Wow, it has been a minute since covered a show, fell into a lull and distractions. Now, we are getting back on track with our first show of 2025 and man was it a great one and a special one as it turned out!
The night started with VIP w/ Nikki and Patrick, which was great! Nikki and Patrick were amazing hosts, and treated everyone with love and respect. Next was Nikki and Pat soundcheck which included Diamonds and Rust, which was incredible, but was cut from setlist due to time constraints. Still the set included songs from their new cd, "Ghost Notes' which can be ordered on Nikki website https://www.nikki-stringfield.com/. A few of the songs included in the set were "Where the demons lie", "Lunacy", "Numbered", and concluded with a incredible acoustic version of Iron Maidens "Aces High".
The Venue: The OG Basement - ok I need to insert this here, this was probably the most challenging yet, the venue is about the size of my garage packed with idk, 150 to 200 people?? The capacity is very small and the crowd made it difficult to get good clean shots, so had to shoot over everyone - so hopefully you enjoy the photos I did get!
Next up, The Amazing Marty Freidman, now here what made the night something special. Due to the limit space, Marty's band could not set up, there was not enough room, Marty stated the drum set was bigger than the stage! So, what we got was a Marty Freidman Guitar Clinic, followed by a Q&A session that Marty handled extremely well, and answered peoples questions with precise and sincere answers, I especially enjoyed hearing about living in Japan and the culture like how The Japanese are not very fond of foreigners that live there and disrespect the culture, that might not be the correct term, it more about them not following the culture properly.
Overall was a great show with some amazing people, musicians and attendees as well! We made several new friends. Looking forward to seeing Nikki again with her band, "The Iron Maidens" when they open for Gene Simmons @ Beaver Dam, KY.
Added bonus, I left a few minutes early so I could catch Damon Johnson over at the Hutton Hotel, with Damon, Jarred Pope, Tony Higbee, Buck Johnson, Robert Kearns one off band "LoveStruck" performed a set of 70's classic love songs - They did include a cover of "The Boys are back in Town", which is a Damon staple! So, was great to see Damon and chat with him and Tony again. Both are great guys! Looking forward to seeing Damon with "Brother Cane" at Iron City in Birmingham, AL coming up in a few weeks - March 18th!
Awesome! Cool review!