Post by Jesse on Oct 9, 2007 7:49:46 GMT -5
Bad Boys Of Southern Rock: Blackfoot and Molly Hatchet 10/06/07
Well, I went to see my two favorite Southern Rock bands last night. Blackfoot for only the 2nd time and Molly Hatchet for the 13th time. The venue this time was Penns Peak in the beautiful town of Jim Thorpe, PA. This is not a very easy venue to get to as I had about a 45 minute drive to the PA Turnpike, then about a half hour cruise at 80 MPH on the Turnpike, and finally another 15 minutes or so winding around back roads, steadily climbing uphill as we went. Just about the time I thought that I must've taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque, we saw the sign for the Penns Peak entertainment complex. I pulled in the driveway.......and continued to go uphill!
The parking lot turned out to be full! I wound up parking in a little nook where a bunch of construction equipment was parked. I'm not complaining though, last years' Starland Ballroom show was also packed, making me think that these guys might be due to play some bigger venues in the area in the near future.
Anyways, showtime was 8pm, but I expected the usual 3 or 4 mediocre to crappy local bands to begin the evening with........WRONG! The girlfriend and I got parked around 8:10 and walked up to the venue to the sound of Blackfoot playing "I Got A Line On You". We were kinda pissed about that, cuz we purposefully waited a bit before leaving so that we wouldn't have to stand through those 3 or 4 local bands plus the 2 headliners. But I won't complain, because we apparently didn't miss much as Blackfoot played about 13 songs during our watch.
Alright, so a little background on Blackfoot: They began their reunion tour with 3 of the 4 originals (only frontman Rick Medlocke bowed out, choosing to stick with the steady paycheck in Lynyrd Skynyrd) plus Guitarist/Vocalist Bobby Barth who made his career fronting Melodic Rock band Axe, but DID spend 3 years in the mid-80's as part of Blackfoot. By the time we saw them last spring, original Drummer Jakson Spires had passed away and Austrian drummer Christophe Ulrich (no relation to Lars) took his place. Also, Barth had neck surgery and his place was taken by former Rossington Band sideman Jay Johnson (son of Jimmy Johnson who produced the first 2 Blackfoot albums). That was last year. THIS year, Barth is back and Micheal Sollars is now on drums AND backing vocals.
Right from the getgo, I felt Barth did a better job on vocals than he did on the recent "Train, Train Live" CD/DVD, but not quite as good as Johnson had done last year in his stead. Also, perhaps because Barth is noticably older than Johnson and sets the tone or possibly because the recent death of Hughie Thomasson made them realize that they're not kids anymore, I noticed the energy level of Blackfoot was not nearly what it had been at last years show (but still higher than that of many bands half their age!) The biggest thing I noticed about Blackfoot though was that they changed the setlist up quite a bit. This in total contrast to Molly Hatchet who seems to have had only small changes in their setlists in the last 10 years or so.....but we'll get to Hatchet later. Blackfoot was tight and energetic. As I said, we missed the opening and by the time we got into the venue, "I Got A Line On You" was done and they started into a new song that I had never heard before. Didn't get a good feel for what it was, but it sounded good...like Classic Blackfoot. After some sitdown blues guitar playing from Barth, original Guitarist Charlie Hargrette went to center stage and lit into "Baby Blue". After that number, Micheal Sollars went into a drum lick that I really thought was gonna be "On The Run", but to my surprise, original bassist Greg Walker went to center stage and started singing! I take credit for this as, when I met him last year, I told him how great he sounded on backing vocals (Walker was the sole backing vocalist last year) and suggested he sing lead on a couple. So here he was center stage singing "Great Spirit", a song off of his NDN solo project which, if I didn't know any better, coulda passed for a Blackfoot classic. Apparently the crowd thought so too as this song got one of the greatest responses of the evening. From there, the 'Foots did the new blues song "Sunshine Again" which is a great blues song.......but I'm never looking for blues when I go to Blackfoot. Still, the song made for a great segue into "Wishing Well". After an extended version of "Wishing Well", another surprise as they began playing "Morning Dew" from 1984's "Verticle Smiles" album. The keyboardless version of "Morning Dew" brought a little more power to the tune by the end, but took away from the foreboding intro a touch. After "Morning Dew" things became a little predictable as they ended the night with "Rolling And Tumblin'/Fly Away", "Good Morning" , "Train, Train" with Hatchet's Phil McCormack on Harmonica and a marathon version of "Highway Song". No encore as it seemed they might've been running long and we still had Molly Hatchet to come out.
Surprisingly, it didn't take all that long for Molly Hatchet to get set up. Last time I saw these two bands, Blackfoot used Molly Hatchet's gear (drum set, guitar/bass rigs), this time Hatchet used Blackfoot's gear so there was minimum setup time between the two acts.
Soon the lights went down and Van Halen and Motley Crue music blasted over the PA system, after which the sonic boom of "O Fortuna" signaled that it was time for everyone to get situated for the start of the Molly Hatchet portion of the show. Phil McCormack wound up introducing the band himself and they went into "Whiskey Man" as their (usual) opener.
The first 2/3 of the night was EXACTLY the same setlist I had seen a year earlier. Same songs, same order. However, I DID get a sense that tonight was gonna be a little different during Dave Hlubek's "Gator Country" solo. I swear, he must've gone on for over 5 minutes!. He played like the friggin' energizer bunny: he kept going and going.......Man, was he having fun! From there, it was more of the usual, but definitely with a higher energy level than I've witnessed the last couple of times I saw them. After "Beatin' The Odds", I thoroughly expected to hear "Dreams I'll Never See" or something resembling an intro for it. However, Phil began a little harmonica solo and when the band joined in, it turned out to be a marathon medley of "T For Texas" and "One Way Out". I would've prefered a Hatchet original, but it was still cool, and more importantly, something different. From there, Phil and Bobby introduced the band and dedicated the next song to Stephanie Ingram (Bobby's deceased wife). The song turned out to be the second half of Eric Clapton's "Layla". Quite a beautiful version and I, for one, am willing to trade a Hatchet original in order to keep this in the setlist from now on. "Layla" then led into a LOOOONG Bobby solo. It was good and all, but probably dragged on a couple minutes too long (again, I'd rather he cut it a little short and fit another song in the set as, by this time, close to a half hour had gone by without them playing any Molly Hatchet material). Bobby's solo of course was the intro for "Dreams I'll Never See", which had an already rambunctious audience going even crazier.
Though Phil said goodbye after "Dreams....", we all knew they weren't done. When they took the stage for the encore, Phil even said that they couldn't leave without doing one last song. "Flirtin' With Disaster" right? WRONG. They played "Jukin' City" instead.....well, not exactly instead. They played the first 2 verses of "Jukin' City" and THEN broke into "Flirtin'....", complete with a huge, 1970's style, Arena Rock ending.
Certainly one of, if not THE highest energy level I've ever seen from Hatchet. Plus, it was a longer set and probably the biggest crowd I've seen for them since Danny Joe Brown was with them. I'd still prefer less screwing around with drum solos, guitar solos and cover songs and more original Hatchet material. I still don't see why they need to play the same damn songs, in the same damn order every time I see them. But it WAS a great show and it DID have some variety from last time I saw them. And it still beats the hell out of many other Rock acts out there. I just think they should take a page out of Blackfoot's book and change up the setlist a bit.
Blackfoot's Set: (This is what I heard, as I said, I was late, so there may be a song or two in the begining that I missed)
I Got A Line On You
New Song (Didn't catch the title)
Bobby Barth's Blues guitar solo
Baby Blue
Great Spirit (NDN song featuring Greg Walker on Lead Vocals)
Sunshine Again (New Song)
Wishing Well
Morning Dew
Rolling And Tumblin'
Fly Away
Good Morning
Train, Train,
Highway Song
Molly Hatchet's Set:
Whiskey Man
Bounty Hunter
Gator Country
Son Of The South
Fall Of The Peacemakers (Part one only, no end jam)
Devil's Canyon
Drum Solo
Beatin' The Odds
T For Texas/One Way Out
Layla (Slow second part only)
Guitar Solo
Dreams I'll Never See
Encore:
Jukin' City
Flirtin' With Disaster
Random thoughts:
-Sound was off all night.......but then again, at MY band's rehearsal the evening before, I thought everything was muddy too, so it MAY have been me. Still, even the girlfriend agreed that the drums were boomy, the guitars: trebley and you really couldn't hear the bass too well.
-It HAD to be house sound as the guys at the sound board had NO CLUE who was soloing when. Every solo spot started the same way: Barely audible above the rest of the music, then, WHAM, almost TOO loud above the rest of the music.
-The lighting crew also had no clue, often spotlighting the wrong guitarist during solos.
-Greg Walker sounded GREAT singing "Great Spirit". That song had a classic Blackfoot sound, making me think that, although Walker's name rarely appeared in any songwriting credits, he did indeed have a big part in creating their music. His voice also sounded a lot more similar to Medlocke's than Barth did. I think Walker should consider singing one or two Blackfoot songs in future concerts.
-Shawn Beamer didn't seem all that comfortable on Blackfoot's drum kit.......at least during the songs. When it came to the drum solo, I actually thought he kicked ass moreso than usual.
Well, I went to see my two favorite Southern Rock bands last night. Blackfoot for only the 2nd time and Molly Hatchet for the 13th time. The venue this time was Penns Peak in the beautiful town of Jim Thorpe, PA. This is not a very easy venue to get to as I had about a 45 minute drive to the PA Turnpike, then about a half hour cruise at 80 MPH on the Turnpike, and finally another 15 minutes or so winding around back roads, steadily climbing uphill as we went. Just about the time I thought that I must've taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque, we saw the sign for the Penns Peak entertainment complex. I pulled in the driveway.......and continued to go uphill!
The parking lot turned out to be full! I wound up parking in a little nook where a bunch of construction equipment was parked. I'm not complaining though, last years' Starland Ballroom show was also packed, making me think that these guys might be due to play some bigger venues in the area in the near future.
Anyways, showtime was 8pm, but I expected the usual 3 or 4 mediocre to crappy local bands to begin the evening with........WRONG! The girlfriend and I got parked around 8:10 and walked up to the venue to the sound of Blackfoot playing "I Got A Line On You". We were kinda pissed about that, cuz we purposefully waited a bit before leaving so that we wouldn't have to stand through those 3 or 4 local bands plus the 2 headliners. But I won't complain, because we apparently didn't miss much as Blackfoot played about 13 songs during our watch.
Alright, so a little background on Blackfoot: They began their reunion tour with 3 of the 4 originals (only frontman Rick Medlocke bowed out, choosing to stick with the steady paycheck in Lynyrd Skynyrd) plus Guitarist/Vocalist Bobby Barth who made his career fronting Melodic Rock band Axe, but DID spend 3 years in the mid-80's as part of Blackfoot. By the time we saw them last spring, original Drummer Jakson Spires had passed away and Austrian drummer Christophe Ulrich (no relation to Lars) took his place. Also, Barth had neck surgery and his place was taken by former Rossington Band sideman Jay Johnson (son of Jimmy Johnson who produced the first 2 Blackfoot albums). That was last year. THIS year, Barth is back and Micheal Sollars is now on drums AND backing vocals.
Right from the getgo, I felt Barth did a better job on vocals than he did on the recent "Train, Train Live" CD/DVD, but not quite as good as Johnson had done last year in his stead. Also, perhaps because Barth is noticably older than Johnson and sets the tone or possibly because the recent death of Hughie Thomasson made them realize that they're not kids anymore, I noticed the energy level of Blackfoot was not nearly what it had been at last years show (but still higher than that of many bands half their age!) The biggest thing I noticed about Blackfoot though was that they changed the setlist up quite a bit. This in total contrast to Molly Hatchet who seems to have had only small changes in their setlists in the last 10 years or so.....but we'll get to Hatchet later. Blackfoot was tight and energetic. As I said, we missed the opening and by the time we got into the venue, "I Got A Line On You" was done and they started into a new song that I had never heard before. Didn't get a good feel for what it was, but it sounded good...like Classic Blackfoot. After some sitdown blues guitar playing from Barth, original Guitarist Charlie Hargrette went to center stage and lit into "Baby Blue". After that number, Micheal Sollars went into a drum lick that I really thought was gonna be "On The Run", but to my surprise, original bassist Greg Walker went to center stage and started singing! I take credit for this as, when I met him last year, I told him how great he sounded on backing vocals (Walker was the sole backing vocalist last year) and suggested he sing lead on a couple. So here he was center stage singing "Great Spirit", a song off of his NDN solo project which, if I didn't know any better, coulda passed for a Blackfoot classic. Apparently the crowd thought so too as this song got one of the greatest responses of the evening. From there, the 'Foots did the new blues song "Sunshine Again" which is a great blues song.......but I'm never looking for blues when I go to Blackfoot. Still, the song made for a great segue into "Wishing Well". After an extended version of "Wishing Well", another surprise as they began playing "Morning Dew" from 1984's "Verticle Smiles" album. The keyboardless version of "Morning Dew" brought a little more power to the tune by the end, but took away from the foreboding intro a touch. After "Morning Dew" things became a little predictable as they ended the night with "Rolling And Tumblin'/Fly Away", "Good Morning" , "Train, Train" with Hatchet's Phil McCormack on Harmonica and a marathon version of "Highway Song". No encore as it seemed they might've been running long and we still had Molly Hatchet to come out.
Surprisingly, it didn't take all that long for Molly Hatchet to get set up. Last time I saw these two bands, Blackfoot used Molly Hatchet's gear (drum set, guitar/bass rigs), this time Hatchet used Blackfoot's gear so there was minimum setup time between the two acts.
Soon the lights went down and Van Halen and Motley Crue music blasted over the PA system, after which the sonic boom of "O Fortuna" signaled that it was time for everyone to get situated for the start of the Molly Hatchet portion of the show. Phil McCormack wound up introducing the band himself and they went into "Whiskey Man" as their (usual) opener.
The first 2/3 of the night was EXACTLY the same setlist I had seen a year earlier. Same songs, same order. However, I DID get a sense that tonight was gonna be a little different during Dave Hlubek's "Gator Country" solo. I swear, he must've gone on for over 5 minutes!. He played like the friggin' energizer bunny: he kept going and going.......Man, was he having fun! From there, it was more of the usual, but definitely with a higher energy level than I've witnessed the last couple of times I saw them. After "Beatin' The Odds", I thoroughly expected to hear "Dreams I'll Never See" or something resembling an intro for it. However, Phil began a little harmonica solo and when the band joined in, it turned out to be a marathon medley of "T For Texas" and "One Way Out". I would've prefered a Hatchet original, but it was still cool, and more importantly, something different. From there, Phil and Bobby introduced the band and dedicated the next song to Stephanie Ingram (Bobby's deceased wife). The song turned out to be the second half of Eric Clapton's "Layla". Quite a beautiful version and I, for one, am willing to trade a Hatchet original in order to keep this in the setlist from now on. "Layla" then led into a LOOOONG Bobby solo. It was good and all, but probably dragged on a couple minutes too long (again, I'd rather he cut it a little short and fit another song in the set as, by this time, close to a half hour had gone by without them playing any Molly Hatchet material). Bobby's solo of course was the intro for "Dreams I'll Never See", which had an already rambunctious audience going even crazier.
Though Phil said goodbye after "Dreams....", we all knew they weren't done. When they took the stage for the encore, Phil even said that they couldn't leave without doing one last song. "Flirtin' With Disaster" right? WRONG. They played "Jukin' City" instead.....well, not exactly instead. They played the first 2 verses of "Jukin' City" and THEN broke into "Flirtin'....", complete with a huge, 1970's style, Arena Rock ending.
Certainly one of, if not THE highest energy level I've ever seen from Hatchet. Plus, it was a longer set and probably the biggest crowd I've seen for them since Danny Joe Brown was with them. I'd still prefer less screwing around with drum solos, guitar solos and cover songs and more original Hatchet material. I still don't see why they need to play the same damn songs, in the same damn order every time I see them. But it WAS a great show and it DID have some variety from last time I saw them. And it still beats the hell out of many other Rock acts out there. I just think they should take a page out of Blackfoot's book and change up the setlist a bit.
Blackfoot's Set: (This is what I heard, as I said, I was late, so there may be a song or two in the begining that I missed)
I Got A Line On You
New Song (Didn't catch the title)
Bobby Barth's Blues guitar solo
Baby Blue
Great Spirit (NDN song featuring Greg Walker on Lead Vocals)
Sunshine Again (New Song)
Wishing Well
Morning Dew
Rolling And Tumblin'
Fly Away
Good Morning
Train, Train,
Highway Song
Molly Hatchet's Set:
Whiskey Man
Bounty Hunter
Gator Country
Son Of The South
Fall Of The Peacemakers (Part one only, no end jam)
Devil's Canyon
Drum Solo
Beatin' The Odds
T For Texas/One Way Out
Layla (Slow second part only)
Guitar Solo
Dreams I'll Never See
Encore:
Jukin' City
Flirtin' With Disaster
Random thoughts:
-Sound was off all night.......but then again, at MY band's rehearsal the evening before, I thought everything was muddy too, so it MAY have been me. Still, even the girlfriend agreed that the drums were boomy, the guitars: trebley and you really couldn't hear the bass too well.
-It HAD to be house sound as the guys at the sound board had NO CLUE who was soloing when. Every solo spot started the same way: Barely audible above the rest of the music, then, WHAM, almost TOO loud above the rest of the music.
-The lighting crew also had no clue, often spotlighting the wrong guitarist during solos.
-Greg Walker sounded GREAT singing "Great Spirit". That song had a classic Blackfoot sound, making me think that, although Walker's name rarely appeared in any songwriting credits, he did indeed have a big part in creating their music. His voice also sounded a lot more similar to Medlocke's than Barth did. I think Walker should consider singing one or two Blackfoot songs in future concerts.
-Shawn Beamer didn't seem all that comfortable on Blackfoot's drum kit.......at least during the songs. When it came to the drum solo, I actually thought he kicked ass moreso than usual.
