July 1 Ribfest

[Jamocha Joe]

Drats, I tried writing everything I saw last night, but I'm running out of time. I've got to go. I just wanted to throw this out there and hopefully I'll get the whole rant on later.

First off, show was good. Lasted an hour and a half, all the hits. Dave forgot the words to Runnin with the Devil bad, but no one minded. He was very tame. Personable and having a good time, but no jumps other than a few spinning jump kicks. His voice was dead on. Sounds just like the Dave we want to hear, if you know what I mean. Screams, range, pitch....check, check, and check. If you see him you won't be disappointed.

OK, now here's an interesting thing. My wife is incredibly perceptive and at some point of the show, she says, "He's limping really bad." I haven't noticed it, but she always picks up on things long before I do (or before anybody else for that matter). So i start watching a little closer, and she was right. The guy is in some serious discomfort. I'm sure that explains the lack of jumps.

[Rebel Yell5]

I was at Ribfest. Dave was injured beforehand somehow. He walked out of his limo and was limping badly. He was still stellar. I was upfront and the show was stellar.

[WOAHYEAH]

Read his book.
First few lines.

"I'm always in pain"

:D

[Redballjets88]

probably tweaked his knee injury

[Matt White]

THE FUCKING MAN!!!

[Jamocha Joe]

This rant is ridiculously long, so if you don’t want to read it all, scroll down to the end where I put a summary of the key points. No boot and no photos. Sorry.

Where to begin? Not really a review of the show, but one person's perspective. First of all, the folks in Naperville have this fest organized really well. Off site parking, no wait shuttle to the grounds, 5-10 minutes in line for tickets ($7.00 general admission gets you into the grounds, nothing additional for the concerts) and then a short walk to the main stage. I can't figure out the map so I follow the flow of people that kind of seem to be heading in the same direction. Oh, there's the main stage. Check the time, 7:51 PM, show starts at 8:00. Good timing so far. Walk around some food stands....WHOA! LOOK AT ALL THE PEOPLE HERE TONIGHT! Plenty of room for the crowd, so I can't say the place was packed, but I guarantee there are more people before me then Van Hagar played at 90% of their concerts last year. I'm bad at guessing crowd sizes, but I'll saw there were about 500,000 in attendance. Maybe not, but I would say 10,000 would be a conservative guesstimate. Probably more. Anyway, I make my way to the stage easily enough to check out some guitar booth they have set up, and then drift back through the crowd like I'm giving up some prime spot I've staked out all day. It's standing room only unless you've brought some lawn chairs, so I can't tell you how many rows back I ended. Probably about 50 feet from the stage, and about dead center. Check the watch, 7:57. Why the attention to time? Because the show started at 8:00 on the dot. I've never seen that happen. Sooooo

The band walks onstage, at precisely 8:00 PM mind you, and starts playing. Sound seems good to me, but I'm in a prime sound spot. It does seem a little quiet and I have to wonder in the folks in back can hear anything. They had a second set of speakers about midway back, but I don't know how the sound was back there. Anyway, I forget about the plight of the soundless because at this moment, out walks no one other then DLR. White jacket, white pants, black stripe down the sides, sunglasses, huge grin. Two mid to late 30's women chair dancing next to me have orgasms on the spot. I don't think I'm kidding either. Set list you ask? I didn’t bring a pencil, but the best I can remember, in no particular order

Hot for Teacher
Ain’t Talkin Bout Love
Panama
Just Like Paradise
Runnin with the Devil
And the Cradle Will Rock
Eruption/You Really Got Me
Just a Gigalo
California Girls
Mean Streets
Somebody Get Me a Doctor
Jamie’s Cryin
Ice Cream Man
Unchained
Dance the Night Away
Beautiful Girls
Jump (encore of course)

I think that was all the songs. Best reaction from the crowd (in my section) was the start of You Really Got Me. I though that song had been played to death over the past 27 years, but I seem to be alone thinking that. Most screwed up lyrics, Runnin With the Devil. No one really cared though and the crowd picked up the slack on the chorus. Best intro to a song, Panama. Dave was freestyling a little bit with the band playing some blues. After a few lines, he said, “Hold on. I can’t think of anything that rhymes with Panama.” Band immediately torches into Panama. Most excellect. As an aside, I had on VH1 Classic earlier in the day, and what was on? Hall and Oates. Just kidding Panamaniacs, it was the aforementioned song that sounded just as good without the VH back up band.

Dave only made one remark about Sammy, something about him not being there to defend himself, and one comment about the brothers, and that was as an introduction to a song. He said, You’re referring to the Van Halen brothers. I met them in 1972 when this song was on the radio.” Or something to that effect. The band played a musical number from Jeff Beck and Dave took a break.

Dave was real subdued and I already mentioned his limp in a previous post. The show was tame and clean by DLR standards. No swearing, very little suggestive dancing, probably a PG rating. Fine by me and absolutely no one seemed disappointed. Like I said, crowd was big, but super polite. No fights near me, everyone was happy and having a good time. Lots of I’m sorry’s and excuse me’s to be heard. Even a freaky guy near me who looked way too young to be a DLR fan, and nothing like a VH fan, apologized to me for being overly energetic. Not a problem, because compared to the thirty and fortysomethings on the other side of me who were completely out of control, he was practically an introvert. There were a couple girls on the stage off to the side that Dave spent some time being admired by. Sometime early in the show, probably after the third or fourth song, he checked them out and asked the crowd if it was too early for a booty call. He also mentioned that a girl in the front was there on her 21st birthday. She was there with mom, so of course Dave had to ask Mom if he had sex with him because her daughter “looks real familiar.” (Big laugh)

Show ends to thunderous applause. Wait, Dave doesn’t look like he wants to leave. We don’t want him to leave. Don’t leave Dave. He isn’t leaving. The band is back. They’re playing Jump. We’re all jumping. My wife is in heaven. She tells me she never wanted Dave. She lies to me like that all the time, and I pretend to believe her. That’s why we have a good marriage. The song ends. We still don’t want Dave to go. Dave takes his bows, shakes each member of his band’s hand (looking genuinely grateful) and then thanks the crowd (again looking genuinely grateful and a little overwhelmed to be honest). He leaves at 9:30, the exact same time the beer tents close. No coincidence I’m sure, this place is organized well. I grab some ribs (it’s called Ribfest for a reason) and chow down. The only semi-negative comment I hear is from a guy in the food tent that thought Dave had trouble hitting the high notes. He didn’t by the way. And the guy wondered if Dave had a cold.

10:15 and the place is a virtual ghost town. I jump on the shuttle, listen to some guy on a cell phone as he says, “Where are you guys, I got on the wrong bus, that concert was awesome, you’ve got to hand it to him (Dave), after all these years he’s still out there rockin.” We’re on a school bus, so what else could I say but, “SIT DOWN WALDO.” Back to the car, back home, and back to the grind.

And all that for seven bucks apiece (plus $28 for food).


In summary

Ribfest good
Big crowd
Show starts at 8
Dave vocally sounds spectacular. Screams, range, everything.
Dave’s band, good, not great. Nowhere near VH back in their day, but way better than VH today.
Dave limping
Dave still rocks to all the classics
Good show
Great time
Gotta go
Amen

[Sarge's Little Helper]

This rant is ridiculously long, so if you don’t want to read it all, scroll down to the end where I put a summary of the key points. No boot and no photos. Sorry.

Where to begin? Not really a review of the show, but one person's perspective. First of all, the folks in Naperville have this fest organized really well. Off site parking, no wait shuttle to the grounds, 5-10 minutes in line for tickets ($7.00 general admission gets you into the grounds, nothing additional for the concerts) and then a short walk to the main stage. I can't figure out the map so I follow the flow of people that kind of seem to be heading in the same direction. Oh, there's the main stage. Check the time, 7:51 PM, show starts at 8:00. Good timing so far. Walk around some food stands....WHOA! LOOK AT ALL THE PEOPLE HERE TONIGHT! Plenty of room for the crowd, so I can't say the place was packed, but I guarantee there are more people before me then Van Hagar played at 90% of their concerts last year. I'm bad at guessing crowd sizes, but I'll saw there were about 500,000 in attendance. Maybe not, but I would say 10,000 would be a conservative guesstimate. Probably more. Anyway, I make my way to the stage easily enough to check out some guitar booth they have set up, and then drift back through the crowd like I'm giving up some prime spot I've staked out all day. It's standing room only unless you've brought some lawn chairs, so I can't tell you how many rows back I ended. Probably about 50 feet from the stage, and about dead center. Check the watch, 7:57. Why the attention to time? Because the show started at 8:00 on the dot. I've never seen that happen. Sooooo

The band walks onstage, at precisely 8:00 PM mind you, and starts playing. Sound seems good to me, but I'm in a prime sound spot. It does seem a little quiet and I have to wonder in the folks in back can hear anything. They had a second set of speakers about midway back, but I don't know how the sound was back there. Anyway, I forget about the plight of the soundless because at this moment, out walks no one other then DLR. White jacket, white pants, black stripe down the sides, sunglasses, huge grin. Two mid to late 30's women chair dancing next to me have orgasms on the spot. I don't think I'm kidding either. Set list you ask? I didn’t bring a pencil, but the best I can remember, in no particular order

Hot for Teacher
Ain’t Talkin Bout Love
Panama
Just Like Paradise
Runnin with the Devil
And the Cradle Will Rock
Eruption/You Really Got Me
Just a Gigalo
California Girls
Mean Streets
Somebody Get Me a Doctor
Jamie’s Cryin
Ice Cream Man
Unchained
Dance the Night Away
Beautiful Girls
Jump (encore of course)

I think that was all the songs. Best reaction from the crowd (in my section) was the start of You Really Got Me. I though that song had been played to death over the past 27 years, but I seem to be alone thinking that. Most screwed up lyrics, Runnin With the Devil. No one really cared though and the crowd picked up the slack on the chorus. Best intro to a song, Panama. Dave was freestyling a little bit with the band playing some blues. After a few lines, he said, “Hold on. I can’t think of anything that rhymes with Panama.” Band immediately torches into Panama. Most excellect. As an aside, I had on VH1 Classic earlier in the day, and what was on? Hall and Oates. Just kidding Panamaniacs, it was the aforementioned song that sounded just as good without the VH back up band.

Dave only made one remark about Sammy, something about him not being there to defend himself, and one comment about the brothers, and that was as an introduction to a song. He said, You’re referring to the Van Halen brothers. I met them in 1972 when this song was on the radio.” Or something to that effect. The band played a musical number from Jeff Beck and Dave took a break.

Dave was real subdued and I already mentioned his limp in a previous post. The show was tame and clean by DLR standards. No swearing, very little suggestive dancing, probably a PG rating. Fine by me and absolutely no one seemed disappointed. Like I said, crowd was big, but super polite. No fights near me, everyone was happy and having a good time. Lots of I’m sorry’s and excuse me’s to be heard. Even a freaky guy near me who looked way too young to be a DLR fan, and nothing like a VH fan, apologized to me for being overly energetic. Not a problem, because compared to the thirty and fortysomethings on the other side of me who were completely out of control, he was practically an introvert. There were a couple girls on the stage off to the side that Dave spent some time being admired by. Sometime early in the show, probably after the third or fourth song, he checked them out and asked the crowd if it was too early for a booty call. He also mentioned that a girl in the front was there on her 21st birthday. She was there with mom, so of course Dave had to ask Mom if he had sex with him because her daughter “looks real familiar.” (Big laugh)

Show ends to thunderous applause. Wait, Dave doesn’t look like he wants to leave. We don’t want him to leave. Don’t leave Dave. He isn’t leaving. The band is back. They’re playing Jump. We’re all jumping. My wife is in heaven. She tells me she never wanted Dave. She lies to me like that all the time, and I pretend to believe her. That’s why we have a good marriage. The song ends. We still don’t want Dave to go. Dave takes his bows, shakes each member of his band’s hand (looking genuinely grateful) and then thanks the crowd (again looking genuinely grateful and a little overwhelmed to be honest). He leaves at 9:30, the exact same time the beer tents close. No coincidence I’m sure, this place is organized well. I grab some ribs (it’s called Ribfest for a reason) and chow down. The only semi-negative comment I hear is from a guy in the food tent that thought Dave had trouble hitting the high notes. He didn’t by the way. And the guy wondered if Dave had a cold.

10:15 and the place is a virtual ghost town. I jump on the shuttle, listen to some guy on a cell phone as he says, “Where are you guys, I got on the wrong bus, that concert was awesome, you’ve got to hand it to him (Dave), after all these years he’s still out there rockin.” We’re on a school bus, so what else could I say but, “SIT DOWN WALDO.” Back to the car, back home, and back to the grind.

And all that for seven bucks apiece (plus $28 for food).


In summary

Ribfest good
Big crowd
Show starts at 8
Dave vocally sounds spectacular. Screams, range, everything.
Dave’s band, good, not great. Nowhere near VH back in their day, but way better than VH today.
Dave limping
Dave still rocks to all the classics
Good show
Great time
Gotta go
Amen

Oops. I wasn't paying attention. Tell me again what is going on.

[Jamocha Joe]

WOW! Sarge's little helper, you are quick, or else that respose is programmed in for long posts somehow. You had that reply less then one minute after I posted.

[cstomp]

DLR's show at Ribfest Friday night was outstanding - one of the best times my wife and I have had at any show. We live in Naperville, IL site of Ribfest, and this is NOT some small hokey fest. This is probably one of the biggest fests in the country. They always feature a number of big national acts each year. In recent years, we've seen Foreigner, .38 Special, Cheap Trick, Survivor, Lynyrd Skynyrd (last year). Besides Diamond Dave, this year's line-up also featured Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Blue Oyster Cult, and Ted Nugent tonight. A record crowd turned out for Skynyrd last year (something like 50,000). I would say the show with Dave wasn't too far off that.

Ribfest has really brought things into the big-time in recent years adding an excellent big screen to the side of the stage for those in the back. They also use a camera on a crane that adds awesome shots as it moves over the stage.

As for the show, we were tremendously impressed with the band and Dave, of course. Great song selection, Dave did a great job with vocals, and as usual, he exuded a special kind of cool on stage. I didn't notice the limp people have mentioned. Besides a few spinning kicks, he also did a cool martial arts-like spinning of his mike stand during the keyboard break in Jump that people went wild for.

As Dave soaked in the roars of the crowd at show's end, I have to take credit for starting a "Dave, Dave, Dave" chant as he strode off the stage.

[thome]

Originally posted by Sarge's Little Helper
Oops. I wasn't paying attention. Tell me again what is going on.

S L H I couldnt.... your response.. to fast ,could you repeat that.
Ha Ha 4th ON

[Jamocha Joe]

50,000! I seem to recall hearing that Skynyrd pulled in that many people (along with a problem over security). I told you I was bad at guessing crowd size. I wish we could find the official attendance somewhere.

[Rebel Yell5]

Hey Dave flat out rocked. I was first row with my Dave TV shirt on. I was getting my drink on. Only people who don't like Dave or were further back actually criticized this show. And the numbers who bitched weren't many. Also I was there when the guys were chanting Dave! I thought that was awesome. I wanted to say also Fuck you to the big dopey burnout who whined that I stood in front of him. It was a general admission show, tool! Plus you were like 7'5 standing in the equivalent of 3rd row. I know we didn't block your view! Some people. I thought this show rocked out. Very badass. I guess some people either like Dave or they don't. It is funny they think Dave sounds like the album or like he did when he was 20. For 50 he sounded fine, and no trace of this shit that his voice is shot that we keep hearing around constantly. Hey see this show if you can!!! It was great!

[mewisemagic]

Originally posted by Sarge's Little Helper
Oops. I wasn't paying attention. Tell me again what is going on.

thats the oldest line in the book!and its fuckin rude...lighten up francis

[Jimdandy]

July 1st ribfest

Was at the show on Friday. Not one of Dave's best but still stellar! In response to some other posts: Yes there were some problems at the beginning of show with the sound. I think they were plugged in to amps set up by the fest because on 12/31 in Orlando I noticed that the amps had DLR spray painted on them and these did not. Also, there was only about 15 minutes between Dave and the previous band.No switching of equip. Also, Ray's drum kit did not look like the one I saw him use on 12/31, or in '03 at HOB. At previous dates, you would really notice about 1/2 way thru that the sound was pounding thru you whole body. Not at this show, but still good.

Dave did seem a little subdued for him. Spent more time offstage than I've seen in the past and show was about 30 mins. shorter then usual. Talked to a backstage security guy the next day who said that he was supposed to play until 10, but didn't know why he cut it short. For those there that hadn't seen him before, the encore at past shows has consisted of 3-4 songs, ending with Jump. On Fri, when they came back out, went right into Jump and boom-end of show. Still, he's added Jaimie's Cryin this summer, and the only one's he was doing that I think got cut were Everybody Wants Some, Yankee Rose, Going Crazy, and Shoo Bop. It wasn't because he had somewhere else to be because I also heard that Dave hung out in the trailer set up behind the stage for quite awhile before leaving in his black stretch limo. Possibly,(but not verified) partying.

Still, even on an off-night for him, the show was killer. Dave worked the crowd like the master that he is, and it was a beautiful sight to see thousands of arms pumping, and everyone singing the "Hey, hey, hey's" at the end of Ain't Talkin Bout Love. Those reports in other posts of an injury are interesting, would like to know if anyone else heard or noticed that. I didn't notice any limp but he was definitely not doing the usual # of kicks.

His voice was probably BETTER than usual. Don't know why anyone is even worried about it anyway. The guy is not Pavarotti, never was, and never claimed to be. What he is, is a legend with an immediately distinguishable vocal style and sound. Like Frank Sinatra.

That was the Japanese martial-arts pole at the end, not the mic stand. Don't know about attendance. How many people can you fit tightly together in a space the size of a football field? Believe what I'm telling you. When they were ripping through Ain't Talkin Bout Love, Dance the Night Away, Panama, and Jump and everybody was singing and raising their hands in the air, it looked like the US Festival out there. Anybody out there who hasn't seen him live, or it's been awhile, you need to get to a show soon. It's the Greatest Show on Earth at the Happiest fuckin place in the World and soon we won't be able to get this stuff no more.

Also, I was the one that started the "Dave" chant.

[badmother]

Ribfest! Diamond Dave! Wanna see some video?