(Images and video: NYCDreamin Archives)
As last week dragged on seemingly forever at work, I was quite looking forward to the weekend speeding by and for Sunday evening to finally arrive as it has been just over five years since I last got to witness the full-on audio assault offered up by the Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent. Needless to say I was quite excited to be seeing him for the 6th time and the Gorgeous One, having only seen video of the man, was looking forward to her first "live" encounter with The Nuge. As afternoon began to turn into early evening, we left the house and stopped off and had a bite to eat and then headed off on the 40-minute drive to Medina. We arrived a few minutes after 7:00pm just after the doors opened. Quite a few people were content to wait to go inside, milling about in the parking lot, enjoying the warm summer evening and listening to the tunes being provided courtesy of the ever-present-at-local-shows KQRS-FM van.
Earlier on Sunday morning, I had called the Medina and inquired as to the status of ticket availabilty and was told that all 2,000 tickets were sold out. I was once again relieved that we'd purchased tickets a few days after they went on sale about a month ago. The Sold Out status of the show was once again made quite clear with these signs on the venue doors...
After milling about outside for a while, we went inside, had a quick look at the merchandise booth, stopped off at one of the many bar areas inside the Ballroom and grabbed a cold Sierra Mist then made our way quickly to the stage area. We found a pretty good spot a few rows back about center-stage but there were some pretty tall dudes in front of us, so I was looking around and spotted a better vantage point off to the right a bit, so I motioned for the Gorgeous One to follow me and in a second we found ourselves with prime, front row spots up against the barricade, stage right, right under the overhead P.A. The 30 minute or so wait until 8:00pm seemed to drag a bit, but promptly at 8:00pm, the house lights dimmed and the opening band, a group of hometown boys calling themselves New Medicine hit the stage and delivered a solid set of power-punk-pop originals that were surprisingly well received by the sold-out crowd. The reason I say "surprisingly" is that, although they are a pretty talented band, they don't really play the kind of music one would expect a group opening for Terrible Ted to play. You would usually expect some 70's or 80's rockers to open the show for Nugent. Or at least a band that plays 70's or 80's rock. The fact that these guys all looked to be in their young-mid 20's and were playing music one might hear at the Vans Warped Tour was kind of surprising to me at first, but as they ripped through their set, their enthusiasm and obvious love of and dedication to rock and roll came across strong enough to erase any "genere" labels from my mind for the evening.
After a reasonbly quick set change of around 25 minutes by the crew, a bit after 9:00pm, the lights went down once again and the overhead PA roared to life at incredible volume, blasting out a tune instantly familiar to any real rock and roller over the age of...uh..let's say 30...just to be nice to the young folks. A few minutes later, the band rushed the stage, and with a flourish of feedback drenched guitar frenzy from the leader of the circus that was about to ensue, it was ON!
Damn! It was LOUD! Really, really loud! I immediately began to worry that the bass was going to overdrive the poor microphone in my camera and all the sweet video I was about to shoot would feature utterly unlistenable audio. I was quite happy to find, upon my return home after the show that this was not the case at all. In fact this may be the best quality audio (and video?) of any show I've shot in the past few years. I was very grateful we managed to get right up front.
Ted always seems to have a different set of guys playing with him each time I've seen him. He is currently touring as a four-piece group, the first time I've seen him play with a second guitarist. And the guy who's playing with him is not just some anonymous hired guitar slinger. I was absolutely thrilled to learn earlier this summer that former 70's (and briefly in the late 80's) Nugent band alumni, guitarist/voaclist Derek St. Holmes would be back on stage with Ted for this tour. Former Dokken skin pounder/co-founder "Wild" Mick Brown was back behind the drums this time as he had been when I last saw Nuge back in 2005. Rounding out the lineup this time around is well-travelled, in-demand bassist/vocalist Greg Smith. The four barely stopped for one second before launching right into the second song of the evening, this one the first of several featuring St. Holmes on vocals...
...and so it went. An evening of six-string worship was well under way and at this early point in the show things showed every indication of getting a bit...intense. A meandering, Nuge-rant-and-jam filled 10 minute version of "Wango Tango" was served up next...
Then St. Holmes stepped back up to the mic and the band launched into one I'd never heard Ted play live before, probably because Derek hadn't been in the band when I'd seen him previously. But he was here tonight and it was really great to hear this tune dusted off and brought out from retirement one more time...
And then it was time, once again, for that snuggly-wuggly love ballad that you've all known and held so close to your hearts for all these many years...
...followed by the less obscene but no less obvious "Need You Bad," featuring Greg Smith on vocals.
And then it was that time. The time during each show when Uncle Ted, now fully wound up with high decibel rock and roll adrenaline, begins to rant. And rave. Seems he's a bit pissed off at the leadership in Washington these days...and has been for quite some time really. Ted's not a wall flower by any stretch of the imagination (however it is kind of amusing to imagine him as one) and he could give a flying fuck what you think about his political ideology, snippets of which he is glad to offer up in the extended intro to another tune I've never seen him do live before...
...and the rarities just kept coming, like this one...
...and this one!
After all that old, classic 70's era material, I can't say that I was really excited to hear "Fred Bear" yet again. I think he's played this every time I've ever seen him. The song obviously really touches him, in a primal "let's thank the spirit gods and go kill something!" kind of way. All the hunter-fisher people, of which there are always many at any given Ted Nugent show, always seem to really appreciate it though.
This was followed up with the newish song the current tour is named after...
And then, thankfully it was right back to 1975 with a classic shredder from Ted's debut solo album. This one has my vote for possibly the best song of the evening...
Then, sadly, the final song I was able to film in it's entirety, another of Ted's many FM-rock radio staples that endures as one of his most well known songs...
The band then launched into an amazing version (it's always amazing) of "Stranglehold." I started filming and about one minute into the song the camera beeped angrily at me (I didn't actually hear it of course) and flashed the "Battery Expired" message a few times then and rudely shut itself down, effectively robbing YOU of enjoying the last three songs of the show! Fuckin' camera has NO respect for my readers! Of course the Gorgeous One and I were able to enjoy the rest of the show, which was maybe another 20 minutes or so. "Stranglehold" was followed by a rather long (it's always long) and incendiary version of "Great White Buffalo."
The band showed no signs of needing a rest or anything, and it seemd like they could play effortlessly for several more hours and make it look easy. But, it being a Sunday evening and knowing many of his fans are hard-working guys with ealy AM jobs (like myself), Ted and crew wrapped things up a few minutes later with the 17th song of the evening, a distortion and feedback filled version of "The Star Spangled Banner."
Wanting to beat the crowds that would surely surge to the exits the minute the music ended, the Gorgeous One and I headed for the doors and just as the band left the stage, we left the building and headed for home, our ears and asses having taken a serious kicking by one of the true great live acts of our time. I just hope it's not another 5 years before we get a chance to see him again.
