Rock Never Stops Tour

The Myth, St. Paul, MN
August 16, 2005

It’s always a good day when it’s a concert day! No matter how out-of-whack things may be going at home or at work – just knowing that you’ll be hitting a show that evening always seems to somehow get you through the day. Knowing that the Rock Never Stops tour featuring Cinderella, RATT, Quiet Riot, and Firehouse was passing through the area again was a good thing, but being able to see their performances at the Grand Opening of a brand new venue was even more exciting for me. 

I had seen this particular tour twice this summer and had seen each of the bands numerous times through the years, so going to St. Paul’s newest venue dubbed The Myth was the highlight of the evening for me. After attending numerous concerts in the usual venues, it is always refreshing to go to a show where you need to ask directions to the restroom.  It allows one to temporarily recapture that “magic feeling” that takes over when we see a band for the first time after a period of great anticipation. 

When I arrived at The Myth, I could see the workers scrambling to finish what must have been last minute details inside the venue.  Managers and employees were outside trying to figure out the necessary parking arrangements for the crowd that would soon be arriving for the 8:30PM start time.  I also noticed several band members and their respective crews milling around near their tour buses.  Of course, it is always funny to see fans with their vintage black concert t-shirts on walk right by the same band members whose picture is right on their chest and not recognize them at all. 

I met up with my friend, the infamous Dr. Mark, as we strolled back to the buses to meet up with some of the guys in the bands and crews that we know from tours gone by.  We immediately met up with several people including RATT’s lead singer Jizzy Pearl. Jizzy was cool as always, but he got a little miffed when a fan walked by and asked him “Who’s playing tonight?” He told the fan, “I don’t know” acting clueless.  I did all I could not to say to the guy, “It’s a reunion show for Love/Hate” which is the band Jizzy fronted back in the early 90’s when I saw them open for AC/DC.

Dr. Mark and I got hooked up with some backstage passes and headed on in to the show.  The smell of fresh paint and drywall lingered in the backstage area.  I observed the backstage area was very small.  Especially, when you add the personnel and gear from four bands to the tiny space.  We walked out to the front of the house to see the inside of The Myth.  We were told that the building was formally a large athletic footwear store that had a basketball court, batting cage, etc. inside.  The overall sound quality was very good to excellent, but the stage lighting was even better for a small venue.  The building has three stories including a rooftop patio.  There were lots of nice sitting areas and standing places for the 4,400 people who attended this sold out show.  Ticket options ranged from general admission to an upstairs VIP area to three ultra-elite skyboxes to view the performance. 

As great as The Myth was on the inside, the backstage area needed improvement.  They brought some contest winners back for a meet and greet and there was no place for them to wait or for a band to sit.  They ended up having the patrons wait in a hallway and while some random band members walked down the line signing their items and taking pictures.  One of the side stage entrances was also so blocked with equipment, ropes, and cables that it was a fire hazard and I noticed an inspector taking notes about it.  After seeing Great White just a few weeks before the Rhode Island fire, you tend to be more aware of things like that.  Overall, it’s a very chic venue and a great place to see bands from the front of the house.  The Myth has great potential compared to, for example, the bowling alley I saw Firehouse perform in last fall. 

Speaking of Firehouse, they played a 25-minute set including my favorite tune of theirs “All She Wrote”, “Lover’s Lane”, “Love Of A Lifetime”, “Reach For The Sky” and “Don’t Treat Me Bad”.  Missing from the set was “When I Look Into Your Eyes”, but they can only do five songs in 25 minutes!  The definitely needed more time.  They could have easily taken some of Quiet Riot’s 25-minute set, if you ask me. 

Quiet Riot, who I once saw perform in a horseshoe pitching shed, also played just five songs including “Put Up Or Shut Up”, “Mama We’re All Crazee Now”, “Red Light Mama Red Hot” which had snippets of Humble Pie and Led Zeppelin songs as well as an ill-advised drum solo, “Cum On Feel The Noize, and “Metal Health (Bang Your Head)”.  They could have dropped half the set and included more of their recognizable songs from their first two albums and the set would have been much stronger, but in its current state it was weak. Too bad Slade didn’t write more good songs because if they did, Quiet Riot would have been big!

We ended up watching all four of the sets from the crowded backstage area and were able to talk to most of the band members who were just hanging out during the set changes.  I chatted with Cinderella’s drummer, Fred Coury, for a while about an 8x10 picture that I took of him earlier in the tour and was going to ask him to sign it for my collection. After seeing the picture, he liked it so much that I ended up giving it to him in trade for a set of his custom drumsticks. 

The conversation with Fred ended up involving another guy, Joey Tichenor, who is a professional photographer by trade. Joey shared several incredible shots that he took of the bands throughout the evening and had a slideshow running on his personal computer, before the last song was played, for everyone to check out. I spoke to Joey about submitting some of his work with my review of the concert. The great photos, which accompany this article, are all his work.  You can check out photos from Joey of this concert and more at his homepage.

RATT took the stage next for yet another 25-minute set which included “Lack Of Communication”, “Lay It Down”, “You’re In Love”, “Way Cool Jr.”, “Back For More”, and, of course, “Round And Round”.  I’ve heard Jizzy sing with RATT a bunch of times before, but I had a newly found respect for his vocal talents after listening to RATT with this sound system.  The extra punch he provides to the classic metal songs really gives them an extra edge that was not there when sang by the original lead singer, Stephen Pearcy.

Cinderella finished the evening with a 70-minute set that was only five minutes less than the first three bands combined!  Ah, the benefits of being the headliner.  Cinderella’s set included “Night Songs”, “The Last Mile”, “Somebody Save Me”, “Still Climbing”, “Push Push”, “Heartbreak Station”, “Coming Home”, “Fallin’ Apart At The Seams”, a jam with a drum solo, “Shelter Me”, “Nobody’s Fool”, and “Gypsy Road”.  The encore started off with actual snow falling from above the stage on an August night (Remember, we are in Minnesota!) falling during “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)” and concluded with “Shake Me”. 

The individual and combined talent of Cinderella is amazing.  Their sound and songwriting is great.  The only downfall was their timing.  They came out in 1986 and were cut off by 1991 due to the grunge movement in music.  Had they been given a longer period of time to showcase their talents and appeal to the musical masses, I believe they would still be doing the arena tours ala Bon Jovi and Aerosmith.  Ironically, it was Jon Bon Jovi who is credited for getting them exposure to the major record labels and tours in the first place. 

After the show, we ended up hanging out on the RATT bus with an old friend, Bobby Blotzer. I first saw Bobby perform back in 1981 when he toured with Italian-Swiss guitar virtuoso, Vic Vergat, as a support act for Nazareth. Tom Croucier was the bass player in this three-piece musical assault team (Yes, Tom is related to RATT’s original bass player Juan. Tom is his older brother.  Small world, huh?). If you ever get a chance to listen to the one and only album these three guys ever recorded called “Down To The Bone”, it is a must! I actually have it in my car’s CD player right now as I write this review. 

Bobby ended up giving drumstick-twirling lessons to the few of us on the bus. The lessons stopped when several members from the different bands, along with their friends climbed aboard, or when Dr. Mark almost poked his eye out with a drumstick.  I don’t recall the specifics.

However, I do recall talking to a girl that I recognized named Sarah.  She used to write a column for a rock magazine and I always enjoyed reading about her “All Access” experiences.  Sarah was actually my main inspiration to start doing the same thing when I got the opportunity, so it was very cool to chat with her for a while.  She did tell me “I miss the writing part, but don’t miss the deadlines.”  Before I left and called it a night, I did get her e-mail address.  With any luck, we will be seeing Sarah’s column revived here at Rockeyez.com in the near future.