The Making of Steely Dan's "Aja"

 

ZZ Top

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, the fabulous.  Z.  Z.  Top.

We went to Harrah's to see the tres hombres from Texas recently. 

We had great seats and really enjoyed the show!

Two original members - Billy Gibbons on guitar, Frank Beard on drums - were there as well as bassist Elwood Francis who replaced Dusty Hill after his passing in 2021.

The band did a great job - all the hits, not too loud or too quiet, just a really good time.

I would have liked to hear more off of Fandango as it is my favorite ZZ Top album, but oh well.

They had the fuzzy guitars similar to their videos in the 1980s.

They had the cheap sunglasses from the era as well.

I wish they still had the giant stage in the shape of Texas that rotated with a longhorn steer on it like back in the day, but realize that is impractical for touring.

So we got to enjoy an oversized guitar and a double-neck guitar instead. 

My wife took this photo.  Almost looks like Billy Gibbons is looking right at her!

Adios amigos.  See you next time.

Foreigner

 

We saw Foreigner with our friends Aaron and Laura recently.  A great show!

This is probably the third time we've seen them in the last few years and have thoroughly enjoyed it each time.

The band sound excellent just as they did back in the 70s and 80s.

The light show is awesome and the venue is very nice.

Zooming in a bit.

For most of the concert, the audience was on their feet.

We had pretty darn good seats - right down the middle!

If you get a chance and you enjoy Foreigner's music, you should go see them!

We'll probably see them yet again!

A close-up of lead singer Kelly Hansen.

The place was packed!

We also took the opportunity to have dinner at Hell's Kitchen.

This is Gordon Ramsay's restaurant - another place you should visit if you get the chance!

Collective Soul

We had a wonderful time with our friends Ron and Dianne at a Collective Soul concert in San Diego last month.

Here are a few of the photos I took.  

This is one of those bands that people seem not to know by name, but when they hear a few of their songs it's like "oh yeah - I love that band!"

Not sure why the name "Collective Soul" doesn't still with them.

Anyway, fantastic show.  We highly recommend it.

 

Switchfoot

We went to see Collective Soul in August and a band I hadn't heard of - Switchfoot - was playing with them.    Turns out they put on a very fun show!

I had stepped back to get a drink when they started and this is the view I saw as I was returning.

Before the show I had read that they were a Christian band so I was like - rut row - we're going to get preached to all night.

However, that was not the case!  They aren't a "Christian band",  they are a band whose members happen to be Christian.  That's what the band says and I believe them.  If there was any preachin' going on I didn't hear it!

The stage performance was very energetic and uplifting, I'm glad we stuck around to watch it.

Here is the singer Jon Foreman coming out into the audience for some fun.  He was practically leaning over my seat!  The audience loved it.

The band even brought other performers onto the stage.

This was nice to see and it seemed even the band enjoyed it.

At one point they brought four brothers up and turned over their instruments for them to play a Switchfoot song.  It went great!

The brothers taking a bow.

And then came the bubbles.  Oh the bubbles! 

Again, very uplifting to watch.

A look back behind my seat during one of the songs.

This woman really lit up the stage when she came out to sing.

I believe this was the last performer they invited up.

Anyway a very good time - I'd recommend seeing them if you can.  They are from San Diego so hopefully they will put on shows often.

Thank you and good night!