Shaw Blades In California

[styxfanNH]

SHAW/BLADES LIVE IN CALIFORNIA:
Sometime roving reporter Dan Clavadetscher has taken in another LA area show in order to file a report for me, so here goes with Dan's Shaw/Blades live report. Thanks as always Dan!

Tommy Shaw/Jack Blades - AC's Lounge, Soboba Casino, San Jacinto, California - Wednesday, April 11, 8:03 - 10:03 p.m. PT
Set List:
1. Not Fade Away (Buddy Holly cover)
2. Summer Breeze (Shaw-Blades - Influence)
3. Too Much Time on my Hands (Styx - Paradise Theater)
4. Night Goes On (Shaw-Blades - Hallucination)
5. Your Move (Shaw-Blades - Influence)
6. I Am a Rock (Shaw-Blades - Influence)
7. It Does From Here (Shaw-Blades, VH1 special)
8. High Enough (Damn Yankees - Self-titled debut)
9. Nature's Way (Jack Blades - Self-titled solo album)
10. For What It's Worth/Stop In The Name of Love (Shaw-Blades - Influence; Supremes cover)
11. Don't Tell Me You Love Me/Highway Star (Night Ranger- Dawn Patrol; Deep Purple cover)
12. Ziggy Stardust/Sweet Home Alabama (David Bowie & Lynyrd Skynyrd covers)
13. Sound of Silence (Shaw-Blades - Influence)
14. Dirty Work (Shaw-Blades - Influence)
15. Down That Highway (Shaw-Blades - Hallucination)
16. Sister Christian (Night Ranger - Dawn Patrol)
17. Carry On/Fooling Yourself/ Love the One Your With (CSNY Cover, Styx - The Grand Illusion, Steven Stills cover)
18. Coming of Age (Damn Yankees - Self-titled debut)
19. California Dreamin' (Shaw-Blades - Influence)
Encore:
20. Lucky Man/Blue Collar Man (Shaw-Blades- Influence, Styx- Grand Illusion)

Following the postponement of six shows, Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades resumed their "Influence" tour Wednesday with the first of four California stops. Part "VH1 Storytellers," career retrospective and comedy routine, the multi-faceted, interactive show at AC's Lounge in San Jacinto, Calif., served as a hometown gig for the Palm Desert, Calif., born Blades. During the two-hour set, the duo played eight of the 11 "Influence" songs, three Styx, two Night Ranger and two Damn Yankees classics, as well as portions of songs from artists ranging from The Supremes to Deep Purple.
After kicking things off with a three-minute promotional video that featured Shaw and Blades plugging tour sponsors Infinity, JBL and Harmon/Kardon, the longtime friends and additional guitarist Will Evankovich opened the set with a song not listed on the set list, "Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly. Following the second song, Blades said "it is nice to have Tommy Shaw and his voice back again."
Appearing to be fully recovered from his throat issues, Shaw took over lead vocals on "Too Much Time on My Hands" and "Night Goes On." Constantly joking with each other and the audience throughout the evening, Shaw laughed while introducing "Night Goes On" that six people probably bought the first Shaw-Blades release, "Hallucination." When an audience member held up the CD, Shaw and Blades humorously asked if they could have a burned copy.
Prior to "I Am a Rock," Shaw and Blades instructed the crowd of about 200 people about how they should sing the "Na, na, na" part of the song's chorus. Pleased with his hometown crowd's rendition, Blades turned to Shaw after the Simon and Garfunkel tune that "I told you my neck of the woods knew how to sing."
Before launching into the Damn Yankees' classic "High Enough," Shaw explained that Blades "showed up to my house with a case of dirty laundry" and started to sing parts of the song. Shaw then sat down at a piano and the pair "wrote the song 30 minutes later." After Shaw nailed the solo during the performance of "High Enough," Blades turned to his onstage partner and remarked that "Ted Nugent would be proud."
Although not known for his political stances, Blades introduced the cover of Spirit's 1970 song "Nature's Way" by saying how the tune "talks about how we are screwing up the environment. We are still doing the same thing." When he realized that he might be getting a little serious, Blades asked if he was "getting triple sincere."
Continuing to spotlight songs from "Influence," Shaw and Blades tore through Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth." Toward the end of the song, the duo launched into The Supremes "Stop in the Name of Love" as Shaw stood up and mimicked Diana Ross' dance moves to the delight of the crowd.
Filling in impressively for the twin guitar parts on Night Ranger's "Don't Tell Me You Love Me," Shaw commented to his partner how great the song is and how he sang it in his car many times. Then, the pair launched into another set of good-natured joking when Blades said he really enjoyed Shaw's outfit in the Damn Yankees "Uprising" DVD, and that Shaw was responsible for the "grunge" look. Shaw countered about how Blades had "poodle hair."
To add further insult, Blades had a crew member bring out a blown up poster of Shaw from a teen magazine 28 years earlier. The hilarious photo features Shaw in short shorts, a sleeveless t-shirt, roller skates and knee-high socks. After everyone had a laugh at Shaw's expense, the poster was hung up on stage for the remainder of the show.
In an interesting transition, Blades then began to play "Ziggy Stardust." He stopped and asked Shaw if he had ever played that back in his home state of Alabama. Shaw quipped that he would not be here today if he had. They then launched into a few verses of "Sweet Home Alabama."
Next up was "Sound of Silence." After finishing their take on the Simon and Garfunkel classic, Blades cracked up and said "we can't get through that song without screwing up the words." After Blades talked about how he smoked pot during his high school days in Indio, Shaw joked that learning the words at the time of the song's release is "directly related to how much pot we smoked back then."
After Shaw impressed yet again during a slide solo on the song "Down That Highway," he took over vocal duties on Night Ranger's biggest hit, "Sister Christian." Following the song, Blades told a humorous story about the early days of Night Ranger in which a woman approached Blades and fellow band member Keagy during a sound check in Rochester, Minn., and asked if "Sister Christian" was about "a nun who sells dope to school kids." Blades and Keagy looked at each other, shook their heads and jokingly said, "Yes, it is."
A few songs later, Blades took lead vocals on the Damn Yankees hit "Coming of Age," while Shaw attacked Nugent's solo with a miniature-looking guitar. After the song, Blades said "if Ted knew you were playing that little guitar, he would kick your ass."
Closing out the main set, Shaw and Blades invited four female audience members who had already been seated on an on-stage couch to serve as background singers for "California Dreamin." Earlier in the show, other audience members were brought on stage to sit and enjoy the music.
When the duo returned to the stage, Blades and Shaw played the first verse of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, "Lucky Man." Prodded by Blades, Shaw then told a lengthy, but hilarious story behind the history of Styx's "Blue Collar Man."
Shaw explained that at the end of an early Styx tour, the band members rented a fishing boat in Hawaii and smoked Kona Buds rolled by a taxi driver on the way to the dock. Completely stoned at the time, Shaw recalled that he couldn't get the sound of a motor out of his head. That became the key guitar part for "Blue Collar Man." The pair then closed out the evening with a spirited version of the song. Toward the end of the tune, Shaw stepped out away from the mike and sang the chorus along with the crowd.
Listed on the set list as an encore selection, but not performed was Shaw's "Girls with Guns." The set list also included alternate selections that the pair did not play, including Styx's "Crystal Ball," The Beatles "Norwegian Wood," the Damn Yankees "Come Again," Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home," and "Rocky Raccoon." As the set list has changed throughout the tour, time will tell whether these and other songs will be added into the set.