Review of Cheap Trick and Aerosmith at the Staples Center in Los Angeles – December 3, 2012

Hello!

On Monday night I headed out to the Staples Center in Los Angeles to catch The Global Warming Tour which has two bands I have seen before: Cheap Trick and Aerosmith. I last saw Aerosmith maybe ten years ago in Atlanta and Cheap trick more than fifteen years ago in Irvine, and they were both in their prime from at the time. So, I wondered how these two groups have stood up to the test of time, and it turns out that they are still doing pretty well!

Cheap Trick kicked things off at 7:30 in the evening with “Hello There,” and when I saw Robin Zander wearing a bedazzled ice cream man suit (with a hat, even), I figured they must have hired David Lee Roth to be in the band, but it was just an optical illusion. They went on to blaze through a dozen more songs in their allotted hour, and as expected they managed to throw a few surprises into the show.

I think they have a different set list each night, and they always throw a few cool covers into the mix. This evening they did The Move’s “California Man, and The Beatles’ medley of “Golden Slumbers,” ”Carry That Weight” and “The End.” These songs proved beyond a doubt that Zander still has his singing chops. Aerosmith loaned them keyboardist Russ Irwin for the Beatles’ songs, which was a really nice touch.

Thankfully they did not do the hackneyed ballad, “The Flame,” but at the end of the show they played their biggest hits, including “I Want You To Want Me,” “Dream Police” and “Surrender.” They hit the ball out of the park on these, and did a great job of warming up the crowd, who came spilling back in for these last three songs when they heard what was going on. Brad Whitford from Aerosmith joined them on stage for “Surrender” – cool!

Cheap Trick had one notable personnel change: Daxx Nielsen (Rick’s son), was on drums, although their website still lists original member Bun E. Carlos as being in the band. Daxx plays the drums very well, by the way. The rest of the line-up is the same: Robin Zander on vocals, Tom Petersson on his terrible sounding 12-string bass, and Rick Nielsen on guitar (and mugging about the entire time like he is still in junior high school).

While the crew tore down Cheap Trick’s stage the crowd got to watch some handicam footage from backstage, which was a little confusing at best., and then things got going after a commercial about how great the new Aerosmith album is. Does this crowd really need this? Anyway, Staples Center was packed at this point, and the masses were treated to a rousing rendition of “Toys in the Attic” which led straight into “Love in an Elevator.” It was nice they gave us two of their big hits right out of the box, and the band was in good form and Tyler’s voice is still strong, despite the fact that they are all getting pretty old. One downer was that Perry’s guitar was way too quiet on these songs, but they got it fixed for the rest of the show.

Things went about as expected from there, with a mix of music more heavily slanted toward their previous work than their new album (which is pretty good, actually), and the band did a nice job of having video coverage on the screen behind the stage so that everybody could see what was going on. Tyler, Perry and Hamilton did a good job of working all parts of the stage, including the catwalk that extended all the way to the center of the arena. Whitford pretty much stayed put and never made it to my side of the stage.

Aerosmith had a few surprises in store, as Hollywood dreamboat Johnny Depp came onstage with his guitar and played along with cover versions of Fleetwood Mac’s “Stop Messin’ Around” and the Beatles’ “Come Together.” The man can really play the guitar, and he certainly had the outfit and tattoos to fit in on stage with these guys. They should have given him a wireless set-up, though…

They finished up their set with “Walk This way”, and for the encore they dusted off “Dream On”, “Mama Kin” and “Come Together.” Former Guns ‘n Roses rhythm guitar Izzy Stradlin joined in for “Mama Kin,” which surprised me even more than the Johnny Depp thing. All in all, it was one heck of a show, and the crowd was really great (bonus celebrity sightings: Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed).

Granted, these guys all look terrible, as 40+ years in the rock and roll world is an eternity, but they are still rocking like madmen. Check out their Global Warming Tour when it hits your town – it is sure to be a fun-filled evening!

Mahalo!

ESP Mystery Custom Bass Review

Aloha!

Today we are looking at a weird bass that raises plenty of questions and does not provide a lot of answers. Weird or not, it is a great bass, and a nice looking thing, too. I bought this online awhile back, and the seller did not know the history of it, so I will just present the facts about the bits and pieces that make it up.

The body is alder (I believe) with a lovely bookmatched maple top that is bound with faux tortoiseshell. The whole body is finished in two-tone tobacco sunburts. It had a Precision Bass shape with a slab profile to the front, and a belly contour on the back. It has an ESP stamp in the neck pocket, and a pencil date of 6-30-83. This is a real ESP body.

The neck is the real deal too, with an ESP headstock shape and a precision-width nut. It is maple with an ebony fretboard and 20 hefty frets. This neck cannot be original to the body, though, as this headstock shape was not used in 1983, and there was some crude filing done at the end of the neck to make it fit the neck pocket. Also, there is no route in the body to access the truss rod, so it is a little chewed up. The guys at ESP do nicer work than this.

The hardware is all gold-plated ESP equipment, with a detuner on the E string that was probably added later. The brass bridge is hefty, and the neck plate is just marked “ESP” with no serial number. As a matter of fact, there are no serial numbers anywhere on this bass.

The electronics are all factory stuff, with P-J pickups marked with ESP logos, and a 9-volt active electronics system. The controls are simple with volume and tone controls, and a 3-way selector switch.

All of these parts come together to make a very nice-playing bass that looks good too. The P-J pickup configuration makes it very versatile and the active electronics give it a nice rock edge.

So what is the big mystery? When I went to change the battery, I found a “Property of Aerosmith” inventory tag on the back of the control cover. This was not sold to me as being celebrity-owned, so I do not know the real story. It does seem that a guy who gets his basses for free (and who used to be an ESP endorsee) might have Frankesteined a couple of basses together to make a new bass.

I will probably never find out the true story, but in the mean time I got a great bass for short money. I think I will get the neck fitted better to the body, yank off that detuner and hold onto this one for awhile.

Mahalo!

Epiphone Joe Perry Boneyard Les Paul

Aloha!

I am as much of a guitar snob as the next guy and am often quick to sniff at a cheap instrument and buy something more expensive on general principle, but this imported Epiphone is no joke. Today’s pick is the Joe Perry Epiphone Boneyard model which was introduced in 2004, and were discontinued a few years ago.

Joe Perry is an American icon and guitar hero (to me, anyway), and I’ve had a couple of his Gibson signature models over the years. But when I saw his Boneyard Epiphone back in 2005 I had to head down to Guitar Center and try one out.

And I was amazed, especially when comparing it to the guitars that Gibson is crapping out of its American division.

You can see that the Boneyard is a Les Paul model, with its traditional body shape and layout of components. And it is a distinctive-looking Les Paul with a super-flamed out tiger maple top that has been tinted orange-y to really bring out the grain.

The list of specs for this guitar is as impressive as its top. It has a mahogany body and neck that have both been finished in satin black. The rosewood fretboard has trapezoidal inlays and the same cream-colored binding as the body. The tuners are Epiphone-marked Kluson replicas, and the bridge is standard Les Paul fare. And check out that juvenile Boneyard logo on the headstock!

They did not bother to include a pickguard with these, which was probably the right choice given the looks of this guitar.

The electronics are a step beyond what you would find on other Epiphones, as they installed Gibson USA Burstbuckers on the Boneyard. They chose to put a model 2 in the rhythm position and a more gnarly model 3 at the bridge. An extra-cool feature is if you put that orange pickup selector tip in the middle position (both pickups on) you will find that the pickups are wired out of phase (ala Peter Green)

This is a solid collection of parts, and Epiphone’s Chinese factory did a fab job of sticking them together. I am continually astonished that the public continues buying $2500 Gibson Les Pauls with lumpy fretboards and hillbilly smile frets when there are much better alternatives out there for less money.

This Boneyard had a fantastic neck with perfect frets and a pretty low action right out of the box. It has a C profile and its thickness is right in the middle between the 50’s and 60’s neck profiles that are so popular. This translates into a lot smoother playing experience for me, which is worth a bunch because I am a horrible guitarist.

The tone is killer if you are looking for the classic blues/rock sound, especially with the selector in the middle position. The out of phase Burstbuckers are just magical in this guitar. It has more of a processed sound than I was expecting in the middle position, almost like there is a wah or phaser in the loop. The other positions provide traditional Les Paul sounds, so you can get plenty of overdrive and crunch.

This one is pretty light for a Les Paul, coming in just a hair over 8 pounds, which is lighter than the Telecaster I am playing right now. Then again, maybe that says more about how ungodly heavy my Telecaster is.

When the Epiphone Boneyard guitars were new their street price was around $700 (with no case), which is pricy for an Epiphone Les Paul. But, as I said earlier, these guitars were discontinued, and they seem to be very hard to find now. I have not seen any pop up on eBay recently, so the guys that bought them must be holding on to them.

Mahalo!