Hollywood Rocks Tour
Featuring LA Guns & Black N Blue
The Downtown, Farmingdale, NY
November 14, 2003
Review By Kieth McDonald
The Hollywood Rocks Tour, named after a book, rolled into Long Island
in Farmingdale, NY last weekend. The triple bill, now a double bill with
the absence of the Bulletboys, offered straight-ahead 80's hard rock.
Black N Blue were the first to hit the stage around 11:00 to a
relatively full crowd as the band ran through a 45 minute set that
featured their hits 'Hold On To 18', 'Wicked Bitch' and 'Rockin' On
Heaven's Door'. Jami St. James was energetic and sounded great as he led
the assault. Many of us had not seen Black N Blue for several years as the
other band members had other commitments. The only drawback, besides a
short set, was the fact that Jamie was the only original member. We were
under the impression that it was the four original members of Black N Blue
minus Tommy Thaler who is currently touring with KISS.
At about 12:30 LA Guns hit the stage. They provided a set of their hits
and clearly stole the show, which was no easy task considering how well
Black N Blue played. Phil Lewis surprised me by taking on the rhythm
guitar role while belting out the songs without missing a beat. The band,
minus Traci Guns, did an incredible job running through the hits 'Sex
Action', 'Never Enough', 'Kiss My Love Goodbye' and their biggest hit
'Ballad of Jayne'. Some surprises were the incredible playing of guitarist
Kerri Kelli as he sang a perfect cover of the Thin Lizzy hit 'Jailbreak'.
The band did a cool medley of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love'
following Steve Riley's drum solo. Outside of Phil Lewis thinking it was
Saturday night instead of Friday night, this was probably the best LA Guns
show I've seen in quite some time. Check them out if you can.