Sunday Rocklahoma 2008 - Setlists

Here are the setlists for Rocklahoma I documented for Sunday day 5. The first band of the day we saw was Zebra. They played their hits including Who's Behind The Door, Tell Me What You Want and The La La Song. Similar to Triumph I had high hopes for this band. They had a few technical difficulties and weren't able to connect to festival crowd so early in the day. However they did get people on their feet for Who's Behind The Door. I do give Zebra the distinction as having the coolest guitar pic at the festival. How cool a guitar pic is that!

UFO
July 13, 2008

Mother Mary
When Daylight Goes To Town
Hard Being Me
This Kids
Only You Can
Baby Blue
Too Hot Too Handle
Lights Out
Love To Love
Rock Bottom

The first set I documented was UFO. I had always enjoyed the song Lights Out but didn't know any of their other material. Watching their set was a bit mixed. At times they sound like two bands, one from the classic rock era of the early 70's and one from the hard rock era of the late 70's. Needless to say the hard rock material was my preference. Highlights from their set were Baby Blue, Lights Out and Too Hot Too Handle.

Ace Frehley
July 13, 2008

Rip It Out
Parasite
Snowblind -> I Want You (ending)
Rock Soldiers
Into The Void
Shout It Out Loud
New York Groove
Shock Me -> Solo (w/ She live ending)
Rocket Ride
Deuce
Love Gun
Cold Gin

I had high hopes for Ace, especially after the challenges of Saturday and I had been disappointed with the line up this year compared to last. Ace delivered and the KISS Army was in full force during his set. I was surprised by the heavy selection of KISS that Ace didn't sing on or write, but Ace knew how to deliver these hits to a festival crowd. Ace had the last day light performance and across the 5 days Ace had the best set during this time. Ace was reusing his KISS Farewell tour pics. He couldn't even spring for an event pic like Zebra did.

Tesla
July 13, 2008

Comin' Atcha Live
Into The Now
Gettin' Better
Hang Tough
Mama's Fool
Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)
Love Song
Little Suzi
Signs
Edison's Medicine
Modern Day Cowboy

Tesla was the breakout set for me on the mainstage at this year's Rocklahoma. They came out, blew everyone away and left the stage much too early. I would have liked to have seen them get an extra half hour in their set.

Queensryche
July 13, 2008

Operation Mindcrime

Encore
Walk In The Shadows
Take Hold Of The Flame
Jet City Woman
Empire
Silent Lucidity

I left the Queensryche set near the end of the Operation Mindcrime performance so I could catch Ron Keel and K2. I saw the Mindcrime performance in Los Angeles a yaear or so back and this was a tour I didn't enjoy. I enjoyed their performance better at Rocklahoma but would have preferred a rock concert as opposed to a theatrical performance. I listened to their encores while sitting at the North Tent. Great band and normally a great show but I'm ready for them to move past the Mindcrime theatrics.

K2 - featuring Ron Keel
Final North Stage (Tent)
July 13, 2008 - (actually July 14 Monday 1:30am)

American Thunder
Rock And Roll Outlaw
Evil, Wicked, Mean And Nasty
Sombody's Waiting
Becuase The Night
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
Give Me All Your Love Tonight
Tears Of Fire
The Right To Rock
Lick It Up (KISS)

The K2 set was one of the best shows for me at all of Rocklahoma. I was able to meet Ron Keel in the VIP food tent on Friday and after the storms knocked the side stages down I assumed that K2 would not be able to play.

On Sunday they put up two small tents to replace the fallen North and South Stages. Ron and K2 went on stage after Queensryche's set, the last act on the main stage. When Ron started the show there was just a few of us and by the end of the set he had nearly everyone in the tent right at the front of the stage with him. I never thought I would get to hear Keel songs performed live again and hearing songs like Tears of Fire, Somebody's Waiting and The Right To Rock were incredible moments for me. Ron added two songs to the set that weren't planned and he finished off his set and Rocklahoma 2008 perfectly when he closed his set with KISS' Lick It Up.

The Ace Pic

The picture with Ace came through. Check out me, Ace and Dean.

Ace Frehley Rocks Anaheim and Hollywood

This past Saturday and Tuesday I was able to see Ace Frehley in the Los Angeles area. First in Anaheim, about an hour from where we live, and a second time in nearby Hollywood. Both shows were at House Of Blues venues and with the great setting and sound systems made for some great shows.

First up was Anaheim. Jacki, Darian and I headed down late Saturday afternoon to get down to Anaheim before the doors opened. We had been told that they were moving the time for doors to open up an hour so we were in line shortly before 7pm. Unfortunately the doors didn't open till after 7:30 so we were a bit early.

Once inside we split up. Darian and Jacki wanted food and I headed for the front of the stage. House Of Blues are notorious for not allowing cameras but after a succesful night of pictures of Queensryche at HOB Anaheim I thought pictures at the Ace show wouldn't be a problem. Right before Ace came out Darian brought me the camera and she headed up stairs to watch the show from the balcony with Jacki.

The opening band was called The Trews. Good music, strong musicianship and a great singer. Unfortunately the songs weren't very memorable although the played one song that interpolated The Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter" which was cool.

Next up was the main event. The last time I saw Ace solo was back in 1994 in Houston, Texas. I remember the band and setlist being good but Ace not being in the best of shape. This was a completely different Ace. Sober and with a great band behind him. This performance was extremely tight and the arrangements of the KISS songs rivaled Paul Stanley's solo show a year or so back and had an energy that even KISS doesn't always hit when they perform. Seeing in arena caliber band in such a small venue always translates to a great performance.

As you can see I was able to get some great pictures from this show. All of the pictures were from Anaheim. Unfortunately about 1/3rd of the way into the show a security person made their way through the crowd and told me no pictures. I promised no more pics and kept that promise. So as a result no great pictures of the NY Groove guitar or the smokin solo, although I did take a smokin solo picture with my Helio the night of the event.

Anaheim went by so fast but I think was the better of the two performances. Highlights of the Anaheim setlist were Hard Times, Parasite and Love Her All I Can. The last song being one of my all time favorite KISS songs and not one I'd normally associate with Ace.

After the show we capped off for a late night dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and made it home around 1am.

The Hollywood show was a completely different experience. I had planned to go alone to this show but due to a new partnership I was establishing at work I was comp'd access to the House Of Blues Foundation Room and given a couple of extra tickets. Thanks to Mark and Sean. I initially thought I only had 1 extra ticket so I invited Brian, a friend from work that I knew would appreciate a night out seeing Ace. Once down to the venue we found out we had another ticket in will call so I called my good friend Dean and he was able to come down and join us.

Before the show Brian and I headed up to the Foundation Room which is a private bar on the top floor of the House Of Blues. Typically the guests are industry people, and VIPs of the sort. I think someone told me they saw the drummer for Blondie up there.

After some phone tag we were able to meet up with Dean inside the venue. We had access to an elevated set of reserved seats on the floor of HOB so after talking with the security guard, and finding our names on his list we were able to get seated.

We missed the opening act entirely in LA but didn't miss any of Ace's set. The band came out and played the same set as in Anaheim. I noticed the band wasn't as tight as in Anaheim but Ace seemed to be having much more fun. He was cracking jokes through out the night, told a couple of KISS stories and even introduced himself as Tommy Thayer as he launched into the guitar solo for Shock Me. Nothing quite like the real Ace introducing himself as fake Ace. And then during the Shock Me solo Ace burned his fingers when the guitar was smoking. He cut the solo short, blew on his fingers and told the crowd that he burned himself during the solo. A quick change of guitars and back into the set.

Shock Me and Love Her All I Can were the standouts for me in LA.

After the set I ran down to the floor and was able to get the guitar pick of the bassist. Not an Ace pick but a nice consolation. Once the venue cleared out we headed back to the Foundation Room to cap off the night. Upstairs one of Dean's friends, Ken Sharp and his wife, came over to talk to us. Ken Sharp wrote the liner notes in the KISS Box Set and wrote my favorite KISS book called Behind The Mask. It was a treat to meet him and hear some of his stories about interviewing KISS and the people around KISS. He mentioned he just finsihed a new piece in the new Goldmine magazine that covers KISS' early days on the NY club scene that I'll have to read.

As we were talking Ken mentioned that he wrote the bio for Ace's current tour and bio for Ace's new album and that he was going to go backstage to say hi. He had talked to Ace recently on the phone but hadn't seen him in nearly 7 years. After we saw Ken walk past security with no issues Dean, Brian and I followed along. Once backstage there were a small number of fans no more than 10 and a couple of industry people like Ken including one of the producers for the Detroit Rock City movie. Ken talks to Ace's management and is able to get us into Ace's dressing room for a quick meet and greet.

This was entirely unsuspected so all I had on me was a piece of paper in my back pocket and my concert ticket. No camera, no CD, nothing, but I made the best of what I had. Ace graciously took pictures, signed autographs and briefly spoke with each of us. Dean and I got our picture with Ace and hopefully the guy backstage that took the picture will email it to us soon. Ace was in a good mood, although he didn't seem too comfortable with the praise but took things in stride. I told Ace that he was the last of the original 4 from KISS I got to meet and that this was a dream come true. He said in his high pitched voice "Ok... do you want me to sign something". Very funny. He did a similar thing when Brian was taking to him. Ace signed two great autographs for me, first my ticket and then a much larger autograph on a piece of paper.

One thing worth noting is that Ace is sober on this tour. Brian happened to have a beer in hand when we walked into the dressing room and Ace's manager politely told him that alcohol was not allowed around Ace. Last time I saw Ace solo he was a bit strung out so seeing him take sobriety seriously was impressive.

I now have all of the original KISS members autographs and the only KISS autograph I'm lacking is Mark St. John, who passed away last year and was a member of KISS for only a few months. The night ended up being a strange alignment of events but I have to thank Mark and Sean for the access to the Foundation Room, Dean for introducing us to Ken and to Ken for getting us into meet Ace. This was a night I won't ever forget.

Ace Frehley
March 22, 2008
House Of Blues
Anaheim California

and

Ace Frehley
March 25, 2008
House Of Blues
Los Angeles California

(LA only - introduction "Transmission sequence activated")
Rip it out
Hard times
Parasite
Snow blind
I Want You (partial) (Drummer Coogan on vocals)
Rock soldiers
(LA - Ace joke paraphrased. Ace said he was talking to a guy in Silicon Valley that asked Ace who used the first computer and Ace said the chinese? The guy says no Adam and Eve. Eve had the Apple and Adam had the Wang..... )
Breakout (Coogan on vocals)
Into the void
Strange Ways (Bassist Esposito on vocals)
Medley Torpedo Girl, Speeding Back To My Baby, 5 Card Stud, Trouble Walkin (Coogan vocals)
Stranger In A Strange Land
New York Groove (with back in the Anaheim and LA Groove)
(LA - Ace said, as Paul Stanley would say give yourselves a round of applause)
2000 man

(LA - Ace joke that wasn't funny. Why did god create gentiles. Somebodys gotta pay retail.)

Shock Me
(LA - Ace yelled Tommy Thayer before solo)
Guitar solo
Rocket Ride

Encore
Deuce
Love Her All I Can (Coogan vocals)
Love Gun (Coogan vocals)
Cold Gin
Black Diamond (Outro)

I met Ace

I can't believe it, I met Ace Frehley tonight. I will blog more after I stop shaking!

--
Sent from my Helio Ocean

Happy Easter

Not only is today Easter but this marks the first day that one of the bands I'm working with, Spidersuit, enters the studio. Self described as "Heavy Indie Power Pop" which I can agree with. I'd describe us as a grungy sounding Cheap Trick.

I'm currently listening back to our last rehearsal to get an idea of where I may need to make some adjustments. If things go as planned we may have a 7" 4 song single, plus a 10 song CD available through both physical and digital distribution out later this year.

I kicked off the weekend with the family down in Anaheim to see Ace Frehley. I'm seeing Ace again on Tuesday in Hollywood so I'll post reviews later in the week. Needless to say I think I now have the necessary inspiration for the studio.

Time to "Rip It Out"...

Ace Frehley

I just bought presale tickets to Ace Frehley in March. He is playing an all ages show in Anaheim on March 22nd, and an 18+ show in Hollywood on March 25th. I'll be going to both but will take the family down to the show in Anaheim.

And on the KISS front they are talking about tours on their website for 2008. This could be a good year for KISS related concerts.

VH1 Rock Honors Taping at Mandalay Bay

The day started early. Jacki and Darian were flying to Texas and I was off to Vegas. We got to the airport around 6:45am and we went to our different flights. I got to Vegas about 9:30am and checked into the hotel. I stayed at the Aladdin which is about 3 Vegas blocks from the Mandalay Bay. I attempted to get some sleep but was restless even though I only had about 4 hours of sleep. I hung out in the hotel room until about 12:30.

The one thing I told myself is I wouldn't get stuck in the casino, but when I checked in they gave me $10 of slot play. I burned through that and then burned through another 40 bucks and decided no more gambling. Off to Mandalay Bay.

It was hot by the time I got outside. Easily 95 degrees, but a dry heat :-). After a good 25 minutes of walking and catching trams I got to the hotel. I walked through the casino and found the restaurant area. As I was eating I started to see people walking around with KISS shirts. I figured the only thing I was here for was the show, and although check in wasn't until 3pm, I didn't want to get lost in the casino. I found the area where check in for the seat fillers were supposed to be and arrived around 2:20pm. There were about 10 people there. The VH1 people said we were in the right place and they would start lining us up in abou 10-15 minutes.

They lined us up around 3pm. We were now in the first holding area. We spent about 30 minutes in the first room and then proceeded to the second room. Another 30 minutes and then we received our wrist bands. And then to the next room. 2 more hours of waiting. As we walked into this room I was asked how I found out about the event. I said through the KISS website and then a guy handed me a KISS Thanks You card.

By the time it was time to go into the venue the last holding room had at least a couple of thousand people. It was unreal how many seat fillers were there for this thing. Clearly VH1 didn't sell too many tickets.

They had the Pit lines, which I was in, Red carpet lines and then seat fillers for filling the the unfilled arena seats.

Getting there early paid off. I ended up being the 10th in a line of a couple of thousand. Around 6:15 they finally took us over to the event. We passed the red carpet, although it was black. And then they lined us up in the concourse of the arena. Soundcheck was occuring so another round of waiting.

We could hear the set up from the arena. Tie Your Mother Down by Queen started playing but you could tell Dave Grohl was singing. Sounded great. Then the next Queen song soundchecked was Under Pressure then the Show Must Go On, Paul Rodgers was no singing.

We then got lined up at the curtain and could peak into the arena. We saw the final soundcheck of We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions with the Foo guys on drums with Queen. After they finished they finally took us to the floor.

Fortunately my place in line was maintained and I ended up being the 10th person into the arena and down to the floow. I ended up getting a spot against the stage right in front of where Gene Simmons would be later in the night.

As the crowd came in Vince Neil sat up with his wife in the lower part of the arena. Needless to say all you saw was him shaking people's hands and taking pictures. After just about everyone in the section had done this he was finally able to sit and enjoy the show like the rest of us.

Around 8pm the familiar voice of Riki Rachtman came on and warmed up the crowd. The show started around 8:15.

The stage was set up with 3 drum kits, 1 for dave Grohl, 1 for Queen, and 1 for Taylor Hawkins.
The night kicked off with Foo Fighters and they proceeded to play through the songs that were soundchecked.


Foo Fighters -
Tie Your Mother Down (joined by Brian May and Roger Taylor)

Queen -
Under Pressure
Show Must Go On
We Will Rock You (joined by Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins)
We Are The Champions

When Paul Rodgers came out and started singing Under Pressure he came over and shook my hand. I know a lot of people have given him flack for singing Queen but the songs they played were amazing. Great energy and good performances. Having soundchecked last they had the benefit of having near perfect sound.

As Queen wrapped the stage rotated and Godsmack appeared with gear fully set up. I wish all set changes could be this quick. 3 minutes later and Godsmack was up. Godsmack was playing a tribute to Judas Priest.

Godsmack -
Hellion / Electric Eye
Victim of Changes
Hell Bent For Leather

Another stage rotation and the mighty Priest appeared. I had never seen Judas Priest so this was one of the parts of the night I was looking forward to. They came out and sounded great.

Judas Priest -
Breakin The Law
You've Got Another Thing Coming
Green Manalishi With The Two Pronged Crown

The odd band out for the night came on next, All American Rejects. As they were setting up the guitarist noticed his guitar wasn't in tune. They had about 1 minute before th filming started again so he ran off stage to his guitar tech. The tech tuned and gave him back the guitar. As he came back over in front of me the bassist pointed out that he still wasn't in tune. And at this time the VH1 people did the countdown to being back on-air 5-4-3-2-1. A slightly out of tune guitar to a song that you could really tell.

All American Rejects -
Photograph

Maybe they will fix the out of tune guitar in post editing. The intro of the song and the guitar solo were noticeably out of tune. And all the guitarist could do was give a look like oh well nothing I can do now. At least he was grinning about it.

Another stage rotation to Def Leppard.

Def Leppard
Rock Of Ages
Rocket (w/ extremely extended guitar solos)
20th Century Boy (joined by Brian May of Queen)

During the Def Leppard set a girl squeezed her way to the front right next to me. Needless to say the VH1 cameras liked her and she got the attention of the band. During 20th Century Boy Joe Elliot came and grabbed her hand, I'm pretty sure this was caught but the cameras so you will see me on VH1 right next to her.

Next up was the Tribute band to KISS. There was a rumor that Ace Frehley would be joining so the KISS fans were quite anxious. Out came Slash, Rob Zombie, Tommy Lee, Scott Ian and Gilby Clarke. As they started the announced special guest Ace Frehley and launched into God Of Thunder. Scott Ian was liked an animated comic book character on stage. He was playing a Gene axe bass and did his best Gene impressions.

Tribute -
God Of Thunder

And then the reason that most of the people on the floor were there. KISS. They had the biggest stage set up with the big KISS sign and a scaled down version of their full stage set up. The audio mix was geared for Gene so most of what I heard was Gene's bass. A very interesting mix.

KISS -
Detroit Rock City
Deuce
Love Gun
Makin' Love

I didn't realize this was going to be the case but the night was all a build up to KISS. They also delivered a great set by not throwing in the usual TV friendly tapings of Rock And Roll All Nite or Shout It Out Loud.

As the show ended the other bands came out for a final bow.

Def Leppard, Queen, KISS, and Judas Priest were all on stage. When everyone was on stage the crowd started chanting one more song. Jamie Pressley, the host of the entire night, started to ask on her mike, can they play one more song. She got the ok and KISS set back up and the stage cleared.

KISS played Makin Love for their encore. Paul had to ask Tommy what album it was on, and with Tommy's help got the album, Rock And Roll Over, correct.

The show ended around 10:45. Back to the Aladdin and I caught a cab back to the airport around 6am.

The VH1 Rock Honors airs next Wednesday. Considering I was against the stage and had a camera in my face a good portion of the night odds are high I'll be on tv. I'm sure I look like a fool, but it was fun.

As you can see I took some great pictures, although on a crappy camera. A few are mixed in this entry and the rest are on flickr.

So 4 days before the show I had no idea I'd be seeing KISS much less any of these other bands from the front row in Las Vegas. Thank you KISS and VH1. The night couldn't have gone any better.