Night Ranger: A band I have met, but never seen play a live show. I met Jack Blades and Kelly Keagy through a friend of mine that knew Jack. We had dinner with them and as the night progressed, we ended up at my friends house (drinking, of course) and much acoustic music was played. It was casual, fun, loose and these guys were funny! We all laughed and sang the night away. Oddly enough, we didn’t sing any Night Ranger songs…….

That was 1992. Now, in 2007, I am dragging my 3 boys and husband out to see Night Ranger. They are good kids and they try really hard to support mom’s 80’s music addiction. My oldest was nice enough to wear my “vintage” Night Ranger bandana! My husband (thankyouthankyou) has been learning to live with my addiction ever since I forced him to see Motley Crue at Red Rocks. He knew he’d better just get on board or be left behind. So, here we are at the Taste of Colorado in downtown Denver, ready to see the afternoon show for Night Ranger. It’s hot, there are hundreds of people here and we are right up front.



The show was just over an hour and I thought that I could keep the set list in my head, but a few Mike’s hard lemonaides and too much sun…and I just forgot the opening song. You know, if I got PAID to write this blog….I might have been taking better notes. I’m just saying………

Here’s the set list….what I remember!
(if you were at the show and can figure out what I’m missing….email me!)
Sing Me Away
Touch of Madness
Rumours in the Air
Seven Wishes
Highway to Hell
Secret of my Success
When You Close Your Eyes
Don’t Tell Me You Love Me
Sister Christian

The past few years have been good to 80’s rock fans. Old groups are touring with original members, new groups are forming from various old bands and the best of the best are mixing it up and playing musical band members. Night Ranger has only 3 original members: Jack Blades, Kelly Keagy and Brad Gillis. To fill things out, they are currently on tour with Michael Lardie (Great White) and Reb Beach (Winger).

I had fully expected to see Michael Lardie at the show, but there were some conflicts in scheduling with Great White. Instead, there was some unknown-to-me keyboard player (sorry whoever you are). Reb looked fantastic and his playing was HOT! Brad Gillis and Reb were definitely meant to play together. There was such symbiosis between rhythm and lead guitar that the lines were blurred and it was hard to tell who was taking the lead. Some of Brad’s lead guitar lines were doubled in harmony by Reb. The fingers were flying! Blistering! It was truly amazing to see. Both stellar players, I still wondered how it went when they first tried to do that……….



Let me just say this about Brad Gillis: He oozes “ROCK GUITAR GOD” better than anyone in the business. I am hooked every time I see it. Of course, he has the chops to back it up, which makes him even hotter. I’ve photographed a lot of bands and inevitably at a show, one band member will stand out as prime photographic material. It’s some sort of vibe that comes out that makes them camera friendly. For this show, it was Brad…..and I ended up with more shots of him than anyone else. I could have followed him around with my camera all night.



Jack was full of energy. It was a hot day for an outdoor show and he was all over the stage! The man can move! As I had remembered him…he’s funny. The intro for “Secret of My Success” was a story about a phone call from Michael J. Fox asking if they would pen the title track for the movie. Jack said “Are you going to pay us? WE’RE THERE.” (this, no doubt, poking a little fun at how commercial Night Ranger made themselves in the 80’s) If you know that song….you know that there are about a million “na-na-na-na-na-na-na’s” at the end and the song went on forever.

After all the na-na’s, Jack said that some of the greatest songs ever had a little na-na in them. He gave us the na-na’s for the 60’s hit “Kiss Him Goodbye” and the audience ran with it. He gave us the na-na’s from Journey’s “Lovin Touchin Squeezin” and again- the crowd went nuts. Probably the best na-na song of all time, Jack said, was..and you guessed it…he gave us the na-na’s for “Hey Jude.” It was a great audience participation moment. Someone must have said something that Jack heard, because he said “Hey, really. This is our music, too. We grew up on this stuff. What did you think WE were listening to?” Good point. And to prove it, Brad launches the opening riffs to AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.”

THE CROWD WAS ABSOLUTELY, COMPLETELY NUTS!

Brad stopped as if it were only a joke, but the fans wanted more. Jack says, “You want to hear this?” And the answer was “HELL YEAH!” And with that, we traveled on down the highway with Night Ranger. I think Jack may have blown a vocal chord or two, but AMEN was that awesome! For those about to rock…..!!

(*note—you can see Jack Blades & Jeff Keith (Tesla) doing “Highway to Hell” at the California Music Awards. Check YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXLypJfkuSk)

“Sing me Away” was a surprise as the second song in the show. It was also great to hear them dig out “Touch of Madness” and “Rumours in the Air” to remind everyone that they write heavy guitar rockin’ songs…even if they aren’t all top ten hits.

The show closed with “Sister Christian”----OF COURSE. It was done well and I wasn’t surprised by that. Kelly Keagy came out from his perpendicularly placed drum kit to lead the crowd in some a cappella singing. And for a moment…we were all back in high school……..

I can tell you that we did NOT hear “You Can Still Rock in America” which was a shocker. I imagine they might have been saving it for the 7:30 show. I was also surprised that we didn’t get “Goodbye” and “Four in the Morning” or even “Sentimental Street.”

I can’t say a bad thing about this band. They are expert musicians, they love their fans and it shows. It’s a thrill to see another band that survived the 80’s and is looking healthier and playing better than ever. If you haven’t seen them live…..go. They are so much more than just “Sister Christian.” I promise they will rock your ass off!



(more photos at http://flickr.com/photos/lonelymoose/ )