or as epic as Rime of the Ancient Mariner, but those days are long gone. What we do have now is a triple guitar onslaught. It just occurred to me that poor Janik Gers had to suffer through the last two tours windmilling his way through songs he didn't play on on the albums. Hmm.

OK, El Dorado -- After a nicely noisy intro, we get that familiar Steve Harris gallop! (think The Trooper). Ripping triple guitar onslaught. Good Dickinson performance - he still has yet to phone it in. The guy always delivers. Song is a little repetitive through the second pre-chorus and the chorus is pretty decent. Air Raid Siren Dickinson emerges but a little strained on the high end. Usual complex Maiden center section leading to triple solos. I think it's Janik Gers, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith in that order. But we'll see tonight if I nailed that one or not. Out of the solos - more galloping, then another verse/pre-chorus/chorus. Overall it's a good tune. I like it.

And shit, they are giving it away - grab it and tell me what you think! You can get the song El Dorado from Maiden's Web site here.

My review of the last tour is here and here. I hope to post a review of tonight's show this week.

Music Review - New Rush Single

Two classic bands (read, 'been around since the 80s or earlier') to get their shit together for the new era of music discovery, delivery and consumption (read 'Internet and mobile devices') are Rush and Iron Maiden. Both bands have released previews from their upcoming full length albums ahead of summer tours.

In Rush's case, the band decided to put out a single, tour and THEN record the bulk of the new album, so their chops would be particularly rocking. In Maiden's case, the album will be out after the tour has started, but it's pretty much cooked.

On Rockline recently, Steve Harris confirmed the band would just do the one pre-released song live and wait to unleash any more new material until the full album is out. Same with Rush - we can expect to hear both of their new songs live on this year's tour.

The new Maiden song, called El Dorado is offered as a free download, and the new Rush single costs $2.49 and includes a 5-page digital booklet.

OK, all good. But how are the songs? Here is my take on the Rush tunes. I will review Maiden's tomorrow in advance of me seeing the band live tomorrow night.

Rush - Caravan/BU2B:
It took me a long time to fully appreciate these songs, as usual for me with modern Rush.

There is a LOT going on here. The general vibe? Heavy. Caravan starts out like the soundtrack to a Godzilla movie, if Godzilla is the size of the Empire State Building, which I imagine is slightly bigger than his actual size. Um, well, you see where I am going: The song is large and lumbering.

The opening riff gets turned on its head once the drums come in, and is as solid as any Rush riffage. Geddy comes out swinging with fairly typical Neil lyrics:

In a world lit only by fire
Long train of flares under piercing stars
I stand watching the steamliners roll by

The caravan thunders onward
To the distant dream of the city
The caravan carries me onward
On my way at last
On my way at last

Which yields to the very catchy chorus refrain of "I can’t stop thinking big, I can’t stop thinking big, In a world where I feel so small, I can’t stop thinking big."

After the second chorus there is a multi-part instrumental freak out that is for the most part, well fucking awesome. It took me a while to really grasp what is going on in this section because it changes pretty quickly. I still don't get it all but the bass and drums interplay going on under the guitar and solo are incredibly strong and complex, and then out of that they just hit that big chorus one more time, freak out some more and wrap it up.

The second song, BU2B is even heavier if that is possible. Lyrically very consistent with Neil's science over religion bent:

I was brought up to believe
The universe has a plan
We are only human
It’s not ours to understand

The universe has a plan
All is for the best
Some will be rewarded
And the devil take the rest

This song follows the 'new Rush' tradition of throwing in some super duper heaviness on each album, along the lines of Spindrift and Earthshine from their last two albums. Pretty pummeling vibe, sometimes atonal guitar. But there are some moments of relief, such as the bridge which brings back some of that 80s keyboard padding. Doesn't last long though and we're back to the main plodding riff. Fucking huge. Not sure I have heard them this huge.

These songs are going to blow people's minds live. And if the whole album sounds anything like this, it's going to be kick ass.

In more Rush news, the documentary Beyond The Lighted Stage will air on VH1, VH1 Classic and Palladia this Saturday, and will be preceded in some markets by the Classic Rock album series episodes on 2112 and Moving Pictures. That's a whole lotta Rush and I like it! Full reviews on that shiteness next week.

Notes From St Croix Part Two

Here is the rest from my trip, from which I am re-attempting to return from today. More on that another time and once the airlines actually get me home...

St Croix Day Four – Excuse me, we are having technical difficulties. Please stand by…

So what have we learned so far?

--Island time = things running a bit slow. Be patient.
--It’s easier to freshen up by jumping in the pool, b/c you sweat coming out of the shower anyway.
--Bug spray – almost as important as food.

Technical difficulties. Ah yes… Be patient with this as well. Between the power service on the island being a little spotty and the interesting, creative condition of the roads, yesterday was pretty entertaining.

Early in the day we drove to the airport to drop off a roommate for a return trip to Chicago for a wedding. Given the Stanley Cup upset, I advised him to please flip over a cop car for me.

Not a mile later, we blow a tire. No tire iron, and this is Vrba’s second blowout this week. I could blame the condition of his car (a 90s Olds), but I have to blame the roads here, which are barely paved and rife with potholes. One hitch to the station later to borrow a tire iron, and we are back on the road.

Later that night is our next gig, at the Sports Bar, which is on the Christiansted Boardwalk -- a very hopping stretch of shops, bars and restaurants. The first set is OK but sure enough those power demons rear their heads, with the power cutting out here and there. Our guitar cables are struggling with the climate and we have to switch a few crackly ones out, and of course there are some broken strings to boot.

But after a sort of challenging first set, we take a break, work it all out and the rest of the night goes smoothly. Show times on the islands are much earlier than in the States and we are out of there at the shockingly early hour of 11 p.m., with plenty of time to come home and run over more tunes in preparation for Saturday’s recording. Luckily we encounter NO problems with cars, guitars or power once we get home!

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St Croix Wrap Up – The Moment of Truth

The last couple of days on the Island were pretty eventful, but mostly in preparation for the Saturday house concert/live CD recording. Matt and I ran over the 20 songs he wanted to record. Some of them were pretty straight, or I had been playing them for a long time. Others were brand new or required me to double Matt’s chords higher up on the guitar using different voicings. Whatever the case, I felt 100 percent ready when the sound crew showed up at about noon Saturday.

These guys were total pros – Padraic Coursey and his company Aqua Sounds for those of you keeping track. Not only did Aqua Sounds provide a sweet PA system, monitors, a crew and the whole works for the live gig, but they brought the recording gear as well – Mac with Pro Tools, loads of great mics, etc.

What this meant is that the audience had excellent live sound, and the Aqua guys also captured the performance in high quality audio for the CD. Best of both worlds. My favorite detail is that they recorded all the tracks separately, which means my guitar is on its own track – so if I made a mistake they could just delete it in the mix. Whew! I love having that option!

Lots of friends kicked in to help get the place ready, set up the seats, serve drinks, take donations, clean up etc. It was a real group effort so all Matt and I had to do was focus on the music.

So, we started the concert with three tried and true Vrba warhorses to get warmed up. Then we dove into 10 of the new songs. For the most part it went great. The very last tune, a song about life on the island, was a real barn burner but there were a few mistakes so we did it again at the end of the second set. Otherwise we didn’t have to repeat any songs to get good takes. The second set was 10 more tunes and then it was over.

Out of the 20 new recorded songs, all Matt has to do it find roughly 12 that don’t suck and there’s the CD. I am confident he’ll be able to pull it off successfully. The audience was a bit of a “this is your life” from my week on the island, as many folks I had met at various times and places all gathered at Vrba’s for the gig. That was cool.

And while I had lots of fun, played loads of music, saw some sights and met some great people, I am very eager to get home to my family and get back to my “real” life. Just 11 hours of travel and it’ll all be a memory!

Sharon Osbourne Pulls Head Out Of Own Ass

Sharon Osbourne has seen the light. Her bogus, grave error of replacing the original bass and drum parts on Ozzy's first two albums due to a business dispute with Ozzy's then-band mates Bob Daisley (bass) and Lee Kerslake (drums), is about to be overturned with the upcoming 30th anniversary editions of Blizzard of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman.

At the time of the original sin, Osbourne explained it this way:

"Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake have harassed Ozzy and our family for several years," she said in 2002. "Because of their abusive and unjust behavior, Ozzy wanted to remove them from these recordings. We turned a negative into a positive by adding a fresh sound to the original albums."

What a bunch of shit. Those remasters sounded horrible, and I was so glad to have the vinyl records as a back up. There was no way I was going to buy those CDs. I have a feeling I was not the only one. And to blame this on Ozzy is equally bogus. This move has Sharon written all over it and to say otherwise is an insult to Ozzy's fans.

But later this year, the original bass and drums will be restored (I had read they had been erased, which really would have been an affront). According to an article on Gibson.com:

Sharon Osbourne told the website, “They definitely are coming out this year. They are coming out for [U.S.] Thanksgiving and they will be on the market then. It’s going back to the original recordings with [Bob] Daisley [bass] and [Lee] Kerslake [drums]. And there will be a lot of stuff that you haven’t heard before in the packages. Like certain conversations that were going on in the studio with the guys just messing around while the tape was still rolling. All of that will be added into it.”

Notes from St Croix

So, I have been in St Croix in the Virgin Islands for the last few days, backing up alt-country singer-songwriter Matt Vrba. I have posted a few updates to my MySpace page but fellow blogger Seano suggested I put them up here as well. So, bear with the lengthy post (and forgive me if you have already seen this stuff on MySpace), but here you go. The last three days in Croix:

Part One -- Off to St Croix - Thanks, Edelman!!!
So how cool is my company? My day job is working as a public relations professional for high tech companies (my main client is Adobe Systems) for Edelman, the largest independent PR firm on the planet. One of the cool programs for helping keep employees growing is called the Edelman Escape.

From the company Web site:

Have you ever wanted to record a song or help rebuild houses in a disaster zone? Edelman employees have pursued these and many other personal passions as part of Edelman Escape, which rewards employees with time off and a stipend for a one-week trip to fulfill a long-held dream.

I will spare you the gory details of my full submission but in 2008 I put in for a week backing up alt-country singer songwriter Matt Vrba on one of his biannual tours of Europe and lo and behold I was graciously accepted for an Escape around this idea! Two years later and a few changed details and I am off to St Croix in the Virgin Islands today for a week of shows with Matt, culminating in a live house concert recording this Saturday for Matt’s next CD.

How cool is that? Thanks Edelman and here we go…

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Part Two -- St Croix Day One - Island Time

My first clue that things were a little different on these islands was when my flight from Dallas landed in Puerto Rico, on time I might add. Close to boarding time, it was announced that our plane (and two others) had 'mechanical difficulties' and would all be delayed. They would let us know how long of a delay in 20 minutes. 20 minutes later, no news but we'll tell you in another 20 minutes. 2 and half hours later we departed, but not before about six ambiguous updates, the last of which coincided with the airport for the most part shutting down. I thought I would be spending the night...

I bring this up b/c there is a bit of a laissez-faire here. Playfully called "Island Time" it just means that no one is any kind of a big rush to get anything done, including making a plane take off on time, taking a food order, bringing your bill etc. Luckily I adjust to island time pretty well.

Vrba’s place is a villa-style bungalow in the hills with a pool and a view of the ocean. Not too shabby. In true musician fashion, I am on a pull out bed in the office area. Woke at about 4 a.m to the loudest most insane lightning and thunder, so severe it knocked out power to the house for two hours. Wow, what a welcome!

Monday was supposed to be a rehearsal day - Vrba intends to record about 30 tunes at the house concert on Saturday and pick the best 12 or so for his CD. Some of these songs I know already and others are new. But even the ones I know, he plays a little differently.

So we went over a number of tunes parked on the beach at Chenay Bay Resort. Got pretty hot so we took a break. I ordered nachos from the bar and 15 minutes later was informed they were out of chips. Island time, remember! They are out of chips? I thought that was pretty funny.

After dinner, we wound up playing an impromptu gig at a friend's house – a graduation party with a bunch of guests/family visiting from fabulous Kansas, and that was a nice way to cap off the evening. That technically makes five gigs in six days here, and I like that. This is why I am here.

Overall, the songs Matt wants to record Saturday are all very, very good IMO. I am stoked to have this week capped off by a gig that will yield a CD release. All in all a good start to the trip.

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Part Three -- St Croix Day Two - More Island Time

Tuesday was supposed to be our first official gig day, with a 6 to 9 p.m. show at a place called Spratnet, which is a bar/club right on the sandy North Shore of the island - about a 45 minute drive.

Much of the day was spent getting ready for the show. As noted earlier, I smuggled an arsenal of electric guitar effects in a backpack onto the plane, and today was the day we'd hook 'em all up to the amp I am borrowing here to figure out how to get the best sounds for the music - the right tools for the right job, as Hank Hill would say.

More strings changed as well - the island humidity makes brand new guitar strings sound dead and flat in about six hours.

Then the loading of the car and 45 minute drive to the gig. We pull up and the place looks pretty quiet. Matt says, "This does not look good." Sure enough, there is no gig. Calvin, the owner asks if Matt got his messages, and of course there were no messages to be gotten - the dude just decided to not open the bar this week for whatever reason. Spotty cell service on the island provides a pretty convenient general excuse for not calling anyone anyway.

Matt is generally fairly irritated - rightly so - and says there is no way we came all the way out here for no gig. Thus begins a trip to the various surrounding bars to see who wants a surprise concert in exchange for dinner and drinks. Coincidentally we end up playing at the one place on North Shore Matt has never played before - Rowdy Joes. A few phone calls ensue (we use my phone because I actually HAVE reception on the North Shore) and a good crowd trickles in.

All in all it's a great gig. Matt and I click on the tunes. Amp sounds pretty good. A few tips, a few CDs sold. Sadly, this "island time" concept frequently extends throughout the whole business of music anyway, and this 'the gig is cancelled, let's just line another one up right now' thing happens a lot, everywhere. I was pretty sure when the Spratnet gig fell through that we'd find something, even if it was playing for dinner and tips. You just have to roll with it and make do, and a lot of times the gig is better for it anyway!

BlackSabbath.com Posts Dio's Last Concert

Bittersweet to see this one, but here is Ronnie James Dio's last live performance ever. He still sounded epic - who knew he'd pass away just eight months later!

It's The Mob Rules, so enjoy it dammit!

A Fear Of Flashing Light - My New CD Is Out Today!

You may be aware that over the past year I have been working on recording my first ever solo CD. Well, today is the big day and the release, called A Fear Of Flashing Light, is now available for download at http://paullesinski.bandcamp.com.

Recorded from April 2009 through May 2010, the 12 song CD spans various genres including straight ahead rock and roll, progressive rock, and some acoustic-based tunes as well. There is also a fancy 13 page digital booklet with lyrics and artwork so your eyes can be as jazzed as your ears.

For those of you who don't know me, you will hear some of the following influences throughout the disc: Peter Gabriel, Rush (Alex Lifeson), Neil Young, The Beatles, Yes (Steve Howe), Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Pete Townshend and dare I even say a smidge of Warren Zevon, Coldplay and/or U2? I dunno - you tell me what you hear.

I am making the CD available as a free download but am also offering the option to pay a suggested $5 to help offset the cost of recording and mastering. Physical CDs will also be available via snail mail in about a month, and I will let you know about that when the time comes.

Thanks, and ENJOY the CD!