Finally Friday - I Love the 80s

Well it was actually Sunday August 20th when Ray and I attended an I Love the 80s concert at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.  What the heck!  Fun flashback and live music. 

Dang it was mostly "old" people at the concert.  The good thing is we all pretty much sat to enjoy the music, and stood for the big numbers at the end of a set.  I never did want to stand through a whole concert, even back in the day.

Tommy Tutone opened at exactly 7:30 pm.  He was amusing and of course we could  all sing along - Jenny, Jenny 867-5309

Paul Young was a UK dude and I only knew one  song. His set was the  weakest. The man lost his voice and his looks. His big number was an old Daryl Hall song - Every Time You Go Away.  

Next up - Hooters - a Philly band. They still sounded great and were tight. Lots of great songs and energy.  And We Danced,  All You Zombies, Day by Day     I really enjoyed them after all of these years. 

Finally - our star, Rick Springfield. He's 74 but looks great - lean with  the leather coat, long hair. He's lost a bit of the voice, but still adequate. He talked, had videos playing of himself back in the day of pretty boy, General Hospital, etc. You can tell he was having a blast and could also laugh a bit at his image. And the finale song was Jessie's Girl - he had his shirt off, sang like crazy, and really ended on a high note. 

A friend sent me this photo - apparently sometime he was at a liquor store signing rum bottles. He and Sammy Hagar are in on a product.  He did put in a plug onstage and swigged some rum. 

Fun time all around and Ray was a good sport for taking me. He knew some lyrics too!
 

Wilson Sisters Wail

Ray was off to the deer lease this weekend. Hmm, what to do? I saw in Friday's paper that Heart was appearing at the Verizon Theater (fairly small venue) on Saturday night. Sure enough, I bought a "cheap" seat - $35 plus fees, and found myself at Radio Station 92.5's blowout.

It was almost a senior citizen convention - every old rocker around hobbled to their seats. Yep - I guess that includes me. The way I look at - everybody driving tonight had good car insurance.

Flashback to the 80s. One of the openers was Night Ranger - Don't Tell Me You Love Me and Sister Christian were their biggies. They were LOUD, but fun.  Another opener was a local dude - Monte Montgomery - darn good guitar player. I liked him a lot.

Headliners - Heart came on at 9:30 pm. and opened with Barracuda. The hits came fast - Magic Man, Crazy On You, Dreamboat Annie, Even it Up, Straight On for You, Alone, What About Love, and more.

Wow - Nancy Wilson looks the same and can play that guitar. Ann Wilson can wail - her voice is richer, maybe a little less of the super high notes, but still she is unique and pure. The two together are rock queens. For 1-1/2 hours they captivated their audience. No fancy gimmicks on stage, just music magic.

I had never seen them in all my years of concert going. Glad I had the chance. Heart is classic and still rockin'

Pink: Truth About Love Tour

 Pink is a tiny dynamo with a great voice, a ton of energy, and a lot of material to present. I've been wanting to see her and Ray heard my hints (honey, I don't care how much it costs. I want to see Pink). He had to go scalper and this covered 2013/2014 birthday/Christmas, etc., but it was worth it.

 Great seats for The Truth About Love Tour.  Full house and the place was rocking. When she began by bouncing from a bungee cord and singing "Raise Your Glass", we knew this was going to be a crazy night. Lights, videos, dancers, and Pink bouncing everywhere. Wow!  Ray was not as up on her music, but he was impressed.  I loved the song "Try". Like the video, it was Pink with one male dancer. The song and dance were steamy. I also enjoyed her songs with the acoustic guitar player - "Who Knew?" is poignant.

"Blow Me One Last Kiss" was a winner. And with "So What" she was singing and flying all over the arena. She swooped down so low, I thought we could graze her hands. The whole Pink crew looked like they were having a blast. Pink chatted at times, smiled a lot, and sang her heart out.

We left pumped up and enthusiastic. Thanks, Ray for our Saturday night date to see Pink.

Sir Paul: Musical Poetry

He bounded on stage (new Cowboy Stadium) nattily dressed in a black suit. Sir Paul McCartney has those Paul eyes, that impish grin, and a cheeky sense of humor. He and his band launched into "Baby, You Can Drive My Car" and for the next three hours steered us on a magical music tour.

Two songs in he took off his coat and quipped, "That's the wardrobe change." He rolled up his white shirt sleeves and against a stunningly huge video backdrop shared Beatles, Wings, some Jimi Hendrix, a Buddy Holly tune, salutes to John and George, and sang "My Love" which he wrote for Linda, with an ache in the voice.

At age 67, the lad from Liverpool has lost good friends, but has gained a world of fans of all ages who stood and swayed to "Give Peace a Chance", "Hey Jude", and "Let It Be". We collectively jumped at the pyrotechnics and fireworks during the massive crescendo chords of "Live and Let Die" - definitely a whoa! moment. He rocked us out with "Back in the U.S.S.R", "Get Back", "Band on the Run", and "Helter Skelter".

So many, many brilliant songs - both words and music. My absolute favorites are poignant and stirring and sounded so good even after the millionth time he's played them: "Yesterday" on guitar. "The Long and Winding Road" on piano.

Sir Paul McCartney, a talented bloke and musical poet. Thanks.

(images thanks to cellphone of Cheryl Wolf (fabulous daughter of Ann Summerville) People had huge cameras. But I follow rules and was afraid of confiscation. Damn my rule following heart.

Joanne