Review of Dokken at RibFest St Louis

Ever been to one of those concerts where you left feeling uncertain whether it was good or not? Dokken at RibFest St Louis was one of those shows.

First off, I would like to say Don Dokken’s current lineup of musicians did a great job! Jon Levin on guitar, Sean McNabb on bass and I’m not familiar with the drummer. Mick Brown, the original drummer, performed with Montrose Sunday at the RibFest instead of with Dokken on Saturday. My wife spoke to him Sunday night and he said he was supposed to tour with Ted Nugent over the summer but it was cancelled and Don Dokken had already gotten someone else to replace him.

The various Dokken hits such as “Alone Again”, “Just Got Lucky”, “It’s Not Love” and “Breaking The Chains” were played perfectly and there was a great stage presence making the show entertaining. My favorite part of the show was early on, they played “Dream Warriors” signifying the 25th anniversary of the Nightmare on Elm Street soundtrack. Once the music started I was really pumped until Don Dokken (one of my favorite 80’s rockers) opened his mouth.

I couldn’t hardly believe what came next. Not only did Don not hit any of the high notes, he didn’t even try. I was talking to a gentleman next to me that saw Dokken a couple of weeks earlier that said Dokken wouldn’t try to hit any high notes at that show either and if you notice they have his microphone turned way down. Sure enough he was right. Don’t get me wrong, I know everyone can’t be great forever but putting on a lackluster performance just didn’t cut it for me. Musically the show was great and it was great to hear the classics again. Don Dokken fans were disappointed on this particular evening though.