September 18, 2007: An Unplanned Review

Concord, CA
Sleep Train Pavilion at Concord

Normally, I probably wouldn't bother with a RRR for this show, but there were sufficient things happening last night in Concord I thought I'd shoot out a quick report.

A Tuesday night show in Concord is not the greatest plan to have as it's a 50+ mile drive through the worst traffic in the Bay Area and ends with an 8-mile stretch of road that is always seriously congested before a concert. Miraculously, it only took me a little over two hours to get there -- including stopping for gas and to grab a sandwich! Gobbled down my dinner and met Leslie, Darla and Emerson at the show and headed on in.

I had expected Foreigner to open and they were really why I had decided to pick up a ticket for this show since this year I had planned to only see groups I'd never seen before (or haven't seen in 20 years), so I was quite surprised to see Styx take the stage shortly before the 7:00 start time! Just as they were taking the stage, Leslie tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out Mary Valory entering the show. Styx kicked it in gear and I looked around at the sparse crowd -- I'm betting a lot of people were expecting Foreigner to open -- and who should I see strolling down the aisle one section over from me, but Jonathan Cain! My turn to nudge Leslie and point. Guess he headed over after his little performance in San Ramon!

Styx blazed through their set which was a condensed version of every other show I've seen of theirs in the past 5-6 years. It was pretty good, though I think I've seen them better. Of course I was distracted quite a bit between people watching, checking in with friends via text messages, and getting interrupted by a call from work, so my inability to really get into the set may have been entirely my fault.

Between Styx and Foreigner, Darla and Leslie decided to go say hi to Jon, so I made a mad dash after them and tallied another "god I'm a geek" moment. Didn't really get to chat at all -- it was just a quick "hi, good to see ya" kind of thing. Was cool to see him in his seat through all three sets though!

I was really curious about the new Foreigner line up and was completely blown away when they took the stage. They kicked some serious ass! Truly incredible performance. Their new singer (whose name I've forgotten) was unreal and, in a truly surreal moment, looks like a young Steven Tyler including having a very compelling stage presence. They blazed through their hits and gave Jason Bonham some "rehearsal" time when they played a bit of Led Zep in the middle of "Jukebox Hero", once again confirming for me that so long as Robert Plant isn't singing, I like Led Zep. (I know, rock god, hero to millions, yadda yadda yadda... he sounds like a cat screeching while clawing a chalkboard to me.)

Def Leppard took the stage around 9:30 and, much to my relief, played a somewhat different set than they played last year. It was nice to hear some different tunes and the two-song acoustic set they had was fantastic. I'd heard they had a catwalk this tour and was wondering if they'd be able to use it at Concord -- forgetting that the seats in the pit are removable. They're about the fourth or fifth act I've seen use a catwalk in the last couple of years and I've gotta say, it really does add to the show. It's nice having the performers out in the crowd somewhat. Bolted from my seat as the last note of "Rock of Ages" played and miraculously was in my car and out of the parking lot in 20 minutes! (Last time I was there it took me well over an hour.)

Didn't bother to track set lists since I wasn't planning on making a report, but there wasn't anything too obscure performed. Did have a chuckle when Joe Eliot was introducing something from "High N Dry" by way of introducing Vivian Campbell and saying "he wasn't in the band then but he can play the fuck out of it" as I thought "Well, Phil Collen wasn't in the band then either...."