Doug Van Pelt

GMA.2

Yesterday was a good day. I arrived at Rocketown again for an evening's worth of showcase performances, but was immediately disappointed to read the schedule and see that I'd missed Darrell Mansfield's performance. Fortunately for me, Darrell has also missed his ride to the venue and would perform soon after I arrived. Turns out he had to hire a stretch limo to take him all the way from Franklin, TN to Nashville. Unlike a normal legendary rock or blues "star," he rode up in the front seat with the limo driver. He happily reported that they talked about Jesus the whole way. He considered the whole thing a "divine appointment." Those kind of things are always really cool. I heard that some people got a shock when the limo pulled up and the front door opens and Darrell gets out of the passenger seat instead of from the empty back. That's pretty funny.

Darrell Mansfield's set was good. Rick Cua backed him up on bass and Darrell's new guitarist, Darik Peet. They started off the set with "All Along The Watchtower." His harmonica playing was just as dazzling and eye-opening as ever. He was using another microphone to amplify his harmonica as usual, but he was using a house mic. He held the bulbous portion of the mic he usually uses and says, "See this? I stole this off of Pee Wee Herman's bicycle. He blamed another band's drummer for taking off with the connecting cord for the mic as his reason for not playing with his usual vintage gear. It didn't really matter, though, as his playing was just sounding great and coming through loud and clear. How he's able to coax vibrato and almost note-bending out of a harmonica is unreal. "Stand By Me" was next, which included forays into "Soon And Very Soon," an altered lyric version of "Every Breath You Take" and "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" right in the middle before finishing off "Stand By Me." They ended the set with "People Get Ready," and he shared just so eloquently and freely (he's really a gifted communicator) about loving one another. "That's what this is all about." He laid the Word out about love and could've just kept on going and had the audience in his hand the whole time.

John Schlitt and Bob Hartman performed as 2 Guys From Petra, romping through acoustic versions of many of their hits, like "Beyond Belief" and oldies like "Why Should The Father Bother?" as well as worship tunes like "Lord I Lift Your Name On High."

Jamie Rowe performed with his group London Calling. Jamie's voice still sounds good and melodic and very Cheap Trick-like. That kind of feel-good rock never really grows old as long as it's performed well, and they didn't have a problem with that. He told me before the set that he's an interim youth pastor where he lives and performing the ocassional show isn't really that big a deal. The band hadn't rehearsed in two months, but it didn't show as they rocked any rust of their instruments in the first song. His song "New Sensation" closed the night well, fitting in a few cords and verses from the ZZ Top song "Tush" into the middle of the tune.

Whitecross followed next with a fiery set that showed them pretty near peak form. Rex Carroll was wailing away and skipping around the stage, spinning circles with his feet as well as his playing. They've still got it. Michael Feighan's drumming was quite thunderous and really rocked the songs home. They played "Who Will You Follow?" and "Down" and "Love On The Line," which allowed the rhythm section (and keyboardist) to flesh out the blues feel of the song. Rex was just amazingly hot this night. "You Know What's Right" and "Signs Of The End" closed off the set. They left the audience wanting more and they brought the old school metal right. It was fun seeing Todd Evans (The Golden Sounds, Atticus Fault) singing along and getting into the metal. We all enjoyed it.

Bloodgood's set was really good again. They sounded pretty tight and Les Carlsen seemed a little more loose with his carefree moves on stage. He's such a natural. The big highlight was seeing founding guitarist David Zaffiro join the band for the song "Seven." Another example of a band "doing it right" as a professional band, as opposed to offering some sloppy garage musical seconds. Their performance and sound was "on" and true to the original metallic vibe.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at April 23, 2007 12:54 PM