MSG @ The X FEST Review

MSG @ The X FEST Modesto, CA 0/8/07/10

Tonight's show @ the XFEST in Modesto was a great night of 3 classic bands of the last 40 years. The Tubes, Montrose, and Michael Schenker Group. The night was perfect and sound quality very good considering bands had a one hour time slot with lots of roadies and equipment moving everywhere. There was 3 thousand plus at this event. I was happy to attend with Skid & his brother & 2 other MSG die hards!

The Tubes took the stage @ 9pm and their sound was great! Fee Waybill still looks and sounds great. They played the classic tunes White Punks on dope, She's a Beauty, and Talk To You Later. Plus others from the early years.

Montrose came on after 10 pm. Ronnie, sporting a clean shaven head and a big smile, came out and ripped up Rock The Nation, Rock Candy, Bad Motor Scooter and other classics! His tone was brilliant with the dual Bogner amps and what I think was a Paul Reed Smith plus a Fender telecaster guitar. Keith St John was on vocals along with the bass player from the Frankie Hannon band. Amazing band!

Then after a long bus ride with troubles through out their travel from Utah, MSG showed up behind schedule but seemed to unpack the trailer and get set up by 11:30 to play brilliantly with a short sound check. I helped with load in as did several others to get the very tired band on stage before the crowd grew irritable with a later start as Montrose went over their time slot! The band sounded really great with the conditions, and smiles were everywhere once things got going! Michael Schenker was wearing that hat and looking very thin as seen before from recent reviews. The set list was shorter due to the 1 hour time slot. Here was the set list :

Michael Schenker is playing in top form and this now becoming a very consistent pattern of his. Besides his tone and sound, his interaction with the crowd is really what is amazing! I am really proud of him and his playing! There will be great things ahead for Michael the way he is going. Wayne Findlay is really an asset to this band and not only a gifted musician, but a great person! Rev Jones was his usual self and was everywhere on stage. He was playing a 6 string Dean Bass that was made just for him from Dean Guitars! Gary Barden was doing a great job and vocally sounded better from the monitor mix then the House mix. But still pulled off another solid performance and redeemed himself from past bad reviews of the tour. And last but not least, Carmine Appice really giving a clinic on stage and pulling off a great solo in the middle of the set. It was great to meet him & see him drum as close as I was from back stage .This was a solid performance once again on this tour. Sorry if I wasn't as detailed but with the great site of R B Araki, all the MSG fans give great info on Michael. Don't miss the tour! I will be in Santa Rosa, Fairfield, Santa Clara, Sac, and the Chicago gigs. Thanks for reading. http://axeslinger.com

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