Rockamania

2007 will be the year that will be remembered in Rock & Roll as the year of the comebacks at least on my part.

Legends of Rock & Roll have toured and are planning to tour once again giving their fans especially the young ones a chance to see them perform live. Concerts have been sold out and tickets for forthcoming concerts were gone the minute it was opened for sale.

I have been lucky to watch some of them perform live while I passed on some for a variety of reasons. I admit I am/was envious of the few lucky people who were able to get tickets for some of the limited gigs that I wanted to watch. I guess you can’t have them all in life and in rock & roll. Ha-ha. Nevertheless, I am happy that Rock & Roll is alive and kicking!

June was fine with me when America and Chicago made a back-to-back concert at the DTE Music Energy Theater (That’s Pine Knob for you, “oldies but goodies“ Michiganders. He-he) in Clarkston, MI. The long drive was worth it. Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell can still do magic on the stage with their very cool and familiar harmony. Chicago on the other hand, even without original front man Peter Cetera in the fold can still do their own interpretation of rock & roll and thus, were able to trumpet their horns with gusto.

I almost missed The Police when they rocked the Palace of Auburn Hills in July but lady-luck was on my side when a few days before the concert I was able to find somebody who would work my shift in the ER for me. And so I was able to watch Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland do their thing once more and every little thing they did was really Magic!

REO Speedwagon and Kansas at the Taylor Summerfest were awesome. Kevin Cronin can still hit those notes on Can’t Fight This Feeling and Take It On the Run. The only downside was I wasn’t able to record Kansas when they played Dust In The Wind. But for 10 bucks per ticket who can ask for more?

With due apologies to Jimi Hendrix, I was way deep in Purple Haze when the legendary British Rock Super Group Deep Purple blew into town with Highway Star and Smoke on the Water. Ian Gillian, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, three original members of the group were still a sight to behold. If only Richie Blackmore can patch his differences with the other members, that will be the day. But Steve Morse is a very able guitarist in his own right that can do justice to the Purple Classics. But Still you could only wish that Richie was there too.

The German band Scorpions can sting you with their pure and raw energy on stage. It was a wild, wild night as Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine and the rest of the gang made their concert a slam- bang affair. To say that they can still Rock You Like A Hurricane is an understatement. It was one of the best rock concerts that I have ever been to.

Add Ratt, LA Guns, Jani Lane, Dokken, George Thorogood, Great White and Poison to the ear- splitting list and you know why I am still having a bad case of Tinnitus to this very day.

These are just some of the legends whose concerts I was able to attend this year.

I passed on Aerosmith for a reason but I know they will be back here next year since Detroit is one of their favorite places to play. Detroit will always be Rock City to Steven Tyler and company. The one I really rued missing was the Ringo Starr and his friends gig but I was really tied up on that day.

I did not watch Genesis' Turn It On Again Tour since their line- up to me was far from complete. Without Peter Gabriel, I don’t think they can be called that even if Phil Collins was there. The purists will surely agree with me on this. Maybe next time folks.

There will be Anarchy in the UK when Punk Legend the Sex Pistols reformed for a one night gig at London’s Brixton Academy on November 8 to mark the anniversary of their seminal album, Never Mind the Bollocks. Punk's not dead, huh guys? I’m sure Sid Vicious will be watching them from Punk Rock Heaven. R.I.P.- Sid. Peace Man!

But the one that I am dying to watch is the reunion of Led Zeppelin, one of the original and most influential rock bands in history. Unfortunately, theirs is a one night engagement only and tickets are sold out already not to mention that it will be in the UK‘s O2 Arena in London which can only hold 20,000 fans. According to reports, a record 20 million fans tried to get tickets for the said one night concert.

Some fans are really lucky but I’m just happy for the group’s British fans for the chance to see them once again playing live and in the flesh. I’m sure many of them will climb their own Stairway to Heaven during the show. After all you rarely see Robert Plant and Jimmy Page sharing the same stage in years.

Rock On People!

Wide Awake at the Palace with Josh Groban

It was a stormy September afternoon in the Philippines when I first heard that now very familiar baritone singing on the radio inside a friend’s car while cruising along the almost flooded streets of Makati years ago.

The voice was soothing as it soared into the cool windy air; his Italian song crystal clear, mellifluous and enchanting and the romantic in me made me an instant fan of this nameless and faceless singer at that time.

Being a music lover and aficionado, I immediately went to the net and look for the song and name of the singer and was surprised that the singer was not Italian at all but a prodigious American who at 17 years old was introduced to David Foster by his vocal coach and has since then have taken the music world by storm.

That singer behind the phenomenal voice was no other than Josh Groban who once attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts Camp in Northern Michigan when he was younger and once again made his homecoming to Michigan special by way of his 2007 Awake Tour stop at the Palace of Auburn Hills, the fifth stop of the vaunted tour.

I really wanted to watch him perform live and was eager to buy his tickets through the advance purchasing program offered to the company that I was connected at that time but the procrastinator in me got the better of me.

It was only about three days before his concert on February 23 that I decided to finally get tickets for the said show and boy was it hard!

The prime seats were all taken by then and Ticketmaster kept on giving me tickets with obstructed views.

So, I tried and tried and tried until the computer was really, really exhausted by my dogged determination (ha-ha!) and finally gave in and handed me tickets on the lower level about ten seats from the main floor and on the side about 25 rows from the stage. Not a bad deal for a latecomer so I grabbed the said tickets which costs me $120 each, cooled my heels and waited for the big night.

On the day of the event I drove about 90 miles and arrived early at 4 pm for the 8 pm concert. As I ate my Burger King hamburger in the sprawling but almost deserted parking lot of the Palace, I watched with a smile on my face as people began trickling in…

Grobanites in all colors, ages and sizes from near and far came in full force; some complete with face paints, banners and vehicles proclaiming their love for their idol. Ha-ha.

We went to the Palace and the guards proclaimed that no cameras and videos were allowed inside the venue which was a bummer. Many concert-goers heeded the said regulation or so I thought because as soon as curtains was lifted and the spotlight shone on Josh Groban while singing You Are Loved (Don‘t Give Up), almost everybody especially the ladies began clapping and screaming as they instinctively grabbed their digital cameras, camera-phones and what have you from their secret hideaways and began shooting him in wild abandon.

His beautiful voice soared amid the sea of flashes and the plethora of Palace guards tasks to enforce order could do nothing about it and could only shake their heads and grin in disbelief by the blatant show of “disrespect’ for the rules by the concert goers! Ha-ha!

But the night was special as he sang one great song after another and rocked the Palace like never before. He was a Prince, Preacher and Troubadour rolled into one, his soaring, smooth baritone mesmerized the audience all through the night---

He sang not only his English hits but also some of his Spanish and Italian songs, used a vocoder for Lullaby to make his voice sound like a choir, played the piano and banged the drums like a pro, joked with the audience while singing Stephen Sondheim’s Not While I’m Around from the musical Sweeney Todd, donned a Pistons Uniform to the delight of Michiganders, materialized at the far end of the venue and walked his way on the center aisle towards the stage while singing and interacting with fans, showed his new- found calling by playing songs with African music influence (Nelson Mandela named him as AIDS Ambassador to Africa) and a thousand other ways to thrill his fans.

I got my money’s worth to say the least and converted two people in the process, with one eventually one- upped me by becoming a Certified Grobanite and paid the membership fee right after the concert. I guess she became so enamored with Mr. Groban’s operatic but silky voice and buoyed by his wit and good rapport with the audience his messy hair and “aw- shucks“ personality notwithstanding. Ha-ha.!


The much ballyhooed homecoming of Michigan’s favorite adopted son did not disappoint. The Concert was one of the best ones I’ve been into in a long time. There was never a dull moment and it was a night to remember forever and I will definitely watch him again if given another chance.


Here’s the Awake Tour Set List

You Are Loved
Mai
Un Dia Llegara
Un Giorno Per Noi
So She Dances
February Song
Remember When It Rained
Alla Luce Del Sole
Lucia’s Violin Solo (Kashmir*)
Now or Never
Pearls
L’Ultima Notte
Lullaby**
Weeping**
Not While I’m Around
You Raise Me Up
Machine
Smile
Drum Solo Encore
Awake Encore



* Lucia Micarelli is an awesome violinist; playing barefoot on stage and attacked the Led Zeppelin Classic Kashmir with impunity. She was a human dynamo on the strings and a kick-ass performer.


Here's MY video of the concert at the Palace of Auburn Hills--

ENJOY...