Extreme / King's X / Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp

A few weeks ago, I thought I had died and gone to rock and roll heaven.  I was wrong, but not by much.  It was the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp, and that's pretty close to rock and roll heaven.  Oh yeah, and a couple of little bands called King's X and Extreme played that night, too.

A couple of days before the show, I got a call from Mark Slaughter.  Mark lives in Nashville now, and I met him when we were doing a show there back in the spring.  Great singer, great guitar player, cool guy.  This summer Mark is touring with the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp.  Since they were in Atlanta he invited me to come to the show and "meet the guys".

Well, it wasn't until I got to the show that I realized who "the guys" were.  Gilby Clarke from Guns n Roses, Elliott Easton from The Cars, David Ellefson from Megadeth, Chris Slade from AC/DC, Deep Purple bass player Glenn Hughes, Kip Winger, Mark Hutson, and John Lennon guitarist Earl Slick.  I had the chance to meet them all, and they were some of the coolest, nicest people you could ever meet.  Oh, and I met Doug Pinnick walking around backstage, too.  I finally got to ask him about working with Sam Taylor.  Um, well... 

The Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp is a cool concept.  People pay like $2000 to hang out and jam with all these guys during the day, and that night "bands" are put together featuring campers and a couple of the rock legend guys.  The talent level was hit or miss: the participants were pretty good for the most part, although there were a couple of "winners" who made William Hung look and sound like Ricky Martin by comparison.  Massive thanks to Mark Slaughter and the "guys" for letting me hang for a while.  That pretty much made my year right there...

Oh, and there was a show, too.  King's X played first.  Let me tell you, it made me wonder what I've been doing with my musical life for the last 15 years since I last listened to them.  They are SO GOOD.  There's so much power coming off the stage, you can't believe it's just those three guys.  It sounded great - easily the best sounding club gig I've ever seen, honest.  Their new songs fit right into the set, and their vintage stuff has aged really well.  And Doug has added this new screaming thing ala AX7 or Killswitch.  A-maz-ing.  If you get the chance to see these guys do a show, do yourself a favor.  Oh. My. Gosh.

Extreme played last.  They came right out rocking and kept it going for two solid hours.  It's been 13 years since they've toured together, and you get the sense that they're wanting to make up for it, both for the fans and each other.  These guys flat out brought it.  Nuno is the guitar god that he's always been.  And I still contend that Gary Cherone is one of the most underrated frontmen in rock history.  What was Van Halen thinking to not keep him?  The new stuff is great and stands tall next to the classic Extreme.  It's taken a turn towards the Queen/Zeppelin thing to very good results.  They played a little bit of everything, and it did not disappoint.  PLEASE don't wait 13 years to come back to Atlanta!

It felt like a reunion in a lot of ways.  Besides seeing these bands that I listened to and loved "back in the day" I saw a bunch of friends from that era at the show.  Derek Bruner, who lives and works in the music industry in Nashville, is from Atlanta and I've known him since I used to bug him when he worked at Lifeway in Marietta.  Lee Broadwell, who now works at our management company, was in my high school youth group.  Clint Winter, another youth group guy, met us at the show too. 

But it doesn't stop there.  I saw a couple of buddies of mine from Georgia Tech.  One is a literal buddy.  As in, his name is Buddy.  I used to go to every Christian rock show that came throught town and would see Buddy there.  So it made sense that I would see him there tonight.  And my college roommate Neil was there.  It was so crazy seeing all these folks from my past.  It felt like an Adam Sandler movie or something!

Great night.  Easily a highlight of my year...

Comments

[Scoley]

Kings X will be back in georgia August 21 2009 at the local in Marietta.
details to come on www.quincyentertainment.com

[Jerry Ray]

Hey, Buddy here. I was wondering if you'd blog about the Extreme show. Didn't expect to get a shout-out, though. :-)

I only caught the last few songs of the Fantasy Camp thing, but it was pretty cool. I wish I'd shown up earlier to see more of it.

I've tried and failed to get into King's X over the years - I own their first three albums, I think, and like a few tracks, but just never "got it" completely. They KILLED live, though - just awesome.

And Extreme? What can you say? They rule! I saw them at the Fox on the _III Sides_ tour, and that was fantastic (with a horn section and everything). This was a more stripped-down show, but it was still fantastic. They played 2 hours of mostly old favorites, and could have done 2 more. The new stuff sounded good, too - it really fit into the set well. Agreed on Cherone - he's the best frontman since Freddie Mercury. He was good with Van Halen live (though the album he did with them wasn't very good), and he was awesome with Queen live - I wish he was touring with them, instead of Paul Rodgers. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Extreme come through town again.

Oh, and thanks for the shout-out at the concert last night - it was awesome getting booed by thousands of U[sic]GA fans that were all sitting BEHIND me at the show. :-)

[Hannah]

That is awesome. Easily the most rock and roll blog I've ever read! Like borderline Rock and Roll nerdy...sounds like you had a blast!

See you Sunday night at Music That Builds Tour Nashville on my bday!

[Clint]

I will post my Extreme Pictures tomorrow

Clint

[Sabrina]

I've heard it said that the music someone listens to comes out in the music they make? Would you find that to be true for you? If so, which band's music was or has been most influential in developing your personal musical style?

[Genna]

Sounds like an awesome time! If my "back in the day" bands were to have a reunion it would be something like...Well I'm not sure I should even go there! =P

I just realized I accidentally stole your "blogroll please" thing and put it on mine! It was subconscious, I swear!!!

[calalily]

Hey there! Glad to see you bloggin' again! I love Extreme & King's X both but I've never seen either live. Sounds like you had a blast. That Rock & Roll fantasy camp sounds awesome too! See you this Sunday in Nashville! :)

[Randy]

The question is did Extreme play "Do You Want To Play"? One of the best guitar solo songs ever.

[marg]

Just when we thought you'd never blog again!

[Melanie]

That sounds simply amazing. :) Some of the names I recognize, others I don't. Now I have to check them all out. LOL

I just e-mailed Lee to see if I could get my SLR into the Phoenix show. I have my fingers crossed and prayers said. LOL Maybe you could write me a note. (JK.. you probably don't remember that at Abravanel Hall in SLC, but I won't forget it.)

[Ed]

Awesome....I saw KingsX back in 93 or 94. They crushed it.

[DEREK BRUNER]

Was definitely one of the best show's I've ever seen. Just gotta keep looking for a bootleg video :) Hope to catch up with you this Sunday in Nashville.