5 Great Concerts

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5FDP

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Megadeth

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Aerosmith

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KISS End of the Road World Tour

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Testament

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I Was Wrong

I've been seeing information about Alice Cooper's new album and upcoming tour with Deep Purple*. I have zero desire to attend any concert where those two are playing. While I respect both artists, they are both in the same group as Aerosomith, Thin Lizzy*, Pink Floyd* (to me) where I know their radio singles but I have never gone 'deeper' into their material. I'm not saying I shouldn't or that by not doing so I am better for it - it's just that I haven't felt compelled to do so. Maybe someday I will dive into their materials and kick myself but that ass kicking is not scheduled at this point.

But what is the point of this post - to dismiss classic bands? No. I saw these dates:

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with the two dates at Hollywood Casino Amphitheater, one in Chicago; the other in St. Louis. My first thought was that it was wrong - that the venue on one of those two dates was created because of lazy copy and paste. However, that's when Google.com came to my rescue. I entered "Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre" and guess what I saw? There is one in Chicago and there is one in St. Louis, as shown below:

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Sometimes I am wrong.

* Editor's Note: These bands are so far away from being considered a favorite band that labels for each - Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, & Pink Floyd - have now all been added.

Revolver at 50

Sometimes, I read a music review and immediately want to go purchase the album being reviewed. That is the case when I read John Deeth's post about the Beatles' Revolver release. I am familiar with the Beatles in the sense that I am familiar with their "greatest hits" but I've never invested myself into actually listening to their albums. I'm the same way with bands like Aerosmith, the Grateful Dead, The Who, and The Rolling Stones. Those bands are ones I respect because of their reputation and because of the singles on the radio I've heard. In contrast, bands like Rush, KISS, Megadeth, Metallica (duh!), and Bayside (duh!) are bands into which I've invested hours of my time to embrace their albums independent of which tracks were released as singles. I think all musicians have bands that they are compelled to listen to on a more regular basis than other bands. All that said, this is the John Deeth article.

Editor's Notes: 

1. This is the first post with the "The Grateful Dead" tag.
2. John Deeth's blog has existed since 12/17/2002, which is 13 years, 7 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days (4986 days total). He has posted 6384 posts with an average of  0.781015037593985 posts a day. In contrast, this blog has existed for 8 years, 8 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days (3181 days). I have posted 3355 posts with an average of 0.9481371087928465 posts a day. In summary, John Deeth's blog has 3029 more posts than this one and has existed 4 years, 11 months, 1 week, and 2 days more than this one. None of this means anything except that I like statistics like this.

Grim Reaper

Ah, Grim Reaper.

I don't know why this band never got the accolades that other metal bands from this same era received. I know they were criticized by Beavis and Butthead - I vaguely remember their description of the singer as looking like a pig - but I didn't really understand why. It's kind of like a radio station never playing Poison but playing an Aerosmith tune that came out at the same time.

This song is on their second release "Rock You to Hell" and I have always liked the lyrics.

Republic Tigers sound like the Cure Live and bands I can't stand....

On a Tuesday night in 2009, I don't want to forget that I went with Chris to People's Court in Des Moines, IA, to see The Republic Tigers and Gomez. Gomez was the headliner and I liked them.

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This is what the Republic Tigers sound like:

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I told Chris as we were watching them Tuesday that they sound a lot like my impression of what the cure sounds like. My history with the Cure is brief. I listened to a cassette dubbing of a Cure release called "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" once before I dubbed over it. I know the Cure were immensely popular but, like Smashing Pumpkins, it just has never appealed to me. There's a lot of bands I've never really gotten into. For example, the Rolling Stones or the Grateful Dead or Phish or Aerosmith. Don't own any recordings by them - except RS' greatest hits - and I'm okay with my musical tastes. Never liked Blue Oyster Cult either - their "Don't Fear the Reaper" song SUCKS! I took the kids to the pool last night and they always have the classic rock station on the speakers. I wanted to say "Turn this crap off." My friend Chris has an opinion about Aerosmith as well. "I actually despise Aerosmith. If I wanted a crap-load of CDs with variations of the same song, then they might deserve a second look...." I can't go along with that because I've lik certain aspects of Aerosmith. The drum part on "Walk this Way" the drum sound on "Living on the Edge," but I have no use for most of their singles like "Dude looks like a lady," "Rag Doll" and "Don't Want to Miss a Thing" - that simply awful ballad that went with the movie about the world ending... Bruce Willis was in it... I do REALLY REALLY like their pseudo ballad "What it Takes" - I know all the words. Chris said I was sick.