The first official show at Darien Lake for the 2016 summer concert season took place this past Tuesday night with veteran rockers Bad Company and Joe Walsh. The tour was dubbed appropriately “One Hell of a Night Tour” and this was a co-headlining tour with each act playing about an hour and 30 minutes. In various cities they are switching up who is the actual headliner and for this show it was Bad Company.
Joe Walsh and his huge backing band took the stage promptly at 7:30pm. Walsh took a bite of a lemon and drank some type of liquid to probably to loosen up the vocals cords. Waving to the crowd he then launched into the James Gang classic ‘Walk Away.” The crowd was sparse at first but throughout Walsh’s setlist they trickled in and by the time his set finished the pavilion was pretty much full.
Mentioning before that Walsh had a 10 piece band that included 2 drummers, 2 keyboard players, 4 background singers, a bassist and a guitarist who is the who’s who of guitarists in Waddy Wachtel (Stevie Nicks, James Taylor and Keith Richards to name a few.) Why Walsh needed that big entourage was beside me. I think he could have achieved the sound he was looking for with a traditional 4 or 5 piece band. What also was strange before the highlight song of his set in “Funk #49” is that a guy appeared with a t-shirt gun and started to shoot t-shirts into the audience. While this wasn’t a sporting event it distracted me from what was going on with Walsh and his backing band.
Walsh was always the lovable guy in The Eagles and he paid homage to the passing of his bandmate Glen Frey with a plausible rendition of “Take it to the Limit.” An Eagles band photo accompanied the backdrop when the song ended giving it a nice tribute.
Walsh’s voice held up fine and at one point he just screamed and yelled and said to the audience he likes to do that to get into rhythm. Walsh worked very well with Wachtel as they teamed up playing off of each for most of the evening. The set was very diverse, playing everything from his James Gang days to The Eagles and of course his solo material.
Taking the stage next and closing the night was Bad Company. I must say that Paul Rodgers is one of my favorite vocalists of all time and he didn’t disappoint. Rodgers now is 66 years young and how he maintains his voice after all of these years is truly remarkable. Accompanying Rodgers is original drummer Simon Kirke along with longtime member and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Howard Leese on guitar, Todd Ronning on bass and subbing for original guitarist Mick Ralphs was Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes. The tour was announced and a day later, it was posted that Ralphs wouldn’t be participating in this run of dates and that Robinson would be filling in. Robinson looked out of sorts with Bad Company. A great player in his own right, he is also gearing up for a solo album release and tour of his own. I’m not sure this tour was best suited for him at this time.
Leese took over all the leads for the evening and was quite capable and up to the task. Playing a beautiful Paul Reed Smith SE guitar with the Bad Company logo with a very cool Union Jack background making it a very striking guitar. Leese is one of the best mandolin players you will find, played it on the obscure track “Crazy Circles” off of the 1979 “Desolation Angels” album. Robinson and Rodgers played acoustic guitars for the song.
Kirke and Ronning have been playing together for a bit now and provide a solid rhythm section for the band. Outside of the classics, the setlist offered a cover of The Beatles “Lucy in the Sky” and it was actually a good choice by the band. It was an interesting take on the classic and gave the fans something different. All 4 came together for “Rock and Roll Fantasy” as Rodgers thanked the crowd for making their rock and roll fantasy come true!
One of rock’s puzzling questions is why isn’t one of the greatest rock singers ever in Rodgers in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Or the band Bad Company in general? Questions to ponder for sure. Even though Ralphs absence was noticed, the band carried on and gave the fans a respectable performance.
Bad Company Set List:
Live For The Music
Gone Gone Gone
Feel Like Makin’ Love
Burnin’ Sky
Electricland
Ready For Love
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Crazy Circles
Movin’ On
Shooting Star
Rock N Roll Fantasy
Can’t Get Enough
Encore:
Bad Company
Encore 2:
Rock Steady
Joe Walsh Set List:
Walk Away
Analog Man
Mother Says
The Bomber: Closet Queen/Bolero/Cast Your Fate To The Wind
Take It To The Limit
Turn To Stone
In The City
Funk #49
Life’s Been Good
Life In The Fast Lane
Encore:
Rocky Mountain Way
We would like to thank Ashley Ball from Livenation for her assistance in helping BackstageAxxess get credentialed for the show.
