The Musical Box and The Lamb

For the 45th and final concert of Rockman's record breaking 2012, I returned with the Silver Medalist Mark Snepp (a brilliant 16 shows) to the Variety Playhouse  for the Musical Box's Genesis approved recreation of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway!

The Box did a stunning performance of The Lamb using Genesis's original slides and costumes from the 1973 Lamb tour.

It was so great that this was my second time this year to see this great show.  Let's hope they come back with Foxtrot and Selling England By The Pound!


Time for Rockman to rest and to celebrate the holidays.  It was great going to the show with all of you this year and special congrats to our Bronze Medalist Don with Honorable Mentions to Mark Z, Jon, Jeremy and Roger for mutiple nites of madness!  Also special thanks to all the good people who provided me with seats including Brian, Brandon, Jimmy and Bernie and anybody else who made this amazing year happen. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all. See ya at the show...

Heat of the Moment

Caught Asia at the Variety playhouse with a great crew of classic rock fans.  They played the hits and their new XXX album too.  4 great classic rockers whom age have not diminished!

There's only one queen and that's Madonna!

The Queen came to the ATL last weekend and she ruled supreme.  Not an early riser, Madonna came on at her customary 10:30 to present a show that was a dance combination of The Wall and Quadrophenia put together!

The show was filled with joy, violence, lust, light and sound.  A true overload for the senses as Madge brought her MDNA tour to town...

Flying drummers, voguers, strippers, snipers, and a cast of thousands provided a spectacle for the ages!

You gotta have Heart!

Caught the Wilson sisters and their excellent band at the Fox!

They played all the hits and some hard tunes from their new one "Frantic" in a rockin albeit short set.

Quadrophenia Live

Saw the Who play Quadrophenia and More at Gwinnett on Monday,

what a multimedia rockin extravaganza!

Roger and Pete and the gang played the entire Quadrophenia from start to finish. 

It was like the Who's version of the Wall.  They had a fabulous band replete with a horn section and the incredible drumming of Ringo's boy Zak Starkey.  They encored with many Who classics. With the Who, you won't get fooled again...well done boys!

Living in the Limelight!

Rocked it out with Rush at Verizon Ampitheater for the Clockwork Angels Tour!

Rockman's 40th show of the year!

The band was tight as always and featured tunes from the new cd.  They even had a string section for the second set making it like Rush meets ELO!

All the classics were played too, they just get better every tour!

Off to the Who and Heart this week.  See ya at the show!

Ladies Nites!

Spent a couple of nites with the women of Rock and Roll!  Kicked it off with Alanis Morrisette at the Tabernacle.  She played a bunch off her fine new album and all the old hits. She was backed by a rockin band that sounded like Led Zeppelin.  Alanis is back!

Then the very next nite it was Rockman in NYC!  Caught Aimee Mann at Town Hall in Times Square.  Another rockin show with the Charmer doin her thing entertaining me and my NY and NJ freinds in a final calm before the storm...

Jam On Atlanta

Spent the weekend jammin' with Gov.'t Mule and the Mickey Hart Band.  Great shows both playing long into the nite. First the VIP at the Tabernacle for the Mule, a long bluesy rockin show.

Then the next night Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead brought his band to the Variety Playhouse playing your favorite Dead cuts insterspersed with Floydian jams.

Australian Pink Floyd

Went to the APF show at the Fox on Saturday, another great nite from the Aussies!

The "Worlds Greatest Tribute Band' brought their three tractor trailers worth of sound and lights and played some great Floyd.  They did quite a bit of The Division Bell along with all the greatest hits and oldies like "Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and "One Of These Days" ending with The Wall suite of "Comfortably Numb and "Run Like Hell".

Rockman is off to a weekend of jammin with Government Mule and Mickey Hart.  See you on the dark side!

David Byrne/St. Vincent

Saw the David Byrne show with Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent).  A great show and great to see David Bryne has aged well and is still rocking (just like yours truly)!  Unusual setup as Bryne has teamed with Annie Clark of St. Vincent, a guitar shredder and fun singer to produce a new-wave fest based on their current album Love This Giant.  They had drums, keyboads and eight horn players parading around the stage like it was halftime at a football game, very interesting and very good.

They played some good Talking Heads too, burning down the house! Next up Australian Pink Floyd!

Thick as a Brick

Saw Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson play Thick as a Brick Parts 1&2 last week.  A classic show from a classic performer!

They began with the original classic album replete with visuals, actors and some great rock 'n roll.  A medieval rock opera in the mode of Tommy or The Wall.  The big suprise of the evening was Thick As A Brick Part 2.  It is a new masterpiece!  A great story for modern times!

They encored with Locomotive Breath, awesome!  A splendid time was had by all....

Music Midtown Seattle's best!

Rockman was at both nites of  Music Midtown (of course) and what a show!  Friday nite was blown away by the Avett Brothers, what a great mixture of bluegrass and rock!

Then the Foo Fighters came on and tore it up.  What a drummer Taylor is!  And Dave and the boys played a high octane set for their deveoted fans:

A real highlight came at the end when Dave's hero Joan Jett came on and blistered through "Bad Reputation" with the Foos!

The next day was a marathon day of music leading up to the reason Rockman was there, Pearl Jam.  Kicked it off with a suprising performance from LP.  The girl can really sing and it was a fun set before we got down to the heavy stuff:

Garbage came on next and Shirley and the boys all dressed in black slayed it.  A sonic treat of old and new songs that really got you sweating in the heat:

After that over to the smaller stage for a raucous set from MTV stalwart Adam Ant.  He had a fabulous band with two drummers and festive backup singers.  The indian garb has been replace by the Johnny Depp/Pirate look and the old were young again this afternoon.

My man Sneppisito and I rested , fed and port-a-pottied during Ludacris and Neon Trees sets and moved down to the big stage for the amazing performance of Florence and the Machine.

The banshee and her heavy duty band played a marvelous 75 minutes with the sun setting on the big stage and the clouds floating behind her art deco stage.

After some fun mashups by Girl Talk we were ready to finally see Pearl Jam!

What a great show!  It was like the Beatles at the Cavern Club, 24 songs in 2 hours.  There was no time for the long jams, this was getting in as many faves as possible and what a setlist!

Why Go
Save You
Animal
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
Corduroy
Got Some
Amongst The Waves
Wishlist
Better Man
Do The Evolution
Even Flow
Know Your Rights Clash Cover
Nothingman
Supersonic
Jeremy
Porch

Crazy Mary

Given To Fly
The Fixer
Rearviewmirror
Unthought Known
Black
Alive
Rockin' in the Free World Neil Young Cover

The only sad thing is the band ran out of time, with Eddie begging for 10 more minutes so they could play Yellow Ledbetter, but the curfew won out.  Eddie ruled, McCready was insane playing the solo from Alive behind his back, Jeff rocked the bass, Stone the guitar and Boom the keys.  And of course the engine driving it all, the incredible Matt Cameron!

We love ya Pearl Jam!  Thanks for finally coming back to the ATL!

Rock and Roll Weekend

Tore it up again last weekend with two great nites of Rock and Roll, concerts 29 and 30 for the year!

Kicked it off on Friday nite at Chastain with the Capricorn Experience, a revue staffed by some classic artists from the Allman Brother's label including Doyle Bramhall, Cowboy, Wet Willie and Chuck Leavell.  A great way to wrap up a great summer of Southern Rock for Rockman!  Thanks Bernie for the tickets:)

Then on Saturday nite, New Jersey's own, The Smithereens played a free concert as the closing act of Suwanee Days in beautiful downtown Suwanee Georgia!  They rocked with their own classics like "Blood and Roses" and "A Girl Like You" and and even threw in a couple of Who songs too!

Onward to Pearl Jam at Music Midtown this weekend, see you at the show!

20th and final show of summer 2012

Closed down an epic summer and celebreted my birthday with Foreigner and Night Ranger, like myself, classics of the 80's who have aged well!

Night Ranger kicked off the festivities with a raucous blend of their easily recongnizable classsic rock.  Yes, Sister Christian is "still motoring"!

 
Foreigner bought it home as the headliners, rockin their many hits.  Mick Jones who had  heart surgery earlier this year was absent for the first few songs but the show shifted into hyperdrive when he took the stage for some of Foreigner's best.  A great guitarist backed by a great band had Chastain "Hot Blooded" all nite long.

After 28 shows so far this year, time for a few weeks off for Rockman as he rests for the epic that will be Pearl Jam at Music Midtown.  Although don't be suprised to see me at Chastain for the Night of Capricorn recording artists with Wet Willie, Cowboy and Chuck Leavell on Spetember 14.  See you at the show:)

A Southern Rock Weekend!

Kicked it off at the free Duluth Summer Stage performance of the Atlanta Rythm Section!

They played all the hits; Imaginary Lover, Spooky, Not Gonna Let it Bother Me Tonight, etc... It was a real Champagne Jam!

Then last nite at Chastain for B.B. King and the Tedeschi Trucks Band.  What a show.  B.B. ambled out to join his excellent band in an eclectic set that ranged from When Love Comes to Town and Key To The Highway, to You Are My Sunshine and When the Saints Go Marching In.

Then it got really hot with the inredicble Tedeschi/Trucks Band.  This 11 piece juggernaut led by Susan's soulful singing and Derek's searing slide guitar played a rockin couple of hours.  Two drummers, a three piece horn section, backup singers, the whole enchilada of blues, funk, jazz and New Orleans style voodoo!

 Back to Chastain this Friday for Foreigner and Night Ranger,  No rest for the wicked, see you at the show!