Windeagle
10-26-2011, 01:17 PM
This is my first review for the board, so I hope I get this right!
Before the show:
Red Bank, NJ, was not what I expected. I come from small-town New England, so I was thinking "Jersey" with a grimace, but Red Bank is a cute little seaport town right on the river. We showed up at the Count Basie Theater at 3:30 to pick up our tickets and the lady at the box office couldn't have been nicer. We chatted about the foliage in New Hampshire, she gave us parking tips, and when we said we still had to find a hotel, she whipped out her list and gave us phone numbers and brochures to all kinds of places in the area. She was a sweetheart!
We checked out one of the places she recommended because it was only 3 blocks from the venue. It was a gorgeous little colonial-style inn right on the water. We figured it was going to be way out of our price range, but it was more reasonable than we thought. The staff, like the box office lady, were super-nice. We checked in.
Dinner was a little dicey. We tried this Italian restaurant next door to the theater. The food was great, but the waiter was kind of snooty. Maybe he didn't like our jeans, or that we didn't have a reservation, or that we came in the wrong door. Whatever. He was rude. We made a quick exit as soon as we got the check and had our dessert at a diner down the block. They were much friendlier.
After all this, it was still only 6:10 and the doors didn't open until 7. The burly security guys didn't seem too keen on people hanging around the doors, so we walked around town, killing time. Once we got inside, I bought a T-shirt and discovered how much my husband loves me. As we were hanging around waiting for our section to open, he leaned over and asked, "So, which one is Joe Walsh again?" I was in shock. He drove me 6 hours for a concert and had no clue who he was even seeing. He thought it was "the guy who sang that 'standin' on the corner' song." Ah... no.
The Opener:
Our seats were in the left balcony, about 8 rows back. I thought they were crappy when I bought them, but the theater was small enough and the angle steep enough that they were actually pretty good.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd opened the concert. The only song I knew of his was "Blue on Black", which I like, so I was willing to give him a listen. The first few songs were good, but he got old fast. First off, he overplayed the hall, so the music was painfully loud. Second, he was a bit too showy for my taste. Yeah, he's a technically awesome blues guitarist, but I like my blues slow and sexy, with a good build and tension in all the right places. To be a great blues player, IMO, you have to know how to use silence, held notes, and bent strings to create mood. KWS was more likely to smack you over the head with volume and flashy riffs. Silence and long notes have no place in his show. Pity. Overall, he was good, but he could have been SO much better.
The Headliner:
And boy, was he ever! After the first song, Pat leaned over and said, "You can see why KWS was the opener and Joe is the headliner. He knows how to work it." Very true. Here's the setlist:
Song I didn't recognize - sorry!
Life of Illusion
Walk Away
Over And Over
Rocky Mountain Way (with Levon Helm on drums!)
I Shall Be Released
Rosewood Bitters
Turn To Stone
In The City
Personal Manager Blues, segued into...
Funk #49
Life's Been Good
Life in the Fast Lane
Encore:
ILBTs
All Night Long
I won't go song by song, but here are the highlights:
- Even with seats in the balcony, we had a great view. Pat took some pictures, but they're so distant it's not worth posting them. See Peekaboo's pics in the Newkirk thread. Joe looked pretty much the same, except that he came out in a red leather jacket, which he shed after Life of Illusion.
- I loved his choice of backup musicians. I don't remember the names, but he went heavy on percussion to drive the show and light on everything else. Two and a half drummers, but only one bass, keyboard, and rhythm guitar. And of course, the required 3 backup singers, one of whom was male.
- I was not expecting "Over and Over." No one else had mentioned it being on a setlist, but I'm thrilled that he played it. That was one of my favorite Joe songs in high school and college, but I had kind of forgotten about it in recent years. I grinned and sang the whole way through.
- Joe had me going for a minute after O&O. He said he had a special guest for the next song; a "dear friend who was in the area and came down to play with me here." GASP!! I knew Glenn was in NYC the next day for the NYU lecture and NJ was "down" from NYC! OMG, could it be?
"Levon Helm!" Oh. OH! Levon Helm, from The Band! Again, I had to explain to Pat who Levon Helm was and why I was so excited. He played on RMW and you could see Joe's other drummer was beside himself with excitement. I could almost hear him thinking "OMG, I'm playing with Levon Helm!" That was a thrill. And no, Glenn never showed up. Oh well.
- Joe is a very generous boss. It was his solo show, but he encouraged his band to shine. The backup singers sang the lead on "I Will Be Released", and did a hell of a job with it. On another song, he let his drummers do a solo and watched them from the side of the stage, grinning. And there were several times where he let his rhythm guitar player take a lead. He must be great to work for.
- Turn To Stone. What can I say? I got turned on to this song just a couple of months ago when I saw a video of it on one of the EOC video downloads. It blew me away then and it blew me away here. That song MUST be played live! It's so powerful.
- I never heard PM Blues, but he did a great segue into Funk #49. Love that song. The whole theater rocked.
- LBG was pretty tame. The best part was the apology for screwing up all the kids whose parents forced them to listen to it while growning up, and the comment about if he'd known he'd have to play it for 30 years, he'd have written something else. There was no helmet cam, and without Glenn to play off of, he played it pretty straight. Still good, but not exciting.
- LITFL rocked. Pure and simple. I'd often wondered if I could really convince myself to spring for Eagles tickets (I'm cheap that way). After seeing Joe perform this solo, the answer is a resounding "YES!!!" If it was that good solo, imagine the whole band playing it. And Joe never even sang the chorus. He didn't have to. The crowd took care of that.
- I wasn't sure what was left for an encore. He'd already done the big ones. He finished with ILBTs (which I had never heard before and, well, kinda don't care if I hear again, but that's just me) and All Night Long. I've mentioned before that I wore the grooves out on Eagles Live, so it was great to hear ANL as the final song. Great way to end the night!
Before the show:
Red Bank, NJ, was not what I expected. I come from small-town New England, so I was thinking "Jersey" with a grimace, but Red Bank is a cute little seaport town right on the river. We showed up at the Count Basie Theater at 3:30 to pick up our tickets and the lady at the box office couldn't have been nicer. We chatted about the foliage in New Hampshire, she gave us parking tips, and when we said we still had to find a hotel, she whipped out her list and gave us phone numbers and brochures to all kinds of places in the area. She was a sweetheart!
We checked out one of the places she recommended because it was only 3 blocks from the venue. It was a gorgeous little colonial-style inn right on the water. We figured it was going to be way out of our price range, but it was more reasonable than we thought. The staff, like the box office lady, were super-nice. We checked in.
Dinner was a little dicey. We tried this Italian restaurant next door to the theater. The food was great, but the waiter was kind of snooty. Maybe he didn't like our jeans, or that we didn't have a reservation, or that we came in the wrong door. Whatever. He was rude. We made a quick exit as soon as we got the check and had our dessert at a diner down the block. They were much friendlier.
After all this, it was still only 6:10 and the doors didn't open until 7. The burly security guys didn't seem too keen on people hanging around the doors, so we walked around town, killing time. Once we got inside, I bought a T-shirt and discovered how much my husband loves me. As we were hanging around waiting for our section to open, he leaned over and asked, "So, which one is Joe Walsh again?" I was in shock. He drove me 6 hours for a concert and had no clue who he was even seeing. He thought it was "the guy who sang that 'standin' on the corner' song." Ah... no.
The Opener:
Our seats were in the left balcony, about 8 rows back. I thought they were crappy when I bought them, but the theater was small enough and the angle steep enough that they were actually pretty good.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd opened the concert. The only song I knew of his was "Blue on Black", which I like, so I was willing to give him a listen. The first few songs were good, but he got old fast. First off, he overplayed the hall, so the music was painfully loud. Second, he was a bit too showy for my taste. Yeah, he's a technically awesome blues guitarist, but I like my blues slow and sexy, with a good build and tension in all the right places. To be a great blues player, IMO, you have to know how to use silence, held notes, and bent strings to create mood. KWS was more likely to smack you over the head with volume and flashy riffs. Silence and long notes have no place in his show. Pity. Overall, he was good, but he could have been SO much better.
The Headliner:
And boy, was he ever! After the first song, Pat leaned over and said, "You can see why KWS was the opener and Joe is the headliner. He knows how to work it." Very true. Here's the setlist:
Song I didn't recognize - sorry!
Life of Illusion
Walk Away
Over And Over
Rocky Mountain Way (with Levon Helm on drums!)
I Shall Be Released
Rosewood Bitters
Turn To Stone
In The City
Personal Manager Blues, segued into...
Funk #49
Life's Been Good
Life in the Fast Lane
Encore:
ILBTs
All Night Long
I won't go song by song, but here are the highlights:
- Even with seats in the balcony, we had a great view. Pat took some pictures, but they're so distant it's not worth posting them. See Peekaboo's pics in the Newkirk thread. Joe looked pretty much the same, except that he came out in a red leather jacket, which he shed after Life of Illusion.
- I loved his choice of backup musicians. I don't remember the names, but he went heavy on percussion to drive the show and light on everything else. Two and a half drummers, but only one bass, keyboard, and rhythm guitar. And of course, the required 3 backup singers, one of whom was male.
- I was not expecting "Over and Over." No one else had mentioned it being on a setlist, but I'm thrilled that he played it. That was one of my favorite Joe songs in high school and college, but I had kind of forgotten about it in recent years. I grinned and sang the whole way through.
- Joe had me going for a minute after O&O. He said he had a special guest for the next song; a "dear friend who was in the area and came down to play with me here." GASP!! I knew Glenn was in NYC the next day for the NYU lecture and NJ was "down" from NYC! OMG, could it be?
"Levon Helm!" Oh. OH! Levon Helm, from The Band! Again, I had to explain to Pat who Levon Helm was and why I was so excited. He played on RMW and you could see Joe's other drummer was beside himself with excitement. I could almost hear him thinking "OMG, I'm playing with Levon Helm!" That was a thrill. And no, Glenn never showed up. Oh well.
- Joe is a very generous boss. It was his solo show, but he encouraged his band to shine. The backup singers sang the lead on "I Will Be Released", and did a hell of a job with it. On another song, he let his drummers do a solo and watched them from the side of the stage, grinning. And there were several times where he let his rhythm guitar player take a lead. He must be great to work for.
- Turn To Stone. What can I say? I got turned on to this song just a couple of months ago when I saw a video of it on one of the EOC video downloads. It blew me away then and it blew me away here. That song MUST be played live! It's so powerful.
- I never heard PM Blues, but he did a great segue into Funk #49. Love that song. The whole theater rocked.
- LBG was pretty tame. The best part was the apology for screwing up all the kids whose parents forced them to listen to it while growning up, and the comment about if he'd known he'd have to play it for 30 years, he'd have written something else. There was no helmet cam, and without Glenn to play off of, he played it pretty straight. Still good, but not exciting.
- LITFL rocked. Pure and simple. I'd often wondered if I could really convince myself to spring for Eagles tickets (I'm cheap that way). After seeing Joe perform this solo, the answer is a resounding "YES!!!" If it was that good solo, imagine the whole band playing it. And Joe never even sang the chorus. He didn't have to. The crowd took care of that.
- I wasn't sure what was left for an encore. He'd already done the big ones. He finished with ILBTs (which I had never heard before and, well, kinda don't care if I hear again, but that's just me) and All Night Long. I've mentioned before that I wore the grooves out on Eagles Live, so it was great to hear ANL as the final song. Great way to end the night!