Setlist: The Cure

BPD member Norence Flightinggale writes to say how she was toasted by this 45 song set from The Cure:

10:15 Saturday Night
Accuracy
Grinding Halt
Another Day
Object
Subway Song
Foxy Lady
(The Jimi Hendrix Experience cover)
Meathook
So What
Fire In Cairo
It's Not You
Three Imaginary Boys
The Weedy Burton
A Reflection
Play For Today
Secrets
In Your House
Three
The Final Sound
A Forest
M
At Night
Seventeen Seconds
The Holy Hour
Primary
Other Voices
All Cats Are Grey
The Funeral Party
Doubt
The Drowning Man
Faith

Encore 1:

World War
I'm Cold
Plastic Passion
Boys Don't Cry
Killing An Arab
Jumping Someone Else's Train
Another Journey By Train

Encore 2:

Descent
Splintered In Her Head
Charlotte Sometimes
The Hanging Garden

Encore 3:

Let's Go To Bed
The Walk
The Lovecats

Member Review: Kanye West/Jay-Z

BPD member Devil's Itch took time out from T'Day to send this in:

I found it to be impossible to keep my eyes off the two of them as they first appeared on opposing satellite stages on the floor while their small band - one guy on turntables, and a guitarist and pianist as far as I could tell - remained in the dark on the main stage.

Kanye West was the flashier dresser in a black leather skirt with black leather leggings, while Jay-Z appeared in a baseball hat (his beloved Yankees), t-shirt and pants. (His pregnant wife Beyonce was supposed to be in the crowd.)

However, the real wow factor came when their satellite stages rose up by the second new song, Who Gon Stop Me, and visuals of snarling rottweilers and sharks on the prowl in the deep, blue sea, were projected onto the four sides of each cube while laser lights appeared overhead.

It was scary cool.

By the third song, Otis, another Watch The Throne cut featuring Otis Redding vocals, an enormous American flag had unfurled on stage giving the two rappers time to join each other on the main stage for the first time amid fire while their larger-than-life images appeared on two huge side-by-side video screens.

For the rest of the night it was either them performing alone or together, either their collaborations or solo hits, in an action-packed, marathon show that stretched over some 40 songs and two hours and 20 minutes.

It never really let up in pace or energy.

West delivered the first highlight of the night with the trio of Jesus Walks - which saw him down on his knees - All Falls Down, and Diamonds From Sierra Leone and pull out all the stops again later in the show with Power, and another threesome - Runaway, Heartless, and Stronger, the latter featuring him back on one of those satellite stages all lit up in red or blue lights.

And when the golden light show failed to kick in twice during All Of The Lights, West stopped the song each time, until it kicked in the third time.

The early kill-or-be-killed theme continued visually with images of leopards projected during Welcome to the Jungle, and lions and tigers and bears - oh shit! - during Monster with both rappers on stage for both tunes.

But it was when someone threw a bra on stage while they performed Monster that both men smiled but said nothing.

The imagery turned to more thoughtful subjects like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X during another new tune, Made In America, and jet fighters and eagles during West’s own Touch The Sky.

“We’re living our dream!” said Jay-Z, who got his own moments in the spotlight with Run This Town, Hard Knock Life, and Empire State Of Mind, which all had the crowd in major sing-along mode.

His solo turns on Onto The Next One and Dirt Off Your Shoulders, with him back on the other satellite stage bathed in green lights and featuring his silhouette, along with I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me), were also memorable.

Towards the end of the night, the two rappers shared the stage again for another great trio of tunes - West’s Golddigger, Jay-Z’s 99 Problems and their collaborative Ni**as in Paris.

When they finally exited, Jay-Z proclaimed to the crowd, all Ringo-like but without the Liverpool accent: “Peace and love.”

Before the show, I asked Kanye why he works so hard onstage. His reply was simple and straightforward: “I want people to get what they pay for.”

We sure did.

Thanks Devil's Itch.

Ya know, as we close out 2011, everyone here at BackstagePassDirect would like to extend our sincerest Holiday good wishes and to say "Thanks" for making 2011 sch a killer year.

If you've been sitting on the fence about subscribing, give yourself a present for 2012. A full one year membership is only $49; sign up today.

Setlist: John Fogerty

BPD member Silver Diver sent this to us from the recent John Fogerty show she attended:

Almost Saturday Night
Green River
Commotion
Tombstone Shadow
Wrote a Song for Everyone
Bad Moon Rising
Lodi
Cross-Tie Walker
Sinister Purpose
The Night Time Is The Right Time
(Nappy Brown cover)
Centerfield
Hey Tonight
Born on the Bayou
I Will Walk With You
Hot Rod Heart
Gunslinger
Keep On Chooglin'
Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
Oh, Pretty Woman
(Roy Orbison cover)
Down on the Corner
Suzie Q
(Dale Hawkins cover)
Saxophone Instrumental
(short band jam with John … more)
Bad Case of Loving You
(Robert Palmer cover)
The Old Man Down the Road
Fortunate Son

Encore:

Good Golly Miss Molly
(Little Richard cover)
Proud Mary
Don't You Wish It Was True

Member Review: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds

Long time BPD stalwart Bandolero graced us with this review:

The general consensus has always been that Noel Gallagher writes the better songs and Liam Gallagher is the better singer. That may be the case, but Noel’s live act had more energy, dynamism and style with a huge LED screen behind him that said Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds in huge letters when it wasn’t showing videos, cool strobe and colored lights,

More importantly, he dared to play Oasis songs, right alongside his new solo tunes - with his debut solo disc out Tuesday - during the course of his 90-minute set, while Liam has refused to.

In fact, Noel kicked off the night with two Oasis songs, (It’s Good) To Be Free and Mucky Fingers before delving into High Flying Birds territory with Everybody’s On The Run, Dream On and the popular single, If I Had A Gun, which prompted a big sing-along.

But when he pulled out an acoustic guitar and played stripped down versions of such huge Oasis hits as Wonderwall and Supersonic, the real male bonding amongst audience members - arm-in-arm and singing at the tops of their lungs - began.

Of his four side musicians, I particularly enjoyed keyboardist Mike Rowe, also on piano and organ, and drummer Jeremy Stacey, who looked like he’d walked off the set of A Clockwork Orange with his black bowler hat, as they backed him on Wonderwall and Supersonic, on piano and tambourine, respectively.

And of the newer tunes, it was such super-charged rockers as (I Wanna Live in a Dream in My) Record Machine, AKA... What a Life!, and Soldier Boys and Jesus Freaks that stood out.

Then it was back to a trio of Oasis gems - Little By Little, The Importance of Being Idle and Don’t Look Back In Anger - that made up the spirited encore.

Ultimately, of course, the best thing would be if Noel and Liam came back together for an Oasis reunion as it’s their fractious sibling chemistry that truly makes them special.

Until a reunion, then Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds is the closest things Oasis fans have to the real thing.

SET LIST

(It’s Good) To Be Free

Mucky Fingers

Everybody’s On The Run

Dream On

If I Had A Gun

The Good Rebel

The Death Of You and Me

Freaky Teeth

Wonderwall

Supersonic

(I Wanna Live in a Dream in My) Record Machine

AKA... What a Life!

Talk Tonight

Soldier Boys and Jesus Freaks

AKA... Broken Arrow

Half The World Away

(Stranded On) The Wrong Beach

Encore:

Little By Little

The Importance of Being Idle

Don’t Look Back In Anger

Concert Bombshell: Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw Reunite

BackstagePassDirect has just learned that it will be announced tomorrow that Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw will reunite for the 'Brothers of the Sun' Tour.

'Brothers of the Sun' will be the first time in 10 years that Chesney and McGraw have hit the road together. The reunion will kick off June 2 in Tampa, FL and will also feature special guests Grace Potter & The Nocturnals and Jake Owen.

All this comes on the heels of Chesney's massively successful 'Goin' Coastal' Tour, which blew away more than 1.3 million fans, making it the year's biggest country tour.

Dates and venues:

Sat. June 2 - Tampa, FL - Raymond James Stadium
Sun. June 3 - Atlanta, GA - Georgia Dome
Sat. June 9 - Dallas, TX - Cowboys Stadium
Sun. June 10 - Kansas City, MO - Arrowhead Stadium
Sat. June 16 - Philadelphia, PA - Lincoln Financial Field
Sat. June 23 - Nashville, TN - LP Field
Sun. June 24 - Charlotte, NC - Bank of America Stadium
Sat. June 30 - Pittsburgh, PA - Heinz Field
Sun. July 1 - Cincinnati, OH - Paul Brown Stadium
Sat. July 7 - Chicago, IL - Soldier Field
Sun. July 8 - Minneapolis, MN - Target Field
Sat. July 14 - Anaheim, CA - Angels Stadium
Sat. July 21 - Denver, CO - Sports Authority Field at Mile High
TBA - Indianapolis, IN - Lucas Oil Stadium 

TBA - Cleveland, OH - Cleveland Browns Stadium
Sat. August 11 - East Rutherford, NJ - MetLife Stadium
Sun. August 12 - Washington, DC - FedExField
Sat. August 18 - Detroit, MI - Ford Field
Sat. August 25 - Foxboro, MA - Gillette Stadium

You gotta know that this will be a "high demand" event so make your requests early.

Member Review: The Script

BPD member Tupelo Honey writes:

It surprised me just how scary good The Script was in its impressive performance last night.

Playing in front of a crowd that was stuck in a driving storm outside of the venue prior to the show, The Script - and openers Hot Chelle Rae - gave fans an 85-minute reprieve from Mother Nature with a performance that was one part visual and sensory overload and one part incredible restraint.

The Dublin-based indie rock band, led by frontman Danny O'Donoghue and guitarist/vocalist Mark Sheehan, didn't make the show about themselves, but about the screaming room of 30somethings - most of which were women.

O'Donoghue gave those admiring women an immediate gift, hopping into the front row of fans during the set's third song, letting the overjoyed women complete the lyrics of 'We Cry.' While the pit security looked a bit concerned, O'Donoghue was completely in his element, purely enjoying the fact that dozens of hands were reaching out to just touch him and that his fans knew the words to a song that has never hit the radio.

What stood out about the set was how the band mixed its popular songs with ones that were simply built for a live show.

They used their hits like 'The Man Who Can't Be Moved' - a sing-a-long hit that left O'Donoghue sitting at the base of the drummer's platform shaking his head in amazement and Sheehan claiming that the crowd's singing left his "hair standing" on his very bald head - and 'Breakeven' - the band's most popular iTunes download - to keep the crowd roaring and engaged. During these songs, you saw a muted light show behind the band, concentrating much more on the lyrics and delivery of the song. This showed a tremendous restraint that most bands cannot, or will not, show during a live gig.

That doesn't mean the band didn't have its sensory-overload moments. At times, the lighting was blinding and slightly distracting, but it fit with songs like 'Science & Faith' and 'Dead Man Walking' - the latter complete with chalk outlines on the huge screen behind the band, with each outline playing an instrument. It was quite amusing.

Two of the most impressive moments occurred without any vocals or pomp and circumstance. Before the first song, Sheehan came on the stage by himself, playing his electric guitar in front of a back-lit, white spotlight. He crawled on his knees at the outset and eventually rose to his feet, staring right into the white light while waiting for his bandmates to join him on stage. It signaled something unusual in that it didn't seem like O'Donoghue or Sheehan ever fought for attention on stage, as they seemed comfortable as a complement to each other.

Sheehan might have been outdone by drummer Glen Power, who took the stage in the first song of the encore, rapping a marching-band-like drum strapped to him on his shoulders. Power had been mostly subdued throughout the night, so seeing him take centerstage during 'This = Love' was surprising and unexpected.

And so was the whole night's performance, as the band proved that there might be a perfect Script for a great live show after all.

BPD, you're the greatest.

Thanks, Hon. We appreciate your report.

The list of 2012 tours keeps growing. If you want to see'em from backstage and meet your faves, you'd better join us today.

Radiohead 2012 Tour First Leg

Radiohead hasn't toured the US for more than 3 years, but that's about to change.

The band has mapped out the first portion of 2012's tour schedule and we've got it here first.

Here are the dates and venues. We anticipated more dates to be added later.

Feb
Mon 27 American Airlines Arena Miami, FL
Wed 29 St. Pete Times Forum Tampa, FL

Mar
Thu 1 Philips Arena Atlanta, GA
Sat 3 Toyota Center Houston, TX
Mon 5 American Airlines Center Dallas, TX
Wed 7 Frank Irwin Center Austin, TX
Fri 9 Scottrade Center St. Louis, MO
Sun 11 Sprint Center Kansas City, MO
Tue 13 1st Bank Center Broomfield, CO
Thu 15 Jobing.com Arena Glendale, AZ

Setlist: Pearl Jam

This Pearl Jam setlist comes courtesy of Janeanne21:

Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
Hail Hail
Save You
Animal
Got Some
Given To Fly
Pilate
Unthought Known
Garden
Even Flow
World Wide Suicide
Setting Forth
(Eddie Vedder song)
Corduroy
Unemployable
Present Tense
Wishlist
Glorified G
Lukin
Porch

Encore:

Bee Girl
Just Breathe
Off He Goes
Mankind
State Of Love And Trust
Olé
Alive

Encore 2

Chloe Dancer
(Mother Love Bone cover)
Crown of Thorns
(Mother Love Bone cover)
Smile
Search and Destroy
(Iggy & The Stooges cover)
Rockin' in the Free World
(Neil Young cover)
Yellow Ledbetter
(with "Little Wing")