Got a Light?

Over the holiday weekend, I was lucky enough to catch Adam Lambert and the rest of the American Idols on tour. Heather, Eric and I had a good time - but anytime Adam is involved, fun is a must! Adam sang the hell out of "Whole Lotta Love," "Starlight" (by Muse), "Mad World," "Slow Ride" (a duet with Allison Iraheta), and a David Bowie medley. Basically, it was all over-the-top Glam.

During one of the songs - and I think it was "Starlight" - Adam asked everyone to get out their cell phones...or lighters. When did lighters become the second choice for giving props during a concert?

Now, I get that everyone has a cell phone these days. I also definitely agree it's way more safe to pull out a mobile instead of a lighter...and yet something seems so wrong about this. Now, I'm not a smoker. I've never even held a cigarette, let alone smoke one - but I still think it's cool to flick a lighter during that oh-so-important power ballad.

Does flashing a cell phone instead of a lighter during a show mean losing part of the Metal experience? I say yes.

When I saw Van Halen in 1996, I definitely remember Sammy Hagar saying "Get Our Your Lighters!" during "Why Can't This Be Love?"

Back to the American Idol crowd. I'm sure you're thinking the entire audience was comprised of teens and tweens. You would be wrong. Sure, there were plenty of young kids there - but from my vantage point there were tons of people way older than me enjoying the show. These people were old enough to buy cigarettes. I'm sure some of them smoke - but I didn't see one lighter in the crowd. To me, lighters and Heavy Metal go hand-in-hand. Maybe I'm wrong, but my Verizon LG cell (despite the fact that it is very pink) doesn't exactly scream Glam or even METAL!!!

Thoughts?

Heaven's Edge

Holy Glam! I am totally writing up a review of the Adam Lambert (ok, American Idol) concert, but good grief I had to post this clip of Heaven's Edge!

Does anyone remember these guys? "Skin to Skin" is a great song - obscure, though. The band formed in the late 80s and released two albums in the early nineties. One look at that time frame explains why this band didn't get huge. I'm not sure Heaven's Edge is really "Glam" per se (mainly because of Mark Evans' vocal tone). I guess I'd call them "melodic" but no matter: I quite enjoy them! Who here saw Heaven's Edge live back in the day?

Happy Labor Day my fellow Americans! Enjoy your holiday.

Please Come In

Black Stone Cherry is playing Indianapolis tonight - just a few feet from where I'm sitting as I write this update. Sadly, I have to head home so I'll miss the show. Great band, great songs. Here's "Please Come In" - truly one of my faves.

Adam Lambert (and the "rest") Tonight!

Today, Eric and I are driving west to Indianapolis. We'll meet Heather, who drove several hours east, to attend one of the final American Idols Live! tour stops of the season. 

Now, there's no point in denying it: we're going to see Adam Lambert and no one else. In a perfect world, this would be Adam's tour and I wouldn't have to wait through hours of the "rest." Not that "the rest" don't have talent, but seriously: do I care about Danny Gokey or Michael Sarver? No. I care about Glambert.

Adam gets to sing quite a few songs on the tour and he does a David Bowie medley in true Glam fashion. He also does Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" just like he did on American Idol during rock week. I'm pretty excited. Expect a show review tomorrow.

 
Here's that Bowie medley I mentioned. Pretty good stuff!

Go ‘Bezerk’ at the Borderline!

My friends in the fabulous Glam band Tigertailz sent me this release and asked if I would post it up so you all can catch them live if you happen to be in the U.K. If I was across the pond, I'd totally be at the show!

If you went ‘Bezerk’ in 1990 and there’s still a few pints of glam metal blood coursing through your veins, then whatever you do, get yourself down to the Borderline, London W1 on Saturday the 10^th of October, 2009 and go ‘Bezerk’ all over again!

For the first time ever, Tigertailz will perform the whole of their colossal Glam metal masterpiece, ‘Bezerk’, live and in sequence!

Upon its release, ‘Bezerk’ entered the UK top 40, spawning the MTV hits, ‘Noise Level Critical’ and ‘Heaven’ as well as featuring the daddy of all glam-metal anthems, ‘Love Bomb Baby.’

Front man Kim Hooker says, "With it being nearly 20 years since its release, and the inevitable question of celebrating this fact coming up, it occurred to us that there were songs on there that we hadn’t played in years, so it’s really interesting going back and re-visiting that lesser played stuff.

From the hook-laden vibe of the songs, the big gang backing vocals, right down to the artwork, everything on that album was specifically created to be the most extreme, over the top, glam metal experience anyone had ever heard or seen…You either loved it or hated it – no one was in the middle. ‘Bezerk’ clearly defined what we were about at that time."

So, come October the 10^th, the set will be

Sick Sex
Love Bomb Baby
I Can Fight Dirty Too 

Noise Level Critical
Heaven

Love Overload
Action City
Twist & Shake

Squeeze It Dry
Call Of The Wild

 …And there’ll be no let up after that. Also on the cards are some ‘Bezerk’ – era b-sides, the odd favourite and even a reactivated ‘Bezerk’ tour ‘Robocop’ guitar shred!

Tigertailz -‘Bezerk at the Borderline’, Saturday 10^th of October, 2009

Purchase tickets here. 

'Home Again'

Queensryche just released their video for "Home Again," a track from their newest release American Soldier. It's fitting that the clip debuted on Military.com and features themes common to our fine enlisted men and women.

On "Home Again," Queensryche vocalist Geoff Tate enlisted the help of his young daughter Emily. She's featured in the video for the song as well.

"My daughter Emily on Wednesdays attends class in the same building as my studio. I'd just finished writing the song 'Home Again,'" Tate tells Bring Back Glam! "Emily says to me 'What are you working on?' and I replied 'I just finished another song. Want to hear it?' I'm playing the song for her and she's reading the lyrics. I look up, she's got tears running down her cheeks. She thought I'd written the song about her. I asked if she'd like to sing on it, she said "yes" and threw the headphones on. I had to quickly scramble to get the microphone set-up for her and she threw down. We recorded it and it just had a magic to it... just an innocence that really struck me as being honest. I played it for my wife and the band they all went crazy over it."

You can download American Solider on iTunes. Queensryche will headline Shiprocked this November.

'Dust In the Wind' vs. 'Dust In the Wind'

Perusing my music news, I discovered Kerry Livgren, a founding member of Kansas, suffered a stroke yesterday. He's in serious condition. Reading about him made me think about Kansas.

Kansas recorded "Dust in the Wind" way back in 1977 (about a year after "Carry On Wayward Son"). It became the band's signature song and is still played in heavy rotation on classic rock radio today. "Dust In the Wind" is both melancholy and fabulous. When played live, the song always evokes a positive emotion from the audience. With such a famous song, covers are inevitable. But what happens when the cover is better than the original?

The mighty Scorpions covered the song and included the track on Acoustica.

Todd Rundgren also wrote a song called "Dust in the Wind" for his 1972 solo album Something/Anything? People often confuse the Rundgren and Kansas version as one in the same, and that's a shame. Guns n' Roses performed the Rundgren track fairly often in the early 90s. Slash's solo is awesome here.

So which "Dust In the Wind" is better? Kansas or Rundgren? Scorpions or GnR?