Woo hoo! Another CT show in Texas! And it’s free!
The payoff was that it was in the middle of a parking lot in downtown Ft. Worth.
Oh well, it’s still a better venue than Billy Bob’s. ;)
Yes, the infamous Bone Bash had the good sense to make CT the headliners for this year’s party.
Sitting out in the parking lot that afternoon, I couldn’t help but think that we hardcore types didn’t have much good sense showing up so stupid early.
There were 4 bands on before CT, folks, so if you wanna cut to the chase, now’s your chance. The radio station has posted photos as well as Mandy’s excellent review. She and her firefighter hubby Lonnie got to meet the guys backstage – plus Lonnie got to help introduce the guys! You can see some other photos here at Teri's site.
Ready for the blathering?!
Caught the late morning flight, despite the fact that this meant I wouldn’t be at the Bone Bash until 1 PM. Anyone who knows me, knows that this was killing me. I have Compulsive CT Disorder (CCTD) and this one of the manifestations is wicked retarded arrival times.
Case and point, this message on my cell from Brian that day. Hi Lisa… Just checking in to see if you got in OK… Knowing you, you’re already waiting there at the Rail Market…
Of course the side benefit of the departure time was a nice morning with Zach and his dad. When it was time to leave, Zach wasn’t very pleased. “Uh uh, mommy! I go to airport!!!”
Thankfully, the weather, Southwest and Budget Rental were all on my side. My BS navigation job to the Rail Market was excellent, if I do say so. (The only directions at my disposal were “Where I-30 and I-35 meet.” Ummm… OK…)
Inside the grounds, you could see load in was in full swing. You could also see all the fans who beat me there by at least an hour! (Eat your heart out Jimmy! ;P ) So early were we that no one was watching the gates, allowing us to help ourselves to the front spots. (One announcement from a 93.3 DJ was that we’d flashed the guards to get in early. As they say in the Public Enemy song… Don’t believe the hype…)
Folks on hand that lovely afternoon included, Mandy, Lisa, Brigette, Kelley, Kathy and John. Thanks to all of them for making the wait more bearable. Good lord it was a sweat fest.
Another moment of pleasantness that steamy afternoon was the chat I had with Bill the sound guy. He liked my DKT/MC5 shirt, so we talked about that tour (he lamented missing it) and our mutual love of Wayne Kramer. It did my heart good to hear good things about Brother Wayne from someone who worked that short tour last November. :)
Finally the gates opened for the mulleted, betattoed masses.
Cute. This 3 piece band won a local battle of the bands for this gig. They played all original stuff. One song started with the classic lyric… “Are you drunk yet? Can I take you home?” ROTFLMAO!
A local 5 or 6 piece band made up entirely of firefighters! They did a pretty good job on a variety of cover tunes.
I didn’t make it all the way through their set though. The heat had me feeling sick to my stomach, so I took a break.
After a lovely dinner of curly fries and Sprite (the rest of the fare looked absolutely disgusting) I fought my way back to the front through a sea of Boneheads. (Hey that’s what the DJs kept calling us!)
Thanks for holding my spot, Kelley. I guess it got rough. Doh!
This Van Halen tribute act did an admirable job aping VH classics. Before the set I wondered if it’d be a Dave style tribute? Sammy? Gary?!?! ;)
Guitars and vox were taken care of by one person. Although he did a great job mimicking Dave vocally, I found myself missing that run-around-the-stage-kickin’-real-high-crawlin’-cross-the-floor thing.
Homeboy did a smokin’ version of “Eruption” (interspersed with a version of the “Star Spangled Banner” complete with a Bone Bimbo, er, Babe prancing around with a flag LOL!)
After their set, a kind fan next to me (who had the bulk to fight off anyone with bright ideas) volunteered to watch my spot so I could get one more break before the main event. THANK GOD!
Although a free show is nice, this does mean that folks have that much more money to spend on beer. :P It also meant port-a-potties used by the same folks.
Two words: oop ack.
After a refreshing $2.50 bottle of water, I was ready to fight my way back through the drunken masses to reclaim my spot in front.
The rhythm guitarist for this AC/DC tribute act got all of us going with his warm up, which included a few CT riffs. He looked surprised when we cheered. LOL!
I’d seen a guy wandering around on stage all day in an ’81 Chicagofest t shirt. Turns out he was “Angus”!
These guys really blew the lid off the place – I was impressed most of all with the lead singer. (And not just because he was stacked LOL!!!!) He absolutely NAILED the sound of Bon and Brian. It was a trip! Angus did a nice job too – running around like a hyperactive school boy and firing off all those Angus riffs.
Robin and Rick checked them out too – you could see them loitering backstage. ;)
That was fun and all, but gawd I was glad to see the clock strike 9 so we could finally see the band that really mattered.
During the final set up, I kept looking at stage right, wondering where the hell Rick’s stair unit had gone. Guess it didn’t make it in from Connecticut! Doh! I watched Rick’s tech experiment with road cases before deciding one would be sufficient.
| Rick | Black “wavy” pin stripe suit, insane asylum Rick shirt |
| Robin | Brown striped suit, white shirt, black tie, hat and ponytail |
| Bun | Black tshirt, ballcap and jeans |
| Tom | White bowling shirt, black pants and shoes |
Set List
| Hello There | Got a thrill when Rick yelled “LISA!” during this. :) This was #6 in 93.3 “Dirty Half Dozen” in CT requests. |
| Big Eyes | This was #5. ("Gonna Raise Hell" and "She’s Tight" are the tunes from the half dozen that didn’t make it on the set list….) |
| IYWML | In an unusual move, Rick didn’t mention Joe Dirt. LOL! He did use the “sing along” line though. |
| My Obsession | Rick rattled off info about FTTY and S1 as an intro to this tune. |
| Best Friend | F***in kick ass! Rick’s solo at the end of this was blistering! Scored a red “used” pick after this one! Woo hoo! |
| IWYTWM | There was an awkward silence before this one. It appeared that Robin was lost for a few moments. LOL! Everyone was waiting for him to do his “I want YOU!” intro… |
| Day Tripper | Woo hoo! Rick said they’d only done this one once this year… He screwed up a lyric at the top of the second verse and he and Robin laughed… Thanks for adding this gem, CT! I’d been jealous of the folks who got to hear this in Milwaukee. Now I don’t have to be. :) |
| Tonight It's You | I could feel the bass through my entire body at the top of this one. (That’s a good thing! LOL!) |
| Voices | Rick and Robin’s vocal at the top of this was angelic. Absolutely gorgeous. Rick looked very pleased with our singing on the bridge. |
| Never Had A Lot To Lose | I think it was this one when I scored a pick. It’s red and all scratched and nicked from Rick’s playing. I love that. |
| The Flame | How does Robin nail that money note?!? |
| That 70's Song | Hello Ft. Worth!!!!!!!!!! |
| Surrender | It was really bizarre watching Rick do this with a regular single neck guitar. You could tell he felt odd too. LOL Robin continued to play with everyone in the crowd a lot… Towards the end, Rick unbuttoned his coat all the way, showing off his t shirt. I think a bug flew in his mouth or something, too. He made a funny face (well, different than all the other funny faces he makes) and played it up even more when he saw me laughing. |
| Scent of a Woman | This one always makes me dance my butt off. |
| Goodnight | (combined w/short version of Aufie!) Dimebag Darryl and Somebody Else from Pantera (sorry, dudes, I don’t know your music at all) were on hand for this one. Quite the jam! Dimebag ran around hugging all the guys afterwards. Before that he pretended he was gonna smash one of into oblivion. There was a collective gasp from many a gearhead, although Rick looked unfazed as Daryl swung it overhead, |
He brown nosed the crowd by talking up Texas on more than one occasion. The first time he told us they’d been in Connecticut the night before, but it was worth the long day of travel to be here. “It’s always a pleasure to be here. We love Texas.”
Adding to the prevailing sentiment of the day, Rick made a brief mention, paying tribute to all who lost their lives on 9-11 and those who serve – followed immediately with, “LET’S PARTY!!!”
He thanked Back in Black for opening…
I’ve slept since this show, so I don’t remember anything else that he said. ;)
MISC.
Besides the stairs, Rick’s famous arsenal hadn’t made the trip either – the poor guy only had 6 or 7 at his disposal. ;) Quite understandable since there was a show in CT (get it?) the night before, however it was still very odd to not see Uncle Dick, the checkerboard Hamer, or the 5 neck.
There were picks on Rick’s “step” and every so often he’d fling several of them out into the crowd.
Tom hung out upstage most of the time. At the beginning of “The Flame” he was VERY far away. LOL!
There were sound issues for Rick in the beginning of the set. He seemed pretty frustrated. Either they sorted it out or he got over it because he cheered up after awhile. LOL
A song or two before NHALTL, another friend from Dallas (Tom - no not that Tom) asked for help. He and his wife Bethany were back a bit in the crowd - she'd pulled a Lisa and tried to pass out. We got her up to the barrier and the policemen got her some water. I was fanning her with the Homer sign while Rick pelted us with picks. LOL!
Robin made us all very happy by taking his hair down and the hat off. Sadly, tragically, the hair went back up before the encores. Note to self - bribe the crew to make that blasted hat and rubber band GO AWAY! Mandy – you were back there – I hold YOU responsible. ;)
Aside from baking in a parking lot, my only disappointment with the show was the shortened set. Hard to believe that Dream Police didn’t make the cut – especially given all the law enforcement officials standing in front of the stage. ;)
One of the biggest highlights was the jam with Pantera. The jam with the Pantera dudes was great fun. They were grinning like kids at Christmas. After wards, Dimebag swung one of Rick’s Les Pauls around, as if he was gonna trash it. Rick looked unfazed. LOL After handing off the guitar, he gave Rick a big ol’ bear hug and ran over to Tom. It was adorable.
POST SHOW
Thank god for cell phones. Were it not for them, I might still be looking for Brian! He was there with Greg, Ryan and Christopher. After conferring with Tom and Bethany, we decided to head for a nearby IHop. The rest of us almost starved to death when Brian decided to take the scenic route. ;)
After a delightful post-show meal, it was time to head back to Brian’s. That drive was much quieter. Christopher wasn’t in my car on that ride – I’m not sure if that had anything to do with it or not. ;)
THANKS
As per usual, there are some folks I’d like to give a shout out…
Tim and Zach – love ya!
Southwest – love that $34 one way to Dallas special! :D
Brian – thanks for letting me stay at your place… again!
93.3 The Bone – you showed great taste by inviting CT to headline.
CT & Co. – thanks for another great show. It’s always a pleasure.
Peace,
Lisa J.
<insert Homer quote here>
© Lisa Jebsen, 2004