The local classic rock station put on their annual music fest. They had Boston, Styx, Night Ranger, The Alan Parsons Project and Rick Derringer.

It was OUTSTANDING.

Rick Derringer can flat-out shred. GREAT licks. And I had no idea he was in the band that released "Hang On Sloopy" (the McCoys), but he was. He was only 17 when it hit #1 in every country in the music-playing world.

The Alan Parsons Project was a very unexpected treat. These guys are the epitome of British, and they are not stadium rockers, but they ARE fantastic musicians. They played for an hour, and I had forgotten how many great songs they'd released. Of course, when they played "Sirious" I was expecting someone to announce, "At guard, from North Carolina, number 23, MICHAEL JORDAN!" LOL.

Night Ranger freaking RULED. Oh. My. GOD. They absolutely blew the roof off the joint. They've got two guitarists that Prince could learn from. Holy CRAP, could those guys play. I was never a Night Ranger fan, but I am now. GREAT example of how songs sound so much better live and loud. Go see them if you get a chance - you will NOT be disappointed.

Styx had a hard act to follow, but damn if they didn't. True pros. Great songs. Excellent musicians. Joy abounded onstage. Styx has been castigated as the worst garage band ever to make it big, but I have to disagree. As one of their concert t-shirts said, "Classic Rock MY ASS! 600 Shows in 5 Years!" Again, if you get a chance to see these guys, do it.

Boston was a let-down. Not that their set sucked, but they could not hang with Night Ranger or Styx on a stage. That's just not their gig. Maybe if they'd had only the Alan Parsons Project as an opening act, their set wouldn't have seemed so tame, but there was no way they could get to the energy level of the other acts. And Tom Scholz is definitely an engineering genius, but as a guitarist, he was probably the least-talented of all the players that night. Not that he isn't good, but everyone else last night was great.

Their biggest mistake, IMHO, was keeping bass player Kimberly Dahme in the background.



If she was in MY band, she'd have been the focal point!

Any way, my son and I had a GREAT time. Rock on!

i think it's weird that boston is playing so soon after their lead singer died. i would have given that tragedy more time to cool off, not just to be tactful but also because it's got to take a long time to keep a band going after losing such an important part of the band - especially after being together so long.

glad to hear ya had fun, but yeah - not surprised boston was the weakest link. it's too bad.

Maybe it wasn't Tom Scholz's night, but on record that guy is really damn hot, at least he was 30 years ago. His thick sound is amazing to me. He's a pretty spectacular bass player as well.

Brad Gillis and Jeff Watson (Night Ranger guys) really are incredible with the shred thing, but I would say Prince's tone is far superior.

And Rick Derringer could probably destroy all of them!

abigail05 said:

I wish I had some of Scholz' effect boxes! He's got one where he scrapes the E string with his pick, and after the normal sound channels through, an explosion sound continues for a couple seconds. It is REALLY cool.

Scholz didn't play bass last night, but he did play some keyboard contraption. It was encased in a HUGE structure, but sounded like a Hammond.

Also, Boston had more stacks of cabinets with blinking lights onstage than anything this side of NASA. I have NO idea what all the blinking was for.

RodeoSchro said: