Like Scott said, we were all over the place... we were in our seats for AP's
and DOTN's full sets... but we missed Econoline Crush because we were
talking to AP... and we left halfway through Kenny Wayne so we wouldn't get
stuck sitting in traffic for hours after the show.  And then there was the
line for the women's room... "tickets please"... lol
This isn't going to be a very long review, because I have to go to the store
before work... I guess it's true that babysitters eat a lot of food... lol.
American Pearl was terrific... there weren't very many people there to hear
them play, compared to the way it was when Kenny Wayne came on.... but
people started trickling in after they started performing.  (The Harleyfest
thing was going on in a separate area... if you left Harleyfest to go into
the venue, you had to stay, because they wouldn't let you back in if you
left the area).  I guess AP was doing autograph signing a couple of hours
before the show... we were listening to WRIF, and they kept saying "American
Pearl is signing autographs right now, come on down to Harleyfest and meet
them!"... as I'm fighting traffic an hour away... we got there in time to
hear them warming up.  The radio station gave away a Harley and a Harley
F150 truck... apparently a 21 year old guy won them both, after about 130
people tried... hope he has a good job, cuz the insurance is going to be
through the roof.  We left Harleyfest and went into the venue just as Rodney
(the bass player for AP) was wandering around, signing a few autographs.
American Pearl's show... like I said before, they're just as good live as
they are on the CD... impressive, giving that they're still a relatively new
band.  I've heard bands who've been around for years who sound horrible
live.  If I remember correctly, they started out with "California"... then
went on to "Underground", "Automatic" (from the Scream 3 soundtrack), "If We
Were Kings", "Free Your Mind", "Bleed", and ended with "Amphetamine Girl".
During the last song Kevin ran out into the crowd and played directly to a
couple of different groups of people.  After they were done playing, they
went out by the merch booth and signed about a million autographs... a bunch
of people bought the CD right there so they could get it signed.  (Rodney
called WRIF after the show and chatted for a bit, he said he thought the
whole Harleyfest experience was "amazing").  They're truly a fan-oriented
band, which is really nice to see.
(Insert the rainstorm starting here).  Beautiful weather for AP... started
sprinkling just before DOTN went on... then a good old-fashioned downpour
while DOTN performed... which stopped for Kenny Wayne.  And it wasn't a nice
warm summer rain... it was COLD!
DOTN... well, my opinion is that the CD is better... as Nora said, every
other word was the "F" word.  I can appreciate that bands like to perform
their songs differently live, so the fans aren't listening to the exact same
thing... but goodness, that man cusses like a sailor.  I think if it comes
down to it, I'll just stick to the CDs, and leave the concert-going to other
people in their case.  He was screaming so much that it was hard to
understand what song they were playing.  (Although, when he actually SANG
rather than screamed, his voice sounded just as good as on the CDs).  They
played a couple songs from the new CD... started playing "Another Brick in
the Wall" which led right into "Enemy"... and the most popular singles from
the first CD - "Shelf in the Room", "Touch, Peel, and Stand" and "The Down
Town".
Kenny Wayne is incredible... we only caught the first half of the show, but
what we saw was amazing.  I don't know much about guitar playing, but I know
enough to tell that he's awfully damn good.  And the singer... wow.  Very
powerful voice, very bluesy, that whole deep-South accent with the
"gravelly" sound to it.  I'd have to say that they're better live than on
CD, because Kenny Wayne Shepherd could just go off and start improvising for
the live show.  (Kind of like the Grateful Dead and other jam bands... you
just can't jam too much on a CD, unless you want to make each album a 10-CD
set... so the live performances are just incredible).
We missed the worst of the traffic leaving Freedom Hill, but then made the
mistake of stopping at TGI Fridays to eat before leaving town.  After half
an hour of driving in circles, trying to figure out how to get on 696 West,
we finally made it out of town, along with everyone else.
Tara