This Weekend - Do Your Homework In The Bar
Friday, February 24, 2012 It’s the weekend and as usual we are blessed with good shows because for unknown reason our low turnout burgh is still a place every band with five bucks in the gas tank and nine quarters in the ashtray to be stolen by the parking guys thinks it “has to” play. Except that this weekend provides more choices than usual, and we’re hearing that despite multiple appearances in the Land of the Southern Cross recently, the MEGADETH “Gigantour” is sold out. You can forgive yourselves (just barely) for missing MOTORHEAD if they aren’t headlining. Why they play a short set and end with the extended “Overkill” is beyond me, but they will. That’s a good 8 minute savings in your life right there.
And there are plenty more options. Starting with THE SHRINE/LECHEROUS GAZE (featuring a J. Mascis's favorite on guitar)/GREEN & WOOD/CHUCK DUKOWSKI SEXTET/BIG SEXY show we're presenting tonight. But I’m saving up for Saturday and casting my lot into the MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP. This video and the appearance of high profile fans backstage show that Mikey is on form this time.
Plus Robin McCauley is singing, who was with Schenker at his hair metal prime. That’s no badge of honor, but it means his voice is probably good enough 25 years later to still hit the notes and sing the melodies, unlike Gary Barden, who had “interesting vibrato” back in the 1980s. Most importantly though, he isn’t some unknown power metal guy and has a track record with Schenker (which somehow makes me a difference to me). (Nevertheless, despite tattooing out to take a few years off his life shelf life, this is the same guy who was in NWOBHM not even also rans Grand Prix.)
But the guy will have the sense to step aside while the man who straddles Richie Blackmore and Yngwie Malmsteen shows us why Eddie Van Halen was rumored to have been reluctant to fill those boots after Schenker left UFO. It’s all about melody and feeling (sorry to burst your bubble). 30 years after I first listened to “Strangers in the Night” with headphones in the dark, it still works for me. Here’s hoping Saturday doesn’t disappoint.
And yeah, the title of this post refers to a DICTATORS song.
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