Neworld EVH Tribute – John Denner

Neworld dedicated to Eddie Van Halen
John Denner Music Man Axis Guitarist

http://www.John-Denner.com

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Van Halen III

Studio album by Van Halen
Released
March 17, 1998
Recorded1997
Genre Hard rock
Length 65:47
Language English
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Mike Post, Edward Van Halen
Professional reviews
All music link
Van Halen chronology
Balance
(1995) Van Halen III
(1998) The Best of Both Worlds
(2004)
Van Halen III is the eleventh studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1998. It is the only Van Halen album to feature Gary Cherone on lead vocals. The album’s title was a pun on the fact that this was Van Halen’s third recorded line-up, and the band’s first two albums having been titled Van Halen and Van Halen II. No songs from it are featured on The Best of Both Worlds, the band’s 2004 greatest hits compilation, and the album itself is not even listed on the band’s discography.
The album’s only significant radio hit was “Without You”, which reached #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart on the March 7, 1998 issue of Billboard, and remained at #1 for six weeks. Other songs receiving airplay on rock radio were “Fire in the Hole” (help·info) and “One I Want”. The album’s final song, “How Many Say I”, was an unusual acoustic piano ballad featuring guitarist Eddie Van Halen (mostly) on lead vocals with Gary Cherone doing vocals with him at the chorus. “Year to the Day” is also featured.
Another song entitled “That’s Why I Love You” was dropped at the last minute in favor of “Josephina” at Warner Brother’s insistence. This remains a mystery as the song was a fan favorite and much more immediately accessible (radio-wise) according to numerous fan forums. According to Cherone (in a 1999 interview) the band had originally planned for “That’s Why I Love You” to be a single from the album.[citation needed]
This album also contributed the song “Fire in the Hole” to the Lethal Weapon 4 movie soundtrack.
As of January 2009, this album is no longer in print.
Contents [hide]
1 Track listing
2 Personnel
3 Sales charts
4 References
[edit]Track listing

All songs credited to Michael Anthony, Gary Cherone, Eddie Van Halen and Alex Van Halen.
“Neworld” 1:51
“Without You” 6:37
“One I Want” 5:35
“From Afar” 5:29
“Dirty Water Dog” 5:33
“Once” 7:51
“Fire in the Hole” 5:37
“Josephina” 5:48
Year to the Day 8:47
“Primary” 1:31
“Ballot or the Bullet” 5:48
“How Many Say I” 6:16
† denotes a single
[edit]Personnel

Van Halen
Gary Cherone lead vocals
Eddie Van Halen guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals and piano on “How Many Say I”
Michael Anthony bass guitar, backing vocals
Alex Van Halen drums, percussion

Additional musicians
Matthew Bruck guitar
Mike Post piano on “Neworld”
Production
Producers: Mike Post, Eddie Van Halen
Engineers: Erwin Musper, Eddie Van Halen
Mixing: The Edward, Robbes
Mastering: The Edward, Robbes, Eddy Schreyer
Programming: Florian Ammon, Ian Dye, Ed Rogers, Paul Wight
Art direction: Stine Schyberg
Photography: Dan Chavkin
Coloring: F. Scott Schafer
Michael Anthony revealed in an interview citation needed that he only played on three tracks—”Without You”, “One I Want” and “Fire in the Hole”—and that the rest of the album’s bass work was performed by Eddie Van Halen. Anthony is still part of the shared songwriting credits, and appeared on the videos to “Without You” and “Fire in the Hole.”
Category: Music
Tags: Neworld EVH Eddie Van Halen John Denner Guitar newworld Music Man Axis Gary Cherone Wolfgang 316 new video World

Extreme II:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0OPHT9SS

Extreme – Extreme (1989, A&M Records)

1. “Little Girls” … 3:45
2. “Wind Me Up” … 3:35
3. “Kid Ego” … 4:02
4. “Watching, Waiting” … 4:54
5. “Mutha (Don’t Wanna Go To School Today)” … 4:49
6. “Teacher’s Pet” … 3:01
7. “Big Boys Don’t Cry” … 3:34
8. “Smoke Signals” … 4:13
9. “Flesh ‘N’ Blood” … 3:30
10. “Rock A Bye Bye” … 5:56
11. “Play With Me” … 3:38

Band:
Gary Cherone – Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals
Nuno Bettencourt – Lead Guitar, Synthesizer, Piano, Backing Vocals, Percussion
Pat Badger – Bass, Backing Vocals
Paul Geary – Drums, Percussion

Producer: Mack

Great debut that finds the band sounding a little bit like Van Halen sometimes (Nuno on “Teacher’s Pet” and “Play With Me”), though songs like “Mutha (Don’t Wanna Go To School Today)” and “Rock A Bye Bye” are pure Extreme classics.

The album cover is pretty striking, because if you didn’t know who Extreme was, you’d think they were just another hair metal band — but they’re actually far from that.

The album has two truly outstanding tracks for me – “Rock A Bye Bye”, which is the usual beautiful Extreme ballad and then “Play With Me” which I think it one of the greatest hard rock songs to come out of the ’80s and it immediately put Nuno Bettencourt on the map as a guitar hero (in fact, the song has been included in the Guitar Hero video game series!).

Besides Nuno’s guitar work, Gary Cherone is another bright spot. He’s always brought loads of personality to Extreme and it all started here (and of course, the backing vocals in general are great as well).

This one can be found new ‘n’ cheap and it’s definitely worth the investment.

Highlights: “Little Girls”, “Kid Ego”, “Mutha (Don’t Wanna Go To School Today”, “Teacher’s Pet”, “Rock A Bye Bye”, “Play With Me”

www.extreme-band.com
www.myspace.com/extreme

The two singer-songwriters behind the movie ONCE, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (aka The Swell Season), are out and about promoting their new record, Strict Joy.  It’s available for pre-order on Amazon.  It is set to be released on September 29th.

They just did a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.  Its available over here or as a podcast (do a search for “NPR Live Concerts” in iTunes).  They do some new songs in the NPR studio as well as some faves.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Alice in Chains‘ new one, Black Gives Way to Blue, is also available for pre-order…

It’s out September 29th as well…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And rounding things out… Blabbermouth reports that Extreme recently recorded their August 8th show at the House of Blues in Boston for a DVD release later this year.

~Dan – np: Dream Theater – Master of Puppets

Gary Cherone, American musician (Extreme)

Van Halen
Staples Center : Los Angeles
November 20, 2007

***
Part two of a five part series I am doing this week on Classic Reunions. Each day I will add a new photo of a featured artist and that band’s classic reunion.
***

By 1986, David Lee Roth had done his own solo EP, written a book and was talking about doing some acting. After years of tension with Eddie Van Halen, Roth left the band. The relationship had gotten so bad both sides couldn’t even agree on whether or not he left or was kicked out. After that, Van Halen hired and fired Sammy Hagar, tried a stint with Gary Cherone (that bombed big time), and then re-hired Sammy. They were supposed to do a world tour with Sammy, but wound up only playing gigs in North America. For the second time, Sammy exited the band and tensions were erupting between Eddie and Michael Anthony, who had always been close with Sammy.

The two had gotten into the food business, with Sammy selling Cabo Wabo Tequila and opening up his club in Mexico, and Michael selling his own line of BBQ Sauce called Mad Anthony’s. This seemed to really piss Eddie off, and when he kicked Michael Anthony out of the band, he complained that Sammy and Anthony were touring together, and singing songs Eddie wrote while selling food and drink. Eddie’s son Wolfgang was brought in to replace Anthony. Big offers were always flooding in for a Van Halen reunion, and even back in 1996 the band was set to do it. But even then, Eddie and Dave couldn’t get along and the plans were scrapped.

In 2007 it was announced that they were finally going to bury the hatchet, but just then Eddie entered a rehab program. None of us knew what to expect when he came out, but luckily he got out and declared the reunion was still on. Technically speaking, this was not a full Van Halen reunion as Michael Anthony was not included. Still, it was fantastic to see the dynamic team of Eddie VH and DLR once again together on stage.

Photographed from the soundboard with a Canon 5D and a Canon 400mm f2.8 lens.

Link to Cabo Wabo

http://www.cabowabo.com/

Link to Michael Anthony’s BBQ sauce

http://www.madanthonycafe.com/macstore.html

Double-packed post… unrelated topics (Extreme & nakedness)… what else is new? For nakedness, skip to the bottom…

First off… yes, I like Extreme. The band from the early 90s. They were awesome. No regrets. They were so much artier than what aired on the radio. I saw them in 1995 (Bogart’s in Cincinnati), and it was one of my favorite shows… EVER. They broke up later that year (or in early 1996).

Anyway, they’re back together. New album, new tour. I’ll be flying to Cincinnati (on SkyMiles) to see them at the Union Center Blvd Bash on Sunday, August 10th… as my bro lives, like, 2 miles from there. They just put out a press release for their upcoming album…

(June 9, 2008 ) New York, NY – This summer, EXTREME will release Saudades de Rock (pronounced “sow-dodge“), their first studio album in thirteen years which will coincide with their first world tour in over twelve years. Saudades de Rock will be released on August 12th on Open E Records and distributed by Fontana.

The iconic rock foursome – vocalist Gary Cherone, guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, bassist Pat Badger and new drummer Kevin Figueiredo - recorded their fifth studio offering at NRG Studios in Los Angeles with Bettencourt at the helm as producer and mixer. Saudades de Rock boasts 13 tracks, including the infectious roar of “Star,” the groove-laden, swagger of “King”, a raw funk rock anthem called “Learn To Love”, and the expressive ballad “Ghost.”

“‘Saudades’ was always a beautiful word to me,” Bettencourt explains about the Portuguese album moniker. “It expresses a longing; an underlying sadness for something or someone that’s been missing in your life, and never quite sure if it will ever return. In this case, for us, it’s Rock and Roll. Saudades de Rock.”

Gary Cherone adds, “I like how it expresses that longing we’ve been feeling to play for our fans and be together again.”

The multi-platinum, Boston-bred band’s 2008 ‘TAKE US ALIVE’ world tour gets underway on July 29th at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and will be anchored by a hometown gig two days later at the Bank of America Pavilion. In advance of the tour, Extreme will be a co-headliner on July 11th at the five day Rocklahoma Festival in Pryor, OK.

www.extreme-band.com
www.myspace.com/extreme

Saudades de Rock track listing:

1. Star
2. Comfortably Dumb
3. Learn To Love
4. Take Us Alive
5. Run
6. Last Hour
7. Flower Man
8. King Of The Ladies
9. Ghost
10. Slide
11. Interface
12. Sunrise
13. Peace (Saudade)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now for the nakedness…

This video is brought to you by the Brighton Port Authority (a pseudonym for Fatboy Slim)… it is both clever, funny, and catchy… and nude… but cleverly so…

THE Brighton Port Authority (aka The BPA)
“TOE JAM” feat. DAVID BYRNE & DIZZEE RASCAL
(click the picture for the video… no actual nudity,
but still probably not suitable for work)

Delightful…

~Dan – np: Opeth – Watershed

RATT

EXTREME

——-
——-

Sabe aquela banda que você conhece por uma ou duas músicas? Que tal ouvir algo mais e entender porque ela realmente vale a pena? O termo one-hit nasceu de artistas conhecidos por apenas uma de suas músicas. Claro que as vezes, são mais de uma (duas ou três por exemplo) mas ainda assim, a idéia persiste. As vezes, não temos tempo nem vontade de ir atrás de algo mais para tentar conhecer aquele trabalho melhor.

Nessa primeira edição, uma banda especial. Conhecida não só por quem gosta de rock, devido esta balada bem produzida. A banda Extreme, mundialmente conhecida pelo hit More Than Words se destaca pela técnica e ótima produção de seus discos. Vamos primeiro ouvir a dita cuja, e depois acompanhar uma pequena seleção de outras músicas, mostrando do que é feita sua música.

Ouviu? Conhece né?
Agora, que tal ouvir algo um pouco diferente da trupe?

Cantada pelo guitarrista Nuno Bettencourt.

E tem mais!

Ficha técnica

Gary Cherone – vocais
Nuno Bettencourt – guitarra e vocais
Patrick Badger – baixo
Paul Geary (1985-1994) – bateria
Mike Mangini(1994-1996) – bateria

Extreme

Ada info yang menarik banget saat gue sarapan pagi sambil baca berita2 di salah satu portal berita. Yaitu berita tentang akan Extreme akan melakukan konser di Indonesia. Extreme? Yeap… They’re back. Gue bener2 ngga nyangka, mungkin karena dulu mereka sempet bubar dan ngga kedengeran lagi kabarnya sampe sekarang. Dan ternyata setelah sekian lama menghilang, Ternyata mereka reuni lagi… Bahkan mereka sudah mengeluarkan album baru di tahun 2008 ini…

Extreme bisa dimasukkan ke dalam band yang besar pada zamannya, yaitu era akhir 80-an dan awal 90-an. Tentunya kita semua masih inget sama lagu balad akustik mereka, ‘More That Words‘ donk… Secara pribadi, itu adalah lagu rock balad terbaik yang pernah ada… Hampir semua album kompilasi rock balad memasukkan lagu itu ke dalamnya… Inget banget pas masa2 smp semua cowo2 belajar gitar pake lagu itu, termasuk gue… Dan sampe sekarang gue masih belom lancar… Hehehe….

Setelah gue cari2 info, ternyata mereka sudah reuni sejak tahun 2004… Gue lumayan ketinggalan info nih. Dan tahun 2008 ini mereka sudah mengeluarkan album ‘Sausades De Rock‘. Makin ketinggalan info nih… Terakhir kabar yang gue denger sang Vokalis, Gary Cherone, bergabung sama band rock legendaris Van Halen. Namun ngga lama keluar lagi… Si gitaris, Nuno Bettencourt, terakhir gue denger dia bikin album solo Schizophonic. Dan personil yang laen? Entahlah… Yang pasti formasi terakhir mereka hanya dihuni oleh tiga orang personil asli. Nama terakhir adalah Pat Badger. Pergantian terjadi di posisi drummer yang sekarang diisi oleh Kevin Figueiredo.

Wah ngga sabar buat ngedengerin lagu2 di album terbaru mereka. Gue penasaran apakah di album tersebut kita masih bisa nikmatin lagu2 seperti ‘Hole Hearted‘, ‘Hip Today‘, ‘Cynical‘, dan tentunya ‘More Than Words‘… Yah mudah2an bisa cepet gue dapetin albumnya, dan begitu gue dapet, pasti gue review di sini kok. Hehehehe… Kalo tentang konsernya sendiri, gue belom ada rencana untuk nonton sih… Tapi liat ntar deh. Kalo ada rejeki, ada yang mau bayarin, gue nonton.. Hehehe… :p

Personil

* Gary Cherone – lead vocals
* Nuno Bettencourt – lead guitar, harmony vocals, backing vocals
* Pat Badger – bass, backing vocals
* Kevin Figueiredo – drums, percussion

Discography

* Extreme (1989)
* Pornograffitti (1990)
* III Sides to Every Story (1992)
* Waiting for the Punchline (1995)
* Saudades de Rock (2008)

On my way home from work late last night I kind of zoned out listening to the radio and now I’ve got Van Halen’s “Finish What You Started” stuck in my head as a result.  When’s the last time you saw this video?

Does Sammy Hagar really even play guitar in that song?  It’s hard to tell if there’s a legitimate second part just from listening to it.  But I love Eddie’s finger-picking style in this one.  I’m not saying it’s a David Lee Roth era quality Van Halen tune, but it’s not bad.  Has a nice groove.  Allowed Alex to slick his hair back.  Of course, when you talk Van Halen it’s damn near impossible to top this one:

Psych.  Have a good weekend, springs.

Sin duda alguna el disco más completo, creativo y arriesgado de esta magnífica banda estadounidense.

¿Que no es metal? pues no, pero es rock de calidad, comercial pero muy bien hecho, con un muy buen cantante -Gary Cherone (que no deja de ser un buen cantante por muy gordo que me caiga)- y un increible guitarrista -Nuno Bettencourt-. 

Este tema abre su disco “III sides to Every Story” de 1992, disco buenisimo y muy variado. Le doy un 9.

NOTA: estos tios se han reunido para sacar un nuevo disco que ya está disponible para nuestro disfrute. Su título, para tu información, es “Saudades de Rock”.

We rode against the traffic grain fron Plano, Tx down to the House of Blues in Dallas, barely hitting the brakes the whole way there.  God bless each and every single on of those Southbound bastards for they impeded our progress not. 

Upon arriving at our destination we were unable to park as we were there a bit early and the barriers hadn’t been removed from the parking lot entrance.  “No worries”, I said, “Just pull around to the other side.  There’s another lot there.”  This could not have worked out any better as the moment we made that extra right hand turn I spotted the great Kip Winger (of Winger fame, for all you kids who think Nirvana invented rock) just standing around, watching the world go by.  “Park the fucking car quick, I gotta go meet that fuckin’ guy”, I yelled to a less-than-enthusiastic carload of people.  Turns out, I was the only Winger fanboy in the ride.  Fair enough.  We got ourselves squared away with the parking and doubletimed it around the corner, running into the Winger frontman himself.  I knew he’d been doing the Rock N’ Roll Fantasy Camp thing all day and because of that I didn’t wanna whip his ass too much.  I told him I was fan, didn’t wanna take up much of his time and wondered if I could shake his hand and get a quick photo with him.  Kip was really cool, assuming a rockgod pose before shouting “No!”, then grabbing me by the shoulder to snap the pic.  He then spotted my wife and asked who she was.  I told him and he pointed his finger at her and said, “I want my picture with her!”  My wife’s a bit of a looker…I have no clue why she married me.  Anyway she took the pic with him, I shook his hand and left him to it and we made our way to the front of the venue.

Now, I know they say ‘no cameras, no recording devices’ and that’s fine…just means I’ll be one of the few to get the pics and video footage.  I had one camera stashed in a side pocket of my wife’s bag and a lesser quality camera out of its case in the bag in plain site.  I figured if they ran through a metal detector, she’d beep, they check her bag, they see the crap camera, and I’d send her on through while I took the one camera back to the car.  Well, they did check her bag but they didn’t say anything about the camera so kudos to the security staff.  Nice to see some human decency from those guys.  From my experience, sometimes that’s asking a bit too much.

Once we got inside I made a straight shot for the front, grabbing a great spot on the rail.  After about 30 minutes, the Rock N’ Roll Fantasy Camp started.  For those not aware of this thing, it’s basically set up to where pro musicians spend the day with amateurs who’ve dropped serious cash to jam and perform live that day/night.  Various musicians from a few different genres are participating in this and it made for some interesting viewing.  I don’t want to say it was bad because that’s not what the RN’R Fantasy Camp thing is about in the first place.  I know for a lot of those folks they lived out a dream last night so I’m not gonna run any of them down but needless to say, the actual talent on that stage ranged from Pro to non-existent.  It’s all good.  I will say this, it was really cool to see the likes of Gilby Clarke (Guns N’ Roses), Kip Winger (Winger), Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), Dave Ellefson (Megadeth), Mark Slaughter (Slaughter), Chris Slade (AC/DC) & Earl Slick (David Bowie) up there coaching these folks through the songs, picking up slack where it was needed and letting the reins go where they could.  It was cool to see them make it about the folks they’d spent the day helping.

After a quick changeover, King’s X hit the stage with “Groove Machine” from the Tape Head album and from there went right into a couple of older classics (“Dogman”, “We Were Born To Be Loved”) mixed in with several songs (“Pray”, “Move”, “Go Tell Somebody”) off their most current release XV.  When they broke into “Dogman”, the first track from the 1994 release of the same name, the place errupted and sang every word.  King’s X is a seriously tight band.  Flawless from stop to start.  Doug Pinnick laid down a huge low end with his bass and sang with soul like I haven’t seen in some time.  Jerry Gaskill is an intense drummer.  He’s not flashy, he just beats his drums into submission.  Finally, Ty Tabor on guitar was unreal.  The sounds he gets that thing to make are otherworldly and, save for the girl behind us yelling “Ty, you rock.” every 30 seconds for virtually the entire set, seeing his artistic playing was the best treat of their run.  They played “Over My Head” as an encore and had all of us eating out of their hands.  I consider myself very lucky to have gotten video of this song as it was a great performance.  I’d forgotten how much I really love this band.

After King’s X left the stage, they puller the curtain so Extreme could get set up.  They were scheduled to start at around 9:45pm but actually hit stage 15 minutes early (First time I’ve ever seen a bad go on EARLIER than advertised!) going right into a song off their new album, a groove-laden track called “Comfortably Dumb”.  With the crowd sufficiently hyped, the Boston boys ripped straight into 3 older classics “Decadence Dance”, “Rest In Peace”, and “Warheads” before coming back to another new song, “Star”, the first single off their latest album Saudades de Rock.  After playing a medley of tunes from their 1st self-titled release, Nuno sat down and played the instrumental “Midnight Express”.  From there Gary walked out and sat down, setting the stage for the performance of the bands biggest hit, “More Than Words”.  Now, I’ve heard that song a million times (seriously, a million, at least) but you know what, it still hit me.  And I think the reason why it hit me was because the song speaks to the most basic of human needs (love) and it does so in such a way that so unabashedly sappy that you simply get caught up in it and, whether you’re a man, woman or a dog, it sweeps you right off your feet and by the end of it, you’ve been humming along for 3 minutes without even realizing it.  The crowd sang along (me included, dammit!) and both Gary and Nuno seemed pleased with the reaction.  The last half of the show was spent trying to keep up with the band.  Gary jumped, ran, crawled and dived all over the stage while Nuno and Pat just tried to stay out of his way, all the while playing at a breakneck, technical pace.  After closing the show with another instrumental “Bumblebee” and another hit off the Pornograffitti album, “Get The Funk Out”, the Extreme boys left the stage, grabbed a breathe and came back out for an encore of “Am I Ever Gonna Change” off the III Sides To Every Story album and their ‘other’ hit, “Hole Hearted”.  Again, the crowd sang along and the band seemed to dig it, especially Gary because after they said their goodbyes and did the whole ‘band bow’ at the front of the stage, Gary whispered something to Nuno which Nuno then conveyed to the crowd saying, “Gary says he doesn’t wanna leave yet.  He wants to do one more song.”  While I know much of this sort of thing is planned in advance, this really felt like a spur of the moment type decision, made obvious to me by the sketchy version of “Mutha (Don’t Wanna Go To School Today)” that was played.  The guys obviously hadn’t been playing this one in rehersal and were all laughing and cutting up throught the song, giving each other the finger and cracking jokes.  It was the perfect way to close out the show and left everyone on their feet cheering for more.

Afterthoughts: Despite having viewed some shakey vocals from Gary Cherone in a few video clips from earlier shows, he was spot-on Wednesday night, belting out high notes from his shoes while simulteaneously bending himself into positions that would’ve embarrassed a more modest man.  I’m guessing Mr. Cherone is a big fan of the Yoga.  Pat Badger played a mean, funky bass and was far more technically sound than I think most would realize without seeing him live.  Badger was in great form last night while also mixing in some fine backing vocals.  The ‘new guy’, Kevin Figueiredo was great behind the kit, smiling ear to ear for much of the set but when all was said and done, the night belonged to Nuno Bettencourt.  What can you say about the guy that hasn’t been said a million times already?  He’s brilliant…but that’s almost too easy.  That doesn’t say enough.  I don’t know that words exist to fully describe what it’s like to watch Nuno play live.  He doesn’t command attention like some many of the ‘rockgod’ types yet you find yourself completely drawn to him.  I know as I was filming my camera eye would just naturally wander to wherever Nuno was standing.  Take nothing away from the rest of the guys in the band because each of them are very talented musicians, but Nuno is something special, something that simply does not come along very often.

My final thought concerns my wife.  At one point during the show, Gary Cherone was dancing around, happy as you please when he locked eyes w/ my Mrs..  He stopped, mid-kick, and held out the mic stand, gently tapping her on the top of her head almost as if he were knighting her.  Nuno, curious as to what Gary was doing, followed the mic stand to its target, saw my wife, and tapped the middle of his chest with his hand uttering the phrase, “Holy Shit”.  Glad to know that not only does Kip Winger find my wife attractive, but Gary and Nuno reached the exact same conclusion.  I think they all have good taste.  And I think I married wayyyyy over my head.  I’m a lucky fucker for sure.

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW are at the BOTTOM

My wife thinks I’m crazy. I think I agree. I used SkyMiles to fly from Eugene, OR, to Cincinnati, OH, to see two rock bands. I don’t do this often (fly somewhere for a show). Anyway, this time it was for two bands I’ve liked for 15-20 years: King’s X and Extreme. While I love King’s X, I’ve seen them a bunch and they tour a bunch; so the main reason to fly was to see Extreme* – - who broke up 12 years ago.

*- Extreme is much more than that “More Than Words” band (or that “Beethoven jamming in the mall on Bill & Ted’s” band). They wrote great rock songs, great guitars & insightful lyrics, and bordered on art rock in many cases, i.e.- the IIIrd Side (unofficially) starting with “God Isn’t Dead?” and moving into the 23-minute, three-part with orchestration, epic “Everything Under The Sun” on III Sides to Every Story. “Everything Under the Sun” is most likely my 2nd favorite song ever written (Kevin Moore’s “Space-Dye Vest” being #1).

The closest this double-bill tour was coming to me (in Eugene, OR) was Las Vegas… which would mean expensive ticket, expensive hotel, expensive meals, and a city that I find kinda boring (unless you add an expensive Cirque du Soleil show). With that being said, a FREE show with a brother within 2 miles of the festival with a FREE bed to sleep in made this one too good to pass up. [Thanks, David & Alicia!]

The day started with a yummy vegan biscuits & gravy brunch at MELT in lovely Northside and ended with Nuno Bettencourt wailing on guitar in West Chester (home of the Union Center Boulevard Bash). Well, on to the show…

This was my 15th time seeing King’s X. Did I mention I like them? The only thing that’s kept me away from one of their shows within a 200 mile radius would be a wedding. My own wedding. Anyway, they put on a great show tonight. Doug Pinnick, Ty Tabor, and Jerry Gaskill are the epitome of a power trio. They put out a wall of sound, heavy, chunky, yet melodic. They were scheduled to play 45 minutes (the ills of a free festival opening slot), but they got a good hour and change to play. Great crowd response, and kudos from Nuno & Co later in the evening. They put on a great set, as usual. And a friend from Nashville texted me unexpectedly while at the show. [It was great to see you, WalruSteve!]

(Doug, Ty, Jerry – not my pic, obviously)

King’s X Setlist:

• Groove Machine
• Alright
• Rocket Ship
• Black Flag
• Move
• Dogman (one of my favs of the set)
• Pray (with Doug on 12-string bass)
• We Were Born to Be Loved
• Go Tell Somebody
• Looking for Love (one of my favs of the set)
• Over My Head
• Encore: King

The spiritually searching lyrics to “Looking for Love” has been a mantra of some sort for me since way back in ‘96; so it’s always good when that’s in the set. Doug seemed to be in pretty good spirits. Ty’s hair kept blowing in his face, but that didn’t stop him shreddin’ up the frets. Jerry was killin’ the skins, as usual. The sun was beatin’ down on the band, but they muscled through. Here’s hopin’ this Extreme tour helps them bring some new fans on board.

As for Extreme… This was my 2nd time seeing them. I saw them on their Waiting for the Punchline Tour in 1995 (@ Bogart’s in Cincinnati). They broke up shortly afterwards, as Nuno Bettencourt went on to do some solo stuff and Gary Cherone went on to join Van Halen (which turned out to be a poor choice… as, you know, Van Halen sucks ass). Anyway, when Extreme broke up, it was truly amicable. The band had run its course, the landscape of music wasn’t all that into hardrock with solos (but rather flannel and apathy rockin’ the suburbs), and the guys in Extreme all had different opportunities. A reunion was always a possibility, it was just a function of time…

They had their new CD (Saudades de Rock) at the show… even though it doesn’t come out until Tuesday. Only $10, too. Rock on!!

(Pat, Gary, Nuno, KFigg – not my pic, obviously)

Extreme ripped up the stage for almost two hours, playing a good mix of old songs, new songs, hits, fan favs… KFigg did a great job filling in Paul Geary’s drum “shoes.” Pat Badger’s bass playing was superb. Gary’s voice was on. Nuno was Nuno (i.e.- God) — meedley-meedley-meeeeeeeeeeee (Strongbad Email link)…

Extreme X Setlist:

• IIIrd Side Intro Music (strings)
• Decadence Dance
• Comfortably Dumb (new one)
• Rest In Peace (one of my favs of the set)
• Star (new one, with Star-Spangled Banner outro)
• Tell Me Something I Don’t Know
• 1989 medley: Kid Ego /
  Little Girls /
  Teacher’s Pet /
  Play With Me (Nuno’s solo ripped — one of my favs of the set)
• Midnight Express (instrumental — one of my favs of the set)
• More Than Words
• Ghost (new one, Nuno on piano)
• Cupid’s Dead
• Take Us Alive
• Am I Ever Gonna Change? (one of my favs of the set)
• Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee (Nuno’s guitar-only take on Tchaikovsky — one of my favs of the set)
• Get the Funk Out (one of my favs of the set)
• Encore: Hole Hearted (one of my favs of the set)
• Communication Breakdown [Led Zeppelin]

Overall… fuppin’ awesome! I am crazy for music, but I love being crazy. Being crazy is what keeps me sane.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• http://www.kingsxrocks.com/
• http://www.myspace.com/kingsx
• http://www.myspace.com/dugpinnickpoundhound (bass/vocals)
• http://www.myspace.com/tytabor (guitar/vocals)
• http://www.myspace.com/jerrygaskill (drums/backing vocals)
• http://www.extreme-band.com/
• http://www.myspace.com/extreme
• http://www.myspace.com/garycherone (vocals)
• http://www.myspace.com/nunobettencourt (guitar/backing vocals)
• http://www.myspace.com/pbadger (bass/backing vocals)
• http://www.myspace.com/kfigg (drums)
• http://www.unioncentreblvdbash.com/

Yeah, that’s a lotta links… I took a bunch of pictures of both bands. I hope to have them up soon, once I get back home to Oregon and have a chance to edit and upload ‘em…

~Dan – np: Extreme – Saudades de Rock

KING’S X (24 pics) & EXTREME (70 pics) CONCERT PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2008 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution
(click to enlarge)

King’s X Band (6):

More band shots: #3, #4, #5, #6

Doug Pinnick (8):

More Doug shots: #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8

Ty Tabor (8):

More Ty shots: #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8

Jerry Gaskill (2):

Sorry, no more Jerry shots.

Extreme Band (19) + Gear (2):

More band shots: Mourning Widows racks, Drums, Band #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, Bow #18, Bow #19

Gary Cherone (7):

More Gary shots: #3, #4, #5, #6, #7

Nuno Bettencourt (21):

More Nuno shots: #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21
Yeah, I’m a bit obsessed with Nuno.

Pat Badger (2):

Sorry, no more Pat shots.

Kevin Figueiredo (4):

More KFigg shots: #3, #4

Gary & Nuno (10):

More Gary & Nuno shots: #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10

Nuno & Pat (5):

More Nuno & Pat shots: #3, #4, #5