The Dave Blog: Bob Schneider

This past Saturday we had another family outing to the Keyclub. This time to see Bob Schneider. In order to avoid Ticketmaster charges we purchased tickets at the door, this ended up saving us nearly $9 bucks a ticket, and at 3 tickets it was worth the chance. Bob hadn't sold out last time Jacki and I saw him at the Roxy and since this place was slightly larger I didn't see it as much of a risk.

We arrived right as doors opened at 7pm in order to get our tickets. We got our three tickets and headed out for a bite to eat. We went to the Rainbow Bar and Grill, which has become a family favorite on the Sunset Strip. The food is pretty good and you never know what rock star you might see on any given night. We didn't have reservations but the host and the owner graciously sat us at a reserved table. The reservation was for 8:30 so we had about an hour and a half to eat. The great spot about the this table is we could see everyone that walked through the door as they went to sit at a table or as they headed to the bar.

The Rainbow didn't disappoint with celebrities. Rex Brown from Pantera came in, and Jacki and Darian said I was a little star struck. He was with Kirk Windstein from Crowbar. We saw a few more people that looked familiar although we couldn't place them. Then towards the end of our night we saw Sarah Ramirez from Grey's Anatomy.

After dinner we headed back to the Keyclub to see Bob. Walking in we caught the tail end of the open band Elliot Morris, who with his shaggy hair looked remarkably like Bob from a distance. I went downstairs and purchased the web only release of Bob Schneider Greatest Hits Live, and Frunk - the live recording of the evening's show, available immediately after the concert. One of the LA promoters had a booth set up in the merch area that had some shirts I thought Darian would like, so I brought her over and she got a Support Local Bands shirt. As a benefit they gave us comp tickets to the Viper Room, of course in the spirit of supporting local bands.

We timed it right. By the time we got settled into the Keyclub, Bob was only minutes away from coming on stage. They came out and the first thing we noticed is Bob has short hair now. No mistaking it was him, but this is quite a change from the shaggy, bearded look of the last several years. The other thing to notice was the band were all wearing the same clothes, white dress shirt with a tie. They weren't dressed up by any means, but they all looked similar up on stage.

The show opened with Piggyback, which was quite appropriate since this was the song Darian had probably heard the most. Strangely enough I had never seen him perform this live, mainly due to a recorded loop used on the studio recording. The same loop with samples was being played behind the vocals as he started the show, and the full band kicked in on the second half of the song.

The set consisted of the typical fan favorites including Big Blue Sea, Metal & Steel, Assknocker and Tarantula. The band even took a fan request for Psychocaniac. The interesting thing about this set is since he was set up with loops and sample he explored more of his experimental and rap side. Playing a few new songs including Ready Let's Roll, and Cheaper.

They ended the night with Mudhouse, a favorite off the new album, Sons Of Ralph, arrrhhh..., and closed the set with the Gary Numan classic Cars.

After the show we got the setlist, although it was only liberally followed, and scored a couple of Bob guitar pics. I went downstairs to get the Frunk disc while Jacki and Darian waited for Bob to come out. Darian got the Frunk cd signed and we got a picture with Jacki, Darian and Bob.

Another fun outing to the Keyclub. I think at this point the Keyclub ranks as my favorite venue to see bands in LA.

Click below for more pictures.