Anyway, King's X took the stage about 6:45 (about 15 minutes early) with "Groove Machine" (one of my personal favorites) and played for a solid hour... even had time to sneak in "King" for an encore. They did a great mix of old tunes with a few tunes from the new record (which I don't have yet). As always, it amazes me how three dudes can generate such a huge sound... big drum + bass + guitar tones and massive vocal harmonies. Ty was sporting the full Egnater rig... four 4x12 cabs, at least two loaded M4 preamps, and (what appeared to be) a Randall RT2/50 power amp... the Egnater gear was pretty familiar looking based on the M4 rig I played earlier this year. Less familiar, however, was Ty's guitar, which had an unidentifiable body shape with (again what appeared to be) a Fender headstock. Had some pretty funky looking pickups, too... after doing a little Google searching I'm guessing they are the Motor City pickups. Nonetheless, the combinations of the mystery axe and the Egnater gear (with modules built/tuned to Ty's specs) was hard to argue with.
Extreme also put on a heck of a show... they had 3 of the 4 original members (the new drummer was quite good, but let's face it... everybody was there to see Nuno) and did a nice mix of songs from all the albums (including the new album to be released tomorrow). It was a great performance all the way around... high stage energy/showmanship, super-tight musicianship (also with killer vocal harmonies), and a pretty good tone/mix to boot. Nuno as always was playing a Washburn N4, but had some super funky-looking amp (two cabs, six 4x12's) that I'd never seen before... again after a little Google searching I'm guessing they're some new Randall model?!? Who knows... all I know is that I can't remember the last time I saw a show where there were so many pieces of gear I'd never seen before. :) BTW, kudos to Extreme for dusting off "Cupid's Dead", which might just be the best rock song ever written. (Ok, maybe not the best, but definitely one of the catchiest!) Now if only they'd go on tour with a horn section...
All in all, it was quite an evening... lots of great music for free, good friends to chill with, and to top it all off, a near-perfect night from a weather standpoint (rare for Cincinnati in August). Doesn't get much better than that!
--B








