The Guess Who Concert

The Guess Who is by far one of my all time favorite bands. They are amazing on all scales. My scale system goes like this. I have three scales, friendliness, overall sound, and stage presence/ performance. The overall sound is pretty well self explanatory. If they sound good they get a good rating, the better they sound the higher the rating. The stage presence/ performance is the show they put on. For example, in the Rain concert the musicians dressed up in costumes like the Beatles. This category does not mean they have to wear costumes, if they dance around and get the crowd going they can get a good rating, like the Village People. If they just stand there like Danny of Three Dog Night they don't rate very high. Now, the friendliness scale is how friendly they are to fans and people in general. A lot of times after a concert I have the opportunity to meet the musicians. I have met the Guess Who, America, Los Lobos, Mark Stein of Vanilla Fudge, the Lovin Spoonful, John Secada, and the musicians that perform with Bonnie Tyler, and others. I have seen the Guess Who perform twice, once at Magic City Casino in Miami and once at the Pompano Beach Seafood Festival. Both shows were both amazing, which actually is quiet surprising since people in general usually remember good things to be better than they actually were and they end up disappointed when it happens again because it wasn't as good as remembered. I got to mee and talk with them both times. Leonard, the keyboard/ organ player of the second generation, remembered me from the first time we met. They were all very friendly, they didn't have that "I'm better than a rockstar" attitude that a lot of musicians have. I got them to take a picture with the band I photograph, Viva. The first time I saw the Guess Who perform I only knew a few of their songs like "No Time" and "American Woman". Almost every song they played I enjoyed listening to. The second time I watched them perform, which was at the Seafood Festival, I knew every song they played. What I really enjoy is they don't play any new songs, I wouldn't mind maybe one or two. Each show is different, even though the play the same songs.

Dion Warwick Concert

A few weeks ago I went to the Dion Warwick concert at the Hard Rock Live. Before the concert I had never heard of her. I knew a few of her songs, after asking which songs she did. We got our tickets. They weren't bad seats, they weren't great seats but that's only because the ladies behind us kept screaming. They would only scream when nobody else in the entire arena was screaming which made it that mush louder. Their screams were ear piercing screams, nothing compared to the sound of the entire crowd screaming and cheering. They were horrible! Here is some background information on Dion. Dion was born in 1940. She had 56 singles that were charted in the top 100 between the years of 1962 and 1998. She is ranked #2 by billboard magazine. Aretha Franklin is #1. A few of her greatest hits include "Just Walk on By" and "I Say A Little Prayer For You". The stage had a drum set, two sets of keyboards (one on each side), a sitting bass player, and a baby grand piano in the center of the stage. When Dion first took the stage she began introducing herself and talking about a few different things. It sounded just like Tina Turner on the beginning of the song "Rolling On The River". Her voice was soft and scratchy. It sounded very weak. The concert started out great! She played a few songs that even I knew. Her voice sounded like she was straining, and by the look on her face anybody could definitely tell she was straining. Near the middle of the concert she decided she was going to introduce someone very special to her. She went through this whole long introduction. She was talking about her son. He was originally her drummer when he was a kid. Then he decided he wanted to go back to school and he did. One day he decided to sing and boy oh boy can he sing. I would go to a concert just to watch him. He was amazing. What's funny though is that he does not sing for a living. He is a police officer. Dion convinced him to go on tour with her and sing a few songs with her. They did a few duets together and he sang a song solo. He was wonderful. What a nice surprise. When they finished singing a song she decided it was now time for her to do a few new songs. When I say a few that actually meant about 5 or 6 very slow sappy love/ heartache songs. I'm all game for those kind of songs but when you play 5 or 6 of them in a row that it's just too much. I wasn't the only one thinking that. A couple hundred people got up and left in the middle of the concert. They just couldn't take it anymore. We sat the and endured it. When she finished doing her new songs everyone woke up again and she started playing the originals again, the songs we came to hear her sing. She brought out her son a few more times and introduced her band. Overall, the concert was good. It got a bit boring around the middle but she recovered in the end with a few of her hit songs. The ladies behind me drove me crazy but that had nothing to do with her. I enjoyed the concert.

Three Dog Night

Last week I went to see Three Dog Night in concert. I have seen them before so I wasn't too excited, but I always love to go to concerts so I was still excited. The concert was at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood. We showed up early and got our tickets. They were the tickets for our favorite place but they were very good tickets. We were 7 or 8 rows back from the stage. I could see the sweat on their faces. Three Dog Night Started in 1968 and originally had 3 lead singers, they were Chuck Negron, Cory Wells, and Danny Hutton. Now, Three Dog Night consist of Danny Hutton and Cory Wells. Chuck Negron has his own band now called Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night. In the recent concert I saw the original guitar player was also still with them and the keyboard player has been friends wi them since the 1960's. The drummer was the newest addition of the band. He has been with them for the last two decades. Not so new if you ask me. The band sounded good. It was a bit loud since we were seated so close to the speakers, but it was much quieter than I expected. Luckily this time we didn't have screaming girls behind, beside, or in front of us. I will talk about them more in a few other concerts I attended. Nobody sat in the seats directly in front of us which was fantastic.the seats were great. The songs they played were all very good. Some older bands that still tour love, for some silly reason, to sing their newest additions. They just don't realize we did not come here to hear you new songs. Ok, maybe one or two is alright so they can promote their new CDs, but 5, 6... It starts getting very old very fast. The band started playing and then Wells and Hutton ran up on stage and the crowd went wild. They both started out the concert just standing in front of their microphones. They hardly moved. By the end of the concert Cory came to life but Danny was still quite motionless. They both sang great, there were a few notes they couldn't hit anymore but I've heard much worse. They started to sing the song "Mama Told Me Not to Come" and after the first verse Cory started telling us a story about one of their fans. The fan had came up to them and told him the song "Mama Told Me Not to Come" was the grandaddy of all rap songs. He asked the fan what he was smoking and if he could have some. ( Apparently they were big in the drugs, when people tell me that I always ask " Who wasn't?") he went back to the band and asked them if they could make a twenty first century version of the song. The band came back five minute later and the sounds of records scratching can be hear over the speakers and then the beat of a drum machine. Cory walks to the back of the stage and picks up and puts on a few thing. Everyone burst out laughing when he turned around. He was wearing a white cap turned to the side, some bright purple glasses and a huge chain. The other band members except Danny put n brightly colored hats. Cory started doing that gangster walk to the front of the stage and let me tell you. He started rapping, then he was rapping to "Mama Told Me Not to Come". It was hilarious and let me tell you... He pulled it off perfectly, I was amazed. When he finished rapping they went back to the original version and finished the song. They played a few more songs they said they were going to play a new one. They said this one is for the children around the world. The six of them sang archapella " The Cry of the Children". It was phenomenal. I have never heard people sing like that in person, only on the computer or through the phone. They went flat a few times but it is really hard when you have that many people singing, normally it's four. Overall, I was very impressed by the concert, it is now one of my favorites. It is a must see.