2008 A LONG YEAR IN REVIEW PART 2

50) July 13^th 2008 Irving Plaza: The English Beat, The Alarm and The Fixx.

Everybody here knows that The Alarm is my band. I have seen these guys more times than anybody. I saw the original band 13 times and will always support Mike Peters. He is just one of the nicest guys you could meet. Why they keep going on before The Fixx is beyond me. The Alarm had less time being first, but they made the best of it. New material is as good as the vintage stuff. Steve Grantley plays drums like a man half his age and James Stevenson is a great guitar player and very underrated. The Fixx is a yearly thing with me. They are always on a bill that I go to, to see other bands. They were never a favorite of mine. I saw them in the 80s and 90s. Very lackluster but always have been. The English Beat were great. They have some new members and it is heavy Ska now. They are tighter then a drum now. Keep your dancing shoes on for these guys. I like the hardcore ska feel they now have and cannot wait to see them next month.

51) July 14^th 2008 Jones Beach: Rush.

Never a huge fan of these great musicians. I like some of the radio hits but that is it. My son the drummer has fallen in love with Neil and wanted to see them. Off we went. I have said this before, I may not like Rush but they give their fans what they want. You never hear someone knocking one of their shows. They can certainty play and I do love Tom Sawyer. I feel the show is a bit long but that is me, I know the fans want it even longer.

52) July 15^th 2008 Madison Square Garden: Bon Jovi, All American Rejects.

Another night out with my son. All American Rejects were OK. I thought by now they be a little more polished on stage. They will start to wear thin as they get older. Bon Jovi can just stand on stage and not play for two hours and their female fans will go nuts. Jon is a good front man but Richie come on. Stop with, "I am as good as Clapton." No, you are not and after my Clapton review you do not want to be. Tico is an amazing drummer. We were sitting to the side of him and for a straight rock band he is doing a lot. My son who never thought about Tico before came away impressed. You can't fool the kids.

53) July 17^th 2008: George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic.

Great night of funk but very little of George. The band was on stage over 20 mins before he even comes out. It might have been closer to 30 mins. When he does come out he is really just a band leader for most of the show. The band is one of the best. People walk on and off as they are needed. At one point there had to be over 15 people on stage. The female singers are all power houses. These talented people are masters. Of course Dr. Funkenstein and Give Up the Funk were the highlights.

54) July 18^th 2008 Shea Stadium: Billy Joel

This was the very last concert for Shea. Billy played two nights earlier but I was determined to go to the last show. Billy was in fine form and played all of his hits. Everybody knew about the guest stars from the first show and wondered about tonight.

The first guest was Tony Bennet, the only guest to do both shows. They did New York Sate of Mind. The band played it with more schmaltz then ever for Tony. We also got Garth Brooks doing Shameless. Mark Wood the violinist from Trans Siberia Orchestra played on Downeaster Alexa. Steven Tyler without Billy for some reason did Walk this Way. I heard Billy did this also the first night. He did not play with one of the guests. I guess he needs a rest. If Steven was good and you thought it could not get better, then you are dead wrong. How does Roger Daltry and Billy doing My Generation sound. Roger lit the place up. Finally a man with a history to this building. The place went nuts.

Well, it is getting to the end and who as it turns out just got to the place but Paul McCartney and we get I Saw Her Standing There. If the place went nuts for Roger then there is no word to describe what the crowd felt and projected back to the stage. Of course at the end of the night Paul closed the Stadium with Let It Be. I know there is to be a film released sometime this year but I fear they are going to edit the two shows. Just put out the final show. Don Henley and John Mellencamp just do not compare.

55) July 19^th 2008 Beacon Theater: Yaz.

This was a huge surprise. For those that do not know, Yaz is Vince Clarke on Synthesizer and Alison Moyet on vocals. She was great. Wow! what a voice on her. Not a great show for showmanship but a great night of music. You've got to love a group that does not hide what it is. At one point they both walk off stage and a reel to reel tape machine in the middle of the stage is playing. They did all of Upstairs at Erics and most of You and me Both. I hope this is not a short lived reunion. This was done to promote the release of both albums.

56) July 22^nd 2008 Burns Park and Sept 14^th 2008 Toby Beach: Lou Gramm.

The July show was a free show that the Town provides during the summer. Lou came on stage and so did the downpour. He came out and played Hot Blooded. He did not sound like himself and after the one song he left the stage to wait out the rain. The rain never did stop, more than half the crowd left when he left the stage. Lou came back and made up the show in September. This time it was during the day and the sun was shining. His voice sounded better, but it is not what it was. The band is ok but not great and he is working with his brothers again after all these years. Of course the material is great and we do get some solo material which is also very good. It is just a shame he is not as good as he used to be. Yes, I am counting this as one show.

57) July 23^rd 2008 BB Kings: Jefferson Starship, Quick Silver Messenger Service.

Quick Silver Messenger Service I always find to be very good. They are always with Jefferson Starship as David Freiberg is also in both bands. They always seem to get a short set. Harmonies are still there and Gary Duncan can still play. Jefferson Starship are just awful and they seem to be getting worse. Marty does not do every show, he was here for this one and he is shot. He should stay home. There has been another change in the department of female vocalist and the new singer is Cathy Richardson and she does not have the chops to cover the material. Stay away from this show unless you want to hear Quick Silver Messenger Service.

58) July 25^th 2008 BB Kings: Janis Ian Roy Book Binder

This was the return of Janis Ian. The place was packed for her. Many of the 60s Village scene were in the audience. I spotted Richie Havens. She was wonderful. Just her playing acoustic guitar. She was promoting her autobiography so we got some really cool stories.

Her songs are heat felt and warm. If you like Richie and Indigo Girls, you will also love this. Roy Book Binder joked a lot and he can finger pick but he is not what he tries to come off to be. He is not authentic. He will always be good for an opener.

59) July 26^th 2008 Nassau Coliseum: WARP Tour with Relient K, Horrorpops, The Academy Is, The Bronx, Street Dogs, Gym Class Heroes, Cobra Starship, Pennywise, Angels and Airwaves, TAT, Oreskaband, The Randies, Real Big Fish, Automatic Loveleter.

WARP is always a lot of fun. Get to see some good new bands and some really awful stuff. The beauty of it is if something stinks walk away and go to another stage.

Automatic Loveletter were a big surprise. Juliet Simms not only can sing and emote she also at the age of 22 works the stage better than half of the performers on this bill. They are a nice mix of emo but with a pop influence. Real Big Fish, the veteran ska band, did their thing as they have since the 90s. Hi energy hi octane ska dance music that is sure to get you moving. The Randies a California female band that I discovered on the last WARP tour. Just as good as last year and will hopefully get on a bigger stage if they play this tour again. Rock with enough pop to have a hit. Oreskaband is a Ska band from Japan made of six girls. They are very young and can play this style of music but they come off as a cartoon. From what I understand they are very popular in Japan and are set to make a movie this year. TAT is another band I found on WARP. I saw them in 2006 and they were great. Tatiana is only 23 and is the perfect combo of Joan Jett and Chrissie Hynde. Great old-fashioned rock and roll attitude on stage. Tatiana like two years ago makes a point of meeting the fans right after the set in front of the stage and not in a signing tent. She and Nick are just great people. I am sure Jake their drummer is also, I have just not had a chance to speak with him. Their first full album came out in 2008. Go and get Soho Lights. Angels and Airwaves were OK but with the lineage of Blink 182 I expected more but got less. It seemed tired and uninspired. Sometimes when a veteran band goes on during the day they do not live up to the fact that they've got to kill for 30 mins. Pennywise the long time punk band is still at it. They are ok but they are not The Ramones or Bad Religion. and will never crack it wide open as either of these two bands or say Rancid. Cobra Starship for all the hype they just stink. Gabe thinks way too much of himself and it shows in his performance. For a guy who has been around now he appears to be walking on stage for the first time. This was a huge disappointment. Gym Class Heroes cannot decide if they are an R&B band or a hip hop act. They need to decide as they do not mix the two well. Maybe now that Katie Perry is out of the picture they can bunker down and be creative. Street Dogs lead by former Dropkick Murphys Mike McColgan. Anger as a stitch and at this late in the game for them just does not come off. Very few can do it and they cannot. Stick with Drop Kick Murphys. The Bronx is a punk band from LA. This was the first time I was seeing this band and came away impressed. Much better then some of the later punk bands that are out today and much better then Street Dogs. The Academy Is are a very good band and wish they had more then 30 mins this day. New CD Fast Times at Barrington High I would not say is one of the best CD's of the year but one of the best from this style of music. Horrorpops who I had missed earlier in the year proved to be worth the wait. Get psycobilly rock. Patricia proved to be a viable singer and this fun show was great to witness. Even though on a main stage it was still small and I guess that is why we did not have the dancers. Nekroman is a madman on guitar and Niedermeier is a basher on the drums. Relient K are a band that could with the next release really cross over. They have the chops and skills to be a huge headliner like No Doubt or My Chemical Romance. If the Kings of Leon can headline Madison Square Garden, how I have no idea, then these guys can.

60) July 27^th 2008 Giants Stadium: Bruce Springsteen.

Another big Bruce Show. My fourth show and last show of this tour. The tour just kept getting better and better. This night the show opened with Tenth Ave Freeze Out and ended with Rosalita. In between we got Janey, Don't Lose Heart and Bobby Jean which were nice to hear. Like the Stones The E street Band just does not seem to quit no matter how old they are getting. This year another new album and tour and I expect the engines to be running at full speed again.

61) July 28^th 2008 Ellsworth Park: Melissa Manchester.

After two nights of rock and punk and just loud music, it was time to come down a little and Melissa was just the ticket. Melissa had not been around for awhile as she took time off to raise her children. This night it was just her at piano and two other musicians. We got very naked renditions of her classics Midnight Blue and Don't Cry Out Loud. Voice is still very sweet and captivating.

62) July 29^th 2008 Burns Park: Air Supply.

Keeping the mellow flowing I went to Air Supply and let me tell you these aging balladeers are still packing a huge crowd. They maybe a little Vegas now, but that is what their crowd wants and they give it to them. All the hits and schmaltz you could want.

They have a good band backing them and they are pros at the banter. All the hits with nothing missing.

63) July 30^th 2008 Jones Beach: Poison, Sebastian Bach Dokken.

I have seen every Poison tour since 2000 and I have seen them even before that. This year because of the inclusion of Sebastian Bach and Dokken I was going to skip. With tickets not selling, they dropped in price to $10. I got me one and went. Both Sebastian and Dokken I have not liked since the 80s. I have seen both of these performers in their hey day and beyond and things have not gotten better. Sebastian was the better of the two, but he has never impressed me even when I saw Skid Row's first tour. Don Dokken should not speak in-between songs. He rambles and states the most insane things. The only person laughing at his jokes is himself. Maybe if George Lynch came back I would be interested, but this was just lame. Another Poison tour and another hit fill 75 minute set. All the same pyro and almost all the same in between song banter from Brett but nothing but a good time was had.

64) July 31^st 2008 CAPITAL One Theater: Eric Burdon, Jack Bruce, The Turtles, Melanie, Joey Molland Badfinger, Jonathan Edwards.

Seven days in a row and getting a little tired but I wanted my son to see Jack Bruce. This was Hippiefest 2008 and Jonathan Edwards was up first. Three song set which of course included Sunshine, his big hit. Most people did not seem to know who he was and after he played the song he said, "Oh, That Jonathan Edwards." Joey Molland was up next and for this tour he did not have his band and used the same musicians that played with Jonathan. This actually hurt the set for me because I knew how much better it was with Joey's own band. The rest of the crowd did not seem to mind and rock out on a short 15 min of Badfinger classics. Melanie was next and rambled on and on when she could have been playing songs. When you have such a short time just play. The Turtles have been doing this for so long they could do it in their sleep. Top pros with a great catalog of pop songs. The fact that they are very entertaining just helps push them over the top. Jack played the Cream Classics but with out Eric and Ginger it just was not as good but this maybe the closest my son gets to the real deal. Though Jack has been in the press saying he wants more Cream gigs, so fingers crossed. Eric Burdon is not bad, but another performer that is not what he used to be. Animal classics are there but his range is not.

65) Aug 2^nd Burns Park: Scandal.

Patty Smyth is always fun to watch. She still has her sass. Why Scandal only managed three hits is a mystery. Goodbye to You, Loves Got A Line and yes The Warrior are still crowd favorites. Sometimes Love Ain't Enough is a great song when Patty sings it. I think it is even better with out Don Henley. Only one other original member of Sandal in the band and that is Benjy King on keyboards; though there is talk of new music from the band with more original members. Hope the rumor is true.

66) Aug 4^th 2008 Jones Beach: The Police, Elvis Costello and The Imposters.

What was to be the last show of this reunion, I made sure to get tickets. They later added another night at Jones Beach and then the final show at MSG. Elvis came on and did some new songs but was smart this time and did give us some hits. Elvis can be fickle and you never know if you are going to get hits or what. He did a nice mix of old and new. I saw The Police twice in 2007 and this was a continuation of the party. Same set and same great time had. If this has to be it they went out with a bang of a tour.

67) Aug 6^th 2008 Jones Beach: Stone Temple Pilots, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is an Americana band that are just awful and boring.

Stone Temple Pilots were a train wreck this night. Songs just went off to never never land. Scott looks terrible and we should start the pool of when he is going to expire as he just cannot seem to shake the monkey. We did get lucky because he was pulling an Axl and going on late a lot of nights. He did not on this night. This show was another poor ticket sales show and tickets were dropped to $10 and this still did not pack the house.

68) Aug 7^th 2008 Madison Square Garden: The Police, B52's

The Garden brings out the best in everybody and the B52s are no different than anybody else. As good as they were in June, they were better this night and gave the crowd a great warm up for the big send off of a legend. Nothing more to add to what I saw two nights before other then this was The Police saying goodbye. A couple of covers were played, Cream and Hendrix that were not played on other nights and a fat lady came out and sang at the end to drive the point home.

69) Aug 8^th 2008 Jones Beach: Jonas Brothers Demi Lovato.

Brought my eight year old daughter to this and we could not have been more disappointed. Demi is a joke that I hope goes away real fast. She is 16 and talks in interviews about how back in the day she was into metal. Guess what honey, this is your day. She puts every cliché rock move into every song that she looks like a fool at karaoke. Her voice is no better then most doing karaoke. If there is a God she will not last. While it might be nice that the Jonas brothers let a couple of hundred fans to come back stage before the show to meet them, they should do it earlier. The younger members of their crowd, unlike Hannah they do get older teenage girls at their show, are done and want to leave before they come on. The fans lucky enough to get backstage are fan club members. Nice way to keep the cash following in while others have to sit and wait and wait. They are the Axl of the teenyboppers. The show is very Vegas and they are going to go the way of The Osmonds.

70) Aug 9^th Jones Beach: Jethro Tull, Peter Frampton.

Peter is always a treat. Triple threat, great guitar player, great songs, great entertainer. If you have him as your opener then you better be ready to kill when you go on. Peter knows what the crowd wants and Frampton Comes Alive is played mostly with a few newer songs. Ian Anderson can be prickly and at times, shows can be tough to sit thru because of the song selection. Most but not all hits played this tour and it made for an enjoyable evening. No matter how bad the set list may be, Martin Barre is always a delight on guitar.

He should be listed in more guitar columns then he is.

71) Aug 10^th 2008 Jones Beach: Judas Priest, Heaven and Hell, Motorhead, Testament.

Testament came on first. How they are not as big as Slayer and Megadeth is astounding. With the original front line back out there they are hard to beat in the thrash world of music. Chuck sounds great. Motorhead gave us a great set of blistering noise. Lemmy will always be the man in black and kill you when he sings Ace of Spades. Heaven and Hell were the special guest and they seemed to be slipping. This is the third time I have seen them since getting back and it just seems to get a little weaker every time. They will be back with new material this year so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Priest is pulling a Maiden and skipping some hits for new material. The new material just does not hold up compared to some of the old stuff.

72) Aug 12^th 2008 Madison Square Garden: Neil Diamond.

The smoothness of Neil came back to New York for 4 shows and this was the first one.

Neil sounds great but Coming to America does not work in the middle of the show. It has to open or be the end. Neil's new material this time out is very strong and sits nicely in the middle of the set. Another performer that has a great catalog and does not ignore it. You get what you want and more then you pay for.

73) Aug 13^th 2008 Jones Beach: The Allman Brothers, Rat Dog.

I keep going hoping to hear Whipping Post and I never get it. I always go the wrong night. Rat Dog is Bobby doing his thing and it is almost a full set. He does get over 90 mins. Knockin' on Heavens Door was a nice surprise. Greg looked and sounded tired. I really think the band needs to take a break, though we already know that is not happening as the Beacon run is already on sale. Not only does Gregg need some more rest to over come his illness, but Warren Haynes is starting to wane. The Brothers, Govt Mule and now back in The Dead is just too much and he needs to recharge the batteries.

Derek Trucks is no longer impressive either. They all need to get reinspired and get the juice flowing again.

74) Aug 14^th 2008 Jones Beach: Journey, Heart, Cheap Trick.

The rain almost canceled this show. The venue would not even let people in to much later than the door time was to be. The deal was cut that the show had to be over by midnight. To do this Cheap Trick and Heart had to cut their sets. Cheap Trick only got 20 mins. They did the best with what they cut. They are true pros and people do not give them the credit for the chops they have. Possibly the best of the three bands this night. Heart is good, but not great. Ann and Nancy do not have the powerhouse band they used to behind them and it hurts the show. They need to upgrade in the guitar and drum department. My other complaint is that if they had to do a shorter set, then cut out the two cover songs from your set and give us Heart songs. Now I always loved Journey, but it may be time to pack it in. Arnel Pineda is 41 years old and he performs like a 12 year old walking on stage for the first time. It was embarrassing to watch this. Neil and company got lucky with Steve Augeri replacing Steve Perry. I think things would have been fine with Jeff Scott Soto, but Arnel on the back catalog is not very good. His stages moves are more suited for a punk rocker who is 20. Arnel is not a Mick Jagger and cannot pull it off. The band is stuck now because I do not think their fans will accept another new singer. The band may not care, however, as since Arnel is Filipino there is a huge amount, based on this show, of Filipinos in the crowd that were never there before. Look I do not care where a talent is from, but if it watered down then it should not be accepted and there is no way this guy was the best fit.

75) Aug 15^th 2008 Nokia Theater: King Crimson.

This is an acquired taste band, but if you love guitar how can you pass up seeing Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew together. The music was heavier in the percussion department as the band is back to two drummers. What I do not get is that Robert sits all the way to the side of the stage almost hidden by amps. He faces the band and not the audience. When the band takes their bow at the end of the set and at the end of the encore he stands to the side and applause them. Without Robert there is no band. Before the show through the PA there is ambience music being played to help set the mood. Robert comes out and stays to the side of the stage as describe before and plays to it. It was almost a 20 mins set of Robert. That in itself was a nice surprise.

76) Aug 15^th 2008 BB Kings: Booker T & MGS

Two shows in one night. Booker and the boys were doing an early and late show. King Crimson had no opening act and went on stage on time. The two places are only a couple of blocks away. I saw both sets completely. Booker T, Steve Cropper, Donald Duck Dunn are awesome. To hear Green Onions was a treat I will never forget. This night the mighty Anton Fig from David Letterman's band was on the drums. He helped hold down the tightness that is needed to play this style of soul that could have only come from the Stax label. One good show, one great show in one night.

77) Aug 16^th 2008 Madison Square Garden: Neil Diamond.

Got lucky and at the last minute was offered a free ticket. See Aug 12^th.

78) Aug 17^th 2008 Capital One Theater: Todd Rundgren, Lou Gramm, Christopher Cross, Bo Bice, Denny Lane.

This was the It Was Forty Years Ago Today tour. It was to celebrate the album Sgt. Peppers. The guys come out with a band that also included Prarie Prince on drums and Greg Hawkes on keyboards. The first set everybody gets to do a couple of their songs. Denny Lane got to do Go Now. Shame Denny's voice is getting real soft and weak. Lou Gramm got to do some Foreigner and sounded better then the one song performance we got in July. Bo was a curious choice to be with these aging rockers but he did fit in. When Todd did Bang the Drum all Day he got some of the crowd to play the drums for him. The second set was the Sgt Peppers album in full. Each member taking a turn singing. In some cases they were in costume for the songs. Great album they had fun playing it so of course the crowd had fun hearing it.

79) Aug 19^th 2008 Jones Beach: Rod Stewart, Josh Kelley.

Josh Kelley I will give credit to because he did try, but he was very bland and in front of aging Rod Stewart fans he did not have a chance. This was the first time in years I have seen Rod put on an opening act, so I guess Rod must like him. Rod is as fine as he is going to be at the stage. The voice has suffered from the cancer he had a while back, but it has gotten sweeter then the first couple of years after the surgery. Some songs are played slower then the recorded version and the way they were played live years ago, but they are still entertaining. I still wish he do an acoustic set or tour and give Gasoline Alley and such. Talk of The Faces coming back. I cannot see Ronnie and Kenny playing slower, so maybe Rod will get the kick he needs.

80) Aug 22^nd 2008^th Jones Beach: Human League, ABC, Flock Of Seagulls, Belinda Carlisle, Naked Eyes.

Yes an 80s tour. Naked Eyes only had two hits here in the states. Pete Byrne is the sole surviving member as Rob Fisher passed away in 1999. 30 mins is way too long for this band, especially when they open with Always Something to Remind Me. It got boring real fast. Flock of Seagulls was next and they are ok for an oldies act. Only Mike Score is left from the original band, but at least he is the lead vocalist. Mike is stuck behind the keyboards so there is no great performance just the great synth sound of their hits . ABC was next and they were a surprise as they went down very well and Martin Fry still has it in him. New material was included and it was very good. Who thought 2008 would bring a new ABC cd? Belinda Carlisle did a mix of Go Gos and solo material that she does not do when with the rest of the girls. Most of her band were from ABC but for some reason they did not connect with her as they had with Martin and this helped put a kink in her show. Human League still has Joanne Catherall, Philip Oakey and Susan Ann Sulley. It was like going through a time warp and a very fun time at that. My wife was with me and I know she would disagree, but then again she never liked them. Full set and I will dare say these guys are better then Depeche Mode. Hell, I would love to see Yaz and The Human League together.

81) Aug 24^th 2008: Brookhaven Amphitheater: Squeeze, Smithereens.

The Last time I saw the Smithereens was back in the late 80s opening up for Squeeze. Pat led the charge with the rest of The Smithereens and gave us a history of every song they played that night. While I am not a huge fan, it is a shame that they do not get more work and success then what they have. They are a hard driving act. Squeeze was so much better then last year reunion. I felt that they were truly back to form at this show. Glenn and Chris have buried the hatchet and they are now running on all cylinders. Another great catalog of material. Glen is still singing his heart out and Chris just looks so happy to be back out there that they are truly amazing to see.

82) Aug 26^th 2008 Hammerstein: Billy Idol.

The line to get in went around the corner. I saw Billy's last NYC show in 2006 and was amazed. Sorry to say this time not as good. Maybe I should not compare the 2006 show to this, but 2006 was one of the best shows I saw that year and I was expecting the same. The band did not seem as fired up and I think it was a different bass player. Not that he could not play, but sometimes one change does effect the band. Steve Stevens seemed to go a little overboard on frets this night. I would honestly say that even if I did not see the 2006 show I would still say this was a good show and will go see him again.

83) Sep 4^th 2008: BB Kings: Bonnie Tyler.

I had never seen the girl from Wales and now I know why. This was her first NYC show since 1979. It was worth the wait. She only had some of her band with her. Bobby Rondinelli helped out on drums this night. She still has the rasp but she still sounds and looks great. The two new songs were great. If the rest of her new material is this good it will be a strong cd. She joked about how people thought it was Rod Stewart when It's A Heartache came out. Funny, when Rod cover the song on his last album, he said he did it because people thought he did the original. Total of Eclipse of the Heart was missing all the bombastic production that Jim Steinman put into the original, there was no keyboards this night, but the crowd made up for it by helping Bonnie along. I hope to see her again very soon.

84) Sept 9^th 2008 BB Kings: Wishbone Ash.

A band I had not yet seen and was excited to. This is the band led by Andy Powell and not Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash. The key to this band is the twin guitar. These guys were doing it before Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Andy and Muddy Manninen are a good team but something was just not clicking this night. Maybe they are used to bigger places in Europe and the tiny room, which is a great room, just was not doing it for them. They did mention that they do not tour here that much and maybe they are just used to bigger and better. They just did not seem into that much. Oh well at least we tried.

85) Sept 10^th 2008 Madison Square Garden: Dave Matthews Band, Ingrid Michaelson.

Ingrid is from NYC but I had never heard of her. She was not my cup of tea at all. She is a folkie/pop artist which is fine, but she came off so flakey that I wanted to smack her. Word of advice, when playing the Garden for the first time and you are the opener do not act like you are too cool for the room when you are on stage. I had never seen Dave Matthews before as I am not into the jam band thing. This was a Cancer benefit so off I went. I checked the set list and saw some nights Crash was played and some nights Satellites was played. It looked like you never got both and some shows you got neither. I was a little worried that I was going to hate this show. Well I can now say I get what everyone has been talking about for years. This was a great show and we got both songs. The Talking Heads Burning Down the House tore the roof off the place. Tim Reynolds was doing this tour and he may have been one of the best guitar players I saw in 2008. Not sure if I am going on the 2009 tour but I will see these guys again. I hope it lasts, unlike Billy Idol. My gut tells me Tim pushed this show to it's heights. If he is not there then I do not know.

86) Sept 12^th 2008 BB Kings: Carmine Appice's Slamm.

Carmine has put a show together to rival the show Stomp. Carmine, along with 6 young drummers and a guitar player, put on a show where they bang garbage cans, drums and anything else that they can. Great light show for a small place. Sticks that lit up. Something for eyes and ears is what this show is. My son came with me for this since he is a drummer and Carmine, thanks to The Radio Chick, saw my son before the show and took good care of him and gave him some solid advice. This is a fun show for the whole family and we will be back in March to see them again.

87) Sept 17^th 2008 BB Kings: Lagwagon, TAT, Only Crime, MXPX.

TAT was on first and they and MXPX were the reason I was there. Unfortunately being the first band TAT got the least amount of time, but they were just as good as on WARP. TAT has already been announced for this year's WARP tour and they are doing all dates so go check them out. Only Crime was next. They are somewhat of a punk super group because of all the bands these guys came from, but none of the previous bands amounted to much and this night they did not stick out at all. TAT and the next band up, MXPX got the biggest reaction out of the four. MXPX have been around now since 1992 and they still have a punk fire in them. They got the crowd up and roaring after Only Crime dropped the ball. Why these guys were not the headliners is something I would like answered. Lagwagon had a tough act to follow and they did not come through. Even this very young crowd's reaction to them was luke warm. I think the band sensed it and just did not give back to the crowd to try and get them on their side. Better luck next time but remember, the kids do not forget.

88) Sept 19^th 2008 Radio City: Squeeze, James.

James had at hit in the US back in 1993 with the song Laid. They got a warm welcome and they made the most of it. They took their opening slot by the horns and gave a very fine performance. The fact that they are a one hit wonder here did not stop them from giving their all and opening up to the audience. Tim Booth is a fine vocalist. After Squeeze's performance in Aug I was ready for another great show. This was the last night of the tour and the band must have been tired. Usually a band plays better in front of a NYC crowd than a Long Island crowd, but tonight was opposite night. They were not as good as in August, set list varied and some big hits were missing. Again, I was probably the only one to notice. The curse of going to so many shows is people walk out thinking they saw a great show and I think they did better a month ago. Oh, the burden of being me.

89) Sept 26^th 2008 Capital One Theater: Blue Oyster Cult, Vanilla Fudge, Foghat.

This was not Vanilla Fudge. When speaking with Carmine at Slamm I asked him what had happened. Basically Mark Stein does not want to play with Carmine and Tim and tried to book four shows as Vanilla Fudge behind their backs and just have him and Vince. Carmine told me he and Tim would do the four shows and then just end it and Mark said no. Three of the four shows cancelled and I think they only got away with this because they were not the headliners. Yells for Carmine and Tim could be heard through this fake of a set. Avoid this like the Outlaws. Foghat with only Roger left on drums from the glory days does a fine job of keeping the legacy going, Unlike Fudge they know they've got to deliver and that they do. Boogie your bad self to see these guys. Blue Oyster Cult is just a horror show now. Even Rudy Sarzo on bass cannot save them. Twice now they have just been awful. Such a shame for a band that was once a powerhouse.