LOU GRAMM BAND - Rock Log 071611

Twenty-four hours after watching a highly entertaining Motley Crue – Poison – NY Dolls show chock full of energy, pyrotechnics, scantily clad women and all sorts of debauchery at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday night, we settled in at the bar at the Wolf’s Den for a Saturday night with the Lou Gramm Band.

While it was my third time seeing Lou Gramm, it was the virgin adventure for my sidekicks, Vick, Homework & Frosty.  (We were all elated that the staff at the Den provided Frosty with a stool which he could stand on so he could see over the wall and view the show like the rest of us.)

The band started off with Double Vision and satisfactorily plowed through many of Foreigner’s hits (Cold as Ice, Dirty White Boy, Head Games, Feels Like the First Time, Waiting for a Girl Like You) as well as several of Lou’s solo tunes including Midnight Blue, Ready or Not and Just Between You and Me.  While Lou doesn’t have the impeccable range of his earlier days, he is not that far off from those days – his voice reached almost every note it had to during the night.  Also, Lou will never be mistaken for a high-energy frontman anymore….but it doesn’t matter because his legendary voice and resume of classic hits are why people come to see him.

There is always a good and bad feeling inside of you when you walk away from a show with Lou.  On one hand, you feel great for the guy – overcoming surgery to remove a brain tumor resulting in a damaged pituitary gland, weight gain, loss of voice and stamina – to hit the stage again to sing many of the classics is truly inspiring and fun to listen to.  On the other hand, the set list hasn’t changed in all three shows I have witnessed and it is an incredibly short concert.  After playing for just over an hour which included a seemingly long 10 minute drum solo by Lou’s brother Ben, the band left the stage.  They came back for two encore songs including the finale of Hot Blooded and then called it a night.

Maybe it’s due to his stamina, but Lou easily has enough material to bring a 70-75 minute show to a 90 minute show.  Favorites like Urgent, Yesterday and I Don’t Want to Live Without You have inexplicably been left off the set list for his last three appearances there.

Another downer was the crowd.  There was no shortage of people watching but most sat for the whole show and hardly made noise to support the encore.  (Probably too shocked at how short the show was to realize it was encore time).  Too bad, because Lou deserves a better reception from his fans…Especially because Lou goes out of his way to plug his Merch which includes sizes from all fans including the saucy 3XL spaghetti strap.

Overall - good music from a Rock & Roll icon...Can't go wrong with that.

Randall