Music

Tesla – Feb. 6, 2009, La Zona Rosa, Austin, TX

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

I just returned from seeing Tesla play at La Zona Rosa in Austin, Texas. The show was good. Shorter than I expected (only one opening band, which I didn’t pay much attention to), but still a good show. Very straightforward, not much banter between songs, just music music music. I can’t put my finger on it, but I didn’t enjoy the show as much as the last one. Don’t get me wrong, this was a good show, but it felt like the last show/tour was just a lot of fun for the guys playing cover tunes and jamming. This show felt like “work”, and that’s understandable given they have a new album to promote (Forever More), and promote they did – they played 6 songs off the new album. The vibe just felt different, not bad, just different. Still, the show was good, glad I went.

Here’s a setlist:

  1. Forever More
  2. I Wanna Live
  3. Modern Day Cowboy
  4. Song & Emotion
  5. Breakin’ Free
  6. Hang Tough
  7. Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)
  8. So What!
  9. One Day At A Time
  10. Fallin’ Apart
  11. Acoustic Guitar Duel
  12. Love Song
  13. Try So Hard
  14. What You Give
  15. Signs
  16. Little Suzi
  17. Electric Guitar Duel (Encore)
  18. Cummin’ Atcha Live (Encore)

And remember…. it’s not what you’ve got, it’s what you give.

 

Updated: Check it out. Someone made a high-quality video of the entire show and posted it to YouTube.

It looks like the person taking the video was standing at the “back” of the room, behind where the sound and light boards were. I was watching the entire show from just in front of the boards, since they had a bit of a wall/ledge in front of them that made it nice to lean and hang on. Looking at the user icon for teslajunkie’s YouTube channel, I remember seeing her back there. Didn’t know she was taping the show tho. Awesome!

Concert memories

/ hsoi

Music has always been a part of my life, be it performing it or listening to it. I’ve played piano, violin, trumpet, french horn, guitar, a little bit of bass and drums. I’ve played in rock bands; played my acoustic guitar on the street in Denton, TX; various jam sessions; was in “band” from 5th grade through 8th with trumpet, and 11th and 12th I played french horn; I was drum major in marching band my senior year. I’ve actually had thoughts about picking up the french horn again — of all the instruments I played it was probably the most expressive and versatile. I recall in high school playing in a woodwind quintet, and that was a lot of fun… playing with 4 gorgeous girls didn’t hurt either. 🙂

Then there’s all the concerts I’ve been to. I can’t remember them all, but I’ve seen Mötley Crüe a number of times, White Zombie, Pantera, Wrathchild America, Cyclone Temple, Last Crack, Kix, Sepultura, Sacred Reich, Sick of it All, Napalm Death, Corrosion of Conformity, Down, Crowbar, Alabama Thunderpussy, Suplecs, Warrant, Judas Priest, Heaven & Hell, Motörhead, Testament, Stu Hamm, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, White Trash, Lucy Brown, Kage, Dave Matthews Band (before they were signed), Trans-Siberian Orchestra, The Coup De Grace, Scorpions, Trixter, Great White, Child’s Play, Trouble, G.E. Smith and the Saturday Night Live Band, Aerosmith, 4 Non Blondes, Collective Soul, and I know there’s been many many more. 

So tonight I’m going to see Tesla in concert. I saw them the last time they came through Austin about a year and a half ago and they were awesome. They are not a washed up ’80s band trying to reclaim their former glory. They still make albums, they still tour, and they seem to grok the whole Internet thing and know how to work with it instead of fighting against it. I’m happy to support them.

Thing is, all day long I’ve been excited about going to the show and I found myself reverting back to my old high school concert-going habits. Things like how you have to listen to the band all day long. Of course when you’re driving to the show, you have to have their music cranked. What clothing am I going to wear? Why my Tesla t-shirt of course, and jeans. I’ve been thinking about how much cash I need to bring so I can buy a t-shirt. As the story goes: “An old hesher once told me that you gotta get the best shirt because they only come around once.” 😀   And then of course, you MUST wear the shirt to school the next day to prove to everything that you were there.

Ever hear of Heavy Metal Parking Lot?

I grew up in the Washington D.C. area, and I was just at that right age when this documentary was made. It brings back so many memories. So many shows seen at The Capital Centre. Man, that was a time.

The filmmaker, Jeff Krulik, used to have all of his movies available for free on his website, but no longer. You can buy the DVD of HMPL (which I have done, and it’s pretty funny to see some of the people today, especially Zebraman), and I managed to find the full video here, tho who knows how long it’ll remain.

Rock on!

This weekend

/ hsoi

The weekend’s not yet here but already I can’t not think about it.

Tomorrow night going to see Tesla in concert. I’ve seen them live before and it was excellent. They’ve got talent and ability, thus why they’ve always kept going and didn’t die off after the ’80s were over. I think their “Into The Now” album (2004) is one of their best. Just a damn good rock band.

Then I get home from the concert, get a couple hours of sleep, and then it’s off to the Boy Scouts of America Texas Report To State Parade. My younger son is a Tiger Cub and I’m a Den Leader (again), so we get to head downtown and walk down Congress Avenue with thousands of other Scouts from around the state. It’s actually really neat to see Scouts from all over, and the kids always enjoy being in a parade as well as seeing all the floats and other Scouts. 

And I’m sure I’ll have a honey-do list to tend to afterwards, and a nap. 😉

Should be a fun weekend.