Good show, but never again on the lawn!
Oct. 1st, 2007 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreLast night, Kirsten and I traveled up to Concord to see the latest version of the Heaven and Hell tour. Same headliner that I saw in April, Black Sabbath led by Dio, but this time the openers were Queensrÿche and Alice Cooper.
We got up in plenty of time, discovering a neat little burger joint along the way. We'd decided to pay the 20 bucks for premium parking (good decision) and were wandering in when the first clues that this show was a bit undersold started hitting. A staff member offered us tickets. We heard on the radio that upgrades from lawn to seating were ten dollars. And there weren't that many of us. I see why we got our tickets for free.
In retrospect, we should have paid for the upgrade.
We settled in at a good spot, set up our nifty new seats/cushions/ponchos, and waited. At 1830, when Queensrÿche hit the stage, the place was maybe half full. Queensrÿche played a very strong set. Three songs from Operation: Mindcrime. Speak, The Needle Lies, and Eyes Of A Stranger. They also played I'm American from OMCII, Empire, and Jet City Woman. The last got a shriek from Kiri. She loves that song, but never knew who did it. The big shock of the set was when they played a track from their upcoming album Take Cover. They invited use to guess the tune, and I think the entire audience was stunned when it became clear that we were listing to Queensrÿche's version of Pink Floyd's Welcome To The Machine. Amazing.
During the break, we went in search of swag (Concert same weekend as payday? Dangerous.) Alas, the merchants were on the other side of the amphitheater. Got back to see Alice Cooper. Hm. I'm not a big fan of Alice. I like the songs, but the entire act has always left me a bit cold. The first part of the show was enjoyable, with great songs like No More Mr. Nice Guy, but the middle portion was given over to a long, drawn-out set piece featuring Alice beating a young woman (played by his daughter, and damn, can she move!) and eventually being hung on stage. This was punctuated by more meaningless solos than you can shake a stick at and the kind of lighting tricks that really work better in arenas. I really was just hoping for it to end at some point. Our enjoyment of the act was also hampered by the fact that morons who had staked out lawn seats right by the fence had to stand up for the entire show, blocking the view of those behind them. Neither Kirsten nor I really wanted to (or were capable of) standing on a sloped grass surface for an hour or more. So no more lawn seats! Alice finished off his set with a lovely set of encores.. School's Out, Poison, andElected. We went and found swag. I got this shirt, although mine is more purplish.
Finally, the main event! Won't say much, except that they opened with The Mob Rules (as seen on Heavy Metal Sunday) and the Tony Iommi jam on Heaven & Hell was, if anything, better than the first show.
Need more concerts.
We got up in plenty of time, discovering a neat little burger joint along the way. We'd decided to pay the 20 bucks for premium parking (good decision) and were wandering in when the first clues that this show was a bit undersold started hitting. A staff member offered us tickets. We heard on the radio that upgrades from lawn to seating were ten dollars. And there weren't that many of us. I see why we got our tickets for free.
In retrospect, we should have paid for the upgrade.
We settled in at a good spot, set up our nifty new seats/cushions/ponchos, and waited. At 1830, when Queensrÿche hit the stage, the place was maybe half full. Queensrÿche played a very strong set. Three songs from Operation: Mindcrime. Speak, The Needle Lies, and Eyes Of A Stranger. They also played I'm American from OMCII, Empire, and Jet City Woman. The last got a shriek from Kiri. She loves that song, but never knew who did it. The big shock of the set was when they played a track from their upcoming album Take Cover. They invited use to guess the tune, and I think the entire audience was stunned when it became clear that we were listing to Queensrÿche's version of Pink Floyd's Welcome To The Machine. Amazing.
During the break, we went in search of swag (Concert same weekend as payday? Dangerous.) Alas, the merchants were on the other side of the amphitheater. Got back to see Alice Cooper. Hm. I'm not a big fan of Alice. I like the songs, but the entire act has always left me a bit cold. The first part of the show was enjoyable, with great songs like No More Mr. Nice Guy, but the middle portion was given over to a long, drawn-out set piece featuring Alice beating a young woman (played by his daughter, and damn, can she move!) and eventually being hung on stage. This was punctuated by more meaningless solos than you can shake a stick at and the kind of lighting tricks that really work better in arenas. I really was just hoping for it to end at some point. Our enjoyment of the act was also hampered by the fact that morons who had staked out lawn seats right by the fence had to stand up for the entire show, blocking the view of those behind them. Neither Kirsten nor I really wanted to (or were capable of) standing on a sloped grass surface for an hour or more. So no more lawn seats! Alice finished off his set with a lovely set of encores.. School's Out, Poison, andElected. We went and found swag. I got this shirt, although mine is more purplish.
Finally, the main event! Won't say much, except that they opened with The Mob Rules (as seen on Heavy Metal Sunday) and the Tony Iommi jam on Heaven & Hell was, if anything, better than the first show.
Need more concerts.
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QR & Heaven & Hell
Date: 2 Oct 2007 02:31 (UTC)I had wanted to go and see Queensyche when they started this tour in nearby Binghamton, NY, but the tickets were too pricey, and too far to drive, and too much work, and no one else wanted to go.
So I placated myself with listening to the 'ryche on Rock Line a couple of nights before.
Glad you enjoyed it, and hopefully Queensryche swing back East when their new album comes out.