James Gang concert review

[heem6]

James Gang Rides Again, 9/2/06 - Maricopa Event Center

 

Okay, it was a little weird to begin with because it was at a venue in Sun City, the giant retirement village. So all the ushers were approximately 80 years old and had no idea what was going on with all the longhairs in their auditorium which probably usually hosts Lawrence Welk re-union tours.

 

But everybody was very friendly and nice, and the ushers nodded their heads like they knew what was being talked about when the aging stoners came up and said to them, "I hope he plays Rocky Mountain Way, man."

 

We had bought the cheap seats, but the usher inside the hall said, "Go ahead and take better seats over here in the center section, because it didn't sell out." Which was great for us!

 

Joe Walsh came out and gave his typical "How you doin?" greeting and the crowd went absolutely nuts as they launched into a PERFECT version of "Walk Away." In fact, from start to finish, it was pretty much a flawless concert. No mistakes anywhere. The sound was crystal clear, all the musicians seemed to be having a great time, and the songs sounded even better live than on the old albums. Joe's voice was even in top form.

 

Joe cracked a lot of jokes with the audience as well, including "As you can see, most of our fans are dead," and "I want you all to vote for me for President next time."

 

Jim Fox played very well, also. Highlights were the percussion break in "Funk #49" and his wearing a Cleveland Indians jersey and a sideways pink baseball cap and grinning ear to ear during "RMW."

 

I was surprised by how many of the songs I recognized. The James Gang had a lot of hits that I had forgotten about, like "Midnight Man". At one point, Joe also came out and did a solo acoustic number. I was thinking, "It takes a lot of talent to hold a crowd with just you and an acoustic guitar," and Joe did it superbly.

 

Their encore was "Rocky Mountain Way," and during the soloing at the end it just kind of turned into a party, with everybody dancing and singing along with the band.

 

I've seen a lot of concerts in the last two years, and this was definitely one of the best!! Don't miss The James Gang if they come to your town, it doesn't get much better!

[tadams]

Sounds cool.
Did they do The Bomber?

[gibson185]

Was Joe playing his Carvin?

[Chairborne]

Man I wanted to see James Gang but I thought their tix were just too greedy.

Sounds like a good time though . . .

[heem6]

Yup, they did play "The Bomber."

Joe mainly played two different Les Pauls. One was a brown sunburst. Couldn't read the headstock, but they looked like Gibson's to me. He also brought out some big-ass hollow body for "Midnight Man." It had a Bigsby-style vibrato on it, and looked kind of like an old Gretsch, but I'm sure it wasn't. He also played a cream-colored Strat with a tortoise-shell pickguard, might've been this Deluxe Player's Strat:

and surprised me with one of these Fender SoCal Speed Shop Strats.

Those were all the guitars. Didn't see anything that looked like a Carvin, although that would've been cool ( especially since he endorses them ).

[hondro]

yeah, that was a great concert, I was in the front row, 25 bucks man, it was great!



so yeah, it was an LP standard, an LP Goldtop (with a weird pickup ring for the neck pu) a Gretsch White Falcon, some acoustic, I forget, a WHITE strat with tortoise guard for Funk and some other songs


and thats about it, mostly LPs through a Marshall though m/


and yes, they played the bomber

[heem6]

How did you get front row seats for $25?!! I'm jealous, now!!

We paid $25 too, but got upgraded to about the 20th row.

[hondro]

Originally posted by heem6 How did you get front row seats for $25?!! I'm jealous, now!! We paid $25 too, but got upgraded to about the 20th row.

I was 24th row, center



but we walked up the front and sat up there

[dimmypage]

:cool: