Rockblog

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”.

The Rockblog would like to wish all its readers a Happy Thanksgiving and take this chance to list some of the things the Rockblog has been thnkful for over the past twelve months.

The first thing to be thankful for is the Norton Records release of the Dictators collection Every Day is Saturday. I’m not usually into collections of rarities and alternate versions, but Dictators releases are too rare as it is. It helps that the alternate version of “Sleeping With the TV On” from the Manifest Destiny album pisses all over the original release and most of the Bloodbrothers album that is included sounds great as well. Throw in some very early Dictators songs including the best song ever written about an episode of the original 1950’s Superman TV series, “Fireman’s Friend”, and you’re on to a winner.

Sticking with the Dictators, the Rockblog is not only thankful, but eternally grateful, for the Spanish tour the band did in October and easyjet for providing cheap flights to Spain. The Barcelona show was easily one of the best I’ve ever been to and it was a pleasure meeting Ross the Boss, Handsome Dick Manitoba, and Andy Shernoff after the show.

The Rockblog is also thankful for getting to see Neil Young again at the Hammersmith Apollo and Ace Frehley at the Astoria. Hell, I enjoyed seeing Ace more as a solo artist then I did when I saw him with KISS in 1996.

I’m thankful I got the chance to catch up with old friends in the Grateful Dead tribute band the Cosmic Charlies. It’s a shame the UK market for a Dead tribute band is so small because these guys are good. Hopefully it won’t be so long between shows the next time I see them.

I’m thankful AC/DC added a second date at the O2 in London. I was still trying to buy tickets for the sold out first gig when Ticketmaster notified me tickets were on sale for another date at the arena.

And speaking of the O2, I’m thankful to Metallica for the £5 tickets to their Death Magnetic release party gig held at the arena.

I’m thankful Guns N Roses finally released Chinese Democracy. I may not like the album, but the coverage in the music press became almost as tedious as that of the Presidential election and should die out within the next couple of weeks. I’m also glad Dr Pepper screwed up on their free soda deal. Why should us in the UK not be able to get a free Dr Pepper?

And that brings me to some things I’m thankful to look forward to in 2009. A new album from the New York Dolls. Tours from George Thorogood and Lynyrd Skynyrd. And hopefully a tour from Alice Cooper with a full stage production of his latest album Along Came A Spider.

I almost forgot, I’m also thankful to Today.com for providing beer money to blog about something I really love. Check them out, you too could earn some extra cash blogging about something dear to your heart.

Have a happy and rockin’ Thanksgiving.

Folk rocker, musical icon, and writer of some of the best songs ever, Bob Dylan played fanboy last week when he visited the childhood home of folk rocker, musical icon, and writer of some of the best songs ever, Neil Young.

According to the CBC story, the owner of the Winnipeg home where Neil Young grew up, John Kiernan, saw his wife talking with two strangers on the front lawn.

“And I’m looking around, and I realize, this guy having a tuque on has really great boots on, these sort of cowboy, motorcycle boots. And he was wearing really nice leather pants. And I realize I’m staring face-to-face with Bob Dylan.”

Dylan and his manager were then invited into the house and given the grand tour, including Neil’s old bedroom.

“OK, so this was his view, and this was where he listened to his music. It suddenly dawned on me, when you’re looking at Bob Dylan standing in a hallway, that he had a very parallel experience 200 miles to the south, sitting in his room, listening to his music, looking out his window,” Kiernan commented.

It’s good to know that even after having number 1 albums, his songs covered by everyone from Jimi Hendrix to the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Guns ‘N’ Roses, influencing everybody in rock music either directly or indirectly since 1962, and being named one of Time magazine’s 100 most important people of the century,  Bob Dylan can still be a huge fan of the musicians he admires.