Arrived at the Troubador about 8:30 PM with the wife and grabbed a couple of beverages from the bar. The crowd was mostly 50 and older with a few younger folk ranging from 25-49. Ted Danson was there too. The boys hit the stage a little after 9 PM and played almost 2 hours. The six-man band consisted of Jerry Douglas on Dobro, Shawn Camp on lead vocals and guitar, Charlie Cushman on banjo and guitars, Tim O'Brien on vocals and mandolin, Johnny Warren on the fiddle and Barry Bales on vocals and bass. They played a bunch of Flatt…

The 1 hour set at the Baked Potato, which is about the size of a three bedroom home, was phenomenal. Billy Sheehan was about five feet away, with Dennis Chambers and John Novello tightly squeezed in on the 10' x 10' stage which was at floor level. They ripped through some cuts from thier latest release and demonstrated why they have no peers in this industry. Billy played the Bass to the point of impossibility, while Chambers demonstrated a Jazz/Rock type technique on the skins which very few will ever achieve. Novello was the band leader giving off cues to…

Bumblefoot came on at 10 wher he proceeded to execute ridiculous guitar playing techniques while singing his “punk rock” style music. He mostly played this double neck axe with the top neck being fretless. Uli came on with some new guys including a lead singing axe slinger with tremendous skills at each task. They played Catch your train, pictured life and a bunch of old scorps tunes flawlessly even thought they said the drummer learned the songs the night before. The old man is still at the top of his game and executes effortlessly. Uli brought out Thall and Batio…

We arrived at around 10:45 pm in order to avoid the usually horrible underline bands at these types of gigs and the stage was near ready for Jake and his team. They came on at 11 pm and Jake E Lee was smokin' the whole night. He has not lost a beat. They played some new stuff which was very good, some Badlands and some Ozzy. There is a ton of stuff from this gig on YouTube already. The singer was waaaaay too drunk, so he didn't do a very good job. Hopefully he sounds better on the CD. The…

Wed 11 Jul – Malice, Heretic, hollowshell, Steelgrave - Malice played a headline show which included the debut of new lead singer James Rivera - ex Helstar, Mick Zane, Jay Reynolds ex-Black N Blue skinsman and the bass player for Agent Orange. It was the first gig in support of their new CD. They played the new songs and a bunch of the old and they ROCKED. The guitar playing was great and Rivera was born for these guys. They said James Neal lives on an Island and said he'd pass on the reformation. The club was full of L.A.…

Wed 15 Feb – David Nail Grammy Showcase - Dave hit the stage at 10:15 pm with a Bass player, Guitar Player, Keyboard player (who looked like he belonged to the Beatles) and a drummer who looked like he was from Creedence Clearwater. He was nervous as hell (his own words) and a smidgen drunk (Jack Daniels bottle in hand), but put on a great show. He played Red Light, Grandpas Farm and Let it Rain along with others in his catalogue. He also broke out some Garth Brooks and some "all the other kids…. pop song. The place was…

Sat 21 Jan – Joe Stump and Michael Angelo Batio Batio hit the stage after 12 pm and played with his band in a box for about 45 minutes. He ripped through Pantera, Zeppelin and Randy Rhodes tributes along with some of his own stuff. He kept letting out these great screams which were funny as hell. He was on top of his game and is a fine player. Stump hit the stage at 1 pm with a drummer and bass player. After warming up with a bunch of Yngwie licks he mostly played Rainbow and Deep Purple covers like…

Wed 21 Dec – Guns N' Roses, The Crystal Method, Steel Panther

Steel Panther played first and were amazing. They were so funny, I was in tears. They are a glam version of the Mentors. Then Guns n Roses came on killed it. They played for over 3 hours. Axl was on time and on his best behavior. Bumblefoot is a freakin' wizard and Ashba is PERFECT for Axl's band (and Sixx AM). The gig was well worth 1 hour of sleep before getting to work the next day.

As usual Buckethead put on a fantastic show which included NunChuk exibitions, robotic dancing, distribution of toys to the crowd and unbelievable guitar playing. The entire crowd was there 2 hours early and endured one of the worst opening acts ever in order to save thier spot for Buckethead. HOB was probably overcrowded and Buckethead took a little longer to start than usual. He also played solo with his "band in a box". Considering there was 1/3 as many people at the last HOB concert he played here 4 or 5 years ago, he has definately increased is notoriety. This…

Fantastic Gig. Played some old and new plus some Shyboy at the end. Got me another PG pick too. See them if you can. Billy and Paul are MONSTERS!