May 19, 2004

Blast From the Past

Since Jason is "on assignment" this week with Ryan (getting drunk, listening to loud music, and taking photos of drunk women), we offer up in his place a previous Classic Living in the Peach State column from May 26, 2002. He will be venturing to the DC area this weekend, so be warned that the nation may be elevated to orange status. He will provide a full report some time at after his return.

Baseball and Hair Metal

Despite reports that the President wants to invade Iraq (like the U.N. will ever agree to that) the national mood is slowly recovering and the American past time is in full swing. That's right folks, rock and roll concert tours are starting to pop all over the place. ROCK ON! YEAH!

Anyway, my partner in crime (but not in bed you perves) Ryan and I scored some bitchin tickets to the Hollyweird tour as well as an invite to the Braves/Reds game. Since the game starts at noon and the concert starts at 5pm, we can make both venues.

Our buddy Chris scored us some wicked seats right behind home plate and I was proud to wear my American flag bandana for the crowd watching at home. Despite the asshole sitting in front of us calling his extended family throughout the game it was a good time. "Hey grammi, turn on your TV, I'm on TBS...no, it's not a cop show..."

Behind us we had a Braves super fan since way back when they won the World Series in 1995. The guy got so drunk his wife finally left him at the game while he was mumbling to another guy how he remembered when Barry Larkin (who you should go see since his probably hanging it up after this season) won the MVP while playing for the Braves in the late 1980's. 

The other notable thing about the game was that it must have been the unofficial "shake your baby" night at the game. During every intermission, the jumbotron was focusing on random people shaking their babies in front of the cameras. God forbid a representative of DFCS (Department of Family and Child Services) was in the house. There would have been a lot of broken homes. No wonder so many children have learning disabilities...

After the game, Ryan and I tore ass to the Hi Fi Buys Amphitheater to catch the Hollyweird concert. The lineup for this show consisted of openers Faster Pussycat, Winger and Cinderella, and closers Poison.

Although we only had park seating, we were able to secure seats under the covered area simply by squatting in them. No one showed up to check our tickets and no one claimed we had their seats. ROCK N ROLL! YEAH!

One thing I noticed while watching the crowd pour in before the show is that almost no one had ridiculous long hair and we were the only guys ballsy enough to wear bandanas. It's a rock show damn it! I did see a guy who resembled Jack Russell from Great White though. I wonder if they will ever tour again...

The show kicks off with the opening act Faster Pussycat. Pussycat was not a major band during the peak of the hair metal days and only got radio play in the few months before Nirvana and the grunge scene blew the fun loving glam rock days to bits. However, I distinctly remember the classic "House of Pain" track about a son's love/hate for an absentee father. My dad was always around to harass/guide me, so I can't relate.

We had hope that they would come out, kick ass, and get this thing going full throttle. That was not to be the case. Despite looking like a cross between Marilyn Manson and Judas Priest, they were awful.  No charisma, no energy, and no attitude. I want to be rocked! Half way through the third song, the lead singer sat down on the edge of the stage and remained there for the last four songs of the set. He never talked to the crowd and from our angle you could tell he kept eyeballing his manager and mouthing the words "has the check cleared?" Pathetic.

A highlight of the Pussycat set though was this guy, who was already
shirtless, grabbing onto one of the rails near the edge of the lower seating section and rocking out. He not only knew every lyric to every song, this is Faster Pussycat remember, but we would periodically look back in disbelief when others weren't as rocked as he was. I salute that guy. He should have been the one on stage.

Winger came out on stage next and Kip was in blue jeans and a white t-shirt. Ryan noted that he looks like he was working on the tour bus when they told him his set was about to start. All in all, Kip has held up pretty well over the years. He clearly had the most devoted groupies (I guess having a deceased wife will increase those). Many of them held up signs proclaiming their love. The set was...well...it was Winger. The rocked about as hard as Winger could ever rock. They closed with "Seventeen", which was always a crowd pleaser, I guess.

Cinderella followed next and they were badass all the way through. It's tough to think about now, but they had a smattering of hits in their day. I'd like to say more about the set, but it's all a blur at this point thanks to beer and...

POISON

Yes, Poison rocked our faces off. Especially considering it took them less than ten minutes to hit the stage after the Cinderella set. Fireballs kicked off "Talk Dirty to Me" and the boys rolled from there. By the end of the set I was spent, Ryan got a tan from the pyrotechnics and the hard rockin guy from the Faster Pussycat set simply passed out. It was just too much for him.

On the whole it was a great show and I had a good time, which is all the matters. Peace out everyone and feel free to email me at jacsv76@hotmail.com.

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