On Thursday night my buddy Nazz and I went to the sold out Skid Row and Buckcherry show at River Cree Casino a venue just on the outskirts of Edmonton. I won tickets to this show courtesy of The Bear radio station. I won these tickets last year and was supposed to see this show last October but the show was postponed until March of this year. I wouldn't have bought tickets to this show but for free, hell ya, count me in.
We got to the show a little late and only caught the last song by the opening band Sierra Pilot out of Waterloo, Ontario. Having seen very little of them, I can't really say much about them.
Next up was Los Angeles, California's Buckcherry. This would be my second time seeing them in concert. Last time I saw them was opening for Alice Cooper a few years ago and had said they would be a fun band to see in a bar setting instead of soft seat venue. Well this was close, but still would much rather see them in an actual bar where it is general admission. Nonetheless, still a better setting for this kind of rock band.
Buckcherry came out swinging opening with the song "Lit Up" from their debut album which had the crowd rocking right from the get go. Lead singer Josh Todd sounded a little rough at the start, but then he's no young pup anymore either, with him being in his early 50's now. But by the third song "Somebody Fucked With Me" he had shook off the cob webs and was sounding like you would expect him too. I'm not super familiar with their material but did know a few of the songs such as "Porno Star" and "Ridin'" from their 2001 album Time Bomb. I was very surprised to hear them cover the Bryan Adams song "Summer of 69".
And of course the band wasn't gonna get away without playing their biggest song and sing-a-long song "Crazy Bitch", which seemed to go on forever with the band making a medley of the song with snippets of " James Brown's, Sex Machine / Bad Girls / Prince's, Irresistible Bitch / and with a shout out to Tina Turner they also through in the CCR song Proud Mary and then finally back into Crazy Bitch. But holy fuck the crowd was loving it. A pretty decent set by Buckcherry.
Headliner of the evening was New Jersey's Skid Row who are on the road promoting their latest release The Gang's All Here which seems like an odd title for the album considering original lead singer Sebastian Bach isn't involved. Would have made a lot more sense had he been. Anyways, with new lead singer Erik Gronwall now leading the band. Skid Row go through lead singers like Spinal Tap went through drummers.
The crowd had thinned out a little bit by the time Skid Row came on which is understandable on a work night. The place was still packed though and the band came out opening with Skid's heaviest song "Slave To The Grind" and holy shit Erik was belting it out, ala Sebastian Bach. Then came "Big Guns", "18 And Life" and "Piece of Me". They were off to a rocking start and sounding quite good. I just couldn't get past the matter of no Bach. While he can sing really good, it was something about his stage persona I just wasn't into. They punked it up with a Ramones cover "Psycho Therapy". Other songs played from their first two albums were "I Remember You", "Monkey Business" and ending the evening with "Youth Gone Wild". I would guess the setlist was 75% from the first couple albums. Original members still in the bend are Dave "The Snake" Sabo on guitar, Rachel Bolan on bass and Scotti Hill on guitar. The band is rounded out by drummer Rob Hammersmith who has been with the band since 2010. A good evening out considering it didn't cost anything. A big shout out to my buddy Nazz for the ride to and from the show. Good times!!!
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