The Summer Shindig
This week I returned to USANA Amphitheater for The Summer Shindig, an end-of-the-summer concert medly featuring Stray Cats, The Pretenders and ZZ Top. This is a show that I probably wouldn’t have gone to (there are SO many concerts this summer) except that I won some tickets on 101.9 The End. A Big Thanks to Parker and Wendy for hooking me up with these - the show was a blast!
Stray Cats are touring for the first time since 2004 and Brian Setzer and the boys are having a great time. It was alot of fun to hear these guys live. Brian Setzer is one of the great guitarists around today and the swing/rockabilly music that Stray Cats perform is a lot of fun. The venue wasn’t nearly full for this first set, but the die-hards were there and they LOVED it. “Rock This Town” is a good song. Much Fun.
The Pretenders played next. I think Chrissie Hynde is one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) front women of all time (Though I almost expecting her to sing “Smelly Cat”). They rocked the place. Tons of energy and just all out fun to listen to. They played most of their most popular songs and a couple of other great ones that I hadn’t heard before. I am very excited to be able to say that I saw The Pretenders live.
ZZ Top was the finale…and they lit it up! 4 feet of beard, a drummer named Beard, and 20,000 air guitarists (some had beards) rocked through a hit-laden set of songs. Billy Gibbons has such an awesome voice. The segway stories were really fun and the blues/southern rock absolutely jammed the venue. I don’t think anyone could have possibly left disappointed.
From “Cheap Sunglasses” to “Legs” and “Sharp Dressed Man” to “Tush” - the bearded gods of rock showed that 35 years and 4 chords can go a LONG way! It’s interesting to note that the 3 members of ZZ Top, Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard have been together for 35 years - they’ve never lost or replaced a band member and they’ve never broken up - Thats an eternity in the RockStar World…
So, I want to send out some props to Parker and 101.9 the End… I moved to Utah a few years ago and I have since struggled to find good music on the radio. I’ve listened to 101.9 for a while and they generally had good music, but honestly, it wasn’t spectacular.
About 6 months ago, they hired Parker from a NYC radio station and he has saved music in Utah! Seriously. There is a major generation gap here that really affects music on the radio. If you’re not some snot-nosed 15 year old and you’re not 108 and listening to MoTab or NPR, then the music (radio) options here are pretty slim. I have this desire for good music. I want to know the new stuff, the old stuff and the good stuff.
Parker has brought a music sophistication to Utah that was far overdue. If you’re in Utah check out the Parker Show between 2-6pm on 101.9 or streaming online at 1019theend.com - I guarantee you’ll love it.
I’m not sure which concert I’ll be able to go to next. Unfortunately I can’t go to all the shows I want to go to this year. I’ll definitely hit up a couple more though.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
yeah it was fun. The “STray cat strut” and “I fought the law” were the highlights from Stray Cats. ZZ Top can do no wrong in my book. I thought The Pretenders were good, but I wish Chrissie Hynde would shut up about being a vegitarian and just sing! Anyway, thanks for the review. And you’re right - There are a bunch of really good concerts coming to Utah this summer.
August 16th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
sounds like the show was off the hook! I like parker but they talk too much. I like more music. I have been listening to JACK alot lately. The selection is kinda random, but soooooo much less talk!
August 16th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
WHOOOOAAAA Bobbert!!! JACK? NO way man! That is a bastardization of Radio. What makes radio radio are the DJ’s, the personalities, the ability to add some subjectivity to what we listen to - To weed out the crap and to research and find the music that we will love. I have some serious, SERIOUS issues with JACK, dude… I was a broadcast major for a short time and I really wanted to be on the radio, so to me, JACK is like outsourcing jobs - very necessary jobs - to a damn iPod! Honestly!! (and not even an iPod that we have ANY control over) JACK is not intuitive, it’s not clever, it’s not good. Period. Listen to real radio, dude…. OK, I’m getting off of my soap box now…
August 16th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
wow dave…passionate about the radio much? But I would have loved to have seen stray cats. I luvs me some swing!
August 16th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
I dig the Stray Cats.
I don’t dig you dissing JACK!
Stations like JACK are becoming more common b/c too many freaks like yourself are landing jobs on the air. Oooo…you got LAYED (DLAYED)
August 16th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Hold on Alex… You don’t have that Power!!
August 17th, 2007 at 12:08 am
thanks for stopping by my site. I hate to disagree, but zz top sucked. I think they are just getting to old. NO ENERGY. IMO they are just getting to old. I dont like jack though they play to much pop songs. I am a rocker! I looked at the concerts on the 1019 page and there are some good bands coming soon. (especially the pumpkins and white strips).
August 17th, 2007 at 1:28 am
THANK YOU!!! I’ve been saying that about JACK for a long time. I hate, hate, hate it! I’ve never listened to the end, but I’ll check that Parker show out… Sounds good.
August 17th, 2007 at 2:08 am
“The rules guiding a Jack-formatted station are simple: Unlike a typical radio station, which regularly plays 300 or 400 hits of a particular genre, programmers on Jack stations select 700 to 1,000 songs of completely different genres. Then, they sequence them to create what radio programmers call “train wrecks” — Billy Idol will follow Bob Marley, Elvis after Guns N’ Roses, and so on. And Jack stations often (but not always) use a smart-alecky recorded voice, rather than a live DJ, to make short quips between songs…Programmers hope the looser Jack format will show just how edgy and fresh they can be. “We’re not going to be constricted by radio rules,” says Peter Smyth, CEO of Greater Media, which owns 19 radio stations and debuted its first Jack station, Ben-FM, on Mar. 22 in Philadelphia. “[We’re doing] all the things satellite companies say we’ll never do.”
“Listening to Jack is a bit like listening to an iPod set on shuffle. Sandy Sanderson of Canadian media company Rogers Communications (RG), who first developed the format for a Rogers station in Vancouver in late 2002, says he didn’t initially have an iPod in mind, but admits there are similarities. And many think this is one of the keys to the Jack format’s appeal, especially as broadcast stations compete with MP3s, Internet feeds, and satellite radio for consumers’ ears.”
August 17th, 2007 at 10:41 am
ZZ top RULES!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:50 am
Good to hear from another fan of Parker! I have my radio broadcasting license and was a radio DJ at my high school back in the early ’90s. I, too, listen to radio mostly for the DJ’s — oh yeah, those were fun times!
When I don’t want to hear DJ’s, I listen to my iPod… mostly because most of the music I hear on the radio these days I don’t like.