Faster Pussycat, L.A. Guns & Bang Tango
July 22 , 2008
Pierre’s Entertainment Center
Fort Wayne, IN
By JEN X
Halfway through their U.S. tour on July 22, 2008, the legendary Faster Pussycat landed at Piere’s Entertainment Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana along with two supporting acts, L.A. Guns and Bang Tango. The fans in the small club were ready to rock with three of the more entertaining bands from the hair metal era.
Bang Tango took the stage at 8 p.m. sharp. Their set list included: “Love Injection”, “Dancin’ On Coals”, “Someone Like You” and a blazing cover of the T. Rex hit “Twentieth Century Boy”. Singer Joe Leste’, the only original member of the band, proved that he still has a great voice which has held up through the decades. The band is rounded out by Ryan Seelbach and Michael Thomas on guitar (Thomas also joins Taime Downe and bandmates to play guitar in their lineup), Lance Eric on bass, and Timmy Russell on drums. As a whole the music was pretty solid and a great warm up to the rest of the show.
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Up next: L.A. Guns. I had been looking forward to the guitar wizardry of Tracii Guns, but I was unsure what to expect from new lead singer Marty Casey. I should have known the Guns would not let me down. Casey was great and really made the show his own. He electrified the crowd with his performance and when combined with the guitar skills of Guns it made for the highlight of the night. I was extremely impressed with the musicianship of the band, especially that of relative newcomer Alec “Big Al” Bauer on second guitar and Jeremy Guns on bass. Chad Stewart rounded out the group on drums and incredibly enough somehow has it in him to complete two shows per evening, as he also plays drums for Faster Pussycat. The set compiled an extraordinary list of songs including Guns’ hits, an awesome cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” with Tracii Guns and Casey playing an acoustic duo, and a rocked out version of the Lovehammer’s (Casey’s previous band)”Trees”. Do yourself a favor and get to this show, you will be amazed at Casey’s vocals and stage presence.
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After a very short change-over came headliners Faster Pussycat in full voice. The crowd was treated to quite an amusing retrospective (come on, it’s Taime Downe!) of the band’s entire career with songs ranging from “Babylon” to “Power of the Glory Hole”. Downe still throttles out vocals with his distinctive trademark sound, he was quite the consummate showman; playing to the receptive crowd at all times. Downe is the only original member remaining in Faster Pussycat and is joined by his Newlydead bandmates Xristian Simon on guitar and Danny Nordahl on bass. Doing double duty,as mentioned previously, are Michael Thomas (Bang Tango) on guitar and Chad Stewart (L.A. Guns) on drums. All in all they rocked and put on a great show, Downe brings a presence to the stage that I find difficult to compare to anyone else. And that is a good thing!
Attending this tour is a great way to hear some of the songs you remember from the past and still sing to this day, as well as hearing how the bands have grown since that time. All three have upcoming albums coming out soon and you get to hear some of the new material. There is no formal meet and greet on this tour, but as a bonus all the band members frequent the clubs after their set and are very cool guys. So if you want a picture or would just like to buy the guys a round, they will be easily found within minutes of leaving the stage.
SET LISTS:
BANG TANGO:
Twentieth Century Boy
Dancin’ On Coals
Love Injection
Dressed Up Vamp
Attack of Life
Wrap My Wings
Someone Like You
L.A. GUNS:
Over the Edge
No Mercy
One More Reason
Fire It Up
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
I Don’t Care (Brides of Destruction)
Electric Gypsy
Sex Action
Trees (Lovehammers)
Never Enough
Rip N Tear
FASTER PUSSYCAT:
Power of the Glory Hole
Cathouse
Slip of the Tongue
Number One With A Bullet
Porn Star
House of Pain
Where There’s A Whip, There’s A Way
Bathroom Wall
Shut Up and Fuck
Babylon
Related Links:
Pierre’s Entertainment Center
Bang Tango’s Official Website?
Bang Tango’s Official Myspace
The Official Website of L.A. Guns?
L.A. Guns’ Official Myspace?
L.A. Guns’ Forum?
The Official Website of Marty Casey
The Official Website of Fatser Pussycat?
Faster Pussycat’s Official Myspace
