Sunday, July 29, 2007

A welcome overdose of guitars


Yesterday we went to the Crossroads Guitar Festival which was held near Chicago.

What a long, wonderful day. Here's a local review and another and yet one more.

The gates opened at 9:00 A.M.; the first act went on at noon and the last song ended at 11:00 P.M. The breaks between artists were minimized by a turntable type stage. While the players were playing out front the roadies were roading out back. Next act...flip the switch...lets go. I would say we didn't wait more than 5 - 10 minutes for any of the changes. Here's a quick report card on the day...

Venue - B

I'd never been to a concert at this new soccer stadium before. It's new. The parking was good, the Bridgeview police handled the traffic in and out fairly well which is always a plus. Plenty of concession stands. However, someone badly miscalulated how much water and food would get consumed by all day rockers. They did eventually get some water in there but it was scarce for a while. True to form, the venue did not run out of $6 beers and I would bet there were 4 beers swilled down for every bottle of $4 water. I drank one beer because there was no water and got an immediate headache. I don't really drink at concerts as my beer intake here indicates.

The food was above average. They added some food stands in the guitar village. Among other vendors, a famous Chicago Rib Joint (Robinsons) was there and it was killer good. Food stands were eaten out of house and home at around 6:00 P.M. They once again recovered by bringing in some additional food a little later. Overall, a nice recovery.

I loved the seats we had. At the first Crossroads show in Dallas, the seats are bleachers...not good for the back. This was a modern plastic molded seat with a back! Deluxe.

The staff in the concessions, guest services and security all should be commended. Those concessionaires worked their butts off.

Sound - C

Overall very disappointing. I walked around the venue to check the sound at different locations and there was not a great improvement anywhere. Loud. Yes. Ear protection at times proved very comfortable. I woulda thought with this kind of lineup that the production techs might have done better. Outdoor venues are tough so maybe cutting them a little slack is in order.



Artists - A++ and a gold star

Wow. Virtuosos in all shapes, sizes, genders, races, ages, genres...wow. Bill Murray was really good as the emcee. Pretty good shtick.

Blew me away - Jeff Beck with his 16 year old daughter playing bass. No, not just playing the bass, shredding it like dear old dad does on his Strat. Beck's closing number was a take on the Beatles "A Day in the Life" and I wanted him to play it again immediately. I can't wait to get the DVD so I can see and hear that again.

Derek Trucks and his lovely wife Susan Tedeschi. Derek is virtuoso and Susan is right there. They need to start breeding virtuoso children now!

B.B. King is 81 years old. I have had the pleasure of enjoying BB a number of times. He did great for a guy his age and the crowd had a love fest with this legend. I ate it up knowing that B.B. is getting up there in age and we are lucky to have him at this point.

Albert Lee is just plain fast on those frets. Whoa! The whole "country" set with Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Allison Krauss and Union Stations Jerry Douglas was excellent. EC jumped in on the finale with "Tulsa Time".

Steve Winwood was a treat. I have seen EC many times and the tunes that they did together for the show were highlight material for me. I never knew Winwood could handle a guitar so well. His work on "Dear Mr. Fantasy" glued me to my seat (with the back!). EC was EC and that's always a treat.

Others of note...Robert Randolph...I've seen him do better. The sound sucked for his set. Johnny Winter looks frail. He rocked it though. Sonny Landreth...knows his way around the neck. John Mayer...the real deal...the kid can play.

If you like guitar players, playing or music at all...wait for the DVD and snap it up. If you haven't seen the original Crossroads DVD get that one as well. You won't be sorry. Put on your favorite band or concert t shirt, pretend you paid $4 for a bottle of water and have a good time.

The Great T Shirt Game
My wife, M, and I decided to make a list of all the "band" T shirts we saw throughout the day. Holy crap! Concert goers love dem T's. The list is below. Unbelievable amount of T's

AC/DC
Aerosmith
Alabama
Alice Cooper
Allman Brothers
B.B. King
Beatles
Black Crows
Black Sabbath
Blues Brothers
Bob Dylan
Bob Marley
Buddy Guy
Counting Crows
Cream
CSNY
Dave Mathews Band
Dicky Betts
Doors
Doyle Bramhall
Eric Clapton
FogHat
Frank Sinatra
Frank Zappa
Godsmack
Gov't Mule
Grateful Dead
Green Day
Guns N' Roses
Hound Dog Taylor
James Gang
Jeff Beck
Jerry Garcia Band
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Buffett
John Lee Hooker
John Lennon
John Mayer
John Prine
Johnny Winters
Jonny Lang
Keith Richards
Kiss
Led Zeppelin
Les Claypool
Little Charlie and Night Cats
Los Lobos
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Madonna
MegaDeath
Metalica
Moby Grape
Motley Crue
Neil Young
Nirvana
Page & Plant
Paul McCartney
Pearl Jam
Phil Lesh
Phish
Pink Floyd
Prince
Robert Cray
Robert Johnson
Robert Plant
Roger Waters
Rolling Stones
Santana
Sonny Landreth
Steve Earle
Steve Miller
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Vai
Stone Temple Pilots
Stray Cats
Sublime
Supertramp
System of A Down
The Band
The Benders
The Blasters
The Clash
The Police
The Who
Tom Petty
Trailer Park Boys
Umphreys McGee
Van Halen
Willie Nelson
Z Z Top

90 of them and there had to be more.

Frank Sinatra?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oops.. some of the band names got cut off.

Honorable mentions to the people wearing shirts with band names, but they weren't "band" shirts: America,
Boston, Chicago

And another honorable mention to the man with a tattoo of Stevie Ray Vaughn that covered about 1/3 of his back!
M.

Wonder Boy said...

Thanks M. Fixed the problem with the bands. That was a very cool tattoo.

Bar L. said...

I refuse to comment on this post because I am soooooooooo envious. This sounds like the perfect day! Glad you and your wife had such a good time.