Billy Idol and his Sexy-Pants Band.
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Things you should know about Billy Idol:
He came on the stage a half an hour late. His band members are totally hot. His hair was not platinum blond, although some audience members took care of that for him.
Seriously, check out the keyboard player. Is this guy straight outta Miami hot, or what? The unbuttoned shirt, the landing strip on his face instead of elsewhere. It's almost like a Saturday Night Live spoof. This guy was a parody of himself. And oddly enough, I still found him hot. It was all I could do not to jump up on the stage and tackle him. I decided he would be my new boyfriend.
 
Billy opened with "Rock the Cradle of Love." He sounded great! For an old dude, this guy was pure rock and roll. He flirted with ladies in the audience. He signed old records that people brought. He even gave a drumstick to some short person in the very front. My guess is it was some little kid, much like the Rush show kid.
Women were out in force, throwing their bras around, but there were definitely more men in the audience than women. My kind of crowd.
He did "White Wedding" about 4 songs in and wouldn't you know it, there was a wedding party that just so happened to be at the McMenamins Hotel, and the bride, in her wedding dress, and the wedding party came traipsing down the aisle through the crown during that song. They obviously planned their entire wedding, therefore their entire lives, around a Billy Idol song. I wish them the best of luck. And I know a good divorce attorney.
He took a little break and Steve, the guitar player that looks just like Nikki Sixx, did an amazing guitar solo that had Iris swooning.
 
Then Billy came back out and did "Flesh For Fantasy." Wow! I forgot about that song but it was so good and so sexy, I almost ran back down to the front to throw my bra onstage. I think I will send a note to Mr. Burns, our Program Director, and ask if he will add "Flesh For Fantasy" to our playlist. I'm thinking maybe just once or twice a week?
After that, it was all a blur. I didn't stay too much longer. I'm assuming he did "Rebel Yell" last. I will ask Iris today what other songs he did. Maybe one day, I will start bringing a little note pad and keeping track myself. It just seems so reporter-y. I rely on my memory, which can be foggy sometimes.
Things you should know about McMenamin's Edgefield:
It is the coolest venue in Portland. You all know how much I love the Amphitheater at Clark County, but Edgefield really takes the cake. It's only 15 minutes east of Portland. Don't let gas prices or traffic scare you away. Edgefield is like a big, foresty park, lots of little foresty trails and leafy trees. It's so very "Portland."
Once you are inside the venue, you can't leave, but you won't need to. Several different areas to get drinks and food. Ample porta potties, and being that it's the beginning of the concert season, the potties are still really clean! After three days at Coachella in Palm Springs, where fifty thousand people had 100 potties to use, I still have a fear of potties that makes me want to just run behind a bush and pee. Edgefield=clean potties=happy me.
I have to say I am impressed with the sound at Egdefield to. Favorably impressed, that is. It's not super loud at all. There is a housing developement in the back yard so I assume there are strict noise guidelines that Edgefield must follow. I even think it could stand to be louder. I love it when you can feel the bass drum in your chest. When your heart is thumping along with the music and about to explode out of your chest. When you have to shout into the ear of the person next to you to be heard. That's rock and roll, bitches!
And when you're straight in front of the stage, it is difficult to hear the singer. I have found that to be true at the each of the shows I've been to at this venue this year. It's because the wall of speakers is pointed kind of out and away on the side of the stage. Like a little dead spot down in front. I just prefer more vocals all around. Edgefield sound person- please turn up the mikes on the singer. Thank you.
I think the sound is always better when you are back away from the stage and out on the lawn. Of course, I will take less sound so I can be close up and get great photos and bootleg videos. And then I can flirt with any hot band members, like my new boyfriend.
Things you should know about the KGON'sider:
I sweat like a man. Seeing as it was 85 degrees yesterday with 99 percent humidity, I nearly passed out from heat exhaustion. I was crammed up in the front, maybe five deep from the stage, and I could feel the sweat dripping down my face and the back of my legs. And I'm standing there the whole time, waiting for Billy's late ass, thinking "I hope the people behind me can't see the sweat dripping off of me." Seriously, it was as if someone had turned on a faucet. Drip, Drip, Drip.
So I'm worried about the sweat factor and how incredibly not-hot that is, especially since I was trying to impress my new boyfriend, and I didn't want to lift my arms up to take pictures because I had caked on the deoderant. Like, double-dose caked it on, because I knew it was going to be super-hot and I would be super-sweaty. And I knew, regardless of what the label says, this deoderant is most definitely NOT "little black dress approved." I knew I would have white deoderant mess underneath my arms.
Who do these deoderant people think they are fooling? When have you EVER put on deoderant and then a black shirt/dress and not had white marks everywhere? It's supposed to be invisible? Please. Nothing pisses me off more than lying deoderant makers! How do they get away with misleading the public like that?
So how gross is that? Sweaty and deoderant-flaky. My not-hot factor just went way up.
I didn't stay til the end. I was melting, really. Once I was out of the crowd in the front and back up on the lawn, at least there was a slight breeze, more like a baby whisper, but it felt better back there.
The best part of the show was watching Iris, Shannon and concert Dave all enjoy themselves and rock out. They've been doing this for 30 years so I understand that they don't want to go to every single show (like I do). They pick the ones they really want to see and just hang out, enjoy the crowd, talk to people and drink PBR out of a can. You won't find more down to earth, unpretentious people than our KGON jocks. I love them.
 
So, I will see you all again at Lynyrd Skynyrd on the 9th!
Below is the opening song, "Cradle of Love." |
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