Monday, July 16, 2012

The Kid Can Still Rock!

Compared to his last concert tour this was a stripped down (pun intended) version of a Kid Rock show with no sexy dancers, mayhem and stripper poles. Throw in it was outdoors and the sun was blazing, meaning no added energy from lights or pyrotechnics and for anyone else it could have been hard to pull off. Well I gotta tell you, Kid Rock who is now north of 40 (as he so aptly pointed out in the song entitled "F**king 40") almost started a wildfire at the sold-out Mystic Amphitheater Sunday. From the opening note of "Devil Without A Cause" to the closing note of "Born Free" in the encore, this crowd of over 6,000 never sat down. It was hot, it was sticky, the sweat was pouring off of everyone and not a single person stopped yelling, singing along or dancing with the Kid. Now that's a party!

Kudos to Kid Rock's ten member Twisted Brown Trucker Band which featured a veteran line-up and included Minnesota's own Shannon Curfman. She joined his tour in 2011. Big ups to the boys on the sound board as well. As a Producer/DJ/Remixer and someone who has spent his whole life dealing with sound, you know I can be picky about where I hear a show or see a movie. And I gotta tell you the only thing tighter than the band was the sound system. I'm talking perfection. Right in the pocket good.

Some may have missed the sexy goings on that Kid Rock fans may have come to expect, but I totally dug the mature – I'm here to rock you out talent that you only see in truly gifted veteran performers. At one point in the performance Kid Rock played guitar, drums, did a mean scratch set on the DJ set-up and even tickled the ivory. Pop stars of the month take note, Kid Rock started out as a wana-be white rapper in the early 90's. I still have his original demo tape that was getting shopped around back then. It made it's way to me when I was an A&R Executive at Tommy Boy Records. That first phase of his musical career didn't really kick in, but that was because he had yet to fully evolve. When you look at the arc of Kid Rocks musical journey it's really quite interesting. He started in rap. Moved to rock. Segued into country and then magically pulled together everything he loves better than anyone. The ultimate old-school hip hop, detroit r&b, southern rock mash-up is the makings of a great Kid Rock Song and show.

Not only can this Kid still Rock, but he never sounded better. To put it in his own words.."Not bad for sober and in the daylight".