Editors Note: Reviews of Day 1 and Day 2 of the Tempe Music Festival will be posted tomorrow.
The highlight of Day one of the Tempe Music Festival was without a doubt Kid Rock. I have been a big fan of his since his first album and at first dismissed him as a one hit wonder. However, as I followed his music career I noticed he kept taking chances with each and every album. Even though each album was indeed different than his previous release, the one thing that every release shared was that he put a lot of soul into each and every album.
Over the years Kid Rock has amassed a pretty damned good collection of songs to choose from for concerts without sounding one-dimensional or not ‘himself’. With all of this, I still haven’t had the opportunity to see Kid Rock perform live, as I see live shows as a true measure of and artist and his staying power, until now.
The Show started right at 10:30 with one of Kid Rock’s biggest hits ‘Bawitdaba’. With the Opening scream of ‘My name is….’ Kid Rock grabbed the attention of all who attended and didn’t let go until he left the stage after singing the final notes of his current hit ‘All Summer Long’.
The setlist (below) was a wide variety of songs from his entire career that were presented with such showmanship, and soul that it makes me yearn for other artists to learn how to put on a live show like Kid Rock knows how. For whatever reason, bands in this day and age don’t know what it takes to put on a great live show. All they need to do from this moment forward is to put in a tape of last night’s show and they can see what they are doing wrong.
Some of the highlights of the show were ‘Cocky’, the presentation of ‘Cowboy’, and the interlude in ‘Amen’ where he read this note from an Arizona fan about how Kid Rock and his music has touched and changed her life. It wasn’t just the note that he read that made the impression on me it was the way it was presented and the message he had after the reading of said message. (The message was way too long and I wish someone would post what the message said) Kid Rock sent a basic message to all to love one another (paraphrasing here) without judgment or bias. To me, seeing one of Kid Rock’s core beliefs on display for all to witness is one of the main reasons he has such staying power.
Kid Rock’s show was simply amazing and left all who attended wanting more. I got the sincere impression that even though Kid Rock’s current songs he can pull from for shows is indeed impressive, he’s still has yet to release his masterpiece. That and also got the impression that he is going to explore new musical styles and influences for future releases. For someone who I wrote off at the beginning of his career as a ‘one hit wonder’ he sure has made a huge statement in the music industry that he is anything but that. If he keeps moving in the right direction with his career he will indeed join the ranks of all of his Rock/Country/Rap/Hip-Hop heroes that he so loves to put on display in his shows.
One other thing, I hope someone in Kid Rock’s camp recorded this show as this is a great snapshot of where he’s at in his career. Fans would absolutely love this as a live show. Besides, he has yet to release and ‘official’ live show, right? Now is a good time!
Setlist (via a MySpace User):
Bawitdaba
Devil Without a Cause (Walk This Way riff tease)
You Never Met a Motherfucker Quite Like Me>
American Bad Ass
Lowlife (Living The Highlife)
Cocky
Rock N’ Roll Pain Train
Cowboy (piano intro)> Cowboy>
Good Ol’ Boys (Waylon Jennings cover) [Theme from the Dukes of Hazzard]>Cowboy
Only God Knows Why
One More Time (David Allen Coe cover)>
Half Your Age (with Kid Rock’s drummer vocals)
Amen (including fan letter/license interlude)
Picture (with one of their Backup Singers)
Techno intro> La Grange riff tease> Smoke on the Water riff tease>
Cat Scratch Fever> Kid Rock drum workout>
So Hott
All Summer Long
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