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 What. A. Show. Starland Ballroom, 12/22/06Moderators: Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [15 messages per page] | |
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 Geek-in-Chief Posts: 606   Location: Noo Yawk | Just got back from Jersey. Exhausted. Got some great shots of the band, which I'll post tomorrow. The band rocked, the club was packed, the crowd was nuts. Saw a bunch of SMFs. Good to see faces I haven't seen since Vegas. More tomorrow. Goin' to bed. - D ON EDIT: Here's a preview...   Okay. The longer version now, after a few hours' sleep... Myself, my lovely wife, my band's drummer and bass player (and his lovely wife), and the guitarist I work with in the Def Leppard and Whitesnake tribute bands all piled into the truck and headed to Starland. It rained most of the night, but that did not affect the crowd a bit. The place was stacked with people - I was at the same club for the Bent Brother Christmas show last year, and that night was pretty crowded - but the club was bulging at the seams with the SMFs who came out for this one. As we were walking into the club, I saw Jaysin talking to a guy outside the club. Turns out the guy was one of Dee's call screeners for Fangoria, who came down to see the show but somehow wasn't included on the guest list. But it just so happened that one of the people who was supposed to have come in with me didn't make it, so I had an extra pass. I told the Fangoria kid (forget his name, sorry) to come in with us, and he got a pass from my guest list and got in the door. We wandered around the club looking for a good place to watch the show, and ended up on stage right behind the monitor mixer. We got to see Baptized By Fire, who were very good. Jesse is most definitely following in Dad's footsteps, and one of these days I'm sure he's going to be a premier frontman in rock and roll. Once BBF wrapped up their set, the mood kicked up a couple of notches as the crowd got ready for what has become THE holiday concert of 2006. Just before the band went on, I snagged Danny Stanton and asked him to put me somewhere for web site pics. He took care of a couple of things, came back and dropped me in the photo pit, right in front of Jay Jay's mic stand. As I settled in and got my camera set up, I chatted for a while with Ken Pierce from piercingmetal.com, who was there to take photos and write a review. Nice fellow. We ran into one another later on and compared digital pics. Then the intro started up - 'Long Way To The Top,' which somehow turned into 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.' The band hit the stage, pure energy unleashed. It was all I could do to get clear shots of the band during the first three songs - it was like following a bunch of pinballs, careening around the stage. They opened with their own version of 'HYAMLC,' which set the tone for the show - all energy, great tune, band firing on all cylinders from the jump. The set list was the same as from the Ram's Head show: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Shoot 'em Down Stay Hungry I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus The Fire Still Burns Can't Stop Rock N' Roll White Christmas The Price Oh Come O' Ye Faithful Under the Blade I'll be Home for Christmas Burn in Hell AJ's drum solo Silver Bells (MAM's bass solo) I Wanna Rock Encores: Heavy Metal Christmas We're Not Gonna Take It SMF The between-song raps were classic - Jay Jay going off on New Metal and American Idol, Dee going off on perverted Tipper Gore, talking about the newfound popularity of 'We're Not Gonna Take It,' and talking about his Christmas as a kid (won't spoil it, but I'll give you one word as a hint - SOCKS), and the crowd was as much or more into it than I've seen any crowd since NY Steel. Dee told the crowd that of all the places they'd played this year, the Starland crowd was the loudest of them all. What convinced me was during the crowd participation bits of the show - usually, it takes Dee a couple of tries to get the crowd all involved on songs like 'I Wanna Rock' or 'SMF' - last night, the crowd's response was full-on on the first try. While the band seemed mildly surprised by the response, Dee started with full-on and pushed the crowd even further - and the crowd gave back as good as they got. There was one heckler that was talking to Dee in between songs, and you know how that turned out. You'd think that after all these years, people would know that you don't go to a TS show with the intent of trying to throw Dee Snider off his game - it can only end badly. This time was no exception. Poor bastard. Everything that Armadillo talked about in the Balto review was in this show - the blizzard, MAM's wailing bass solo, AJ's drum solo which was crushing, and Eddie's vocal turn in 'I'll Be Home For Christmas.' There were a couple of mechanical malfunctions - the snow machine on our side of the stage crapped out for a while (but got fixed in time for Danny Stanton to go nuts spraying the band and crowd with it throughout the encore), and Eddie's guitar quit just in time for the solo in 'We're Not Gonna Take It.' But the band, being the troopers that they are, breezed right through the tech problems. 'Heavy Metal Christmas' was hilarious. The crew (or should we call them the elves for this show?) came out and dropped cue cards on the stage, and the band used them as props as they wound their way through the song. AJ looked like he was having a great time wandering around the stage and not being behind the drum kit for a change. Then 'WNGTI' and then 'SMF.' A one-two punch that dazzled the crowd and capped the night, and very nearly the year. I talked to Jay Jay yesterday about the the fact that the last two shows were being videotaped, and while I'm not going to spill the beans on what the possible plans are, I will say that any part of that show on DVD would be one of the most incendiary concert DVDs ever. Like I said at the top - the club was packed, the band rocked, the crowd was nuts. Matter of fact - whenever the inevitable hanging up of the guns finally happens, that phrase would be just about the perfect epitaph for the long, loud career of Twisted Sister. From the first time I ever saw them right up until last night, it's always been that way, and it'll be that way until the last encore is played. It is such an honor to be affiliated with a band that has always observed Rule One Of Rock - Give The People What They Want. Merry Christmas to the band and their families, to the management and crew, to the SMFs who don't mind standing in the rain in order to get rocked one more time. God bless us, everyone. - D --- I promise I'll post pics later - my band is playing a Christmas party out here on LI tonight, and it starts very early and ends early. But I do have a lot of really good shots and will add them to the Gallery shortly. But now I gotta go get ready for my gig. | ||
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