So about a month ago I was listening to local radio when I heard that Black Rebel Motorcycle Club would be making their way through town. I immediately rushed to the ticketmaster website, and then to all the local (largish) venues to try and find show/ticket information. Nada, nothing, zilch. No one had any information (at least not the usual suspects) and I was left in the dark. A few weeks later I found out it was not a “regular” show and it was not at a place where I would have ever expected. Turns out it was a private show sponsored by Jack Daniels and tickets had to be won and were not for sale. I tried my hardest the week before the show, listening to the radio, working my connections, trying desperately to get some tix to see BRMC do their thing live. Once again, nada, nothing, zilch. In an act of desperation the night before the show, I logged onto the dreaded MySpace for the first time in about 5 months and reduced myself to begging for tix via a MySpace message. Much to my delight and surprise I got a reply from Dan (who shall now be referred to as Dan the Hero) who put in contact with tour manager Grant (who shall now be referred to as Grant the Savior). A round of blackberry-tag later, Grant confirms that I am on the guest list with a pair of tix for the show and I couldn’t be happier…. Not the safest way to score tickets, but it sure was a good fight. The show itself was all I could have asked for. London’s own The Duke Spirit opened the show and won over a new fan. In advance of the show, local radio had been playing a song by The Duke Spirit, and I have to admit I was not so impressed. When I got to the live show however, I was won over by how tight the band was and how strong lead-singer/new-rock-goddess Liela Moss’ voice was outside of a recording studio. It was very refreshing to see that the band outperformed their recorded material by a mile. After the opening act, I didn’t win a BRMC-autographed guitar, but I still was excited for their set – and they didn’t disappoint. The band took to the stage and came out flying, playing two tracks from their latest LP Baby 81 in succession: 666 Conducer and Berlin. Rarely taking time to address the audience, the band instead chose to pummel us with rocker after rocker. A brief cool-down came in the form of some acoustic songs, largely from the Howl LP (Fault Line, Shuffle Your Feet), courtesy of Mr. Peter Hayes. The full band quickly switched back into rock mode and played out the set, ending with a blistering version of "Whatever Happened to My Rock & Roll (Punk Song). They also tore through a 3 song encore (Spread Your Love, Steal A Ride, and All You Do Is Talk), much to the delight of everyone in the over-stuffed house. After the show, I was hanging out on the back patio and saw Pete Hayes mingling with the crowd. After fending off some local groupies, he ducked inside but returned shortly with his guitar. I didn’t pursue him to see what was happening, but I can only imagine groupies were being softly serenaded somewhere. Instead I chose to stay near the backstage door and have a chat with Grant the Savior, who was kind enough to put me on the list for the show & hook me up with a set-list after the show. A good conversation with some traveling road stories ensued and I made sure to let Grant the Savior know how much I appreciated the tix to a great show. Once again, Thanks Dan the Hero for pointing me in right direction and thanks to Grant the Savior for letting me be one of the 750 people in the place that only held 600.