Concerts – Page 153 – Concertologist

ALICE IN COOPERLAND AXS TV The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands The Roxy 8/12/2013

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41 years ago today, Alice Cooper was at Number 1 on the UK singles chart with “School’s Out”.

Alice Cooper actually used to hang out with other rock stars at “On The Rox” – the little nightclub right above The Roxy.

“You used to be so hip when you hung out on the Strip……”— lyrics from “Give It Up” off Alice Cooper’s “Constrictor” Album

With all the “shock rock” aspects of his stage performance, Alice Cooper may be the ultimate act to pay tribute to and Alice in Cooperland really did a fantastic job. After he popped out of the casket onstage and proceeded to play 15 Alice Cooper classics throughout the set. With tons of incredible theatrics and seemingly constant costume and set changes, this was the ultimate production and a truly faithful recreation of an Alice Cooper show. The band rocked it. The musicianship made this a very believable performance.

They played a dozen songs before going to commercial break with Katie Daryl at the conclusion of “I Love The Dead”. Highlights included a David Brighton as David Bowie appearance during “Under My Wheels”, a reenactment of the hilarious Wayne’s World skit with Alice Cooper, Alice getting beheaded by a guillotine. In fact, every song was a highlight and there was so much going on.

They returned with “School’s Out” and “Elected” to close the broadcast. They then rocked “Cold Ethyl” for the live audience. What a shockingly great show this was. Talk about exceeding expectations. WOW!

SET LIST:

Billion Dollar Babies

I’m Eighteen

Feed My Frankenstein

Under My Wheels (complete with an appearance by David Brighton)

Only Women Bleed

Welcome To My Nightmare

Go To Hell

Poison

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Be My Lover

Killer

I Love The Dead

COMMERCIAL BREAK:

ENCORE:

School’s Out

In addition to popping confetti-filled balloons with a sword, there were also smoke and fog machines during the encore.

Elected ‘ – with appearances by Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon. They threw money around. It was hilarious.

The close of the broadcast:

Cold Ethyl

THE BAND (Left to Right):

ROB LONTOK – BASS

JEFF PAGE – DRUMS

LARRY CORNWALL as ALICE

MICHAEL JACOBSON – KEYBOARDS

JEFF SCHOFIELD- GUITAR

WHAT A PRODUCTION!! There were so many people that came out to take the final bow. That was cool.

The lyrics to “Go to Hell” probably stood out the most and are most meaningful:

“For criminal acts and violence on the stage
For being a brat – Refusing to act your age
For all of the decent citizens you’ve enraged
You can go to Hell
For gambling and drinking alcohol constantly
For making us doubt our parents authority
For choosing to be a living obscenity
You can go to Hell”

I’ve seen Alice Cooper in concert 3 times. He always has top notch musicians and never fails to put on a fantastic show.

I actually enjoyed the sound and the lighting at this show at The Roxy better than the venues where I’ve seen Alice perform.

The last time I saw him live was a few months ago, I ended up sitting up front in a GREAT seat and got to hang out backstage before, during and after the show. I even got to meet Alice before the band hopped on the tour bus. He was a cool dude and looks great for a 65 year old rocker.

Here’s a picture I took of Alice and my buddy after the show:

“……You got a perfect happy smile, yeah you`re growing old in style………”

— lyrics from “Give It Up” off Alice Cooper’s “Constrictor” Album

This shows marks the halfway point of Season 2 of The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands. There are 5 more shows remaining this season. Free ticket information

GUNS 4 ROSES THE ROXY AXS TV’s THE WORLD’S GREATEST TRIBUTE BANDS 8/5/2013

Katie Daryl introduced GUNS4ROSES and brought The Roxy back to 27 years ago when Guns N Roses did one of their best gigs ever in the exact same venue.

The band is based out of Texas and immediately threw down with “Welcome To The Jungle” and then went right into “Mr. Brownstone”.

From there, they skipped a few years ahead and did “Live and Let Die” and alternated back and forth with the Appetite for Destruction and the Lose Your Illusion albums with “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”, “Nightrain” and went to commercial break with “Don’t Cry”.

Blowing the whistle for “Paradise City”

Check out who came up to the stage to throw the horns up. Good job, Katie!!

The band members definitely sport hilarious stage names – IZZY AXL (Is he Axl?), IZZY SLASH, IZZY DUFF, IZZY STEVEN ADLER and the most clever IZZY IZZY (Is he Izzy?) Was he? He could have been….

They came back to “November Rain” and rocked out to “Paradise City” to close out the live telecast. Fans in attendance then got a special encore of “You Could Be Mine”.

This show was a lot of fun and, along with having a fantastic set list, the band did a great job paying tribute to GnR.

Jam Lucy’s 51

The Fab Four Beatles Tribute AXS TV The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands The Roxy 7/29/2013

I’ve been disappointed by just about every Beatles tribute band I’ve ever seen. From tributes at fairs, to relatively large venues, I never found a band that did The Beatles music true justice. I am a huge Beatles fan. They’re one of the best bands ever. They may be the best – whatever that is. I’ve seen “Love” three times in Vegas, I have a good collection of Beatles stuff and I really enjoy their multi-channel music (“Eleanor Rigby is glorious in surround sound)..

I’d never heard The Fab Four play before. Given my low expectations for a band paying tribute to the music of the Beatles, I can say I am completely shocked by how much they nailed the entire act and by how into the show the super-packed crowd was. They played a sold out show the night before and may have the biggest fan base of all the tribute bands. There was a sizeable line before the doors opened.

They played 24 songs and pulled off several costume changes to represent different John, Paul, George and Ringo time periods in chronological order during their performance. Each song and costume change got better as the concert went on.

They started with “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, and included “Please Please Me”,”Do You Want To Know A Secret”, “A Hard Day’s Night”, “I Should Have Known Better”, “Eight Days A Week”, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “Yesterday”, “Day Tripper”, “She Loves You”, and “I Saw Her Standing There” before Katie Daryl took the first set commercial break with “Twist and Shout”.

Everyone in attendance was floored. What a fantastic tribute to the Beatles. And the energy was at an all-time high.

The second set of the show saw the Fab Four come back dressed in the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band/ psychedelic period. The bass drum even changed from “The Fab Four” logo to “It Was 20 Years Ago Today”.

To close out the telecast, the band came back out in their third costume and played “Get Back”, “Imagine”, “Here Comes The Sun”, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and “Revolution”.

The Fab Four went off the air with “Hey Jude”:

The band is solid and the drumming may have been the best part. This is a concert worthy of seeing over and over.

If you ever wanted to see a Beatles tribute band or relive a Beatles concert, then this is the band to see.

All-Star Jam James LoMenzo, Kenny Aronoff, Brent Woods and special guests Toluca Lake 7/29/2013

Heavy Metal Hill

Phil Soussan and Rafael Moreira jammed some Ozzy tunes. Phil played bass and sang on “I Don’t Know” and sang “Crazy Train”. Phil rocks. It was cool seeing him play again. He’s had some great jam nights in Sherman Oaks.