Cinderella in Foxboro, MA -- Live Review

On Wednesday, August 3, the Cinderella tour rolled into Foxboro, MA, so how could I not go? To sum my review up in a few words.....it was a Cinderella show.  If you have seen the band live over the past few years, you know what I mean.  The band has essentially played the same set and put the same show on for years.  Everyone knows that Tom will wear the top hat during "Night Songs," that Jeff and Eric will spin their guitars during the Night Songs-era songs, Jeff will have more costume changes than the cast of a Broadway musical, and that before "Shake Me," Tom will say, "Are you ready to get this place shaking? I said are you ready to get this place SHAKING?" 

While it may sound like I am complaining about a stale show, that certainly is not the case. I walk into to a Cinderella show knowing I am going to leave satisfied that I saw a great show and clearly I am not alone, as the show was either sold out, or very close to being sold out.  The guys are entertaining live and put some real effort into entertaining the crowd, and above all else, they still sound amazing. Musically, they are as tight as they have ever been. Vocally, you can tell that Tom is holding back some when singing, but as someone who witnessed him at his worst during the Poison/Cinderella tour a few years ago, I fully understand why he chooses not to blow out his vocal cords. 

 

From top to bottom, the set clocked in at about 1 hour and 20 minutes, and contained 13 songs. The addition of "Once Around the Ride" this tour was a nice touch, as was "Long, Cold Winter."  Personally, I would love to hear "Loves Got Me Doing Time" or "If You Don't Like It", but again I understand what they are doing.  You can't drop the hits and risk disappointing the loyal crowd when you know what they want to hear, and Tom probably does not want to do longer sets for fear of reinjuring his vocal cords. 

 

One brief, stand out moment for me was during "Shelter Me," Tom began playing his saxophone solo, but something was clearly wrong with the horn. He took it off and gave it to a stagehand and said, "It's f---ed up."  But what he did next, all "rocks tars" should take a note of... he shrugged his shoulders and just went on with the song.  No tantrum that things weren't working properly, no storming off stage, and I can't imagine anyone got fired over it.  He rolled with the punches and just kept on delivering a show for the people that paid to see him that night.

 

The band MASS opened the show, but I only caught 1/2 of their last song, so I can not review their set (but I can, however, review the Five Guys burger, as that was where I was during their set).

 

On a side note, I will say that this is the second time I have seen a show at this venue, and I think this place is amazing. The club is called Showcase Live, and it is a nice, clean, big room with great stage and lights; but most importantly, the sound is fantastic.  It is a bit of a drive for me to get to there, but it is definitely worth the time it takes to get there.

Top 10 New-School Hair Metal Bands

I wrote a (basically) awesome top ten for Noisecreep, called "Top 10 New-School Hair Metal Bands" and I thought I should share it with you! So here goes:

10. Black Veil Brides

09. Reckless Love

08. Gemini Five

07. Crazy Lixx

06. The Last Vegas

05. Lynam

04. Hardcore Superstar

03. Bad City

02. Crashdiet

... and click to see who made the top spot AND to see all my comments regarding each of my selections. I can't wait to hear your opinions!

Journey, 'City of Hope' -- New Video

Journey has a new video! The band made a video for "City of Hope" from their new album Eclipse.

Journey has been on a heck of a PR run lately. The band was just on the Today show (NBC) and Sunday Morning (CBS). The Sunday Morning piece was just fantastic. I've shared the video below.

Journey is playing in Cincinnati tonight. I'd go but don't have the cash. Oh well.

Do You Share Your Good Seats?

Today's commentary is special and comes from a loyal reader. I'll keep the reader's identity secret (by request), but will paste the entire email to me because it really tells a cool story and I think you'll all be able to weigh in on this one. Email below:

Most often, I get really good seats to shows and I have a Jack Daniels plastic cup that (afterward) I place every ticket in chronological order. Anyway, back at this year's M3 show, I had "fair"tickets for Friday night, but 'pit' tickets for Saturday. I knew I was going to leave before Tesla and Whitesnake (for a bunch of reasons). Anyway, a guy who was sitting next to me on Friday was telling me that Tesla and Whitesnake were among his favorite bands (mostly Tesla)- but he had his same "fair" seats for both days.   

On Saturday afternoon, I went to him and told him to not go anywhere after Sebastian Bach. When Bach ended and I was moving up to the second stage and then the main stage from afar before leaving, I went over to him and gave him my tickets to move down front. He was so genuinely thankful and psyched, but my OCD kicked in realizing that I couldn't "complete" my ticket chronological order in my beloved Jack Daniels cup. Ah well, there are bigger things in life. 

 

Since then, I've done this at a bunch of shows this summer- mostly Motley Crue/Poison/New York Dolls. I have either left after Poison or halfway through Motley's set- mostly due to time constraints, but anyway, as I'm leaving, I try to find two people who seem as though they would really enjoy the up front view- not the quintessential "hot chick" or the drunk loudmouth; rather I look for the friendly looking dad with his teenage son/daughter or two "ordinary" young men/women sitting in the back;  the number one criteria I have is that [despite their current seats], they are really into the show. I get a lot of hesitation from people thinking (perhaps) that I'm looking for money for my tickets. When I explain that there are no strings attached other than for them to get close to one of their favorite bands, they are very appreciative and I go on my merry way. 

 

Now, reader X leaves us with this question:

I'm curious about what other people think about this -- especially the bands and fellow attendees with whom I rocked with most of the night and then to have "Mr. Rogers and his 'cool looking' son" sitting  in my seats. 

 

'Lies of the Beautiful People' - Acoustic Version

Happy August, my favorite month of the year!

I'll continue my self-imposed light posting (giving myself a break) to bring you an *awesome* acoustic version of the SIXX:AM tune, "Lies of the Beautiful People." Enjoy.