About 1 year ago, I drove over to Memphis and saw one of my favorite bands from my college years, Tora Tora. Here's the review of that show and below is the review of this year's reunion from this past weekend. I won't get as detailed but I'll try to hit some differences. I really hope this becomes an annual event and these guys keep doing it until it's held at an old folk's home, cause I'll still be there.So the biggest difference is that this year it was held in the Minglewood Hall instead of the on Beale Street at the New Daisy Theater. If you're not familiar with Memphis... trust me that this is great news. Minglewood Hall is a pretty big venue and it's a very nice venue as well. Well organized, clean and the sound is great. $4 a pop for a can of beer is pretty reasonable too.
A couple of local bands, Blackberry Wednesday and Chosen View, opened the show and I thought both were really good. We used the time to hit the merch booths, check out the venue, grab some brews and scout out or locations.
Finally the lights drop about 10:30 and the music of ZZ Top blasts over the loud speakers (La Grange), followed by some weird radio transmission sounding squawk... then the guys hit the stage hopped up on energy and smiling ear-to-ear. Sure, all the hair is shorter and maybe a bit thinner and just maybe there are a few more pounds here-and-there, but everybody still looks really good. All the guys have stayed in shape and a couple of them look more fit than most guys in young bands now. Ant's voice is unmistakable and unique still, although not as high as it used to be, but every bit as soulful and bluesy. And since I've already done the comparison to younger bands, Keith Douglas can still outplay just about anybody around on guitar. This guy will be ripping effortless solos in his coffin that will still blow the mourners away.
Not too much chit-chat between songs, but Anthony addresses everybody often with a quick bit about how much he loves this stuff and how great the crowd is, both of which are pretty obvious. The set list had a couple of surprises I thought, with 3 tracks from the unreleased 3rd CD, Revolution Day, and a few tracks I'm not sure about. At one point they did a short, fun cover of Elvis' "That's Alright Mama" that jammed pretty good and got a roar. Here's the song list from the set:
* Wild America
* Amnesia
* 28 Days
* Mississippi Voodoo Child
* Shattered
* Guilty
* Cold Fever
* Lay Your Money Down
* Mary Wants Some
* Nowhere To Go But Down
* Dead Man's Hand
* Me and You
* Being There
* Revolution Day
* City of Kings
* Walkin' Shoes
** Encore Break **
* Phantom Rider
* Riverside Drive
* Love's A Bitch
The crowd was great, singing along to a good majority of the songs, but I have to say I was especially blown away by Phantom Rider. Seriously, it's the loudest I've ever heard an audience sing (me included) and every word was so loud the band was almost drowned out. It was a very cool moment.
Something else cool was that a company called AcoustiSonic was selling wristband with USB drives of the show about 30 minutes after it ended. It has the full show and a bunch of pics of the band through the years. $20 was more than the price of the ticket itself, but I couldn't pass it up. I'd love to see this at more shows I go to and can just imagine how much I would have spent through the years if this was always available.
Awesome set. Awesome band. Awesome night.
Here's a few now-and-then shots for you... see if you can figure out which are current:
And a few misc. shots I took this Saturday night:
