Stevie Wonder - Songs In the Key of Life Tour

When: Saturday, November 29, 2014
Where: MGM Garden Arena, Las Vegas NV
Accompanied by: KJ
Genre: R&B

Las Vegas Sun article by John Katsilometes

Set List: Love's in Need of Love Today, Have a Talk with God, Village Ghetto Land, Contusion, Sir Duke, I Wish, Knocks Me Off My Feet, Pastime Paradise, Summer Soft, Ordinary Pain, Isn't She lovely, Joy Inside My Tears, Black Man, Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing, If It's Magic, As, Another Star, Saturn, Ebony Eyes, All Day Sucker, Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)

Holiday weekend in Vegas? Sure why not. First off, the magnitude that this was to see the legendary Stevie Wonder was not lost of me. But to be completely honest, this is not a concert that I would have chosen to attend.  It's not that I don't appreciate his music, it's just not the genre of music that I listen to on a regular basis. And the fact that this was to be a tour in support of Wonder's eighteenth studio album, Songs in the Key of Life, really didn't mean a whole lot to me as it was not an album I was familiar with. It came out in 1976. I was only 8 years old. But I also knew that live music makes me happy no matter what, and it was apparent that my better half really wanted to see this show and also knew me well enough that the enticement of Vegas would be a huge selling point for me!!

Photo from Rolling Stone 2014

And here is 22 minutes of video I found on YouTube from the MGM show....



All in all, it was a fantastic evening. I was in Vegas with the one person who tolerates my madness while seeing a performance by a living legend. That alone made it completely worthwhile. 

Princess

When: Thursday, November 20, 2014
Where: The Troubadour, Los Angeles
Accompanied by: KJ, Tiffany & Lisa
Genre: Purpleness & Estrogen

Princess is Maya Rudolph, Gretchen Lieberum, & other various beautiful people.

SNL vet Maya Rudolph and LA singer-songwriter Gretchen Lieberum are PRINCESS, a Prince cover band. The two have been singing together since college but it was only recently that the duo turned their mutual adoration for Prince into a musical project. Born out of their collective, life-long obsession with Prince, each performance is a love letter to the Artist himself. Don't Worry, They Won't Hurt U... They Only Want U 2 Have Some Fun.

No Set List Available and my brain is too old and full of random fluff, that I couldn't even venture a guess as to what songs were performed this night. I do remember that there was plenty of old school Prince and lots of sexy!!

A few for sure: Irresistible Biyach, Lady Cab Driver, Automatic, Purple Ran, Let's Go Crazy, Little Red Corvette

An evening of sexy good times and one that I recommend catching if ever given the opportunity. If you really want to know why...watch this video posted on Gawker from 2012.

Grainy Cell Phone Pix from Troubadour Show 2014

Foo Fighters, Sonic Highways LA Episode

When: Friday, November 14, 2014
Where: The Roxy, Hollywood Los Angeles
Accompanied by: Geo
Genre: Rock

Set List: The Feast and the Famine, Learn to Fly, White Limo, Arlandria, Times Like These, Rope, The Pretender, My Hero, Hey, Johnny Park!, Monkey Wrench, Congregation, Cold Day in the Sun, In the Clear, I'll Stick Around, Generator, Walk, Outside (w/ Joe Walsh), Rocky Mountain Way (w/ Joe Walsh), Mountain Song (Jane's Addiction cover) (w/ Perry Farrell and Joe Walsh), All My Life, Miss You (Rolling Stones cover), Dear Rosemary, Breakdown (Tom Petty cover), Best of You, Something from Nothing, Under Pressure (Queen/Bowie cover), Everlong

NOTE:  This one's for Geo....I don't know if trying to obtain these tickets would have been met with such determination had it not been for her extending her trip from Australia a few extra days in hopes of being able to go to this show....She was my inspiration and because of that, my good luck charm!!

Oh the insanity. Two full weeks of absolute insanity once the word got out that Foo Fighters would be performing at The Roxy in collaboration with the HBO documentary "Sonic Highways" Los Angeles episode.  I mean, we all knew it was coming since the precedence was set with the previous episodes and small intimate shows in Chicago, D.C., Nashville, and Austin... with LA as the 5th location for the HBO broadcast, all we needed to know what how to get tickets.

Oh, yeah, there in was the catch. No tickets would be sold for this show. No waiting for some tweet to direct us to the box office within a minimal time frame. No Facebook post alerting us of an online ticket sale date and time. The only way into this show was to win tickets from The World Famous KROQ. Piece of cake, right? A full 5 days with the opportunity to win every hour on the hour?! Surely this would not be a challenge. It might take a little bit of time, but between the group of us making the effort, I felt confident that we would all be attending this show. 

Yeah, not so much. The week came and went. We had a Facebook messaging tree up and running to alert of when to call in. I utilized people out of state to call in when it was time, just to up the odds. This was the golden ticket that became the impossible dream.  One more week before the actual show date and just when we thought no more tickets were going to be offered up, Alt 98.7 announced that they would be giving away tickets - but only 3 sets throughout the day with really no rhyme or reason as to when. This took the challenge to a whole new level. 

But Goonies never say die!

You don't wanna know...

Thursday morning, the day before the show, the morning radio crew announce to call in for a contest called "Spit or Swallow"...  ummmmm, yeah, no. I can't possibly participate in such a thing. Even as I was dialing the number, I thought there is no way in hell I can do this. Didn't really matter because they had their female volunteer, so I figured it was time to accept that we would not be going to this "secret show". Listening to the contest, the girl they had chosen choked (pun intended?), and they hung up on her. It was a sign from the rock gods, right?  I quickly dialed the station and nervously waited as the phone rang... and rang.... and rang. I won't go into the specifics of what this contest entailed. The fact is that just by being the female volunteer, answering a bunch of silly questions and endearing a little bit (okay, okay, a whole lot) of embarrassment, two tickets to this Foo gig at the Roxy would safely belong to me and Geo.  In the end, it became clear that there really isn't much I wouldn't do for Foo. And for friends.

Needless to say, the hours between then and showtime were all a blur... but man, oh man, what a night!!!  There are no words. This was an evening that consisted of pure magic. In every way.

Geo, Cass, Tai

Sonic Highways 2014

Geo n Tai - Front, Shifty side

Hi Dave....

How you doin....

Wait...don't go!!

This one will go down in the books of amazing memories!!

QOTSA - End of the Road

When: Friday, October 31, 2014
Where: The Forum, Los Angeles
Accompanied by: Juls, Geo, Cassandra, Tiffany, Lisa, Anthony, Vanessa
Genre: Rock

Set List: Keep Your Eyes Peeled (w/ Jake Shears), Feel Good Hit of the Summer, The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret, My God is the Sun, Smooth Sailing, If I Had a Tail, Little Sister, Someone's in the Wolf, The Vampyre of Time and Memory, I Sat by the Ocean, Make it Wit Chu, Regular John, No One Knows, Go with the Flow

Encore: You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, but I Feel Like a Millionaire (w/ Nick Oliveri), Quick and to the Pointless (w/ Nick Oliveri), Auto Pilot (w/ Nick Oliveri), Another Love Song (w/ Nick Oliveri), Gonna Leave You (w/ Nick Oliveri), A Song for the Dead

Life is Beautiful - Night #3

Who: The Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters
When: Sunday, October 26, 2014
Where: Downtown Las Vegas, Fremont Street
Accompanied by: Juls & Gabs
Genre: Alternative, Rock & Roll


"I do not suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it..." A little over 4 miles today... #easylikesundaymorning Taking the time to #reflect upon a multitude of feelings and random emotions. Reminding myself that everything happens for a reason and that all is as it should be. Even when it hurts. #lifeisgood, #iamloved and #iamstrongerthanithink. Found a loop around a #shady area of #downtown #lasvegas and discovered a cool music shop and assorted #graffiti proving that even in the #dingiest situations, beauty can be found. 


Arctic Monkeys Set List: Do I Wanna Know, Snap Out of It, Arabella, Brianstorm, Don't Sit Down 'Cuase I've Moved Your Chair, Dancing Shoes, Crying Lightening, Knee Socks, My Propeller, I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, Library Pictures, All My Own Stunts, Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?, Fluorescent Adolescent, One for the Road, I Wanna Be Yours, R U Mine?

Foo Fighters Set List: All My Life, Times Like These, The Pretender, My Hero, Learn to Fly, White Limo, Arlandria, Cold Day in the Sun, Big Me, Something from Nothing, Walk, Miss You (Rolling Stones Cover), Under Pressure (Queen/Bowie cover), Best of You, Monkey Wrench, This is a Call, I'll Stick Around, Dear Rosemary, Breakdown (Tom Petty cover), Everlong

note: Rope, The Feast and the Famine and Generator were on the setlist, however the band played covers instead, along with I'll Stick Around and Dear Rosemary



In the grand scheme of things the one thing that brought the three of us together for this weekend, or in essence that brought us together in the first place years before this weekend was even possible, was our common love of Foo Fighters. Go figure. The power of music really is an amazing thing.

Life is Beautiful - Night #2

Who: Lionel Richie, Outkast
When: Saturday, October 25, 2014
Where: Downtown Las Vegas, Fremont Street
Accompanied by: Juls & Gabs
Genre: R&B, Hip Hop



A gorgeous Saturday morning in Las Vegas... While we let Juls lounge in bed, Gabrielle and I took advantage of the time and headed out for our own jaunt along the city streets.  I'd love to say that we went for a run together, but there's no way I could keep up with her, so we parted ways once the cool air hit our faces.  

The goal was to get a few miles in, since I had a half marathon coming up in early November and being in Vegas was no excuse to stop training. Fortunately, the previous evenings excursions didn't hinder my performance and I was able to knock out an easy 3+ miles.

For the evening's festivities, we decided that we would take in the main stage with Lionel Richie and Outkast.  

Now, if anyone would have told me that the highlight of the weekend would be seeing Lionel Richie, I would have been a bit skeptical. And while he may have been the senior citizen listed on a weekend bill of youthful artists, that man can still dance on the ceiling all night long!!  His 90-minute performance was able to string together the best of the 70s and 80s in a way that was pure magic. His reference to buying music and listening to your favorite song on "CD, record album, cassette tape, or 8-track" touched upon every generation in the crowd. And not surprising, Juls knew the words to pretty much every song. We danced. We sang. and there were a few moments of daftness.

Following Lionel's performance, we had a little bit of break waiting for Outkast to take the stage.  Enough time to regain our energy and find a spot to get our groove on.  Going into this festival, I knew I wasn't terribly familiar with the music of Outkast, but I also knew that they were on my list of acts to see. And just like with Lionel, I was not disappointed. The energy this group exerted upon the crowd was addictive and with every song, we wanted more. 



Night #2 was a success....good friends, music, pretty lights and Vegas. It really doesn't get much better than this!!

Life is Beautiful - Night #1

Life is Beautiful Night #1

Who: Neon Trees and Panic at the Disco
When: Friday, October 24, 2014
Where: Downtown Las Vegas, Fremont Street
Accompanied by: Juls & Gabs
Genre: Alternative

The drive to sin city was filled with silliness and fun. Lots of singing along to bad 80s music and a few pit stops along the way, but we made it there without any major traffic issues or hold ups. The Four Queens was perfectly located in the middle of Fremont Street, within minutes walking distance of where we would be spending the next three days and nights.

Certainly, there was a lot going on even on this first day/night. We decided that we would relax a bit, eventually go out and grab a bit, a few cocktails and then make our way to the main stage to catch 2 of the acts that were on our list to see.

We were not all that familiar with Neon Trees, but since they were the act before Panic!, we decided to get situated and check them out. And by the end of their set, we were glad we did!  Absolutely fabulous with the perfect amount of glam energy needed to start our weekend off right.

Neon Trees @ Life is Beautiful Festival, Las Vegas Night #1

Neon Trees Setlist: Lessons in Love (All Day, All Night), Your Surrender, Animal, Love in the 21st Century, Text Me in the Morning, Mad Love, I Love You (But I Hate Your Friends), Sleeping with a Friend, First Things First, Everybody Talks

Then came time for Panic! Who just freakin' killed it. Brendon Urie exudes deliciousness that cannot be denied. And when they broke out into Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, it proved that he has the pipes that even Freddie Mercury would approve of.  This is one of those bands that I will definitely see again if and when the opportunity arises.

Panic! at the Disco @ Life is Beautiful Fesitval, Las Vegas Night #1

Panic! at the Disco Setlist: Vegas Lights, Time to Dance, The Ballad of Mona Lisa, The Only Difference Between Martyrdon and Suicide is Press Coverage, Let's Kill Tonight, Girls/Girls/Boys, Ready to Go (Get Me Out Of My Mind), Nicotine, New Perspective, Casual Affair, Miss Jackson, Nine in the Afternoon, Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen cover), Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off, Collar Full, Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met...), This is Gospel, Positive Hardcore (Good Clean Fun cover), I Write Sins Not Tragedies