Saturday, May 8, 2021 marks the official getting back to normal day. My wife said I was acting like a giddy kid all day. Now I’m not going to pretend like I’m the biggest Night Ranger fan nor that I ever owned any Damn Yankees music but this was the chance to FINALLY see and hear some damn real LIVE music. I actually saw Night Ranger in the mid 80’s at AstroWorld in their heyday. I always liked their two guitarists Jeff Watson and especially Brad Gillis.
The Warehouse Live venue was pretty packed and pretty maskless to our surprise. We made our way to our sweet second row seats and watched Love and War warmup the place. The local guys played very well and if you like hard rock and metal from 78-82 you’d love these guys. Night Ranger started early for the mostly geriatric crowd and as they took the stage something was amiss. Where’s the guy with the blond curly hair and red guitar?! The band played as if nothing was different but you could sense the unease in the crowd. I thought that Brad Gillis was going to suddenly jump out during the guitar solo but I was wrong. After a couple of songs Jack Blades announced that Brad had surgery the day before for his rotator cuff and that they didn’t want to cancel especially since it had been so long since there’s been a concert.
After the announcement all eyes were on their semi new guitarist Keri Kelli (Jeff Watson left long ago). He seemed pretty capable and I liked the fact he plays a Les Paul. Keri had played with Alice Cooper and the band played a version of School’s Out as kind of an introduction to him. They also did a cover of Roadhouse Blues with Kelly Keagy on vocals which seemed odd and like a time filler. With songs built around two guitars I’m pretty sure they had to pick and choose which songs to do which they could fill with their keyboardist Eric Levy and still come close. They also played a few Damn Yankees tunes including High Enough which I kind of remembered on the radio when I was more into Anthrax and Metallica. Don’t Tell Me You Love Me was a solid but Brad was missing from the mix. Jack Blades still has a ton of energy and gives it his all on the stage. Sister Christain was a huge sing along with Kelly Keagy doing a great job vocally. When You Close Your Eyes came off like a more cheesier cheesy Journey song. And their finale (You Can Still)Rock in America was again missing Gillis.
Overall it was great to be at a concert. Night Ranger will be much better after Gillis returns. Hats off to Keri Kelli for his efforts.
