Seasonal Concert Wrap-up—

Classic Acts, Quirky Newcomers Still Rocking Regional Venues

By John Voket

Despite the economic slowdown’s lingering effects here in Connecticut, it seems concert fans were not left wanting. And those who enjoy the familiarity of classic acts where they could sing along and pump their fists enjoyed a robust choice of shows and venues to patronize over the last few months.

Below find a glimpse at some of the best acts to grace local stages this concert season:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Comcast Theater, Hartford — August 19

Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. — October 2

The Boss brought it to a sold-out crowd on this steamy August night in Hartford, playing the region’s largest amphitheater for the first time. He celebrated with a high energy show that gave fans a taste of his latest material, including the haunting “Outlaw Pete” and the rousing title track from Working on a Dream.

He hit the stage after nearly two weeks off from a European leg with a revival sprit, giving up classics like “Sherri Darling,” “Out in The Street,” and an appropriately sweat-drenched “Spirit in The Night.”

That show was so good that a trip to the series of shows staged to close out Giants Stadium out in the former swamps of Jersey was warranted, and our reviewer landed there on a particularly good night. As a tribute to the “grand old lady” of a stadium that has hosted dozens of Springsteen appearances over the years, The Boss opened the show with “Wrecking Ball,” a brand new song he penned just for the occasion.

But the last Giants Stadium run was also made special by the full-length recreation of several of Springsteen’s earlier albums, played in sequence — with the incomparable Darkness on The Edge of Town landing during our visit. Each number that rolled out across the legion of ecstatic fans seemed better than the last, with a particularly affecting take on “Racing in The Street,” which gave “Professor” Roy Bittan ample time to pound those grand piano keys.

This tour also saw Bruce taking requests, in the form of large posters and cocktail napkins from the audience. On this evening, The Boss saw fit to try out a familiar cover he had never played before — getting the whole house swinging to an extended “Jailhouse Rock.”

Chickenfoot

Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville — August 20

Super groups may come and super groups may go, but this configuration of former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith and electric guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, collectively dubbed Chickenfoot, was the concert not to be missed this summer.

Originally rumored for the spacious Danbury Ives Concert Park, the show eventually settled in the confines of the Mohegan Sun Arena with surprisingly good sound and an energetic show that bravely steered away from any hits from any of its individual members.

For a rock and roll lover, this was a great achievement, because the band pulled off a nearly two-hour set drawing almost exclusively from their debut album, and tapping Satriani to work his magic through spectacular extended solos to beef things up. Hagar was candid, telling the audience that the collective members were in a good place playing their new material, with little or no desire to venture backwards into their own individual catalogs — which are pretty swarthy.

The show’s strongest numbers, “Soap on a Rope” and “Oh Yeah,” were the ones the group performed the most during a rash of television and media appearances celebrating their coming out in recent months, with the encore of covers from Montrose (“Bad Motor Scooter”) and Deep Purple (“Highway Star”) leaving the crowd hungry for Chickenfoot’s next regional appearance.

Foreigner

Warner Theater, Torrington — October 4

Despite what founding member Mick Jones said was a case of laryngitis, singer Kelly Hansen led classic rockers Foreigner through a blazing hour and a half set of back-to-back hits in their third appearance in as many years at Torrington’s Warner Theater.

Blessed with a repertoire of global hits stretching back to the late 1970s, Foreigner remained loyal to the core arrangements, throwing in a few variations like vocal breaks and acoustic takes on a few of the numbers just to keep things interesting.

Nobody went home disappointed as the band pumped out “Cold Blooded,” “Juke Box Hero,” “I Want to Know What Love Is,” and “Urgent,” with a killer sax solo from multi-instrumentalist Jeff Pilson.

One of the high points of the show was Jones taking to the microphone for an extended rendition of “Star Rider,” from the band’s debut album, sounding as fresh as he did on the band’s first tour back in 1977.

Juliette Lewis and The New Romantiques

Chevrolet Theater, Wallingford — August 7

The quirky actress, perhaps known best for her Academy Award-nominated role in Natural Born Killers, or her touching characterization in The Other Sister, showed her true rocking self to a surprised and receptive crowd during an abbreviated opening set supporting The Pretenders.

This was the first evening for Lewis on this opening stint, but she and her new band were revved up and ready to deliver a blend of buzz saw punk and bluesy, psychedelic grooves, all enhanced by their singer’s animated stage mannerisms and unique vocal style.

Chatting with Lewis following the show, she lavished praise on producer Omar Rodriguez Lopez and bandmate Chris Watson for crafting a finished product in her new album Terra Incognita, which she first heard in snippets in her own head during what she said was an emotionally charged writing process.

It appears based on her live show, and the quality of her latest release, that Lewis is much more of a musician who acts than an actor taking a break to experiment or pump up their her prancing around fronting a rock band.

Alice Cooper

Warner Theatre, Torrington — September 27

This latest tour, beyond all others, proved that both figuratively and literally that you just can’t kill Alice Cooper. His classics-laden set is sounding better than ever, with “The Coop” himself in the best vocal form of his 40-plus-year career.

And the stage show for his “Theatre of Death” tour takes every opportunity to knock the guy off ­— guillotine, gallows, sword, giant “Poison”-filled syringe — and like a leather-clad sneering Energizer Bunny, he just keeps popping back up.

In between some very elaborate stage shenanigans, Cooper and his steel jaw tight backing band showcased “School’s Out,” “Under My Wheels,” “Welcome to My Nightmare,” and nearly two dozen other numbers — barely touching on his latest release Along Came a Spider. He managed just a sample from that offering, albeit one of the better songs of the show, “Vengeance is Mine.”

And while any fan would have been thrilled to see the show, it was the after-show gathering that was a high point as former Alice Cooper Band bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith stopped in backstage and swapped a few tasty war stories from their early days back in the late 1960s and early 70s.