By BuzzPony Journal Staff Writer
Photos: Brenda Turner Photography
Top Highlights of the Night:
- The Venue: Stir Cove is an amazing place to catch a summer show, great staff, plenty of vending and a good view no matter where you end up. Highly recommend catching any of the outdoor shows they have on their schedule for the summer.
- Queensrÿche: We heard over and over, fans saying they couldn’t wait for the band to come back through on a headlining tour.
- Zoltan Chaney: Zoltan is a show within himself. Never a dull moment with sticks flying high in the air and a crash cymbal?
Read on for the rest of the details…
It was an amazing way to spend a Friday night, outdoors on a warm summer evening (ok, not officially summer but when the high is 90 and not a cloud in the sky, it counts!). Hanging out at the Stir Cove, drinks in hand in the company of friends and three sets from rock veterans filling the air with great music, providing an over the top night of rockin’ entertainment. The Z92 Rocks The Cove night with Vince Neil, Queensrÿche and Sabastian Bach was a great way to dive into the summer tours coming through the area.
Sebastian Bach and his solo band hit the stage at 7:45p, with the sun shining directly in front of them. It was sun glasses for most of the set. The guys rocked it, starting off with several Skid Row hits. Sebastian showed he still has a way with the audience, connecting with the crowd through the entire set. On bass, Rob DeLuca who has played with Joan Jett, George Lynch and a member of UFO (writing/recording), has been with Sabastian’s solo group for two separate stints, dating back to 2005. Brent Woods on guitar, has been with the group since 2014 and has also played with the Vince Neil Band, Warrant and is one of the original members of Wildside going back to 1990. Brent showed us what he could do, being personally taught by Randy Rhoads. Rounding out the group, we saw Andy Sanesi on drums, his first weekend of shows with this lineup. Andy is also the current drummer of the LA based Missing Persons.
Hitting the stage next, just as the sun approached the horizon was Queensrÿche, the star of the night according to many concert-goers that evening. We experienced a killer performance from original members Michael Wilton (Guitar), Eddie Jackson (bass) along with Parker Lundgren (guitar), Todd La Torre (vocals) and drummer Casey Grillo of Kamelot sitting in for Scott Rockenfield who’s taking some time off for the birth of his son. It’s no wonder they have eleven gold and platinum plaques and have sold over 30 million albums worldwide. It truly shows in their skillful playing, well written songs and solid performance. For the rest of the night, no matter where you turned you could hear fans remark how impressed they were with the group’s performance. We heard over and over, fans saying they couldn’t wait for the band to come back through on a headlining tour.
Good news for us all, Todd LaTorre recently revealed plans for the band’s next studio album. The band is hoping to enter the studio in September 2017, for an early 2018 release via Century Media which hopefully will bring them back through on another tour.
With the crowd well into their drinks for the evening and the sun finally fully set, Vince Neil and band hit the stage, pulling out a high-energy show. We heard one Motley Crue hit after another, ranging a good part of Crue’s career. To be honest, it was a little surprising not to at least hear one or two songs from Vince’s solo albums (You’re Not Invited, Tattoos & Tequila ??). He has been quoted as saying though, that he wants to show appreciation for all the fans and Crue did give him a great life for 30-years. He finds that with most audiences, they want him sing those songs and usually shout out many of the song titles he now includes.
Joining Vince on stage for this tour are Jeff Blando (guitar/musical director), Dana Strum (bass) and Zoltan Chaney (drums), all returning band members from previous projects/tours and all current members of Slaughter. Blando recorded/engineered the Tattoos & Tequila album with Vince. Zoltan drummed and Strum played bass on this same album.
During the set, we did see a long break where Vince left the stage and the band went on to perform Zeppelin and Sabbath, with Blando on vocals and guitar. A very talented set of musicians and a killer Zeppelin performance but it did seem a little too long without seeing the feature artist.
Zoltan Chaney is one of the most interesting drummers we’ve ever seen. It takes real talent to not only keep a solid beat, but when you toss and catch sticks, throw your foot up on the tom, jump off cabinets to hit cymbals with your hands, all intertwined within the songs throughout the night and without disrupting the show, you’ve got some special talent. Let’s face it, we all appreciate when the band sounds great and plays note for note but if we can be entertained at the same time and feel excitement pouring out beat after beat, then it’s a show!
In all, a great lineup Friday with a ton of great music ringing over the crowd, who definitely rocked out song after song. A fun night for all.
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