Tesla returned the the Seneca Niagara Casino this pasty Saturday to perform in front of a sold out crowd. This marked Tesla’s second time playing the venue and first since October 31, 2009 link here. It’s been 37 years since the release of the bands debut album ‘Mechanical Resonance’ and the band show now signs of slowing down. In 2022, they released a great single called “Time to Rock” and back in 2019 they release their last studio effort titled ‘Shock.’ Even with the the departure (from touring) of drummer Troy Luchetta, the band moves forward with drummer Steve Brown.
Taking the stage at 8pm, the band kicked off with “Lady Luck” form their 1989 album ‘The Great Radio Controversy.’ An appropriate kickoff since the band were playing inside a casino. You can tell the band were in great spirits. They kept on showing their appreciation to the crowd by slapping hands, tossing out picks and verbally stating their appreciation to their fans in Western New York. The momentum continued to build as the band ran through popular numbers “Modern Day Cowboy” and “Hang Tough.” Vocalist Jeff Keith took time to address the crowd by saying that the band has 37 years of material to pull from and that a lot of the hits would be played tonight. That drew a lot of cheers from the audience. He then continued to say it’s time to play a new track “Time to Rock.” The song sounded great live and perfectly meshed within the confines of their setlist. The band dusted off Pvt. Ledbetter off of 2008’s ‘Forever More’ album and dedicated it to our troops. Another song by Tesla that isn’t played live a whole lot was “Lazy Days, Crazy Nights.” It was cool to see the band dig deeper and play some rarities for the long time die hard Tesla fans in the audience. Guitarist Frank Hannon was at the forefront for the track “Miles Away.” His shredding took the track to a new level. An acoustic guitar stand was set up for Hannon on the last two tracks “Love Song” and “Little Suzi.” Rhythm guitarist Dave Rude joined Hannan on acoustic for “Love Song.” Hannon immediately switched to his Gibson double neck guitar for the rest of “Love Song.” I really appreciated Wheat for playing his Hofner bass (the bass Paul McCartney made famous) during the track too. Keith’s voice sounded good throughout and was more up front in the mix this time around. The last time I saw the band live was in May of 2017.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the show. I thought the setlist was great balance between old and newer material. I thought the band fed off the energy of the crowd and displayed even more back to them. Out of all the bands that came out of the 1980’s rock scene, I felt Telsa was the band who always got lost in the mix. After their performance Saturday, they still showed they have what it takes to still be a formidable rock band after all these years.
Setlist:
Lady Luck
Modern Day Cowboy
Hang Tough
Time to Rock
Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)
Pvt. Ledbetter
Lazy Days, Crazy Nights
Miles Away
Changes
Love Me
Call It What You Want
What You Give
Edison’s Medicine (Man Out of Time)
Love Song
Little Suzi (Ph. D. Cover)
Encore:
Signs (Five Man Electrical Band cover)
We would like to thank Shauna O’Donnell from O’Donnell Media Group for the credentials to review the show.
