Rocked out to Night Ranger last night w/ Vick & Chuck at the Den.
First note on the show is the celebrity watch…the Rangers Mark Messier and Miami Vice’s Don Johnson were in attendance…Also, this was no Cowsill show – there was a gaggle of hot blondes up front who unfortunately got blocked from our view for most of the show as they were standing at the stage and got lost in a sea of Night Ranger junkies. But by far, the best ‘eye-candy’ show we’ve seen there in a long while.
The show itself was highly entertaining as Jack engaged the audience throughout – the guys genuinely looked as though they were still thoroughly enjoying themselves even after 28 yrs of playing together. For old NR fans, no surprises in the set list - Started out with old tunes This Boy Needs to Rock, Sing Me Away and Rumors in the Air – then hit one from the new CD - Your Gonna Hear from Me. After that they Jack told about his days w/ Damn Yankees and they did Coming of Age (later they did High Enough w/ the crowd singing along).
A highlight is when Jack introduced Brad Gillis as the guitarist who replaced Randy Rhodes for Ozzy back in 82 and they did a good full version Crazy Train. Then Kelly did a version of the Doors’ Roadhouse as they were discussing the first concerts they saw.
Electric guitars ruled the night as Brad and Joel play off each other flawlessly. The crowd got into it pretty good when the hits started coming…When You Close Your Eyes, Sentimental Street, Four in the Morning, High Enough, Secret of My Success –(told the Michael J Fox story of the soundtrack of the movie), Don’t Tell Me You Love Me…Encore of course included Sister Christian and Rock in America…One song they missed was Goodbye off the 7 Wishes album. But they played for 1hr 40 minutes - which is rare at the Den – usually 90 min max. Of course a visit to Johnny Rockets capped off the evening…
15th time I’ve seen them, and wouldn’t miss the 16th show when they come back. Chuck has always liked NR and enjoyed it but more to my delight -Vick was pretty stoked about the show – think I turned him on to some old rockers….I think its safe to say he enjoyed himself far more at the NR show than I did at the 2 Cowsill and 1 Association shows he took me to.
Scrap Metal up next at the Den on Friday, Skid Row next Friday…for those interested…
Randall
