Anybody Going To Attend Any Concerts This Summer?

Me and Mrs. Berferd have a bunch of “Old Timer’s” concerts lined up for this summer. We are fortunate to have a fantastic venue about 10 minutes from our house called the Fraze Pavilion. The Fraze is a 4,300 seat amphitheater that has been around for 20 years. The trees and vegetation have had time to create a nice little outdoor theater in the park ambiance. I keep saying we are going to get tickets for some of their events but somehow managed to falter.

I reminded Becky about how much we enjoyed a couple of summers ago when we saw Ringo Starr and a few other groups making the rounds so when I heard the group Chicago was booked I jumped on board for some tickets. I stood on line at a ticket outlet and managed to get some pretty decent seats. There are not too many bad seats at the Fraze but I decided to do the online ticket thing at home next time and it worked much better.

We got tickets for The Doobie Brothers seven rows from the stage. They just announced the opening act will be Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real. Found out he is Willie Nelson’s son.

I then got tickets to Hippie Fest. We got four rows from the stage. Featuring Dave Mason, Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Rick Derringer, Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals and Gary Wright


Finally we got tickets to Happy Together Tour. I got second row from the stage. This is another collection of oldies: Featuring Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Association, The Grass Roots, The Buckinghams and Flo & Eddie.

We are looking to an enjoyable summer of sounds.
bERFERD

I have a very hard time believing Flo & Eddie are still alive

on the other hand, the Buckinghams rock!!


My Baby she's made out of love
like one of those bunnies out of a playboy club
she's got something that better than gold
crazy, foxy girl
she's got so much soul...

If I am lucky, I will see The Hangover ll.

I don't get out much

Well obviously giving away my age but all these groups are right in my wheel house! Sounds like great fun. We went to see the "Doo-Wop" tour from PBS a couple of years ago and it was great. I really didn't know some of those people were still alive!

People still do that?!? :-)

My summer concert calendar isn't quite so hip. We're seeing the Nashville Opera do Carmen in a couple weeks. After that, it's Dvorak and Saint-Saens at the symphony. Then the new touring production of Les Miz. Then back to the symphony for some Mahler.

- Jeff

People still do that?!? :-)

>>>>>>
Yea, well waiting on line is pretty old school. We were at a local store to shop for groceries anyway and decided to get tickets while on the outing. We had a Starbucks while waiting and had just one person in front of us. By the time she got her Back Street Boys tickets the Chicago seats down front had been snapped up.

I remember times when we stood on line for hours and never even got a ticket. Most of those were general admission which meant getting to the venue early to scramble for a seat. Ever since our experience at the Who concert in Cincinnati I am skittish about concert crowds. That is why I really enjoy the local venue which is small and intimate.

I am also surprised that some groups are still around. Many of them just have one original member with the rights to the charts to all their old songs. Several summers ago we saw BS&T with the Guess Who. There was no David Clayton-Thomas and Guess Who didn’t have Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman but it was still a nice evening.

I spend a lot of weekends watching/listening to DVD concerts. With a wide screen HD TV and a pretty decent 7.1 surround it gets pretty close to a live performance in my living room. I do enjoy the "pause and go pee"feature. Some of the Blu-Ray audio/video is awesome but nothing can replace a live performance. My expectations for the oldies concerts we are going to see are not really high but you have to remember when I saw many of these groups when they were in their prime the sound reinforcement was terrible. Old guys with new technology should be an improvement. Most of the time there are some very talented musicians filling the gaps. I saw the Beachboys years ago and they had musicians under the stage playing which is one step better than lip-synching.
bERFeRd

I've seen Dave Mason several times and he puts on a great show ---- what a gifted guitar player he is!

Journey, Foreingner, Night Ranger, Def Leppard, ZZ Top, Lynard Skynyrd.

Rush at the MGM in late June.

Holy crap! You were at that Who concert? Well no wonder crowds make you skittish.

I saw the Bee Gees at that same coliseum about three months before that. We had terrible seats, but they were reserved tickets at least.

- Jeff

George, we have Fraze tickets to see Brian Culbertson and "Average White Band" is the opening band! We have lots of memories dancing to their songs in the 70's! We love smooth jazz too and haven't seen Brian for awhile so it should be a fun night!

Another Fraze concert you might want to consider is The Menus for only $5 each (Aug 12th)! They do a wide variety of music from the 70's, 80's & 90's. The lead singer Tim is the center of attention on stage w/multiple costume changes in some of the craziest outfits & hats! He also kicks high above his head and pops these huge balloons! It amazes me how he does that! All this craziness and does great vocals too! Their shows usually sell out so if you're interested don't wait to get your tickets (it's general seating so get there early for a good seat!). I don't think you'll be disappointed - but for $5 it's a great bargain!

Some of you that live in OH & surrounding states may have heard of The Menus. They're a band out of Cincinnati but play various places around the area, especially up at Lake Erie's Put-in-Bay. Check out their website! Although the videos don't do them justice! You have to see and hear them in person to totally appreciate them! The Menus

Almost forgot! We're also seeing Richard Elliot and Norman Brown on May 20th while in Vegas! Richard is my all time favorite sax man!! I managed to get 2nd row center seats! Can't wait!