Our experience at this concert was a little surreal. It was a "free" listener appreciation concert hosted by KOZZ (Reno's classic rock station). The tickets were free if you spent X amount of money at one of their sponsors. Anyway, we're waiting in line and it's getting cold as the sun starts to go down when this total stranger walks up and says, "Cold? I've got a couple of VIP passes, you can go right in." Lady J and I looked at each other, then back at this guy and we said, "Who do we have to kill?" Ha, ha. He just said noone and gave us the passes (Lady J saw him later in the evening and thanked him again, and if he ever reads this, once again, THANKS!). So instead of waiting out in the cold we go in immediately to a room with a buffet and free beer. Also, instead of watching from the bleachers we were 7th row center. Not a bad deal at all! Anyway, on to the show itself.

The Smoking Caterpillars, a local Reno band, opened up and rocked the place pretty good. They did a good version of Zappa's My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama and their original stuff was good, too.

America was the middle act. I can't say they rocked because that ain't their thing anyway. Songwriting and singing is their thing and they are great at that. I've never heard a crowd sing along as loudly as we did during A Horse With No Name. We were almost louder than the band. At the end of the show, one of the band members threw a guitar pic over the audience. It flew to my right and then started to curve down towards me. I grabbed for it and missed, feeling it hit my chest. We do have the pic though. When the house lights came up after America left the stage, Lady J was practically standing on it.

Then came Kansas. Even though the guitar was mixed so low it practically wasn't there (I had to take out my earplugs for Kansas just to hear the guitar at all), it was still an awesome show. Few bands can match them for vocal power. And their music is so complex and orchestrated that the missing guitar wasn't as bad as it sounds when you're reading this.

All in all, a great time! Especially since the $25 worth of stuff I bought to get the tickets were actually bought by the company I work for. SHH, don't tell 'em!

Well, like the man says, it was a kinda weird event . We couldn't figure out what the guy who was giving us the tickets wanted...LOL So, with some trepidation that we were losing a pretty good spot in the line forming up, we took the VIP passes and took off for the party room. But first we had to run the gauntlet of KOZZ people. Who were very nice, by the by, and we had to tell what company we worked for (conveniently provided on the face of the envelope that contained the passes...lol), which I tried to look at surreptitiously and say, "OH, we are from OASIS BLUFFS"...lol, and the girl checking us in says "Oh, I do just what your salesman CHRIS does"...uh yeah right...lol. So we go in, feeling a bit like we are entering the Twilight Zone, and get a couple of brews and sit down. Well, the table we sat down at just happened to be occupied by some of the The Smoking Caterpillars...so that was interesting. We also met a really cute girl named KathyKaraoke (more on her some other day) and this VERY KEWL guy named appropriately enough...MAC. So then we got the rad seats and really enjoyed the show. I thought the Caterpillars were quite good, but then I may be biased. America was fabulous. The vocals aren't quite the same as they used to be, but musically they sounded very good, and the new stuff is pretty good too. By the way, it's appropriate that I got the guitar pic since I sang along TO EVERY ONE of their songs. AND I knew all the words...lol. Man is J quorfed...lol Anyway, Kansas was awsome! They still sound incredible. The guy with the violin is INCREDIBLE! I highly recommend that you see these bands if they come to your town.

We came in about a song or two into Incubus' set so only saw about a half hour of their show. They were OK for a speed/thrash metal outfit, with a coupla songs that had good grooves that had me movin', which made me hopeful about the Pantera show. I was headed for disappointment. I wanted to see Pantera just because they have a rep as being one of the best metal bands, but to be perfectly honest the only word I can think of for their set is useless. Not only did I get tired of being yelled at-that's all their "singer" does-but I wasn't all that impressed with the guitar player's lead breaks either. A great many of these speed metal outfits claim Ozzy and Black Sabbath as influences, but they obviously don't get it. Yes, Black Sabbath's music is very powerful and extremely loud, but there's still musicality to what they do. I didn't hear a trace of musicality out of Pantera.

Then Sabbath themselves, the Godfathers of Metal, came out and showed just how a rock & roll show should be done, and then some! Their show was one of the highest points in my concert-going life, and one of the best sounding. Whoever mixed the show knew his stuff, and I've heard that the Thomas & Mack Center is a notoriously difficult venue in which to make a concert sound good. It started with the stage shrouded in fog while clips from their career were played on the big screen over the stage. When the video montage ended, Ozzy, Tony and Geezer rose up from the fog on trap doors in the stage. They cranked it right up with War Pigs, Ozzy singing a phrase and the crowd singing the answering phrase. After which, they proceeded to blow the roof off the place with the usual Sabbath standards, mixing in a few lesser known and seldom played nuggets from throughout their recording career. I especially enjoyed Into The Void, the closing track on Master Of Reality, one of my personal favorites and one of the loudest songs ever recorded. Even if the volume on your stereo is turned way down, it's still loud!

The band members all looked great, except Bill Ward, who's starting to look like an old rock & roller, but still just as powerful a drummer as ever. They seemed to be having a good time, too, laughing and smiling at the crowd and each other. At one point, some drunken idiot jumped onto the stage with security right behind, but Ozzy shook his head at the guard. He put his arm around the guy and started hopping around the stage with him, Tony Iommi laughing at them the whole time. The crowd loved it!

In case you couldn't tell, I highly recommend that anybody who loves rock should see Black Sabbath when they come through. They were more than worth the 16 hour round trip. Alright, so my family is in Vegas and I had a place to stay and people to see, but I still would've gone even if I'd had to stay in a motel after the show!

Incubus - Not bad, like for instance Pantera, but you know, an opening band of minimal proportions.

Pantera - Yuck, I would rather have the drill sergeants in basic training shouting at me.

Black Sabbath - Yes, THE Black Sabbath, not some mishmash of members. What an incredible show, by far the best rock concert I have ever seen. The music was tight and furious, Ozzie sounded great. The set was somber with a few pyrotechnics thrown in, nothing over the top. SERIOUS music from the best group of the genre. And as an added treat, I got to call my brother and say, HEY I saw Black Sabbath and YOU didn't Neener Neener Neener! A highlight of the year :)

Any man that can have hordes of women throwing their panties at him has to command the respect of red-blooded men the world over. That said, I can't say that Tom is one of my favorite performers, but he puts on a great show for several reasons; his great voice, his great band and the fact that after the show foreplay is pretty much over and done with. His voice remains as strong as ever, which he proved by belting out an awesome Walking In Memphis. The band could really play and perhaps more importantly they appeared to really enjoy themselves. If the band is having a great time the audience has to get caught up in it right along with them. I think the third point listed above speaks for itself. You're wife/girlfriend/date will be more than primed after Tom's show is over!

Let me say it, right out front, TOM JONES IS A GOD. I love this man. He still looks great, he still sounds great, he puts on a funky show. The audience at this show ranged from 6 to 80 I think, so it was an odd concert experience for me. NO one was dancing in the beginning, applause was loud, but they were SO sedate. Creepy, but in the end all of us who WORSHIP TOM, were at the front dancing. And yes, the women STILL throw panties and keys. I would gladly see this man every time he came to town. By the way, I think J had more fun watching my reactions to Tom then seeing Tom, but oh well.

I'll be the only one rambling about this show, Lady J was "too tired" and she missed a great one. Robin's guitar style isn't for everyone, but if you like extended blues/rock jams, this is definitely a show to see. This was the second time I've seen him and the first as a headliner. Many years ago he was a great opener for the Allman Brothers and this time his show stood by itself just as well. Even if his new singer doesn't sound quite right on the old tunes, the guitar work is even more incredible than before. There was a lot I didn't hear that I wanted to, but he has over 30 years of material to choose from and can only fit so much into one set.

I showed up an hour early for this one thinking, "Not THAT many people will wanna see Robin." Man, was I in for a surprise. The Peppermill had sold many more tickets than they had expected, and when I got there an hour early the line was already extending through the casino and into parts of the Peppermill I didn't even know existed! Standing room only, but that just made it that much more fun!