September 3, 20179 yr Just returned home from an absolutely awesome show, and the crowd was unbelievable as it was announced 17,900 in attendance! :eek: After 35 years they sound as good as 1982. While only 3 of the members are from the original incarnation of the band, Bassist/Lead Singer, Jack Blades (63 yrs old), Lead Guitarist, Brad Gillis (60 yrs old), and Drummer/Lead Singer, Kelly Keagy (65 yrs old) they played to perfection all their hits, as well as, tunes from groups that all the bands members were part of in their careers. The energy and musicianship would have you astounded that guys this old could still do it at that level. Songs that were not Night Ranger tunes that were played included, Coming of Age and High Enough (Jack Blades was a member of Damn Yankees), Schools Out For Summer (Guitarist Kerri Kelli played with Alice Cooper for 10 years), Crazy Train (Brad Gillis played with Ozzy Osbourne following the death of Randy Rhodes), and they did an acoustic version of Don Henley's Boys Of Summer . Also, during the solo of Don't Tell Me You Love Me they broke into Deep Purple's Highway Star (nailed it!). Ran into a few BGP'ers during the course of the evening including @Rick Rude & @JamTime.....and @B-Ball-fan tagged along with me and Mrs. Lawnboy. The Setlist Touch Of Madness Four In The Morning Sing Me Away ( @mcpapa favorite) Coming Of Age Sentimental Street Secret Of My Success Somehow, Someway (off the new album) Schools Out For Summer Crazy Train Night Ranger High Enough Boys Of Summer Goodbye When You Close Your Eyes Don't Tell Me You Love Me/Highway Star Sister Christian (You Can Still) Rock In America Not bad for a FREE show!
September 3, 20179 yr [ATTACH=CONFIG]63587[/ATTACH] Just returned home from an absolutely awesome show, and the crowd was unbelievable as it was announced 17,900 in attendance! :eek: After 35 years they sound as good as 1982. While only 3 of the members are from the original incarnation of the band, Bassist/Lead Singer, Jack Blades (63 yrs old), Lead Guitarist, Brad Gillis (60 yrs old), and Drummer/Lead Singer, Kelly Keagy (65 yrs old) they played to perfection all their hits, as well as, tunes from groups that all the bands members were part of in their careers. The energy and musicianship would have you astounded that guys this old could still do it at that level. Songs that were not Night Ranger tunes that were played included, Coming of Age and High Enough (Jack Blades was a member of Damn Yankees), Schools Out For Summer (Guitarist Kerri Kelli played with Alice Cooper for 10 years), Crazy Train (Brad Gillis played with Ozzy Osbourne following the death of Randy Rhodes), and they did an acoustic version of Don Henley's Boys Of Summer . Also, during the solo of Don't Tell Me You Love Me they broke into Deep Purple's Highway Star (nailed it!). Ran into a few BGP'ers during the course of the evening including @Rick Rude & @JamTime.....and @B-Ball-fan tagged along with me and Mrs. Lawnboy. The Setlist Touch Of Madness Four In The Morning Sing Me Away ( @mcpapa favorite) Coming Of Age Sentimental Street Secret Of My Success Somehow, Someway (off the new album) Schools Out For Summer Crazy Train Night Ranger High Enough Boys Of Summer Goodbye When You Close Your Eyes Don't Tell Me You Love Me/Highway Star Sister Christian (You Can Still) Rock In America Not bad for a FREE show! That's a pretty solid set...
September 3, 20179 yr Great review @Lawnboy13 of a great show. :thumb: After all of the rain the weather couldn't have been more clear and perfect with a hint of the chill of autumn in the air. With the huge lively well behaved crowd it just felt completely comfortable on this fresh moonlit evening. Might be the first show that I've ever been to in this new age with the ever presence of two drones flying overhead pretty much the entire evening. Will be interesting to see what they captured. Maybe they caught me flashing a peace sign at em'...that would be cool. All in all a solid dynamite, crowd pleasing, guitar lead-o-rama, hit song laden, energy driven, good time rockin' roll show. And like LB said... pretty amazing how these guys can still bring it at their age, and they don't at all appear to be slowing down one bit. Wears me out just thinking how they move from town to town, night after night to do it all over again. A true testament to how much these dudes love what they do, and by the looks of it, as was obvious to everyone in attendance in Independence, they were having great time bringing the great time to all of us. I think the one song from their solid hot set list that best defined the whole evening was..."You Can Still Rock in America". :ylsuper: Really glad that I had the chance to be apart it, and also apart of St. Cecilia's record breaking crowd. If that wasn't enough as it is, it was also very cool to see St. C's pastor Fr. T announce Night Ranger to the stage with pumped fist and a hearty Woo-Hoo!!! .... Now how cool is that?!?! :ylsuper:
September 3, 20179 yr With Night Ranger being the obvious draw of the evening, I would be remiss if I didn't also mention how great of a warm-up act Cincinnati Classic Rock cover band Blackbone Cat was. When it comes to cover bands they were big time quality and power with dead-on accuracy of their delivery of a fine assortment of Classic Rock and Classic Metal party favorites from such bands as KISS, Judas Priest, Rush, Pink Floyd, Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith etc etc etc... where at times if you closed your eyes you could swear that you were hearing the original said bands. Any tunes that required high dynamic vocals were nailed, and this wasn't just a cover band in the corner of a little parking lot at your typical church festival, this was the high power thunderous sound of any first rate concert that you would expect if you paid a hefty price at such venues as Riverbend or the U.S. Bank Arena. They prepared the audience quite well for NR where many in the crowd could be seen singing along to all of these solid rockin' classics, and yours truly couldn't help himself but to dust off his air guitar that I for far too long had stored away. My fingers came back to life good and limber hitting all the notes dead-on, and taking me right back to the glory days of a good old fashioned rock n' roll concert. :ylsuper: It was a great night, and I had a blast enjoying it with @Lawnboy13 and Mrs. Lawnboy, who it you've never yet had the pleasure of meeting is one cool and fun rockin' lady. Dude...you done good. :clap:
September 3, 20179 yr Was really wanting to go to this, but decided day before not to make the trek. I actually thought the crowd would be double this and didn't know how parking,traffic and transport would be for this event as was already planning to park at Kroger and take a trolley. The Blue Ash event that had REO, was free and drew maybe 50,000(I heard). Was there any seating for NR or was it just bring your chair?
September 3, 20179 yr Author Was really wanting to go to this, but decided day before not to make the trek. I actually thought the crowd would be double this and didn't know how parking,traffic and transport would be for this event as was already planning to park at Kroger and take a trolley. The Blue Ash event that had REO, was free and drew maybe 50,000(I heard). Was there any seating for NR or was it just bring your chair? They Blue Ash event has way more room then St. Cecelia. The shuttle service from Kroger to St. Cecelia was fast and efficient. Some seating, but you had to get there early. As far as the crowd goes, ever bit of space was taken up, don't think you could've got another person in there.
September 3, 20179 yr Some seating, but you had to get there early. As far as the crowd goes, ever bit of space was taken up, don't think you could've got another person in there. That's what concerned me, wasn't going to spend the day there to get a seat and though have never been to the venue, have been to the general area for high school,middle school baseball and basketball. Would think getting out of there would be a nightmare for a crowd half that size. Hopefully both Night Ranger and REO will make a stop at Riverbend next summer, would gladly pay to see both
September 3, 20179 yr Author That's what concerned me, wasn't going to spend the day there to get a seat and though have never been to the venue, have been to the general area for high school,middle school baseball and basketball. Would think getting out of there would be a nightmare for a crowd half that size. Hopefully both Night Ranger and REO will make a stop at Riverbend next summer, would gladly pay to see both Well got there about 7:30 no issues getting in, they had about 5 or 6 buses shuttling back and forth. Once the show ended the line for the shuttle was pretty long so we walked back to Kroger, took about 10-12 minutes. Traffic was NOT an issue.
September 3, 20179 yr Well got there about 7:30 no issues getting in, they had about 5 or 6 buses shuttling back and forth. Once the show ended the line for the shuttle was pretty long so we walked back to Kroger, took about 10-12 minutes. Traffic was NOT an issue. That sounds better than Riverbend. That attendance would be a sold out show for them and a traffic nightmare. Unbelievable how an event like this can seemingly run so smoothly on a Holiday weekend in little Independence,Ky. and in Ohio they can't get traffic flowing for a Tuesday middle of the month concert
September 3, 20179 yr Author That sounds better than Riverbend. That attendance would be a sold out show for them and a traffic nightmare. Unbelievable how an event like this can seemingly run so smoothly on a Holiday weekend in little Independence,Ky. and in Ohio they can't get traffic flowing for a Tuesday middle of the month concert I too was amazed at how well the logistics for this event were, very well planned and organized.......Kudos to those in charge.
September 3, 20179 yr This picture shows a portion of the crowd from last night..... @TAC [ATTACH]63591[/ATTACH] Based on this picture, we must have been standing very close to each other.
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