08.14.24 - Ridgefield, WA - RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater

**5150 Mean St** · 08.15.24, 01:34 PM

Originally Posted by seenbad

I'll say this first- I loved the show. Super enjoyed it. Hanging out with my boy drinking a beer on the lawn listening to live rock and roll never disappoints. My random comments in stream of consciousness format:

Highlights were 5150, judgement day and summer nights with an honorable mention to Satch Boogie and good enough. 7th seal was kind of a cool deeper cut. (so yeah, the guitar driven VH stuff) In good enough, I thought Joe hit the groove pretty good. Honestly, he was better than I thought he'd be with regard to Ed's tone and groove the whole show (he cheated on the pinch and tap harmonics a bit but still got away with it). Mike hit a note with "well I'll have some of Thaaaaaaaat!" (after the breakdown) that did me a solid by killing every flying insect inside the arena. The bass he used in ATBL looked like a penguin hit the windshield. That was a disturbing bass.

They had some rando Australian guy playing keys. Seemed like a nice enough kid. It was just a little weird seeing him up there next to Jason doing nothing most of the time. lol. Jason's drum mic's sucked ass for sure.

More than once I thought "damn....that dude's 76?" with regard to Sam. Rock n' Roll really does give wings I guess. His voice was pretty spent by the time they closed with when it's love but man, we can all hope to be like that when we grow up. Sheesh! Chugging tequila like a 25 year old. lol.

The setlist.....So I haven't read much of any other review or looked at youtube videos because I didn't want to spoil my show. I'm guessing there are some overall opinionated issues with the set list. If so, I'm with that. Maybe mentally I was geared more towards it being more of a celebration or tribute to Ed. I wasn't really picking that up at all. Mike mentioned Ed once. Joe played the striped guitar for a while (oddly enough only on the Sam songs).....Idunno. That part or aspect could have been done soooo much better. Just a little 5 minute video compilation or something and the crowd would have completely lost their shit, myself included. A few more VH songs and a few less Sam/chickenfoot/montrose songs felt like it would have made things a LOT mo' better. I could not believe the exodus after can't drive 55. Ridgefield can be a bitch to get out of sometimes because the hired guns for traffic are complete dumbshits and don't listen to the sheriff's instructions, but man, a LOT of people bailed. I'm estimating a 5th to a quarter. There were about 12k people or so, so you do the math.

So bottom line, great rock and roll show. Probably 7 out of 10 for me. Just a tweak of the set list and a bit more homage paid to Ed and it could easily have been a 10. They have the tools with two members, a solid drummer, and a very capable satch on the 6 string. Opportunity missed on what I think people really were after at the heart of the tour, but fun show and I'd go again.

I agree that a little tribute to Eddie would have been a nice touch. Sam told the one story about walking into 5150 and the Eddie playing the riff to Summer Nights on his “little fucked up guitar”, and how he thought they’d never play it again until Joe said “I think I can manage that” - that was a good story, but the extent of Eddie mentions.

Even just having some video of Ed on screen during some of the songs would have been a quick and easy way to pay homage. He wasn’t shown much. Nitpicking maybe, but I agree it wouldn’t take much to give a nice little “wink and a nod” as VH used to say.

I also noticed a lot clear out before the finale. At 39, and my son at 14, we were some of the youngest people there. We were surrounding by people of varying degrees of advanced…vintage, we will say - and a lot of them wanted to stand and rock, but honestly seemed to struggle and had to sit down. There was an older couple next to us that stood for the first five songs or so, sat for one, and then just left - I think it had just taken a toll on them.

But also, likely a lot of people wanted to beat the traffic. My son and I walked the 25 minutes back to our hotel and we were walking past gridlocked traffic coming down the hill.

I thought the crowd side was closer to 15,000, but I don’t know shit.

I just know we had an awesome time.

If I had a wish list for other Sam VH tunes they would play, it would likely be…

Mine all Mine
Sucka in a 3 Piece
The Dream is Over
Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do)
Humans Being

**seenbad** · 08.15.24, 01:47 PM

Yeah, it could have been closer to 15k actually. I was trippin when I got up to the lawn. People all the way to the top. I think there were 3 or 4 thousand MORE than what attended the last concert I went to there, and that was 5 finger death punch and megadeath.

Vintage....lol. You're so kind. There were a bunch of old fucking fat white people. haha.

Glad you and your boy got to enjoy a good time together. That's what it's all about.

**5150 Mean St** · 08.15.24, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by seenbad

Yeah, it could have been closer to 15k actually. I was trippin when I got up to the lawn. People all the way to the top. I think there were 3 or 4 thousand MORE than what attended the last concert I went to there, and that was 5 finger death punch and megadeath.

Vintage....lol. You're so kind. There were a bunch of old fucking fat white people. haha.

Glad you and your boy got to enjoy a good time together. That's what it's all about.

Same for you and yours! It was great to share the soundtrack of my life with my son, and he had a wicked first concert experience.