Night Ranger at Rib America Festival Review

Hello Everyone !
Last night we attended the Night Ranger show at the Soldier Memorial Park in downtown St. Louis.  The weather was looking really dismal early in the day with lots of rain and we didn’t know what to expect for the show.  Luckily it cleared up early in the afternoon so we made our way to the VIP section in front of the stage.  After a rockin performance by Jonny Lang we were all fired up for what we were sure to be a great Night Ranger show coming up next. 

Just like the severe storms that rolled into town earlier, Night Ranger came roaring out onto the stage with “This Boy Needs to Rock” from the Seven Wishes album.  Wasting no time they played back to back songs “Touch of Madness” and always a crowd favorite to sing along with “Sing Me Away“.  The bands fourth song is off their brand new album Hole in the Sun.  It was titled “You’re Gonna Hear From Me.”  I’m sorry to say I wasn’t familiar with this one yet, but nevertheless it seemed to jam pretty good!  The next three songs were good ole standbyes: “Rumors In The Air“, “Sentimental Street” and “Secret of My Success” that really had the crowd going until the rains started again.  When I say the rains began I mean monsoon type rains, it really cut loose!  The look on the lead singer’s face (Jack Blades) was priceless.  He went from jammin out on “Secret of My Success” to a look of Oh Shit! within seconds, and that was all she wrote.  I guess St. Louis has a rule that the band has to wait 30 minutes after it stops raining before they can go back on stage.  There is also a curfew so the music has to stop at 11:00 PM, so this in conjunction with the 30 minute rule and it was too late for them to finish the show after the rain stopped. 

So there you have it.  Seven songs is all we got.  Just a little teaser!  It was awesome nevertheless especially from our 4th row seats.  Too bad is was cut so short because I think those are the best seats we ever had.  Britne and I will go see them again for sure the next time they come around. 

The band is releasing their first studio album in 10 years on July 1, 2008 to celebrate their 25th anniversary. The band still has three original members, Jack Blades on bass guitar and vocals, Brad Gillis on guitar and Kelly Keagy on drums and vocals. The 2 new members were Joel Hoekstra on guitar and Christian Cullen on keyboards. I can’t wait to hear the other tracks on the new CD.

They have lots of dates scheduled:

6/07 – West Wendover, NV
6/14 – San Juan, Puerto Rico
6/19 – Oshkosh, WI
6/20 – Brookville, IN
6/21 – Sioux City, IA
6/22 – The Woodlands, TX
6/28 – Cheyenne, WY
7/02 – Arlington Heights, IL
7/03 – Hays, KS
7/04 – Great Lakes, IL
7/05 – Kettering, OH
7/06 – San Jose, CA – Tickets
7/11 – Pryor, OK –
7/12 – Grapevine, TX – Tickets
7/19 – Fort Smith, AR – Harry E. Kelly Park
7/25 – St. Clair, MI – Palmer Park
7/26 – Maquoketa, IA – Jackson County Fair
7/27 – Lake Ozark, MO – Tickets
7/30 – Ottawa, IL (with Air Supply )- Tickets
8/01 – Batesville, AR – White River Water Carnival
8/02 – Rifle, CO – Garfield County Fair
8/09 – Belle River, Ontario – Lakefest
8/10 – Des Moines, IA (with Foreigner) – Tickets
8/17 – Saint Joseph, MO – Trails West Festival
8/23 – Tower, MN – Fortune Bay Casino
8/30 – Pittsburgh, PA – Heinz Field
8/31 – Sparks, NV – John Ascuaga’s Nugget
9/20 – Lubbock, TX – South Plains Fair
9/28 – Jackpot, NV – Cactus Petes Casino
10/1 – Tulsa, OK – Tulsa State Fair
11/6 – Orlando, FL – Epcot Center

Hope to see you at our next show!  Firehouse, Bullet Boys and House of Nasty will be at the Decatur Macon County Fairgrounds in Decatur, IL on Saturday, June 14, 2008. 

Remember, don’t stop rockin, we can’t!

[tags]NightRanger, RibAmerica [/tags]