Signs of life Billy Squier, one of the original arena rock guitar heroes, rolled his All Night Long 2009 summer tour through the sprawling mountains of the Seneca Allegany Casino Events Center on Saturday night.
While the lusty lyricist may not flaunt the flowing locks that made the ladies of the MTV era swoon, hes certainly still sporting the vocal chops & crunching power chords that echoed through concert halls in the eighties. Its been some time since Squier has taken his full arsenal of hits out on a solo tour, although he did spend 2006 and 2008 touring as part of the Ringo Star All-Star Band. His music not only rolls out in regular rotation on the classic rock airwaves and numerous television and movie soundtracks, but its been revived by a new generation of musicians through song sampling.
Squier wasted no time bringing the Events Center crowd to its feet delving into his hit laden, Billboard busting, 1981 record Dont Say No, opening the set with Lonely is the Night. The set list, which was assembled by popular fan vote through the official Squier website, www.billysquier.com, earlier this year, was full of FM classics like My Kinda Lover, Shes a Runner and Rock Me Tonite. Notable omissions in the set Emotions in Motion, In the Dark and She Goes Down gave way to lesser known gems, Little Miss Intent and G. O. D., tracks that didnt get the radio love they deserved back in the day. Another deep cut,(L-O-V-E) 4 Letter Word was prefaced with an intro from the song Love is the Hero from the 1986 album Enough is Enough, a record that included writing contributions from Freddie Mercury. Squier acknowledged the influential singer/songwriter with a Mercury-like scream as he reached for the heavens. With only two shows under their belt on the tour, Squier and Company were impressive with their expansive performances of the classic catalog including the monster hit The Stroke which saw Squier break out his weathered but trusty Fender. Longtime Squier sidemen, bassist Mark Clark and keyboardist Alan St. Jon, welcomed new band mates, drummer NIR-Z, along with agile guitarist, Marc Copeley, who traded licks with the legendary shredder throughout the night.
SET LIST:
LONELY IS THE NIGHT
STRANGE FIRE
MY KINDA LOVER
MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY
SHES A RUNNER
LITTLE MISS INTENT
G.O.D.
Intro LOVE IS THE HERO
(L-O-V-E) 4 LETTER WORD
DONT SAY YOU LOVE ME
STROKE
ROCK ME TONITE
Encores:
CALLEY-OH
THE GIRLS ALL RIGHT
EVERYBODY WANTS YOU
