Concerts were far and wide throughout 2019. Here’s 10 from 2019 we attended and reviewed…
John Fogerty
August 18, 2019
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts | Bethel, NY
Fifty years after he and Creedence Clearwater Revival tried to wake up half a million hippies lulled to sleep by the Grateful Dead, John Fogerty returned to the scene of the crime to celebrate the golden anniversary of Woodstock. It didn’t come easy. The singer and songwriter was on the bill for Woodstock 50 until the festival crashed and burned. “I was looking forward to seeing how it would get reworked 50 years later,” he told Rolling Stone when the event was still in motion. “It’s not every day you get to go back to a 50-year reunion.”
Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets
March 17, 2019
Wiltern Theatre | Los Angeles, CA
If you ask the average, nondescript music fan about Pink Floyd, they’ll likely say they know about The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall — their biggest sellers. They may even be aware of the band’s colorful history before they hit paydirt with Dark Side. But if you start dropping album names and song titles, they will likely lose interest and fade into the background. Tonight’s show with Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets wasn’t really meant for them anyway. It was all about the band’s early years. Anyone expecting to hear “Money” and “Another Brick In The Wall” was at the wrong concert.
The Winery Dogs
May 30, 2019
Grove of Anaheim | Anaheim, CA
Well, we don’t know “who let the dogs out” in Anaheim, but everyone there was damn glad they did! From the onset, there was a vibe in the air in anticipation of yet another outstanding performance from the Winery Dogs, the ultra-talented trio.
Michael Schenker Fest
April 17, 2019
Whisky A Go Go | Hollywood, CA
Back in the States for a second round, renowned guitarist Michael Schenker’s Michael Schenker Fest is an ambitious celebration of Michael Schenker Group (MSG), McAuley Schenker Group (also MSG), Temple of Rock, Scorpions and UFO music, with a few new songs tossed in from the Michael Schenker Fest 2018 Resurrection album. To kick the tour off for 2019, the eight-man ensemble — Schenker, singers Gary Barden, Graham Bonnet, Robin McAuley, and Doogie White, plus guitarist and keyboardist Steve Mann, bassist Chris Glen, and drummer Bodo Schopf — staged a three-night stand at the world-famous Whisky A Go Go.
The Royal Affair Tour
July 27, 2019
FivePoint Amphitheatre | Irvine, CA
Some of progressive rock’s most revered performers — Yes, Asia, John Lodge, and Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy — joined an enthusiastic crowd of their fans for the Southern California stop of The Royal Affair Tour.
Steve Hackett
October 18, 2019
Orpheum Theatre | Los Angeles, CA
You can’t count on Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, or Tony Banks to keep the Genesis name alive. It’s all fallen to Steve Hackett, the guitarist who was with the band in the 70s during their most adventurous and innovative period. Since “revisiting” Genesis music in the 90s, the guitarist has consistently mixed his own songs with classic Genesis songs in concert. Not an easy thing to do when you consider the breadth of material to draw from — six albums with Genesis and over 20 of his own.
Angel
October 4, 2019
Whisky a Go Go | Hollywood, CA
With so many bands reuniting these days, sometimes the results aren’t always pleasing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Angel are one of the few that have pulled it off extremely well. The six-piece outfit returned to the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood for a second time since founding members Punky Meadows and Frank DiMino got together. With this performance, the band donned their trademark white satin outfits, which definitely helped make them one of the more visually and exciting acts of the 1970s.
Judas Priest & Uriah Heep
June 27, 2019
Microsoft Theater | Los Angeles, CA
Judas Priest and Uriah Heep, two of England’s oldest hard rock bands, came to Los Angeles to prove that they can still kick ass.
KISS
February 12, 2019
Honda Center | Anaheim, CA
We’ve heard it all before about the fabled “farewell tour.” The fact is very few are able to part the world’s stage with total finality. The Scorpions were supposed to hang it up 10 years ago. How many times have the Who said, “good bye”? KISS fans remember when the band said “farewell” to touring in 2001? The shakeout there is that they meant to say it was the final tour of the “original” lineup. Supposedly, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons never had any intention of retiring the version of KISS without Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. And so KISS, more of a brand than a band at this point in time, continued.
