Pickles & Dimes

To celebrate this beautiful time of year, I’ve been enjoying listening to my Christmas CDs. Specifically: We Wish You A Hairy Christmas, a compilation of 80s artists such as Warrant, LA Guns and Faster Pussycat. Also, two CDs by Minneapolis’ Trailer Trash: Hell, It’s X-Mas and All Lit Up: A Trashy Little X-Mas. My favorite, you ask? Well, that would be A Twisted Christmas, the brand new disc by Twisted Sister.

What? Not everyone shares my taste in holiday music?

Are you kidding me?! This pairing of two of the most decadent bands in history turned out to be a good one. You’ve got the “hardest working band in rock & roll” in Aerosmith, and their pyrotechnic-heavy, bastard sons, Motley Crue.

When the Crue get a big stage, they bring a display of pyro, lights, caged go-go dancers and cirque du soleil-style lady acrobats, not seen in bands today. This is probably to hide the fact that Vince Neil had lost his voice years ago. The rest of the band were on though, playing a great, abbreviated, greatest hits package.

Being the show started at 7:30, and half of the crowd of 10,000 were still filing in, the fans were chastised by Vince a number of times for not being loud enough. Tommy got everyone going with a curse-heavy chant, passing a bottle of Jagermeister through the front few rows while ducking a freight-train of an oncoming fan.

It didn’t even bother me that because we weren’t loud enough we would not be treated to their encore of Kickstart My Heart. Aerosmith were on next, and nothing Vince could do was going to screw that up.

Aerosmith sounded amazing. I think this is the sixth time that I’ve seen them, but this was Shauna’s first. They put on a fantastic show playing nearly 2 hours of greatest hits. I was really happy with the variety of songs from each stage of their career, not borrowing too heavily from one set of songs, and keeping all generations of their fans happy and singing along.

Unfortunately, from our seats in the second row of the upper deck, we were out of reach for thrown drumsticks, guitar picks and Steven Tyler’s full-length jacket, which I had to restrain Shauna from leaping over the railing to retrieve.

Aerosmith has a presence that few bands have, and at 58 years old, Steven sounded as good as the first time that I saw them. Probably better. The crowd was completely into them, singing/screaming loudly to every song. Many drunkenly swaying to the music, with no rhythm at all. But I’ll let Shauna post about her “friends” around us.

Rating: 4 out of 5 pickles

Here are both band’s set lists, for the hardcore fans.

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If you’ve been listening to these guys since their start in 1996, you’re a smarter person than I am. I became familiar with the band less than two months ago when Shauna and I went to see The Departed. After the movie, the first thing that came out of both of our mouths, rather than critiquing the movie (it was great, by the way), was “Did you hear that song at the beginning of the movie?!”

Since then I’ve picked up all five of their studio albums and a collection of their singles, rarities, and live recordings. That’s right, in less than two month’s time.

These guys are great. They are a punk rock-style Irish band. Along with their own songs, they also sing traditional Celtic songs with a hard edge. Bagpipes, driving guitars, and tin whistles with heavy vocals. You couldn’t ask for more.

Their latest CD, “The Warrior’s Code” is probably their best work, but each of their discs sounds as good as their last. Check them out, they’re worth it.

Rating: 4 out of 5 pickles

I have been a Van Halen fan for decades. They have put out so many great records over their 30 years as a band. To me, Van Halen and Aerosmith epitomize the American rock & roll sound. 5150 came out at a time just after I began to listen to, and purchase, my own music. Now, don’t get me wrong; purchasing my own music meant my Mom and Dad shelled out their hard-earned money so I could buy new Motley Crue, Ratt and Bon Jovi albums, while purchasing the back catalog of Kiss, AC/DC and Ozzy.

You can’t talk about Van Halen without mentioning Eddie as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. This album may have had a little more synthesizer than guitar riffs, but it still is one of my favorites. Hits like “Why Can’t This Be Love,” Dreams,” “Love Walks In” and “Best of Both Worlds,” as well as my favorite non-hit “Summer Nights” make this one of their best.

If you look deeper into the Van Halen catalog, it’s always fun hearing Sammy Hagar sing such classics of his such as “Jump,” “Hot for Teacher” and “Running With The Devil” as well. Sammy really brings those songs to life.

Wait, Van Halen had a different lead singer at one time? Sammy didn’t sing all of those songs? Oh yeah, you must be talking about Gary Cherone. “More Than Words” was a great Van Halen song too.

Rating: 3 out of 5 pickles