Setlist: Elton John

Member Tilde sent this to us from a recent Elton John show; she promises a full review to follow :

Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding

Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

Levon

Madman Across the Water

Tiny Dancer

Philadelphia Freedom

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Daniel

Rocket Man

I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues

Hey Ahab

The Best Part of the Day

Gone to Shiloh

Monkey Suit

When Love is Dying

Sad Songs (Say So Much)

Take Me to the Pilot

Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

Candle in the Wind

Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me

Bennie and the Jets

The Bitch is Back

Crocodile Rock

Encore:

Your Song

Member Review: John Prine

Member 90210 wrote:

John Prine has a story he likes to tell about the time he thought he had finished recording a new album, only to find that the record producer wanted him to write one more song for the disc.
“I thought, ‘I’ll show him – I’ll write the worst thing he’s ever heard,’” the 62-year-old singer-songwriter remembered during his concert on Saturday night at the Warfield.
The fact that the resulting effort was “Fish and Whistle,” an unbearably catchy country-flavored tune that has since become a true fan favorite, only confirms my longstanding suspicion: Prine simply can’t write a bad song.
Oh, but he sure can pen some great ones, and that’s all that fans heard during the folk-rock star’s 24-song, two-hour set.
Prine’s tunes come in three distinct flavors: funny, sad and sad but funny. It’s hard to think of another singer-songwriter on the planet that handles both heartbreak and humor as convincingly as this former mailman from Maywood, Illinois.

Whenever there is talk about the greatest singer/songwriters in rock history, the usual suspects are always named: Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Smokey Robinson, etc. Any such discussion, however, is incomplete without the mention of John Prine.
During his performance, Prine, now almost 62, gave the capacity crowd 23 excellent reasons for why he should be ranked among popular music's all-time great wordsmiths. Kicking off the show with the sing-along favorite "Spanish Pipedream," Prine proceeded to mix humor and sorrow, joy and frustration, as naturally in his songs as they blend in real life. That ability is the No. 1 thing that separates Prine from most other folk-rockers. There's not another guy (or gal) on the planet, with or without a guitar in hand, that can take a listener from being teary-eyed one moment to giggling the next as quickly, and as convincingly, as John Prine.

Play List

1. Spanish Pipedream
2. Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)
3. Souvenirs
4. Far From Me
5. Please Don't Bury Me
6. Fish and Whistle (great story about how he wrote that song)
7. Glory of True Love
8. Crazy as a Loon
9. Angel from Montgomery
10. Long Monday
11. Donald and Lydia
12. Bottomless Lake
13. Mexican Home
14. Dear Abby
15. Sam Stone
16. Bear Creek
17. That's Alright By Me
18. She Is My Everything
19. Ain't Hurtin' Nobody
20. Hello in There
21. Lake Marie
22. People Putting People Down

encore
23. Paradise.

Hopefully I got all the titles right because Bottomless Lake and That's Alright by Me were new to me. We spent about 10 minutes talking backstage and he told a few great stories of days gone by. He jokingly told me “I don’t know why, in my early songs, I always killed off the main character................There goes the sequel.”

Thanks to BackstagePassDirect for comin' thru for me.

Yes, we do deliver, and we ain't talking pizza here. If you're still not a member, join today.

Member Review: The Meat Puppets

BPD member "DoubleDown" wrote to us recently:

The Meat Puppets are a band that changed my entire way of approaching music when I was introduced to their music by a friend in 1986. The Meat Puppets taught me that you don’t have to be perfect to be great and that having a personal style was more important than being the fastest guitar player on the planet.

When we shook hands, I was struck at how Cris Kirkwood has aged. Life has not been kind to him as he’s been shot, lost his wife to a drug overdose and spent time in prison. It showed on his face and he looks much older than his brother Curt now. That being said, when he went outfront, he absolutely nailed his bass and singing parts. He has a fantastic touch on the bass guitar and it’s a testament to what a player can do with just a simple bass guitar and an amplifier to watch him play. He made that bass come alive with his playing and his playing is the perfect compliment to Curt Kirkwood’s guitar playing. Cris and Curt are brothers and their voices are very similar when they sing. Because of that the harmonies have a silky quality that is a real pleasure to listen to.

Ted Marcus, the new drummer, did a great job of keeping the beat going for Cris and Curt to work their magic. Ted played his butt off all night long and by the end of the night his shirt was drenched from the effort. He really knew how the drums fit in the Meat Puppets music and he is a great fit for them.

The show was really a thing of beauty. The Meat Puppets work together as a perfect team and it’s awesome to watch the interplay between them from backstage. Watching Curt ask the others what they wanted to play and watching how the used eye contact with each other to go from song to song was really entertaining. The show ebbed and flowed with moments of brilliance and plenty of improvised jamming as well. They played all their biggest hits and the crowd loved every minute of it. The Meat Puppets are proof that some bands are just plain better live than they are on a recording. If you get a chance to see them when they come to your town, go to BackstagePassDirect and get yourself some passes.

They are truly a great band to see play live and they're even more awesome from the back.

Member Review: Metallica

JGrunge wrote to us:

I remember the day that I read about the Metallica passes on your blog. I went nuts. Two months later, there I am backstage and out of my mind.

The show opens with “Broken, Beat & Scarred.” Hetfield screams “This song is about you, and it’s about Metallica”.

“Show your scars,” .......................everyone is up and yelling “We die hard!"

The Mighty Met flowed seamlessly from Death Magnetic’s “The End of the Line” to Kill ‘Em All’s “The Four Horsemen” and played for a solid two hours without a break before a three-song encore. And when it seemed like they couldn’t possibly top the power of “The Day That Never Comes,” Hetfield rose from his knees slowly and smashed into the opening chords of “Master of Puppets,” the first part of a brutal two-front aural assault that featured “Battery” at the back end.

The setlist was heavy on material from Death Magnetic — six out of the ten total tracks from the album were played, and each one of them went over better than the previous one. It was obvious the boys took great pride in playing the new album. Alot of St. Anger and Load and Reload was AWOL, surely by design.

Hetfield's guitar was as crisp and devastating as ever, and Kirk Hammet’s notoriously sloppy soloing was unusually tight. Rob Trujillo’s thundering low-end bass and Lars Ulrich’s righteous double-bass drums drove the signature groove that sets Metallica apart from the overblown metal acts that have tried so hard to follow in their footsteps. The boys called up the house lights and turned the focus to the raucous crowd for a revelatory rendition of “Seek and Destroy” to finish the show. Black beach balls emblazoned with the iconic “MetallicA” logo rained from the ceiling as the veterans revived their thrash glory days. Two and a half hours later, their sound still echoed. Louder, faster, and harder than ever.

Do they belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Dumb question!

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Members Review: Billy Joel

BPD members "Ralphie and Alice" wrote:

Billy Joel and his eight-man band showed up in full force. The 59-year-old didn’t show his age for a moment during the lively 22-song concert, which started with “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway),” followed by “The Entertainer.”

He sprinkled in some light banter and a few anecdotes here and there, but the night was all about high-energy, up-tempo hits like “Keeping the Faith,” “Movin' Out (Anthony's Song),” “The River of Dreams,” “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and “Only the Good Die Young.” He also threw in a couple more obscure songs for good measure: “Zanzibar” and “Stiletto” (“We haven’t done this in a while, but, if we screw up, at least we’ll have a bond,” BJ said). While gyrating across the stage, twirling the mic stand and throwing it in the air, it was pretty obvious that this entertainer loves his job more than ever.

Thanks to his rotating piano, BJ never had his back to one half of the crowd for too long. And, although he was always center stage, BJ generously shared the spotlight with band members for solos, like saxophonist Mark Rivera; flugelhornist Carl Fisher; and even a roadie named Chainsaw who sang AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.”

He wrapped up the show with perhaps his greatest hit of all, “Piano Man,” which turned the 5,500-seat arena into an intimate piano bar, with strangers swaying in unison, cell phones and lighters glowing in the darkness and everyone singing along. BJ didn’t contribute at all to the last chorus—and the audience compensated well.

He exited with this reminder to the audience before leaving the stage. “Don’t take any shit from anybody.” You said it, Billy!

Backstage, we were allowed to watch the final soundcheck and then were introduced, one by one, to the band. Finally, BJ himself appeared and graciously shot the shit with us for about 15 minutes. He was friendly and easy to be around, not like some other jerks we've had the "pleasure" to meet in the past.

This was not the first time that we've seen a show from the back, but it's always something very special.

Great job, BPD; you've delivered the goods.

Join BackstagePassDirect today and experience what so many other satisfied members like Ralphie and Alice experience.

Cheech and Chong Light Up America - Member Review

This just in from BPD member BackFromIraq:

Cheech and Chong were un-effing-believable.

Shelby Chong opened the show. She was damn funny and got things started nicely with her sex, drugs and Cheech and Chong jokes.

Cheech wanders across the stage looking trim and healthy and we're off into Up In Smoke. The Led Zeppelin joint, now updated with some ky jelly is a CLASSIC!! From there we're off into Mexican in Space, Let's Make A Dope Deal, Bob and Margaret, Blind Melon, Red and Earache My eye with Alice Bowie, Ralph and Herbie, Old Man In The Park and the great sing-along of Born In East LA with a little Beaners mixed in and the finale of the Up In Smoke theme song.

Periodic smiles from Cheech Marin, as he quickly and seamlessly regressed back into each of his classic characters, melted the crowd's collective heart. Cheech literally had us crying with laughter throughout the show. He is a deeply important modern media figure for my wife's Latino community. One can only imagine what will take place between him and his increasing Latino audience particularly in certain other venues. Cheech masterfully cements a sheer connection with his audience and there is an electricity that forms quickly between him and those who watch his performances.

Tommy Chong was golden in every sense of the word. His sincerity, his unbridled authenticity and his strong and refreshing sense of social critical purpose, provoked tender and at times, socially angry emotions in the audience, which he masterfully channeled for them into deep belly laughs. What a powerful formula Tommy, linking the lightly psychedelic and profound emotional attachment of the audiences' collective memory of Cheech and Chong, with a gentle expanding of their social and political consciousness.

From backstage, it was easy to see that everyone was having a good time. Do I have to say how great it was to meet them?

There's a lot of water under the bridges of those two, yet there were times when the chemistry between Cheech and Chong seemed as strong as ever.

The tour schedule for early 2009 shapes up like this:

1/2/2009 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
1/3/2009 Verona, NY Turning Stone Casino Event Center
1/3/2009 Verona, NY Turning Stone Resort & Casino
1/8/2009 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
1/9/2009 Dallas, TX Majestic Theatre
1/15/2009 Mescalero, NM Inn Of The Mountain Gods
1/16/2009 Omaha, NE Omaha Civic Music Hall
1/17/2009 Kansas City, MO Kansas City Music Hall
1/18/2009 Saint Louis, MO The Pageant
1/23/2009 Grand Ronde, OR Spirit Mountain Casino
1/24/2009 Spokane, WA INB Performing Arts Center
1/25/2009 Sacramento, CA Memorial Auditorium
1/29/2009 Cincinnati, OH Taft Theatre
1/30/2009 Cleveland, OH PlayhouseSquare
1/31/2009 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall
2/5/2009 Elizabeth, IN Horseshoe Southern Indiana
2/6/2009 Bossier City, LA Horseshoe Casino & Hotel / Riverdome
2/7/2009 Tunica, MS Horseshoe Casino
2/20/2009 Milwaukee, WI Potawatomi Bingo Casino
2/21/2009 Columbus, OH Palace Theatre
2/22/2009 Green Bay, WI Oneida Bingo & Casino
2/26/2009 Lemoore, CA Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino
2/27/2009 Shelton, WA Little Creek Casino
2/28/2009 Santa Rosa, CA Wells Fargo Center For The Arts
3/6/2009 Pittsburgh, PA Benedum Center
3/7/2009 Reading, PA Sovereign Perf. Arts Center

This is history in the making and you could see it all from backstage. For complete info, visit BackstagePass Direct.

Celine Dion: Still at it

Back in April, we wrote that Celine was touring like crazy. Well, that hasn't changed.

Experience Celine's exceptional talent like never before. See her on tour supporting her Greatest Hits double disc, 'My Love: Ultimate Essential Collection'. Featuring a new version of "My Love", this collection also unveils a brand new song entitled, "There Comes A Time".

So many of these tracks from the album are featured on the tour:

Disc 1

1. Where Does My Heart Beat Now
2. Beauty And The Beast (Duet with Peabo Bryson)
3. If You Asked Me To
4. Love Can Move Mountains
5. My Love (Live Version)
6. The Power Of Love
7. (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman
8. Because You Loved Me (Theme from ‘Up Close and Personal’)
9. The Power Of The Dream (As performed at the Opening Ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games)
10. It's All Coming Back To Me Now
11. All By Myself
12. Pour que tu m'aimes encore
13. Tell Him (Duet with Barbra Streisand)

Disc 2

1. My Heart Will Go On (Love theme from ‘Titanic’)
2. To Love You More
3. River Deep, Mountain High
4. I'm Your Angel (Duet with R Kelly)
5. The Prayer (Duet with Andrea Bocelli)
6. That's The Way It Is
7. A New Day Has Come
8. I'm Alive
9. I Drove All Night
10. Taking Chances
11. There Comes A Time
12. Dance With My Father
13. I Knew I Loved You

Concerts in early '09 include:

1/5/2009 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
1/7/2009 San Antonio, TX AT&T Center
1/9/2009 Houston, TX Toyota Center
1/10/2009 New Orleans, LA New Orleans Arena
1/13/2009 Nashville, TN Sommet Center
1/15/2009 Birmingham, AL BJCC Arena
1/17/2009 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
1/20/2009 Raleigh, NC RBC Center
1/23/2009 Miami, FL AmericanAirlines Arena
1/28/2009 Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
1/30/2009 Sunrise, FL BankAtlantic Center
2/2/2009 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
2/4/2009 Saint Louis, MO Scottrade Center
2/5/2009 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
2/20/2009 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion At San Jose
2/22/2009 Salt Lake City, UT EnergySolutions Arena
2/24/2009 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
2/26/2009 Omaha, NE Qwest Center Omaha


Fans just can't get enough of Celine Dion. See her show from backstage and you'll know why.

Backstagepassdirect.com has all the information.

Member Review: Jack Johnson

BPD member Stella Rose wrote:

Everything that you see about Jack Johnson when he is onstage is the same in the back. When I was introduced to him, he greeted me warmly and sat with me asking questions about myself and the music that I liked. Then, he took me around and introduced me to his crew. I couldn't believe that all of this was going on when he was due onstage in fifteen minutes. Talk about laid back!

Johnson opened with “Do You Remember” from In Between Dreams, and, like the clapping crowd, remained upbeat through the entire night. One thing about Jack Johnson: he could be singing an upbeat melody or a slow, heart felt love song, and he always looks and sounds the same - standing there in the middle of the stage with a guitar (or a ukulele, which he used for “Breakdown”) slightly swaying and smiling. On stage he sounds just as good as when he’s in the studio, which makes for a more than pleasant listening experience, even if the tempo never seems to change. Even his latest album, Sleep Through the Static, which a lot of the night’s set list was from, has alot of similarities to his first album, Brushfire Fairytales.

Jack frequently digressed about some of his environmental causes, or simply applauded the fact that the stage was littered with clothes thrown up from the front rows (“We appreciate the nakedness and the clothes'). The highlight of the show was when pianist Zach Gill joined Jack on stage to play that end of the night, sing along, Bob Dylan/Band classic, “I Shall be Released.”

For his encore he came back with Gill and finished properly, unleashing his two love songs that have now become staples at every wedding: “Angel”, from Sleep Through the Static, and “Better Together”, from In Between Dreams. Oddly enough he also squeezed in a song about loving Jesus that sounded like it came directly from Bible camp. If it was anybody else but Jack I’d have to accuse them of trying to brainwash the audience, but given the fact that he donates one percent of all his revenue to charity and the concert was used as a platform to raise money for and awareness of environmental causes, you can only love the guy for being so positive.

And just so I don't forget, props to BackstagePassDirect for making this all happen for me. I will never forget it.

Join BackstagePassDirect today and experience what so many other satisfied members like Stella Rose experience.

Member Review: David Byrne

Member "Big Bob" Dancer wrote us:

.............................It's a little crazy for David Byrne to conduct a "Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour" without Brian Eno, but that didn't stop the maestro.

IMHO, Byrne's periodic sessions with Eno have resulted in many of his finest moments, from the pair's prophetic 1981 collaboration, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, to, most notably, the trilogy of 1978-1980 Eno-produced masterpieces by Talking Heads, a run of albums that evolved the band's nervous new wave into muscular, worldly funk.

Though the impetus of the tour is Byrne and Eno's cordial new record, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (hear it at http://www.everythingthathappens.com/index.html), David offered up one hell of a set list. Too, it wasn't surprising that it was the Talking Heads standards that most fired up the crowd.

After a energetic and prolonged standing ovation for an early performance of "Houses in Motion," the audience remained on its feet, migrating toward the aisles where designated dancing spaces had been set up. Silver and wiry, but otherwise showing few signs of his 56 years, Byrne did his share of dancing, too, assisted not only by his three backup singers but also by a trio of pretty young dancers. The trio's golly-gee choreography could have been ripped straight from the High School Musical playbook (save, perhaps, for a bizarre accompaniment that turned "My Big Hands" from Byrne's 1981 solo suite The Catherine Wheel into a sort of balletic re-imagination of the "Thriller" zombie dance). The dancers added undeniable momentum to Byrne's already hard-driving show.

Everything That Happens is perhaps his most wide-eyed album yet, and it's therefore only fitting that he should promote it with such a open and upbeat tour.

There were 3 encores:

Encore #1:
“Take Me to the River”
“The Great Curve”

Encore #2:
“Air”
“Burning Down the House”

Encore #3:
“Everything that Happens will Happen Today”

What can I say about being backstage? It was my first time ever, and it was totally mind-blowing. First off, meeting Byrne was a dream come true. He was cordial and friendly and endured my gawking at him like a love-struck schoolgirl.

To see everything that really goes in to putting a show like this together gave me a brand new appreciation for live performance as a genre. Man, there are a lot of people back there working their asses off.

Thank you BPD for making this happen.

Join BackstagePassDirect today and experience what so many other satisfied members like "Big Bob" experience.

Member review: Kanye West Glows in the Dark

Member Robin Ashley wrote us:

"..........When Kanye hit the stage, colorful rays lit the stage & sparkled the arena to announce the arrival of arguably the best performer in the business who transcends race & blurs the line of the genre, hip-hop, with his innovative beats & thought provoking lyrics.

His thousands of fans roared with applause as they stood to their feet and remained standing as Kanye blasted through his hits with such intensity that you could feel his fire emanating from the stage & fueling the crowd.

Using a slanted stage, which at times appeared to look like the moon, and whirling clouds and swirling galaxies emblazoned on screens both big & small, the fans were mesmerized. It felt as if you were transported to another world with Kanye at the helm of the trip through space and time.

What a great ride it was! Accompanied by a live band below the stage, Kanye rapped for an hour straight, giving the crowd such hits as "Jesus Walks" and "Good Life." Only slowing down to pay respect to his recently deceased mother with "Hey Mama," which brought tears to many fans' eyes. But he came back as only Kanye can and left everyone begging for more as they held up their hands to form a triangle representing the "Roc" and honoring his taking everyone on an amazing journey.

From backstage, the experience was totally awesome. Aside from meeting Kanye and getting to spend a few minutes with him, seeing the performance from the back was a once in a lifetime experience. You get to see so much more of what goes into making a show work.

In a word, WOW! Thank you, thank you, thank you Backstage Pass Direct."

Join BackstagePassDirect today and experience what so many other satisfied members like Robin experience.

Experience Buying Backstage Passes for Pat Benatar. Review of the concert from backstage.

I've seen Pat 20 times. The last show (last year) I was able to enjoy backstage, if not the best, is definitely at the top of the list. She looked amazing wearing all black.

At 7:50 she came on stage singing All Fired Up. I was worried at first because her voice was being lost through the music, but it must have been a mechanical problem that was cleared up right away. By the second song, Shadows of the Night her voice became as clear as possible and it was a perfect mix of band and vocal. At this point Pat told the crowd that they just started their first week of the tour and that we would hear a bunch of the old songs with a few they haven't played in a while. She then broke into I Need a Lover which sounded excellent.

It became a blur of excitement so I forget the order of the banter between Neil and Pat but Neil also played his own drum kit and keyboards. There was Mick on bass and a drummer, Chris (?). Neil said after one song that he had the the wrong tune but nobody knew and Pat said that we wouldn't care anyway. They were enjoying themselves with Pat playing air guitar and really getting into it. At one point I watched Pat look at Neil as he played Shadows and I realized that she has probably
watched him do that thousands of times but you would never know. The whole set was so fresh.

Pat sang an acoustic We Live For Love which Neil gave the backstory to (amazing vocals) and also acoustic We Belong where Neil asked everyone to light up their cell phones and sway, it looked like the 80s with lighters. Pat introduced Hit Me with the usual talk BUT also said that without this song she would probably not be up here tonight, which really was cool. She mentioned the L.A. riots for Disconnected and at one point nearly tripped on tape on the stage. Again, this was probably my 20th time seeing Pat, but the first time from backstage and I was COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY!

I'm so glad that I was able to buy backstage passes for Pat Benatar

I scored the set list so here it is:

* All Fired Up
* Shadows of the Night
* I Need a Lover
* Invincible
* River of Love
* Tradin' Down
* True Love
* We Live for Love
* We Belong
* Let's Stay Together
* Disconnected
* Hit Me with your Best Shot
* Hell is for Children
* Heartbreaker
* Encore:
* Promises in the Dark
* Love is a Battlefield (which killed!)

She's coming to the Count Basie Theatre in April; don't miss her.
Backstage is like nothing else you've ever experienced! Join Backstage Pass Direct for a change to buy backstage passes for this show.