Has Been Hit Parade

Seems like May is the beginning of festival season in Dallas. I'm pretty sure, if we wanted to, we could stand/sit in a field and eat corny dogs and funnel cake every weekend. It's gets pretty hot out though, so we pick our fests carefully. And so far this year, if you want the Smiths to sweat it out at your festival, you better be ready to entertain us!

Vince Neil (of Motley Crue) @ Wildflower Festival... Ya know how Elvis impersonators tend to pick out key Elvis traits (sideburns, rhinestones, overweight hip shake, etc) and exaggerate them to the point of ridiculousness in order to really sell ya on the idea? Well, current day Vince Neil is kinda like that. Only worse. He's the worst Vince Neil impersonator ever. First, though he only did about an hour long set, he actually had to take a 15 minute break mid-show while his band just jammed without him. And second, he is totally incomprehensble while singing. A friend warned me about this, claiming he sings that way because he can't remember the words to his own songs, but I don't think that's it. To me, he sounds like he's singing the right words, it's just he's so lazy in his innunciation, his words come out, I dunno... whiney muffled? Kind of a metal Bob Dylan. Anyway, thumbs down.

.38 Special @ Wildflower Festival... Somewhat surprisingly... no scratch that... TOTALLY surprisingly, .38 Special was very good! Really, we didn't expect to like this show as much as we did. I guess having their heyday in the 80s along side the likes of Journey & REO Speedwagon, along with carrying the "southern rock" label, kinda makes ya forget just how many hits this band had. But when they do a 90 minute set of nothing but sing-along hits, including 3-4 strung together in a medley for the sake of time, it's really ear opening. Combine that with their sound (excellent) and appearance (prolly look better now than in the 80s), and they definitely get props for being a Has Been that's still got it - good for them.

REO Speedwagon @ Liberty Fest... Good, but a bit underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, they looked and sounded good, and the setlist was pretty much the expected hits. No points off for any of that. For whatever reason though, they just didn't wow me. Maybe I was expecting more because they were so big back in the day?

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More likely though, I missed the REO connection because this turned out to be Naomi & Danielle's first concert. (no leaving em at home this time since Liberty Fest was just a stop on our route back from an out of town road trip) For her part, Naomi had a good time and spent the last two songs Ridin The Storm Out on my shoulders. Danielle, her usual go-along self, watched the first few songs before opting for people watching (away from the loud music) and fell asleep.

And the Has-Been-est Award goes to... .38 Special! REO, your greatest hits set was good too, and if we we'd have been rolling kidless, you would've been a contender for the top spot, better luck next time. Vince Neil, it's time to quit.