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alright! so this was a really fun trip!
we left Mpls about 11, took the scenic route and ate lunch at the Rock n' Roll Cafe in Ellsworth Wisconsin, one of those old school 50s themed diners with 45s on the wall and pix of marilyn monroe and elvis and stuff, great burgers...
got to the casino/hotel, checked in and did the aforementioned drinking of glenlivit and dos equis (and some mike's hard lemonade)....the show started EARLY, doors 630, show 7...so we didn't have time to eat...
got the show, and I was expecting it was going to be in some theater, but it was really just a big event room, like where you'd have a manager's conference with chairs set up....my friend james went up and talked to the sound guy -- turns out we were lied to and BOC was not headlining but going on first :(
so it was general admission and we grabbed some decent seats...BOC came out to the Game of Thrones theme song :) :) :)
so it was Eric, Buck, two dorks on guitar/keyboards and drums, then Kasim Sulton....
Kick things off with Red and Black...Buck's playing one of those really dorky Steinbergers with a with a white body type and no headstock (but not the super small 80s steinbergers, has kinda of a strat-ish body)...it also had "craters" that scooped out of the body? kind of like if they scooped out parts of the body...weird, sounds ok though....
sadly, they didn't get to play long...only did R&B, Burnin' for You, Shooting Shark (oddly given the set length), Cities on Flame, Godzilla, and Reaper....they did manage to squeeze in drum and bass solos (LOL)....also they did a weird medley where they introduced Kasim and when they said "You might know him from Joan Jett" they did a bit of I Love Rock n Roll and then so on for Todd Rungren (i don't wanna work) and Meatloaf (paradise by dashboard)....kinda corny....
Bloom is still really goony and did the godzilla rap from extraterrestrial live about godzilla coming to stomp out the Wisconsin Dells! was awesome....
As far as the performance, the new dudes can certainly play...Bloom definitely has to strain a bit at this point, but Buck's voice, maybe because his singing tone is so soft, really sings and plays amazingly still....
There was the vibe of phoning it in a bit but they are such pros it was still good...and there were a few moments where you felt like you were REALLY seeing them, like they jammed out the end of Reaper for a couple minutes and Buck was sublime...
the best part was that you could actually walk up and there was a big area in front of the stage to stand in front of the chairs so I basically got like 12 feet from Buck...like seeing them in a really small club :)
we got fucking wasted basically and were pissed at Kansas for headlining and decided to fuck off their set and go to the sports bar -- a most fortuitous decision!!
we saw the session guitar and drummer sitting down at a table...we thought about saying something but what the fuck do you say to them?
so we ordered beers and burgers and stuff and just started drinking more....then a group of ppl we'd see upfront -- some really oddball older folks with various old tour t-shirts, sat down with the drummer and the guitarist...they seemed to know them...I got the sense they were old fan club ppl or maybe follow BOC around on tour sometimes??
but anyway sure enough BUCK DHARMA WALKS INTO THE SPORTS BAR!!!!! he starts shaking hands with that group and chatting...eventually sits down with them...I was like fuck it, I was totally in the bag and went up to him and said I'm a big fan and would you take a picture with my friend...which he totally agreed to
after that Eric Bloom walks in and also agrees to do a picture!!!
so that pretty much made up for the short set, especially because this is the only venue we could have possibly ever just "ran into" buck and eric after a show....but yeah they weren't super into talking but they were totally gracious and willing to do a picture and autographs....I didn't see either one of them fail to stop and talk to ppl for a second and sign stuff, seemed, again, like total pros.
so yeah I shook Eric and Buck's hands! felt like the culmination of the last year of BOC obsession....
rad. can't believe they were the opener! for KANSAS! i would really think that BOC would be the bigger draw, but I guess these are weird scenes/times.
― tylerw, Tuesday, May 22, 2012 5:07 PM (23 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
we did feel a bit burned, and just a general sense that the world is an unjust place.
one thing i learned there are SUPER HARDCORE KANSAS FANS....like SUPER hardcore....I talked to this really haggard old drunk that had seen them 46 times....he also...(bizarrely given his age)....was a big Tool/Perfect Circle fan
one year passes...