Jan 02 2009
Rockblog 2008 Concert of the Year
It’s the start of the new year and time for the Rockblog to announce it’s favorite concert from 2008.
But before we announce the winner of the Best Concert for 2008 we will announce the runners up….
Neil Young - Hammersmith Apollo, London 08/03/08
Not the best Neil Young show I’ve been to, but good enough to get a mention. Two sets from Neil on this tour, one acoustic followed by an electric set. Odd goings on with a guy painting pictures at the side of the stage, but smoking versions of “Down By The River”,”Hey Hey, My My”,”Powderfinger”, and “No Hidden Path” from his latest Chrome Dreams II did enough to send me home satisfied.
Ace Frehley - Astoria, London 11/04/08
Founding KISS guitarist Ace Frehley brought his band to London in April and delivered a show that, for me, was more enjoyable than seeing him perform with his former band. Ace looked in great shape, sounded even better, and performed a setlistthat I have a hard time finding any faults with. With the Astoria closing down soon, this show will be one of the highlights of my memories of the venue.
And now the winner of the Rockblog 2008 Concert of the Year…
The Dictators - Apolo 2, Barcelona 01/10/08
No real contest here. Not only the concert of the year, but the concert of the decade, the century, the millenium - lets just say it was THE best show I’ve ever been to.
The Dictators hadn’t played a show together since the closing of CBGB’s two years ago, so I was a bit nervous spending the money to fly out to Spain to see them as I’ve travelled for concerts before and been let down by poor performances. Of course there was no need to worry as the Dictators kicked the Barcelona crowd’s ass into submission. No elaborate stage show, no pyro, just rock and roll played the way it’s meant to be - straight ahead and in your face.
Ross the Boss tore the place up on lead guitar while Andy Shernoff, Scott “Top Ten” Kempner, and J.P. “Thunderbolt” Patterson kept everything moving forward and “Handsome” Dick Manitoba showed that not only is he the handsomest man in rock and roll, but he’s also the best front man in rock and roll.
It’s been three months since this concert and I still get goose pimples thinking about it. If there was a downside to this show it would have to be finding out two days after booking my flights, ticket, and hotel that people I know had just bought a place in Alicante. If I’d known I had a place to crash for free for one night I would have flown out to Alicante to see the show there and then taken the train to Madrid for that concert before flying back from Madrid. Oh well, shit happens and life is too short to worry about what could have been, especially when I at least got a chance to see the Dictators once.
To steal a phrase from Joey the Bartender from the back of the Dictators’ 1975 debut Go Girl Crazy! : “God Bless the Dictators and all that they stand for”.
At the beginning of the following video, I’m the guy at the front taking off his Dictators Go Girl Crazy! T-shirt to flash at the band (the T-shirt, not myself) as “Handsome” Dick Manitoba introduces “The Next Big Thing”.
