Kid Rock
opener: Ty Stone
LOCATION:
Hammerstein Ballroom, NY, NY
Front row, 1st balcony
PRICE:
$58 (including Ticketbastard charges)
DETAILS:
CONCESSIONS:
I didn't really check out the merch or concessions of any kind. Parking was $20 again.
VIEW:
Best ever. No one in my way. Except when the dude next to me got busted (see below).
PRE-SHOW VIBE:
Once again I brought my Tucker book to entertain me since I knew I'd be sitting for awhile till anyone took the stage. I had to wait at least an hour before Ty Stone showed up. As expected at a Kid Rock show, the crowd was loading up on beer beforehand.
ATTENDANCE:
I think it was sold out.
AUDIENCE:
I saw Kid Rock for the first time on the Devil Without a Cause tour in the fall of '99 (at Hammerstein). Back then his crowd was mostly younger than me- I'd say the majority were 14-18 year olds. However Friday's crowd was mostly my age or older. Obviously as his music progressed, the crowd has changed too. Also, at that first show I remember constant mosh pits. But at this show, there was only one pit that was attempted by 4 or 5 kids, and it was quickly stopped by someone well past the age of appreciating getting shoved violently for no particular reason.
WARDROBE:
Kid Rock's wardrobe can best be described as "Glammed Out Cowboy Pimp." He came out in a black and white fur coat with Kid Rock spelled out in rhinestones on the back. When he took it off, he had on a black cowboy outfit with that western style motif in rhinestones on the pants legs. He later changed into a tank top and jeans. He also wore his trademark hat (in black) most of the show.
STAGE SET:
Giant screen that showed the stage action and would sometimes switch to graphics or photos to accompany whatever song he was playing. And of COURSE he had his pole-dancing girls on and off throughout the course of the show.
ARI RATING (ADRENALINE RUSH INDEX - 1-10):
Frame of reference:
1= I sat in my chair motionless and felt no emotional connection
10=I walked out bruised and high off nothing but the energy of the show
A solid 9. No bruises, since I went the lazy route and chose the balcony rather than the floor when I ordered my tickets.
SETLIST:
(not in order)
Where You At Rock (opened with this)
Bawitdaba
Cowboy
Devil Without a Cause
I Got One For Ya
Only God Knows Why
Forever
American Badass
You Never Met a ...
Picture
Feel Like Makin' Love
Jackson, Mississippi
Son of Detroit
My Name is ROCK (?) (the one where he says "you know my name is kiiid-rock-rock" if any of you know wtf I am talking about)
cover: Drift Away ("give me the beat boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away")
Another cover that I recognized but don't know the words at all so I can't even tell you what it was
HIGHLIGHTS:
I was psyched he played "Where You At Rock" because I didn't think he would. "Picture" sounded great with Stephanie (drummer) singing Sheryl's part. My view was great. His wardrobe somehow was a highlight for me. But if you know me at all, you know that I am easily distracted by anything with glitter on it. He played Only God Knows Why on the piano, which I thought was cool. Also I always love when they play Devil Without A Cause because I love Joe C's part (they play video of him from live shows while the track plays). I liked how they did it at the MSG show a couple years back when a huge mural of him dropped from the ceiling as his voice blared. Oh well. At least I got to see him once, which was at the Foxboro show with Korn/Metallica in 2001 (?). I remember our seats were way the hell in the back of the stadium (that's what I get for trusting someone else to get the tickets). When Joe C came out onstage, I shot up out of my seat and started screaming like a maniac while my section just stared at me like "What the..."
LOWLIGHTS:
The strippers. At least they were pretty this time, but good Lord they can't dance. I guess as long as they just writhe around in their white trashy bikinis no one cares. Except me for some reason. Also the guy next to me was annoying. I had heard about him as I walked into the venue actually. The security girl said to someone "A guy snuck a camera in through his neck brace." And who sits down next to me, but the neck brace guy. So he already had made himself known to security because he sat on the stairs, which they hate because of fire code stuff. Then he had words with the drunkie sitting next to him. THEN towards the end of the show, one of Kid Rock's guys shows up to ream him out for his camera. I guess he'd been not only taking stills, but taking video and somehow Kid's guy knew about him even though we were up in the balcony. Kid's guy yelled at him, then took his camera and deleted everything off of it. All the while, blocking my view of the part of the show where Kid runs around and plays every instrument on stage, including the turntables. That part was definitely a lowlight.
DO YOU RECOMMEND THIS SHOW? (YES/NO - EXPLAIN):
Yes. As you can see from the setlist, if you're a casual fan, you'll be able to get into the show as almost all the songs were on the radio/MTV on a regular basis.
