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).
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!
Best Wishes,
Erica Basile
