Hi Friends,
So glad you stopped by my blog today. If you haven't read my blog before, I'm a mom of three whose busy life had taken over and somehow I came to a place where I hadn't gone out with the girls in eight...long...years. Recently, I started having just-for-me fun again and decided to blog about it. And by the way, there is nothing more fun than an 80's rock band concert. In my blog, I take you with me on my "Tales of a Paint Girl." Are you possibly wondering from where I got the name "About Paint Girl?" I'll let you in on a little secret, my husband and I own a paint company, All About Paint. You get it now...(All) About Paint Girl. ;)
On to the fun stuff we go. So here it was, the last of three summer concerts that concert buddy, Sue, and I were attending this summer. For both the first and second concerts--Night Ranger and Heart, respectively--we were blessed with beautiful sunny weather. And then this concert. Eighty degrees--not bad! And rainy. Downpours. All...day. So much so, that my other friends that were attending, and I all thought the show would be cancelled, and that certainly, there wouldn't be anybody standing in line in the pouring rain for this first-come-first-serve seating concert. In fact, concert buddy, Sue, and I decided not to even show up until 4:30 in the afternoon (when the downpours finally ceased), one hour before doors were to open. But the rain didn't stop Styx fans from lining up, as you can kinda see in this pic of us (above). We were waaaayy in the back of a very long line.
After opening the gates and making our way to our "seats," concert buddy, Sue, and I found ourselves at the top of the hill way in the back--which wasn't too bad in this small outdoor arena. We staked our ground with our lawn chairs and went to seek out much needed sustenance. Upon returning to our seats and chatting about Bon Jovi--no doubt--over a delicious roast beef sandwich that we had cut in half and were sharing, they announced the first opening act, CASEY ABRAMS! Hooray! For those of you who don't know, Casey finished sixth on American Idol, season ten. The kids and I happened to catch the whole season of American Idol that year, and we all loved Casey. I told concert buddy, Sue, that I needed to go up front and grab a few pics (one of them above left) for my kids as I excitedly texted my husband the good news to relay to our children. Casey was just as great live as he was on American Idol. What a treat. He did all original songs. I couldn't tell you what they were, but if you'd like to check out his music click here.
Up next, much to my delight was Jim Peterikwith his new band, Pride of Lions. In case Jim's name isn't ringing a bell with you--most of you--I imagine, would recognize him as the lead singer for Survivor (ya know, Eye of the Tiger). And, you 80's kids might remember 38 Special. Jim Peterik co-wrote their songs, Hold on Loosely and Caught Up in You.
Jim Peterik's other band, Ides of March, opened up for Night Ranger when I saw them in June. And as you know already, if you read my blog about that, you know that I LOVED his performance. I've been saying since then that I have to find out where he (Jim Peterik) is playing so that I can see him perform again. And viola! What good fortune! There he was on stage. According to Jim, Pride of Lions does very well in Europe and Japan and they'd like to be more well known here in the US. If you love 80's rock like I do, Pride of Lions is right up your alley. And BTW, the singer's vocals were SMOKIN.' If you'd like to check out Pride of Lions, click here. (Your's Truly, About Paint Girl, highly recommends, dear friends, that you purchase both Pride of Lions and Casey Abrams music. Their music would be good additions to your collections. Just sayin'...)
And look at this great picture (pic above) of me with Casey Abrams! While Pride of Lions was playing, it started to rain (again), so concert buddy, Sue and I rushed to our seats to get our oh-so-stylish rain ponchos. When it stopped raining and we were returning our ponchos to our seats, we saw Casey out and about and I got to take a pic with him. How cool is that!
He also autographed the back of my ticket. Look at how he drew his beard on the smiley face below his signature. Too cute!
Last up was Styx. Now concert buddy, Sue, and I are all for getting as close as we can to the stage, because, frankly, I just think that makes for a better concert experience. But for some reason, concert buddy, Sue, and I found ourselves exhausted and opted to watch Styx from our seats. In fact, we actually sat down for some of the songs and we NEVER do that! That also means I didn't get any good pictures of the band. I did, however, dear friends, provide PBP (play by play) on twitter for each song. If you don't already follow me on twitter, you should. :) You can do so by clicking here. (And BTW, I pretty much only tweet about Bon Jovi.)
And now, dear friends, I must wonder out loud, how did I NOT KNOW that TOMMY SHAW is in Styx? His claim-to-fame for ME is Damn Yankees, who, BTW, I saw twice in the early 90's with oh-so-important-to-me great seats! Man, I would love to see a Damn Yankees reunion show.
But I must get back on track and tell you about the show. From what I could see from my way-in-the-back seats, the band was quite energetic during their performance. And they sounded great. Really great. They performed songs like Too Much Time On My Hands and Lorelei, including a couple songs that I haven't heard before like I'm OK and Crystal Ball. For Crystal Ball, they told a fantastic story about Tommy Shaw coming to Chicago to join the band which ended with Tommy writing the song Crystal Ball in a bowling alley. (I love when bands take a minute to get personal with the audience like that and tell a story.) They also played my two of my favorite Styx songs, Lady and Come Sail Away. Keyboardist, Lawrence Gowen, who, BTW, was the only member of the band that we could see from our way-in-the-back seats, engaged the audience (solo on stage) with a back and forth exchange of several popular songs that led into Come Sail Away. He was full of personality and FANTASTIC to watch! He also had this cool swivel feature for his keyboard stand. On occasion, with his keyboard facing away from the audience, Gowen would turn around and play his keyboard backwards (in other words, the keyboard was facing away and Gowen was playing with his arms behind his back while facing the audience and singing along with whatever song they were playing at the time.) Your's Truly, About Paint Girl thought it was very fun and playful.
Here is my recording of Lady (a little shaky because I was so far back).
All in all it was a wonderful, almost rain-free, show. All three bands were great and I would go see all of them again.
As I always say, please feel free to drop a comment. I'd love to hear about your adventures or whatever you'd like to chat about. If you're enjoying these posts, scroll up a little bit and click Join this Site, on the right-hand side of the page, to follow my oh-so-cool blog.
So glad you stopped by my blog today. If you aren't familiar with my blog, I'm a busy mom whose life had taken over, and somehow I came to a place where I hadn't gone out with the girls in eight...long...years. Recently I took back over my life and started doing fun things again. And, BTW, there is NOTHING more fun than an 80's rock band concert. In my blog I take you with me on my "Tales of a Paint Girl." I got the name, "About Paint Girl," because my husband and I have owned a paint company, All About Paint, for about 20 years now. I keep the books, and do social media marketing, while he runs the painting side of the business.
Now on to the fun stuff. On my latest adventure, concert buddy, Sue, and I (pic of us, above left) went to see Heart at an outdoor arena on a gorgeous July evening. This time we were joined by new concert buddy, Jana--who BTW, is the World's Greatest hair stylist (pic of us, below right).
It just so happened that Heart was playing on a Friday night at a local outdoor arena. The opening bands were scheduled to start at 5:45, which isn't the easiest time to get to a concert on a FRIDAY (WEEKDAY) with work and all, so we were running a tad late. And, as I recall, we were all STARVING so we stopped at Wendy's for a fast bite to eat before getting to the arena. When we arrived around 6:15, the place was already PACKED and all available "seating" to see the stage was taken. Our lovely seats that you see here in the pictures were so far on the side of the stage, that we couldn't see the stage at all! Not to worry, I still have two legs to stand on, as do my concert buddies, so we left our seats behind and went to the standing room only area located in front of the stage.
First up was a local bar band called Hit Parade. These crowd pleasers played a wide variety of familiar rock songs. We only saw the last couple of their songs since we were running late, but they did a really nice job.
Up next was Gina Glocksen (pic below), who took ninth place on American Idol Season six. I didn't watch American Idol season six, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was more than pleasantly surprised with this rocker's heartfelt, powerful, raspy vocals. For her first song, Gina slayed Janis Joplin's, Piece of My Heart. Also really great from her set was her rendition of 4 Non Blondes's song, What's Going On. I would, in fact, be happy to see Gina in concert again.
Up last was Heart. WOW! (I could pretty much just say that and end this blog, but I won't! :) )
Man, oh man!! These girls still got it! Ann's vocals were FABULOUS. And who doesn't like Nancy on guitar?! Now I must say that between concert buddies, Jana and Sue and myself, Jana is the biggest Heart fan of the three of us. I had just as much fun seeing Jana grin ear to ear during the show as I did watching the show itself.
And, all I really, really wanted was for them to play What About Love, which was, BTW, their third song of the night. I was so happy that they played it--and that it sounded so great--that the show could have ended there and I would have gone home happy. But fortunately for the rest of the crowd, they continued on and did songs like Alone and These Dreams and a great older song that I've never heard before called Dog and Butterfly. (You should really look it up--if, like me--you've never heard it before. Just sayin'...)
Here's a video from the show, that your's truly did not record, of Heart performing These Dreams.
Now, if you'll excuse me, concert buddy, Jana and I would like to side-track for just a moment-if you'll let us--and talk to Really Rude People. It's NOT OK, Really Rude People, to cut in front of Other People who have been standing all night to see the band up close just because you wanted to Sit Down during the opening acts and have now decided you would like a spot Right-Up-Front. It's also not OK, Really Rude Man-To-My-Right, to save spots for Twenty-Five-Or-More of your "closest friends," thereby pushing the rest of us Quite Further Further Back than we deserved after standing there for hours! (No joke.) It's been a Really Long Night, when mild mannered About Paint Girl (who--she and her friends--started out in the 5th standing row and are now in about the 15th standing row) starts telling people, "No, you're not excused. I was here first! You've got to go back!" Now I know, Dear Friends, that this isn't any of you, but perhaps you know a Really Rude Person and could Kindly Relate this Important Information to them. It would be a Shame for mild mannered About Paint Girl to have to deal harshly with one of these Really Rude People again. (On behalf of all other Nice, Friendly, and Mannerly people around us, who were also pushed far back, we thank you for letting us relate--or perhaps vent--this Important Information.)
And so know I'll continue writing about the show, which is why you're reading my blog, right? As the night went on, Heart played favorites like Straight On (video below), and even did The Who's, Love, Reign O'er me, which, if I recall correctly was the last song of the night (of the first ending). Bows taken, goodbyes spoken...
And then, much to the delight of their fans, Heart returned for an encore and performed Crazy on You and Barracuda. Wow! Like I said earlier...these girls have still got it! After their encore, they exited the stage abruptly without a second round of bows or final farewells to the audience. Which, I--and others around me--found a little strange. So (with lights still out on-stage) we assumed what any good fan would assume, that they wanted us to cheer for yet another encore, which we did. But they didn't return. Eventually (about 8 minutes later) the lights went back on, and the roadies came on stage and started shooing us all away. It was indeed the oddest ending to a concert I've ever experienced. We, the fans, stood around and wondered out loud if Heart perhaps was in a hurry to catch a plane to the next show. Eventually we all dispersed to leave for our cars.
Don't get me wrong, it was a GREAT show and I would happily see them again.
I'll be seeing Styx soon and can't wait to blog again.
I hope you've enjoyed my blog. I would love to hear what you think or hear about your adventures.
So glad you stopped by my blog today. If you haven't read my blog before, I'm a mom of three whose busy life had taken over, and somehow I came to a place where I hadn't gone out with the girls in 8...long...years!! Recently, I took back over my life and started doing fun things again. And, BTW, there is NOTHING more fun than an 80's rock band concert. In my blog, I take you with me on my "Tales of a Paint Girl." I got the name "About Paint Girl," because my husband and I have owned a paint company, All About Paint, for about 20 years now. I keep the books, and do social media marketing, while he runs the painting side of the business.
Now on the to fun stuff. On my latest adventure, concert buddy, Sue, and I went to see Night Ranger perform when they came through the Chicagoland area a couple of weeks ago. And the even MORE FUN part about that, is that my friends' band, Peace Museum, was one of two opening acts for Night Ranger! Whoohoo!
Let me start by saying it was a BEAUTIFUL day for this outside concert with the temperature in the 70's and sunny--no rain predicted anywhere in the forecast. It just so happened that concert buddy, Sue, and I were running a tad behind our original plan to get a good space in line for this first-come-first-serve seating arrangement. As we were driving, it started POURING rain and we thought about how lucky we were to be running late, since neither of us had brought an umbrella. And good fortune continued to be on our side as we pulled into the venue parking and...viola! The clouds parted, the sun was shining, and we decided we were right on time after all!
As we walked up to the line, a long-time friend of my husband's, and recent-friend of mine was standing in line saving a spot for all of we-friends that were coming to see Night Ranger! Yesss! Thank you, Shannon! She had been poured on waiting in line while we were driving (awww...sorry, Shannon, that's no fun!), but still managed to look great through it all. Here's where the real fun starts, as we were standing in line chatting, another friend, also named Sue, brought Night Ranger guitarist, Joel Hoekstra over to say "hi" to us all. (Pic below!)
As it turns out, I had a few minutes to chat with Joel personally. Joel, if you didn't know already, grew up in the Chicagoland area, just like me. I was pretty sure that when he and I were in high school (not the same high school) that I used to see him play with one of his first high school bands. When I asked him about it, my suspicians were confirmed! In high school, I was friends with one of Joel's former band mates and I had in fact gone to see Joel play many a time "way back when."
And so on to the concert. The gates opened, and we got a space right in front where we were hoping to be. Up first was my friends' band, Peace Museum, who I hadn't seen play since the early 90's. Two of the original members weren't able to make it. But not to worry, the show would go on with my good friend, Walter Murphy on guitar, and his drummer, Scotty Blackmen. The band opened with Stryper's version of "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah." Shout out to Bill Burns for slamming the vocals on this one! The video that I took for this song is below. NONE of my videos turned out well, because I was too close to the stage. Who ever heard of being "too close" for a concert? That doesn't even make sense to me! Anyway the sound on this video doesn't start out too bad until the guitars kick in. Oh yeah! I love when the guitars kick in. Too bad my camera didn't like it too! HA!
Peace Museum also did songs like "American Girl," and an enjoyable original song that I had never heard before. They also did a fun version of "Mrs. Robinson," which is normally a little light for me (except, of course, when Bon Jovi does it--you fellow Joviholics understand what I'm saying), but I loved it and sang along...and so did the crowd. The girl next to me was enjoying them so much--as were her friends-- that she asked me the band's name. Peace Museum, in case you forgot. Then they did what ended up being, IMHO, their absolute best song of the night, "Carry on My Wayward Son" by Kansas. I so wish I had video of it for you! Now on a side note, I asked my musician-husband if this is a difficult song to play, because the vocals, harmony, and music sound difficult to me. He said that it is, in fact, a difficult song to play. But you sure wouldn't know it to see Peace Museum play it!! Lead and harmony vocals, and music were all PERFECT! And seemed effortless! Peace Museum had so much fun with this song and so did the crowd. The inquiring girl "who-wanted-to-know" to my right said, "Wow! Who did you say that these guys are again?"
And then they did their AC DC three song meddly. OH NO! Not AC DC!! I...can't...stand...AC...DC. I don't care for their music, and the vocals sound like nails on a chalkboard to me. UGH!!! But I stood alone in my scorn for AC DC as the crowd of people to my left, full of Peace Museum friends, and to my right, full of never-seen-Peace-Museum-before-people became indistinguishable as they jumped up and down and loudly sang every word to every song with the band. As the medley was nearing it's end, the "girl-on-my-right" said, "MAN! These guys are GREAT!" Yes, they are.
But my redemption was near as the AC DC songs came to an end--and for the final song of the night--the boys did Ratt's, Round and Round. Yesss! I love Ratt. I included the video below, even though the sound quality stinks. Enjoy guitar enthusiasts as Master Shredder, Walter Murphy, throws in a little Yngwie-ish something extra on the second guitar solo (end of the song).
Up next was The Ides of March, led by Chicagoland native, Jim Peterik (former lead singer for Survivor). I had never seen Jim Peterik in concert before, and I have just one thing to say...Classy, Classy, Classy! I'm sorry that I haven't seen him perform sooner and I would go see him perform again in a heartbeat. (And the show was so clean! I could have had my kids there and been COMPLETELY comfortable with them seeing the show.) On a fun note, Jim Peterik uses a different guitar for every song. And they all looked so coooool! I'm drooling...I wish I could play the guitar myself. But to get back on track, The Ides of March delighted the crowd with familiar songs such as "High on You," and "The Search is Over."
Here's a video that I found of "High on You" from the show. It's kinda from the same perspective that I had at the show. I wonder if the girl on my right took it! Hmmm...
And here is the video for crowd pleaser, "The Search is Over." This video is by the same person as the last video I included.
They also did a 38 Special medley that included "Hold on Loosely." And, I must mention that they did The Ides of March hit, "Vehicle," which I would have called "Great God in Heaven You Know I Love You." But, I stand corrected. HA! And I must say, Great God in Heaven, you know we were lovin' you back, Jim Peterik and The Ides of March! To top off their set, The Ides of March returned for an encore in which they played "Eye of the Tiger." But this was no ordinary "Eye of the Tiger" as Jim Peterik took about 10 minutes to run through the crowd during his extended guitar solo. AWESOME.
By this time concert buddy Sue and I had achy feet, since we'd been standing since 4:30 in the afternoon, but we decided to press on and see Night Ranger up close instead of retreating to our blanket further back on the grass. Well, that's how I tell the story anyway...I think concert buddy Sue's version has something about me twisting her arm, or some such nonsense to get her to stay up front with me. HA! :)
So there we were, still up close to the stage when Night Ranger started--in fact, we stayed there until the show ended. They opened with their high energy song, "Lay it on Me." And may I mention that Jack Blades is SUPER high energy through the whole show. I think he gets a full aerobic work-out in! He was every bit as high energy as when I saw him twice in the early 90's twice the Damn Yankees. In fact, the whole bad was GREAT. I'm so glad I finally got to see these guys perform. And what a perk for me to get to see Joel Hoekstra with them!
During the show, Jack Blades was a first rate performer and class act as he told a short story to introduce each song. I would have had a ball anyway just hearing the music, but his stories added such a nice personal touch.
And, I was THRILLED when they did a couple of Damn Yankees songs (I was sooo hoping they would!) They performed both "Coming of Age," and "High Enough." Here's a video of "High Enough" taken by someone else, with better sound quality than I had. And (hooray) they included some of Jack's intro about Tommy Shaw and Ted Nugent.
Also included to the crowd's delight was a rendition of Ozzy Ozbourne's "Crazy Train." BTW, if you didn't know already, Night Ranger guitarist, Brad Gillis, used to play with Ozzy.
Another great moment was during "You Can Still Rock in America," as Jim Peterik joined the band on stage waving an American flag and signing the song with them.
And of course, OF COURSE, Kelly Keagy came out from behind the drums for a few minutes to sing my all-time favorite Night Ranger song "Sister Christian." Preceeded by the song was a beautiful story told by singer, Jack Blades, about how Kelly had written "Sister Christian" for his little sister when she was growing up and wanting to "expand her wings" and see the world. During the performance of the song, the Mayor of New Lenox (the town where the concert was held) and his family joined Night Ranger on stage to sing back-ups. Here's the video (taken by someone else).
The show ended with--if I remember right!--"When You Close Your Eyes," and "Don't Tell Me You Love Me." (I know, I know, I should have written this sooner when I'd actually remember, but my family comes first and I this was the earliest I could get this blog done!)
And here is my best pic of the night...not too bad for this extreme amateur.
After the show, which ended at about 11:00 pm--so that's 6 1/2 hours of standing for concert buddy, Sue and I, and, OMGOODNESS, our feet were so sore, but--we decided to go say "hi" to Joel before leaving. Or maybe I bullied, concert buddy, Sue into that too!
Well, we found Joel before our feet and backs and everything else gave out and here's our pic with him.
We had a great night! All three bands were terrific! And I promised not to torture concert buddy, Sue, with standing all night until Bon Jovi comes to town again. Although if Richie comes to town touring his solo album (Sambora, of course), then I will do everything in my power to be up front for his performance. Even if it means achy feet and back. Sorry concert buddy, Sue! I'll stand alone if I have to! But I know you can't resist and you'll be right there with me. HA!
I hope you enjoyed my "Tale." I'll be seeing the musical Rock of Ages soon with, yes, concert buddy, Sue, and a couple of other friends, and I'll be blogging about that adventure soon.
Feel free to drop a comment. I'd love to hear what you think or hear about your adventures too!
Since this is my first blog, I thought I should take a minute and introduce myself. Let's start with the name, "About Paint Girl." Where in the world did that come from? Well, my husband and I have owned a paint company for nearly 20 years now. He's out in the field painting and I keep the books, do social media marketing, etc. Well, one day, he got it in his head that I should start blogging about paint, but never having worked with paint, I told him I couldn't do that. He said, "Well, then blog about what you love." Soooo, I decided to blog about the other great loves of my life--my husband, Perry, of course, being the first. But the other loves of my life are BON JOVI along with other 80s Metal/Rock bands.
Just a little bit more about me, I was born and raised and still live in the Chicagoland area, which is, by the way, a beautiful city. My high school years were during the late 1980's and, IMHO, was the GREATEST, MOST FUN time EVER for music!
Well, let's get on to the meaty stuff now. As I was mulling over the idea of starting a blog, I found some other interesting blogs (that I highly recommend) like Hair Metal Mansion, to keep we rockers up-to-date with what our favorite 80's bands are doing. I also came across Big Apple Jen who has seen Bon Jovi something like 187 times to date--and, who gets great seats--and I must tell you, whose blog I love living vicariously through. But perhaps you're more like me and your life has been more of a Tommy and Gina story than a Cinderella story. I will always try and keep it real as we have fun together talking about our favorite bands and as I share with you my experiences in life.
So with Richie's solo album coming out soon (Sambora--if I even need say which Richie I'm talking about), I decided to blog about my experience seeing Bon Jovi at the United Center on March 9, 2011.
Now let me tell you a little story...it had been so long since I had bought any concert tickets (I'm a busy mom of three with a Tommy and Gina story, what can I say?) that I didn't know how to get close seats anymore! I know, sounds stupid, right? I didn't know that the first section of seats after the pit are also "package" tickets. And that "first section" was the section that I was aiming for. So I was at-the-ready at my computer...and the minute that the tickets went on sale I was on-line with Ticketmaster. The first set of tickets to pop up were--can you believe it--WAY IN THE BACK!! WHAT?? REALLY?? So I refreshed my screen and tried again. And OH NO! Tickets WAY IN THE BACK! No way! This can't be happening! So I called Ticketmaster while simultaneously refreshing my screen. The girl on the phone only had tickets---you guessed it---way in the BACK! ARRRGGG! But then, on my screen popped up 2 tickets in the 3rd row of the second section. YES! I'll take it! So we ended up with about the 17th row after the pit, which wasn't too bad. (Next time though, I'll be prepared to get much better tickets!)
And now, the part you've been waiting for. The show was PHENOMENAL! They played a full 2 hours and 45 minutes! They were taking a short break in the tour after our show, so they weren't in any hurry to call it quits!
The show started with Living on a Prayer and went right into You Give Love a Bad Name. Talk about starting the show on an "up" note! So high-level energy. It was amazing!
One of the highlights of the show was Bed of Roses (I didn't record this video--I got it off YouTube--it's a GREAT video)! Concert buddy, Sue, and I freaked out--of course, just like everyone else--when Jon sat on the pit circle to to sing to the crowd. It reminded me of one of the GREAT moments of my life, when I had front row for Keep the Faith Tour. During I Want You, Jon held my hand, looked right into my eyes, and sang a few lines of the second verse to me. Ahhhh! Those were the days long before digital camera phones, so it is but a wonderful memory to me. I sooo wish I had video of it! :) Anywho, here's Bed of Roses from the United Center.
This is Love For Sale...another great video I found. This one features the whole band on the pit.
And I had to include this one because I can see myself when this guy scans the audience! HA! I'm visible on the words "...home. I'm a cowboy." HAHA! I think that's hilarious!
I had to include this next one, which is shaky, but MAN, is this girl close! There's some great shots of the best smile in the world!
I shot the next two videos, but the thought of blogging wasn't something I had ever thought about at that time. AND I had been sick for days with the flu (thanks children of mine for the lovely gift--pardon my sarcasm) and just about had to crawl to my seat, but I MADE IT! So the videos are short. I'll do better next time. I promise.
Here's Someday I'll be Saturday Night.
And here is I'll Be There For You.
As Jon says in this video, "I'll leave you with just one more." Always...the final song of the encore. Enjoy.
All in all, it was a GREAT evening and I can't wait for them to come again, just like you other Joviholics out there!
I hope you enjoyed this blog. I'd love to hear your comments about what I wrote or about your concert experiences, so "talk" it up!
I'll be seeing Night Ranger next week, so stay tuned for another blog coming soon!
