Rocklahoma Tickets...

Queensryche was just added as the Sunday night headliner for Rocklahoma 2008. They will be performing Operation: Mindcrime in its entirety. I've always wanted to see Mindcrime, but I think it's a slightly odd choice for a festival closer.

At any rate, if you still don't have your Rocklahoma tickets and want a close V.I.P. seat on the concrete - you might be in luck. My friend Christian has an extra pair of tickets he needs to sell. The seats are in V.I.P. section E, row 14 seats 15/16. He renewed early and paid full price. Right now, tickets on the Rocklahoma website are selling for $350 a pop, but you can't get on the concrete at this point. Section E is on the far right side of the stage - unobstructed view and closest to the beer and food tent. With your V.I.P. ticket you get all you can eat food and beer for Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the festival. You are also invited to Thursday's pre-show party, but food is not included. If you are interested in these seats, send your best offer to christian.graus@gmail.com. Do not email me - Christian will determine the buyer of his seats!

Here's the line-up:

BRET MICHAELS
SEBASTIAN BACH
DOKKEN
L.A. GUNS (Tracii Guns version)
ENUFF Z'NUFF
VAIN
HOUSE OF LORDS
JETBOY

Friday, July 11:

TRIUMPH
EXTREME
LITA FORD
NIGHT RANGER
LIVING COLOUR
KINGDOM COME
ARMORED SAINT
XYZ

Saturday, July 12:

CINDERELLA
WARRANT
KIX
LYNCH MOB
TRIXTER
BLACK 'N BLUE
TORA TORA
EVERY MOTHER’S NIGHTMARE
PRETTY BOY FLOYD

Sunday, July 13:

QUEENSRŸCHE
TESLA
UFO
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES
ZEBRA
AXE

Van Halen Live in Cincinnati

Van Halen is back on the tour trail. Last night the legendary band stopped in Cincinnati and I attended the show with Eric and Heather. You might recall I saw the band around seven months ago in Indianapolis. This time I had "cheap" seats, but the view wasn't bad and the sound was awesome. The show was not sold-out and I would say U.S. Bank Arena was about 80% full. The crowd was also quite different from the October Indianapolis show. While the Indianapolis crowd was immediately rowdy, it took a few songs for the Cincinnati fans to warm-up. After "Runnin' with the Devil"  the crowd  was ready to rock. Van Halen with David Lee Roth performed their classic tunes, including:

You Really Got Me
Runnin' With the Devil
Somebody Get Me a Doctor
Beautiful Girls
Dance the Night Away
Atomic Punk
Everybody Wants Some
Oh, Pretty Woman
Drum Solo
Unchained
I'll Wait
And the Cradle Will Rock
Hot for Teacher
Little Dreamer
Little Guitars
Jamie's Cryin'
Ice Cream Man (both acoustic and electric)
Panama
Guitar Solo
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
1984
Jump

I have to say this show was more sonically pleasing than my first go-around in Indianapolis. The acoustics are better inside U.S. Bank Arena, so that was a major plus. I did notice, however, that the band didn't seem as tight as before. Perhaps the wear of the road is making them tired or maybe they are just going through the motions at this point. It wasn't more than a month ago the remaining Van Halen tour dates were cancelled - then rescheduled - because Eddie had a mystery illness (rehab?) that needed immediate attention. Even if Eddie, Alex, Wolfgang and Diamond Dave were a little sluggish, there was still a general note of camaraderie.

I must admit Eddie sounded good on the guitar. That might seem like a gross understatement, but there were dates on this reunion tour where he completely fell apart. Sure there were missteps and miscues all night by just about everyone - save Wolfgang - but Eddie seemed ready to perform. That's a good thing since that's what the paying crowd came to see.

My favorite parts of the show were "Runnin' with the Devil" and "Unchained." I've always thought these are two of the best songs of the entire, extensive Van Halen catalog. Hearing them performed live is an extra treat. It was also cool to learn Valerie Bertinelli was in attendance. I saw her sitting at the sound-board with binoculars.

I'm going to count my night with Van Halen as the official start of the concert season. Hooray!

Kermit is so Glam

Man, oh man. I love ridiculous videos celebrating my favorite Glam tunes. I also love Muppets. You already know I love Motley Crue - now mix all these elements and you get a video of Kermit the Frog singing "Wildside" by Motley Crue.

Props to my friend Kenny Ozz - of Cincinnati-based Drugstore Valentine - for tipping me to the great video of my green friend lip-synching along with Vince Neil.

It's the little things in life that make me happy. If everything works out, I'll be seeing Kenny tonight at the Van Halen show in Cincinnati.

Here's Kermit Glamming it up Crue-style. Be jealous of his grooves.  

Expect a review of the Van Halen show tomorrow on Bring Back Glam!

You Can Still Order the Rocklahoma Coffee Table Book

There is still time for you to get your copy of the Rocklahoma 2007 coffee table book.

By all accounts, Rocklahoma 2007 was a great success. If you went to the inaugural festival, you probably had a great time and have a lot of fond memories of the event.

Now you can relive those memories in vivid color. The Rocklahoma 2007 coffee table book is now available for pre order by clicking HERE.

Let me tell you about the book. The hardback work has 132 pages of color photos. Each band is represented and provides a special quote. Oh yeah, yours truly wrote the narrative, explaining the entire Rocklahoma 2007 experience! 

The Rocklahoma 2007 book is $42 bucks. Go ahead and reserve a copy (and no, I am not making money off this venture. I hope you don't mind this advertisement).

Heavy Metal Parking Lot

Have you seen Heavy Metal Parking Lot? The 16 minute documentary by Jeff Krulik and John Heyn is a hoot! The entire documentary is staged around a 1986 Judas Priest concert - except you never see the band! As the title suggests, the entire movie is just interviews with a bunch of stoners - er, fans - before the big show.

1986 must have been a magical time to be an adult. I was less than seven when the documentary was made, so I didn't know anything about Judas Priest. Still, I sort of envy the people featured in the clip. All the rock fans are having an absolutely great time and really proves that the concert experience these days is completely different. I'm pretty sure the people interviewed for the documentary either camped or stood on-line for tickets. These days, you just grab a credit card and hope you don't get screwed by Ticketmaster.  You put some $4 gas in the tank and fly to the stadium right after work - taking an entire day off to hang out in a parking lot with other rock fans before a big show just really isn't practical these days. Sort of makes me sad I missed so many cool things in the 1980s.

There are so many great parts of Heavy Metal Parking Lot, but I really like when the fans kept throwing back beer - and got noticeably more drunk - right as the cameras rolled!

In addition to the regular documentary, the special DVD package also features a replay with director commentary - very funny!

If you are wondering, my favorite part of the documentary is when one woman says she "wants to jump Rob Halford's bones." Oh, I think she was misguided! Here's a clip - watch, then buy the DVD. Well worth $15 bucks!

Dokken is Playing Rocklahoma

Dokken was just added to the Thursday night Rocklahoma line-up (this is not yet announced by festival management, but the band has added the date to their Myspace calendar). Color me unsurprised. I called this one as soon as Sebastian Bach was added. Remember, Poison, Bach and Dokken are touring together this summer. It is much easier to keep bands on the same routing - so it was just a matter of time before we got the Dokken announcement. The kicker here is that Thursday is probably the best day of the festival - and it is only open to those with V.I.P. tickets! If I was jaded, I would say putting all the Glam bands on the preview party day is a way to make money and sell more tickets. Since I'm not jaded, I'll just smile and be grateful for Dokken. If the Rocklahoma promoters really want to make people happy (and sell some tickets) they'll just add Poison instead of Bret Michaels solo. Remember the golden rule of business: you have to spend money to make money.

Here are some clips of Dokken performing at Rocklahoma 2007. Ah, the memories.
Here's "In My Dreams."

Here's "Alone Again."

It's Prom Season

I loved prom season when I was in high school for two reasons: it meant getting a fancy dress and the end of the school year was near.

Today I was leaving work and I overheard someone talk about picking up a tuxedo so her son could go to prom. I nearly stopped dead in my tracks - and then it dawned on me - it really is prom season!

Oh glorious time of gowns, flowers, limos...and music! I went to three proms - all of them had a DJ because my school (apparently) didn't have enough money for live music. I can't really remember the themes of my proms - but I know the music selected was NOT Glam. Of course the DJ spun staples like "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC, but from what I recall many of the theme songs revolved around Celine Dion.

If I was planning a prom now, you better believe it would be Glam: music, hairspray and lycra baby! 

Here are my picks for best prom theme song:

"Wait for You"                  - Bonham
"Heaven"                         - Warrant
"Is This Love"                   - Whitesnake
"Best of Both Worlds"       - Van Halen

I graduated high school in 1998 so these songs were not on the Billboard chart during that time - but maybe you did go to high school in the 1980s. If so, did you have a Glam theme?

What Glam song would you pick for your prom?