Concert Report by Bill MSG at Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ, U.S.A. July 29, 2010 Added on 07/31/2010
Hi Ritchie,
Thought you might like my take on last night's MSG/George Lynch show at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville NJ last night:
Michael was GREAT. This is the 9th time I've seen him (including once with UFO) and I don't think I've ever heard him play better.
The band was Gary Barden, CARMINE APPICE, Wayne Findlay (keys and guitar), Elliott Dean on bass.
It was a real ...treat to hear Carmine with Schenker, he's still fantastic! I can even forgive the multi colored glow-in-the-dark drum sticks...
Gary Barden's voice is not what it once was, unfortunately. By the end of the night, it was sounding pretty strained, but overall he did an alright job. Wayne Findlay turned in a stellar performance as usual, and Dean Guitars CEO Elliot Dean did a sterling job on bass.
The set list consisted mostly of material culled from the Barden era MGS albums plus a few current Schenker-Barden. Graham Bonnet period standards such as "Assault Attack", a staple in the MSG repertoire, were notably absent, no doubt well outside Gary's comfort zone.
The upside of this is that we were treated to some early MSG stuff that I don't remember hearing Michael play in quite a while, such as Lost Horizons and Cry For The Nations.
The encores Rock Bottom and Doctor Doctor were the only UFO songs played.
I'm not the hugest fan of '80s shred, but George Lynch was having a bit of an off might, I'd say. He definitely wasn't pulling off everything he went for. His band was super, though. I really liked his singer, in the Paul Rodgers/Lou Gramm mold.
There were THREE bands before Lynch and Schenker, so it was quite a long night...
I missed the first band, but the next up, the female fronted Pain Of Days, were pretty cool. Modern sounding metal with a hint of classic thrown in, they were a tight unit. With the female singer, a bass player right out of central casting (he'd play the heavy, a gladiator, or Terminator) and a drummer that looked like a dude from one of the Progressive car insurance commercials, they were definitely eye catching!
Best regards,
Bill Cherensky
Concert Report by Mark MSG at Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ, U.S.A. July 29, 2010 Added on 08/04/2010
Ritchie,
First, let me thank you for all the years that you have continued to
maintain the site.
Second, here is the set list for the Starland Ballroom show. It is
the same as the Jermyn, PA show:
Intro
Armed And Ready
Cry For The Nations
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Are You Ready To Rock
I Want You
A Night to Remember
Carmine Drum Solo
Into The Arena
Lost Horizons
Rock My Nights Away
On And On
Lights Out
Attack Of The Mad Axman