Thursday, July 7, 2011

Maybe I'm A Dreamer

Maybe I'm misunderstood. Maybe you're not seeing, the side of me you should. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm the only one. Maybe I'm just out of touch. Maybe I've just had enough. Maybe it's time to change, and leave it all behind........Great lyrics from Sick Puppies.

Before I get to the recap of last night at Summerfest, let me first make an announcement...  THE STREAK IS OVER!!!  I had a personal streak of 20 consecutive days at Summerfest that began in 2009. This news is bittersweet. It was really weird not going on Tuesday. I felt like I should have been there. Nearly got the shakes. So a new streak began last night. Summerfest is apparently my drug of choice and I need my fix.

I was back at Summerfest last night. The day/night began with a stop over at the M&I Classic Rock stage to briefly check out Billy Bon Scott, an AC/DC tribute band. While they may have sounded like AC/DC, they certainly didn't look like them. Headed over to the Rock Stage where Sick Puppies were signing autographs. We got their signatures and met them. We were fortunate to get the band to take a picture with us. We wished them well and shook their hands. Well, all except Emma, the bass player. She is obviously a germaphobe. She didn't want to shake anyone's hands and barely touched fists, similar to Howie Mandel. She's still Hot!!  At the Rock Stage, SOiL was playing. This is the 4th time I've seen them and the 3rd or 4th different singer. According to Wikipedia, the current singer, Jordan, is listed as a former member and it also says that the original singer Ryan McCombs (Who left the band to join Drowning Pool) was rejoining SOiL. Even if that were true, I'm not sure that's a wise move on his part.  After their set, I met the band and had pictures taken with them. SOiL isn't a bad band. In fact, I like many of their songs. I just don't know how successful they will be if they keep changing singers. As much as the drummer is the heartbeat of a band, a singer gives the band an identity. When you change singers, you often lose continuity and momentum. Journey is a good example. They still tour as Journey, but I don't think they are the same band without Steve Perry. I would say the same thing about Van Halen, which was a different band with David Lee Roth then they were with Sammy Hagar. Fortunately in that scenario, both of those versions of Van Halen were successful. Back to last night...

Went over to the U.S. Cellular Connection stage and sat through a few songs from Fools for Rowan. Walked around some more and again stopped at the U.S. Cellular Connection stage for a few songs from The Lifeline. Nothing special from these two bands, but thought I would mention them.

Finally made our way back over to the Rock Stage and sat down for Me Talk Pretty. They had a female singer. She was from Romania and had a sexy little accent. I met her afterwards.  The band wasn't anything special, though she did have a good voice. Then the Sick Puppies took the stage and proceed to rock our faces off. From beginning to the end, an absolutely fantastic show. They played quite a few songs from their first couple of albums as well as several from their newest album. They even threw in a cover of Cee Lo Green. Awesome! Oh man, Emma can definitely rock the bass!! She's amazing...and did I mention she was hot?!  She plucks the strings with her fingers rather than with a pick. Makes me wonder how many bass players use a pick or not. I'll have to pay attention to that from now on.

Four more days of Summerfest. I'm still not sure I'll go tonight. The lineups this year are definitely not as good as previous years. I was spoiled in 2010 when there was at least one band I wanted to see every night. Most of the bands tonight are ones that I've already seen before or just not interested in. Possibilities include Here Come the Mummies (saw them last year...lot of fun), Pop Evil (not impressed), or Finger Eleven (messed up their own songs a couple years ago).  We'll see what happens.  Rock on!

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