I Was Snowed In

Or iced in, whatever. That's why I wasn't here yesterday. Since I'm traveling out of town every day for work, I had to take some extra time in the morning to make sure I could get out of my neighborhood.  The snow plows/salt trucks don't get back where we live, and being on a hill made things interesting.  So yeah, that cut into my blogging time.

Anyway, since it's been shitty again and there's not been much in the way of bike riding, I can talk about how I put new Maxxis tires on one of my bikes, or how I changed a tube in another bike.

Never mind. That shit is boring, so I'm using the "nonsensical crap" category you see up there in the header.  Here goes.

Last Saturday night, Little Miss Sunshine and I went to a "rock" show.  It was supposed to be 80s hair metal cover bands, so I knew it would at least be funny. The headliner was Appetite for Destruction, with opening acts of Red, White, and Crüe, and Poison'd.  I'll let you figure out the bands they cover, mmmmkay?

First up was Poison'd, which was pretty good.  You know, for being a knock off of a band that wasn't really that good to begin with.  They even looked the part.

The music was spot on, and was quite entertaining.  Not as entertaining as some of the people in the crowd still holding on to the 80s, but I don't have time to get into that.  Anyway, they played for about an hour and disappeared backstage.  While we patiently waited for the "next" band to come out, the Little Lady and I joked about how it would be funny if the same guys came back out in new costumes.

I'll be damned. When "Mick Mars" came out, I noticed that he looked an awful lot like "C.C. Deville", with different hair (and a hat.)  And "Vince Neil" looked exactly like "Bret Michaels" with a different shirt.  While it was indeed the same guys, they sounded different than when they were "Poison."  I've seen Mötley Crüe live, and these guys were right on the money.  Again, they played and hour, rocked the house, and retreated backstage.

We briefly wondered if the same guys would come out for the next set as "Guns n Roses." Nah, there's no way.  I mean, this was the main attraction, and they most certainly would be an entirely different band.  The "two" opening bands were just filler, right?  We were convinced that we would see some different people for the next set.

And then "Duff McKagan" came out.

Oh look, it's "Vince Neil/Bret Michaels" on the bass guitar.  As we watched the rest of the band roll out, we realized that it was the same guys as before, minus the lead singer that had yet to appear.  At least "Slash" looked the part.

And he could really play that shit too.

And then...

"Axl Rose" came out.  The crowd went nuts, like it really was him.

Finally, a fresh face.  "Axl" was the only guy not recycled from the previous lineups, and he was pretty good.  Then I started thinking that maybe it really was him.  I mean, have you seen what he looks like these days?

While the whole, "same lineup, diferent costumes" thing was funny, these guys could actually play music.  In fact, I'd be willing to bet that they sound better than if the real bands played a show together right now.  The tickets were cheap, the place was close to our house, and we were thoroughly entertained.  These guys played over three hours, and they did a helluva job.  I didn't leave there wishing I was backin the 80s, but I did leave there thankful that I didn't have to hear some washed up glam rock band struggle through an attempt to relive their glory days.

That was worth the price of admission right there.