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I'm sitting here at work after the long drive home to Boston from upstate New York, my ears still ringing from the Night Ranger show at Vernon. Looks like Craig beat me to the punch with the review, so I guess there's not much point going into great detail here, let's just say we were at the same show... Now if only I had known who he was! How many mailing list members were there? I didn't get to meet any of you. :( Anyway, the show was great! I arrived about 20 minutes before Night Ranger went on stage, and left not long after Paul Rodgers started (It was about a four-and-a-half hour drive for me, and I had to be back here at work this morning). The guys really seemed to enjoy themselves up there, except during "New York Time" when Jack was obviously having problems with his bass - he didn't seem too happy about that during the song, though he was pretty good-humored about it when the song was over and he got a new bass that didn't seem to be 100% at first either. Whatever the problem with that one was, I guess they must have fixed it pretty quickly, because when they began playing again, they still sounded great. I had to kind of wonder what the rest of the guys were thinking when they played "Coming of Age", since the crowd seemed to get into that one more than the NR songs they did before it. I think the crowd pretty much made up for it later on, though. Especially when they were playing "Sister Christian" and "Don't Tell Me You Love Me". It was really great to see Night Ranger pulling such a crowd, and to see so many people Still Rocking in America! I was standing towards the right side of the stage, right in front of Brad, not quite all the way in front, but very close. I was holding up my "Seven" CD, which seemed to get some recognition from the band. Some of the people around me were asking me about it, asking if it was any good and stuff like that, so of course I said it was great and told them to go and buy a copy! I also managed to grab two picks that Brad threw out (one metal, one plastic), and a drumstick from Kelly. I gave the plastic pick away to a girl who was also grabbing for it, since I already had the metal one and I didn't want to be greedy. I also gave up the drumstick because although I grabbed it first, someone else grabbed it too, and wouldn't let go, so I figured it wouldn't be any good to anyone if we broke it. Besides, like I said, I already had the pick, so I didn't want to be greedy. Jeff and Brad came out and signed auto- graphs for a little while afterwards, so I had them sign my "Seven Wishes" CD cover, which I took along for the occasion, and got my picture taken with Brad. They didn't really have time to stop and chat, though. I can't remember the set list off the top of my head. I know Craig got it right in his review in terms of which songs they played, but I don't think the order was exact. Anyway, one thing that did surprise me was that they haven't added "Kong" to the set, considering that's the single they're trying to push now, isn't it? In fact, when they introduced "Sign of the Times", Jack said it's off the new album that came out "a week or two ago"! More like a month or two, isn't it?! Anyway, it looks like I've gone on a little longer than I meant to! Well, what can I say? It was a great show! - Richard Jenkins |