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WOW!
What a night I had at the RNS show in Beckley on July 31, 1999. I'm not sure where to begin, but I do know this will be a long review. Hey, it's been 12 years since I last saw the band live, so I have a lot to say!
The show was held at a dirt track in BFE. It was redneck central but everyone was pretty cool. I was a little unprepared for the crowd mix. But Rock n Roll is for EVERYONE. The last concert I was at was Garth Brooks 2 years ago. Needless to say, this crowd was a lot different than that one. The last Rock show I've been to was probably back in 91 or 92, so I'd kinda lost touch.
Anyway, I'd say there were about 3,500 people there by the time Night Ranger took the stage. That's a pretty nice size crowd for the area. I was impressed. The crowd was very enthusiastic for all the acts and I'm glad that my West Virginia natives showed up with that enthusiasm. It was Party Central!
We got to the track around 3:15. The gates were supposed to open at 4, but didn't open until 5. It was FREAKIN' HOT!!!!!!!! No shade, not many clouds, and not much of a breeze. My wife and sister-in-law about had a heat stroke, but they soon got over it.
There were about 50-75 people ahead of us to get in, and by the time the gates opened, there were at least 500 waiting in total. I was afraid we wouldn't make it to the front. But when they let us in I did a slow jog and got second "row" right between Jack and Brad. This was exactly where I wanted (other than 1st row) as I am a HUGE Brad fan. The man is simply AWESOME! (More on that later!)
Since they were running behind, the WV Battle of the Bands Champ did not perform. That was just fine by me. Bring out Night Ranger!!!!!!!!!
Slaughter hit the stage. Dana Strum has tons of energy but his lip snarls started to agitate me. They put on a great show which included some new stuff that was pretty good. I also liked that they did a medley of a lot of songs from their first album. That was nice since that's the only album of theirs I have and with the condensed set it allowed for more songs. Good idea Slaughter! At one point (second or 3rd song) Mark got down and surfed the crowd. Very Cool! They played for 40 minutes and signed autographs after the set at the merchandise tent. Very Classy.
One note: My wife said Mark Slaughter looked better with the sunglasses on rather than off.
Next came Quiet Riot. I was really looking forward to their show. Metal Health was one of the first Rock albums I ever bought, plus I had never seen them before. I've got to say, I was a little disappointed. Maybe it was just because they only played 35 minutes (shorter set than Slaughter!), maybe it was because every time I looked at Kevin DeBrow I wanted to laugh my butt off at his hair! He was wearing one of those big red "pimp" hats! The black velvet pants were a nice touch though!
QR did have a good stage presence and it was fun watching Rudy Sarzo on bass. Kevin made a comment about how he missed the 80's and about how back then the girls would all lift their shirts and show off their, well, um, you know.
During the next song the fattest and/or ugliest chicks (probably drunkest, too!) there all started flashing the band. I'm thinking to myself, "Man, how far has QR sunk to be requesting flashes from chicks like these?) UGGGHHHHHH! QR also signed at the tent after their set.
On to
As I said before it was very hot! Between sets they sprayed us down with a water hose. Normally that would be fine. But I had my camera and autograph items with me and I had to try to protect them from the water. That was fun!
Night Ranger hit the stage around 8 and played 50-60 minutes. Personally, I could've done without QR for a longer NR set, but QR was ok and the crowd really enjoyed them.
Night Ranger's Set was as follows:
So, basically it was the Midnight Madness tour. That was great, but I wish they would've at least mentioned the new albums or cut "Coming Of Age" out in favor of a new one. I did enjoy watching Brad do COA though.
The show was VERY energetic. Brad is simply awesome to watch that close. I think he played as much 1 handed as he did with 2. He is so unique and he gets into it so much!
Now about the injury! During "Sing Me Away" Jack NAILED Brad in the side of the head with the neck of his bass. If you have the 7 Wishes Live video you know how they goof and Brad ducks as Jack swings his bass around. Brad didn't duck in time and got clobbered! He immediately left the stage. When the song was over Jack went over to Jeff and told him to do a solo. Not many people realized what had happened. So Jeff gets done and Brad comes out and does his solo/intro to Eddie. I went berserk so Brad would know how much I appreciated the fact that he came back! (I don't know if he saw me or not, but it's the thought that counts!) He left the stage a few times to check it out and to wipe the blood. I think he mouthed MF after his solo because his head hurt so bad. He truly was in pain but he kept on going! What a ROCKER!!!!!!!!
I believe the solos took the place of Sentimental Street in the set(?) Later in the show Jack kissed Brad's boo-boo! I don't know how many people caught it, but it was hilarious!!!!! When he introduced Brad he said "And bleeding profusely on lead guitar and vocals Mr. Brad Gillis." LOL!!!
Jeff seemed to be having a good time and really hammed it up during his solo and later during his introduction. I think it's the same 'ol Jeff! Now Jack, he's just plain GOOFY! During Brad's intro to RITA Jack's doing all these wavy motions with his arms ala Wayne's World. What a goofball! I Love it!!! Night Ranger ENTERTAINS!!!!!!!!!
Now for the wardrobe (this is mostly for the ladies.) Jeff wore. . . . a T-shirt! JUST KIDDING! The vest was there along with black pants. After the show he wore a white tank top and baseball hat.
Fitz wore a hat, shades, black pants, a black T-shirt and a white button down shirt unbuttoned. It was funny after the show, how I said something about all 5 and someone said there's only 4 in NR right? I said no they have a keyboard player. They said they didn't even notice him. Poor Fitz! The guy's a freakin' mannequin on stage. But we love him!
Jack wore a blue jacket with black pants. He took the jacket off to reveal a white tank-top.
Brad had on blue and green long surfer style shorts and a black vest. (must've borrowed one from Jeff!)
Kelly wore black bicycle shorts a black shirt and a white button-down shirt unbuttoned.
BACKSTAGE!!!
As soon as the show was over I headed for the buses. You would've thought the Pope was in town with all the security! They had it roped off so you couldn't get to the buses without a pass. We were probably 50 feet away so we could still see and yell at the guys when they came out. It was dusk and it was tough to see. The first person I saw was Rudy Sarzo and I got him to come over and I shook his hand. I didn't have any QR stuff so I didn't get a signature.
No one else noticed when Jeff came out except me and I yelled "Mr. Watson! Hey Jeff!" He came over and gladly signed and took pictures with everyone. I had my Big Life tour book and he commented, "That's an attractive photo!" I said yeah, that was in your "Big Hair" days. He laughed.
Next was Brad! Now he's the only one I needed to get to complete the 45 cover of WYCYE a friend of a friend got for me 12 years ago so I was STOKED!!!!! I figured he wouldn't come out because of his injury. You could tell he was in a lot of pain but he was VERY gracious and signed for everyone there. I asked him if he would be ok and he said he would and thanked me for asking. What a CLASS ACT!!!!!!! While Brad was signing Frankie Banali came over and gave him 2 VERY STRONG ibuprofen tablets.
Next I saw Fitz and he came over and signed for everyone. I saw Jack and Kelly and tried to get them to come over after they signed for the 6-8 people with passes but either they didn't hear or ignored us because the whole band got in a van and left right after that. My sister-in-law was disappointed that she didn't meet Jack, but oh well! I was on CLOUD 9 because I got to meet Brad and complete my cover! There were probably 15 of us waiting there and all the guys that came over were very gracious!
Thanks, Night Ranger!
After the band split so did we. None of us really had a lot of desire to see Ted. We only knew a few songs, plus the rednecks (I say that with great fondness) were REALLY trashed by this point and I didn't particularly want to be on the road with 1500 drunks. We had a 3 hour drive ahead of us anyway.
Night Ranger truly ROCKS and if you get a chance, see them!!! I was NOT disappointed at all!
Yes, You Can STILL Rock in America!
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