A big part of this review covers the opening band, Fire And Water, a three-piece acoustic outfit from Ireland that absolutely dazzled us with a high-energy, incredibly skilled set. This isn’t our show, but this is what we got and more in this clip. You can join their Patreon here.

Once again, Geoff Tate had a wildly talented band backing him and the arsenal of the Queensryche catalog at his disposal to deliver a crowd-pleasing performance. From “Empire” to “I Don’t Believe In Love” to “Walk In The Shadows” to “Queen Of The Ryche” and beyond, Geoff showcased his elite voice and whipped the packed house into a frenzy. A gonzo cover of Pink Floyd’s “Welcome To The Machine” was a guitar extravaganza.

Great, great show. Feels like my live events are slowing down a bit. I’m not holding any tickets at the moment. But this show made it clear that nothing has changed with our elites. Top shelf performance all around.

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The foursome did a good job of capturing the look of the mighty Van Halen with Roth (Ernie Berru) wearing a sparkling robe and EVH (Derek Fuller) sporting the red/white overalls with a red bandana around the neck. Michael Anthony (Andy Catt) had the same odd-looking shirt the Mikey wore in the “Jump” video and Alex (Michael Thompson) had the trademark shades.

The song selection was all A-list stuff. “Unchained,” “Panama,” “Jamie’s Cryin’,” “Hot For Teacher,” and “Ice Cream Man” were all included as well as many other huge songs from the catalog. The Jack Daniels bottle made an appearance and DLR and EVH surveyed the crowd prior to “Pretty Woman.” A lot of the VH schtick was delivered spot-on, including Dave’s strut and the familiar posture of Edward.

The songs alone made for a wonderful night out, but the presentation made it bigger than life. Not like the original band, of course. You can’t get that stuff no more. But faithfully and skillfully executed, bringing the fun, party-time atmosphere that Van Halen was known for.

The finale couldn’t have been any better. The played the “Jump” video on the big screen while the band played the song. It was a festive feeling like you would get a big arena show. The nearly-full house reveled in the song, the band and the era.

I saw VanHalen on the 1984 tour in Orlando, Florida and that is almost certainly the best show I have ever been to. Van Halen was a live act like no other and on that tour they were absolutely monstrous. I don’t go to a tribute band show expecting to get the exact same thing, it’s not possible. But this was a fantastic ride through the good times. The last several months I’ve seen quite a few tribute bands and I’m sure I have plenty more in my future. The originals aren’t in the best of shape these days and a lot of them are gone for good. I’ll take one of these when I can get it. Fan Halen exceeded all expectations.

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They started out with “S.O.S. (Too Bad)” from Aerosmith and then blasted “Modern Day Cowboy.” Nothing could go wrong after that grand entrance. “Rock Me To The Top” was the rarity that was added this time around, and they finished like all of the prior shows with “Signs.”

I believe I have seen Tesla more times than any other band. I got a late start, not seeing them live for the first time until the Psychotic Supper tour, but I’ve made up for it in the 2000s. This is one band that hasn’t lost anything as far as putting on a live show. The catalog of songs they have to draw from is amazing enough, but they back it up every time with an entertaining show that whips the audience into a frenzy.

Here’s my video recap:

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For most of the 1980s, 38 Special was one of the heavyweights in rock music and it seemed like everybody I knew liked them. Their three-album run of Wild-Eyed Southern Boys, Special Forces and Tour De Force were all platinum sellers and they had enough for a greatest-hits album just off of that stretch.

The Marshall Tucker Band was an unknown for me other than their big hits. I knew it was a talented group but I was still surprised with how good their set was.

Molly Hatchet stole the show for me. When I was playing their greatest hits compilation as the show drew near, I remembered what a strong group they were. Clearly Southern rock, but a little stronger and heavier. The originals are all long-gone but the guys in the current lineup carried the torch brilliantly.

Here’s a vlog I did a few days after the show. My guess was correct that it was very enjoyable and a great trip back through a bunch of songs I used to hear all the time. All three bands were great live acts and the crowd was very engaged.

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Visually, we got Zakk and early-2000s Ozzy (granny glasses/straight black hair) wearing the Vol4 tassled sleeves. Musically, we got Randy/Jake/Zakk-era solo Ozzy along with a heavy dose of Black Sabbath songs.

The first of two sets started off with “Over The Mountain” from Diary Of A Madman and for myself personally, that’s the perfect place to begin. Two Jake E. Lee songs followed, “Bark At The Moon” and “Shot In The Dark.” So far, so good.

A couple of surprises, to me at least, were “I Don’t Wanna Stop” from Black Rain and “Into The Void” from Sabbath’s Master of Reality. “I Don’t Wanna Stop” is a song I never cared for on the radio but it went over great live.

Another surprise, like they were cherry-picking my favorite songs from the solo records, was “Perry Mason” from Ozzmosis.

Singer David Diaz was a great facsimile of the unique voice of Ozzy Osbourne and had a lot of his gestures and movements down. Gutiarist Mark Knapp nailed the intricate licks of every song and I spent the second hour-long set directly in front of him watching his masterful playing of all these classic songs. With the Zakk Wylde battle vest, braided beard and his long, straight hair flowing up from the fan pointed upwards at him in front of his mic, Mark gave us all of the guitar magic that comes with Ozzy.

The second set was filled with Sabbath classics like “Children Of The Grave,” “Iron Man,” “War Pigs,” and, believe it or not, “Changes.”

Great night of celebrating Ozzy’s mind-boggling, elite career. A small mosh pit popped up every so often with some bizarro techniques that added even more energy to the show. A younger guy lost control and took out a table and a couple of chairs. An older guy passed out after staggering roughly 15 feet. The young guy dialed it down a little the rest of the show and the old dog got to his feet and wobbled away with Fulton 55 staff. All good.

At this point in history, I say go see stuff like this any time you can. $20 or so to hear those songs live, loud and with everybody screaming along. I live in fear of a life on Earth (you know, Earth!) where a night like this isn’t available. My age group’s going down a road that worries me at this point, with what looks to me like fewer and fewer true believers showing up every time out.

Good to see the energy from the younger generation but they tend to think of Green Day and Fall Out Boy as “classic” while also understanding that our legends are who they are. I wonder if that’s the best it will ever be going forward.

Along those lines, another thought that may be minor or it may be huge. See if you can follow me on this. The opening band was a cover band that started with “Hells Bells” and then ran through a string of songs from a bunch of 90s/2000s bands that I mostly didn’t care for. White Zombie was ok, Tool not so much. Alice In Chains is always welcome, but they played “Would” and I would have much rather had “Sea Of Sorrow.”

But the music selection wasn’t a real big deal. They played “Panama.” Mixed feelings on how that went, but no matter. The band was up there in jeans and T-shirts and while the music is absolutely, unequivocally king and always will be, I have a tough time with bands (and scenes) that have no image. AC/DC has an image everybody recognizes. So does Van Halen. The two main characters in Mr. Crowley copied Ozzy and Zakk’s familiar looks.

When I say “a tough time,” I mean that I wonder if that’s what my glorious, theatrical, operatic, epic, life-defining experience with hard rock and heavy metal is being reduced to. Obviously, Van Halen had two guys in flashy outfits and two pedestrian-looking guys. Cheap Trick had three distinct dressers and then a regular guy. You don’t have to come up with a flashy image to be a great musician, by any stretch, but there was a whole lot of style and energy behind Steven Tyler, David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper and, yes, John Michael Osbourne and his mates.

The opening band was incredibly tight and played great for their whole set. The presentation was that of cool guys you’d love to hang out with and that’s pretty much what the crowd did here. This is CLEARLY me being “the old guy.” I’ll take young guys blasting my era’s songs any time I can get it.

But I always think of that scene in Rockstar where Mark Wahlberg is at his day job working on a printer and one of the suits is hassling him and he gets close up to Wahlberg and says “is that eye-liner?!?!!?” And Wahlberg tells him “yeah, man, I’m in a band.”

In my mind, getting up on stage is still connected with a performer getting into his/her alter-ego. You’re not just a regular guy up there, you’re Deliverin’ The Goods. Not everybody has to feel that way and the world doesn’t owe me anything. I’m just stuck on the days when every band had the over-the-top guy, maybe two or three of them, and there was that extra dimension to the art. It was in stark contrast last night at the Fulton 55 show and it makes me appreciate the madness I’ve gotten to enjoy even more.

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Setlist.fm shows a 13-song set that ended with “The Ballad Of Jayne” and “Rip n’ Tear.”

Here’s a video where I run through my extensive history with L.A. Guns and how the show went from my second-row seat on Tracii’s side of the stage:

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Really.

And it’s hilarious. Ronald Osbourne leads this outfit with a dead-on 70’s Ozzy persona, right down to the peace signs and the tassles hanging from under his red-and-white striped arms. On guitar is Slayer McCheese, on bass is Grimalice and the drummer is none other than Catburgler, a Hamburgler lookalike with Peter Criss’ cat whiskers painted on his face.

The songs are played perfectly with the lyrics being substituted out for tales of what fast food does to the human body. “Sweet Leaf” becomes “Sweet Beef”. “Iron Man” is now “Frying Pan.” “Paranoid” is retooled as “Pair-a-Buns.”

And on this night they opened their set with “Organic Funeral,” spoofing “Electric Funeral” from the Paranoid album.

“Prostate cancer

Thyroid Disease

Made To Order

As You Please!”

There was a line in the pouring rain to get into Strummers in Fresno, CA, many of the people wearing costuming, whether it be a Hamburgler mask, a red-hair Ronald McDonald wig or a drive-through headset. After the opening band finished up, the Mac Sabbath stage was set up by a guy wearing a McDonalds uniform, complete with the paper hat, who we came to know as Employee Of The Month.

A colorful banner with the band’s logo stretched across the entire stage with giant Ronald McDonald heads with laser eyes mounted on the stacks on either side of the stage. As the show drew closer, the tops of the Grimalice and Slayer McCheese costumes could be seen above the banner. Then, after the opening narrative of Ronald Osbourne’s mission to warn the world, the banner dropped and the band went into “Organic Funeral” with Ronald slinking onto center stage with his crossed arms tied down in a straitjacket.

It was a tour-de-force through the Black Sabbath catalog from there, with the crazy lyrics and silly between-song banter never getting old. “This isn’t a Great White Castle show, you know!” “You didn’t think you were coming here to see Chipot-L.A. Guns did you?” “No Pantera Bread tonight!”

Midway through the show they broke into an homage to the movie “Blue Velvet,” throwing out the Heineken vs. Pabst Blue Ribbon debate and including Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” sung into a work light/microphone.

It was a ridiculous evening of fun and the packed house ate it up. Many in the audience were familiar with all of the bits and the Black Sabbath riffs went over beautifully live. The heaviness of the music against the goofiness of the spectacle is one of those “it’s so crazy, it just might work” brainstorms.

Black Sabbath wasn’t able to save the world from the dangers of evil. But don’t count out Ronald Osbourne in his quest to educate the masses on the perils of junk food. He’s made this acid-trip of an idea into a successful touring band and even Ozzy Osbourne himself got a kick out of it.

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The W.A.S.P. stage setup included carnival-type banners, skulls, video screens and, of course, Elvis, the ornate microphone stand that Blackie Lawless climbs up on and rides from time to time. The screens showed the videos of the songs that were being played and at the end of the show they displayed past members of the band as well as a page of Thank-You’s.

The encore presentation of “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)” began with footage from the PMRC witch hunt days and stirred the crowd into a frenzy. Before the final song, “I Wanna Be Somebody”, Lawless spoke to the crowd about how the fans themselves got together on social media and made this tour possible when the promoters in America didn’t think the band could sell tickets.

If that’s what promoters thought for all those years that W.A.S.P. didn’t tour the States, they were clearly wrong as this 40th anniversary tour has seen great success. The Fresno show was full, loud and enthusiastic for both bands.

Here’s my video recap:

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