Jeff Lynne's ELO - Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia 9/21/2024

 A little late with this one. 

 Jeff Lynne is currently on his final tour fronting Jeff Lynne's ELO. The tour made it stop In Philadelphia recently. 

 Mr. Lynne sounds pretty much the same as he did 40 years ago, and the current touring band sounded incredible. since Mr. Lynne will be retiring from touring after this current tour, getting the opportunity to finally get to see him live was a pretty easy decision.  I suspect and hope  they will continue to tour once Mr. Lynne retires from touring.

 The songs hold up so well and sound, I imagine, the way The Beatles may have sounded had they kept going. 

  The Philly performance also saw the Birthday of drummer Donavan Hepburn being acknowledged with a full band bow to him during their final bow.

   Here is the setlist: 

One More Time

 Evil Women  

 Do Ya

 Showdown

 Believe Me Now

 Steppin' Out

 Last Train to London

 Rockaria!

 10538 Overture

 Strange Magic

 Sweet Talkin' Woman

 Can't Get You Out of My Head

 Fire on High

 Livin' Thing

 Telephone Line

 All Over the World

 Turn to Stone

 Shine a Little Love

 Don't Bring Me Down

   **Encore**

Mr. Blue Sky

  

 

  

   

In Memoriam - Gavin Creel

                                                       So much talent. Way too young. 

                                                                  Rest in Peace
 

In Memoriam - Kris Kristofferson

 

                                                             Rest in Peace

In Memoriam - Maggie Smith

                                                        So GREAT......always. Rest in Peace.
 

Paul Weller - Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank New Jersey 9/6/2024

 Paul Weller performed his first concert in the United States in 7 years this past Friday at the Count Basie Theatre.

 The 2 hour setlist consisted primarily of his solo work, but did include a few songs from The Jam and The Style Council. 

 I was not very familiar with his solo work, but was easily won over. 

 He still sounds great and his band was top notch.

 Here is the setlist: 

   Nova

   Cosmic Fringes

   Soul Wandering

   That Pleasure

   My Ever Changing Moods (Style Council song)

   Have You Ever Had It Blue (Style Council song)

   Headstart For Happiness (Style Council song)

  All the Pictures on the Wall

  Out of the Sinking

  Stanley Road

  Glad Times

  Fat Pop

  Village

   Hung Up

   Shout to the Top (Style Council song)

   Jumble Queen

   Nothing

   On Sunset

   Above the Clouds

   Start (The Jam song)

   Into Tomorrow

   Peacock Suit

    Encore

 Woodcutter's Son

  The Changingman

  Broken Stones

  Wild Wood

  Town Called Malice (The Jam song)

  

In Memoriam - James Earl Jones

                                                                     A Giant

                                                               Rest in Peace
 

Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo - Count Basie Theatre 7/7/2024

     Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo came to the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank New Jersey this past Fourth of July weekend. A little late with this post. 

     Both, still sounding better than, ever delivered a hits filled set, along with a few deeper cuts and a couple covers. 

     I believe the tour started the previous night in Atlantic City with a slightly different, and shorter, set list. 

   

    Ohio band The Vindy's opened the show with a 30 minute set which included Don't Tall Me, Just Love Me and Want Your Heart.

     Here is the setlist.

  All Fired Up

  We Live For Love

  Invincible

  Promises in the Dark

  My Clone Sleeps Alone

  In the Heat of the Night

  Strawberry Wine

  We Belong

  Ties That Bind

  Shadows of the Night

  Hell is For Children

  You Better Run

  Love is a Battlefield

     Encore

 Everybody Lay Down

 War(Edwin Starr cover)/Disconnected

 Heartbreaker/Ring of Fire(Johnny Cash cover)

The Vindys

 

    

     

 

Justin Hayward & Christopher Cross - Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ 7/3/2024

                                                    

   

Justin Hayward and Christopher Cross are co headlining a short tour which made its way to The Count Basie Theatre the other night. 

Justin Hayward is the lead singer and guitarist of the Moody Blues and has a 3 piece band with him, Guitarist Mike Dawes; who performs a short set leading right into Justin Hayward's set, Julie Ragins; who toured with the Moody Blues, on keyboard and vocals, and Karmen Gould who plays flute and also provided backing vocals. 

    The setlist was heavy on Moody Blues classics and deep cuts as well as Justin Hayward solo songs. 

    Although 77 years old, his voice still sounds great and his guitar playing was impressive. He performed a medley of lesser known Moody Blues songs, and a solo song, a few songs in.  

   Christopher Cross played a hits filled 70 minute set with his great backing band. His voice still sounds really good and was best on the stripped down song Light The World and on the final song Think of Laura, backed only by piano. 

    I was hoping that the two of the would share the stage for a song or two, but that did not materialize. I am not sure what they would have done together, but it would have been fun to see them share the stage together.

    Here are the setlists: 

          Justin Hayward

   Tuesday Afternoon(Moody Blues song)

   Driftwood

   Living for Love

   The Day We Meet Again(Moody Blues song)/One Lonely Room/Out & In(Moody Blues song)/In My World(Moody Blues song)/Meanwhile(Moody Blues song)

   Voices in the Sky(Moody Blues song)

   The Voice(Moody Blues song)

   Forever Autumn(from War of the Worlds)

   Never Comes the Day(Moody Blues song)

   Your Wildest Dreams(Moody Blues song)

   Question(Moody Blues song)

   Nights in White Satin(Moody Blues song)

   

             Encore

    Story in Your Eyes(Moody Blues song)

    I Know Your Out There Somewhere(Moody Blues song)

           Christopher Cross

    All Right

    Never Be the Same

    I Really Don't Know Anymore

    Sailing

    Dreamers

    Arthur's Theme(Best That You Can Do)

    Say You'll Be Mine

    Light the World

    The Light Is On

    No Time For Talking

    Ride Like the Wind

    Think of Laura

Justin Hayward

Karmen Gould and Justin Hayward

Christopher Cross

        

   

Ricky Montgomery - Terminal 5, New York 2/24/2024

The other night I was fortunate to take my daughter, and a friend of hers, to the first concert she wanted to go to. She has gone to several concerts, which we have taken her to, mostly well received, but this is the first one that she asked to taken to. 

  Her and her friend wanted to see Ricky Montgomery's Another Rick in the Wall show at Terminal 5 this past weekend. 

   I will be honest. I had never heard anything by him, so I was not familiar with any of his songs. 

   He put on a very fun show and I was impressed with a lot of the songs and thought he had a great sense of humor. I can's remember if I ever saw a concert where I did not know any of the songs or knew what to expect. 

   On top of that, the crowd was great. I usually find that the audience can make or break  a concert, and this crowd was great. 

   Noah Floersh opened the show with a short , well received set.

   Here are the setlists: 

  

               Noah Floersch

     Thompson's Station

     Long Gone

     Love You by Myself

     Big Jet Plane ( Angus & Julia Stone cover)

     On Your Mind

     Green Flash Sunset

     Ghost of Chicago

             Ricky Montgomery

      Line Without a Hook w/mxmtoon

      In Your Pocket

      Cabo

      One Way Mirror

      Talk To You

      Black Fins

      I Don't Love You Anymore

     Type A

      Last Night

      Truth or Dare

      Unknown Phantom

      Ethan's Song

      My Heart is Buried in Venice (Acoustic)

      Boy Toy

      It's O.K. to Cry

      Don't Say That

      Out Like a Light

          Encore

      Sometimes I Need to Be Alone

      This December

      Mr. Loverman

Noah Floersch

Ricky Montgomery

     

  

In Memoriam - Toby Keith

                                                              Rest in Peace

In Memoriam - Hinton Battle

                                                                 Rest in Peace

In Memoriam - Chita Rivera

                                                  An Icon. Rest in Peace

Rick Springfield & Richard Marx - Count Basie Theatre 1/18/2024

 Rick Springfield and Richard Marx are currently doing a short tour together, and they had a stop in Red Bank New Jersey the other day, at the Count Basie Theatre.

The tour is just the two of them, with no band. They share the stage together for the majority of the show, with the exception of each of them doing a two song solo spot. 

For the majority of the concert, they accompanied each other, usually doing harmony vocals. They did each share lead vocals on a pair of songs later in the show, Rick Springfield's Love Somebody and Richard Marx's Don't Mean Nothing.

 They usually did pretty lengthy introductions to the songs and had a great rapport with the audience. 

 The highlight for me was a mash up of Jessie's Girl with Stacy's Mom and 867-5309/Jenny that Rick Springfield did. 

 Both artists sounded great and gave a great sampling of their work.

 Here is the setlist. Both played on each song, except where noted.

 Endless Summer Nights (Richard Marx song)

 Affair of the Heart (Rick Springfield song)

 The Way She Loves Me ( Richard Marx song)

 Love is Alright Tonite (Rick Springfield song)

 Satisfied (Richard Marx song)

 I've Done Everything For You (Rick Springfield song)

 Hazard ( Richard Marx song)

 Don't Talk To Strangers (Rick Springfield song)

 Hold on to the Night-Partial (Richard Marx song)

 Should've Known Better (Richard Marx song)

 My Father's Chair (Rick Springfield song) Rick solo

 Jessie's Girl/Stacy's Mom(Fountains of Wayne cover)/867-5309(Tommy Tutone Cover) Rick solo

 When you Loved Me (Richard Marx song) Richard solo

  Angelia (Richard Marx song) Richard solo

 Love Somebody (Rick Springfield song) Shared Lead Vocal

 Don't Mean Nothing (Richard Marx song) Shared Lead Vocal

 Human Touch (Rick Springfield song)

 Right Here Waiting (Richard Marx song)

 Jessie's Girl (Rick Springfield song)

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