RIDERS ON THE STORM
Sunset Amphitheater Henderson (Las Vegas), Nevada
Friday, August 26, 2005
This concert was a return engagement to Sunset Station's outdoor Sunset Amphitheater. Of course, they were The Doors of the 21st Century back when they played this venue on June 26, 2004 (read about it) As a result of the recent court ruling, the drum set was no longer adorned with D21C.
Several people from local radio station 97.1 The Point were onstage at 8:20 to introduce the show. They brought out a fan who had been the top winner of a station contest; he won front row seats!
At 8:30, O Fortuna began playing. The announcer introduced the band as Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors and Ian Astbury of The Cult as the band took the stage and launched right into Roadhouse Blues. The crowd were up on their feet and stayed there!
The fashion report: Ray was wearing dark slacks and a yellow short-sleeve tee-shirt. The image on the front looked like an organ grinder monkey wearing a hat. Ty Dennis was all in black up in the drum seat. Phil Chen wore a bright green shirt and dark slacks. Ian wore ripped jeans, a black tee-shirt with a white design on front, a camouflage jacket and a wide white headband. Robby was in white slacks topped with a cycling style shirt: short sleeves, zipper neck. The Doors logo in large white letters ran vertically down the front and the back, and a large image of Jim filled out the rest of the shirt on each side: a real nice looking shirt!! I hope they make that design available for sale.
Break On Through was next, followed by Love Me Two Times. Ian shed the camouflage jacket during the third song. When LM2X ended, Ray introduced Ian, Ty, Phil, and the "best guitar player I've ever played with" ... Robby Krieger. The audience cheered and then Ian said: "Excuse me ... FUCKING ROBBY KRIEGER" which got an even bigger appreciative audience response. Robby introduced Ray as originally being from Las Vegas by way of Chicago ... Raymond Daniel Manzarek!
The aisles between the sections were clogged with fans trying to get closer ... security was not hassling them to return to their seats.
Ian paced in circles in front of Ty's drums as the musicians began the opening chords of Not To Touch The Earth. Ian closed that song with: "Jim Morrison, The Lizard King ... he did everything." Ian was on maracas for Wild Child.
I was thrilled to get another performance of Eagle In The Whirlpool, which I heard for the first time last month in Temecula at the Pechanga Resort & Casino (read about it). Robby introduced it by saying "get your tapes running --- this is a new one!" I WISH that I had a recording of this song. (Does anyone have all the lyrics? If so, please send!) The audience stayed standing and dancing throughout this one ... like I observed last month, this song just fits perfectly into the set.
Ian began When The Music's Over with a scream and a huge leap off the drum riser. When it ended, Ian said that he wanted to say sincerely, what a privilege it is for him to sing that song!
Peace Frog gave us Robby scurrying back and forth across the stage. Touch Me had Ian giving the maracas a serious workout. When that song ended, Ray commented about that one being a radio single, and said they were going to do another radio song, one played on FM. As the band began L.A. Woman, Ray began a little chant over the opening bars that went something like, "what is the song, what is the song, it's famous, it's famous." Just before the Mr Mojo Risin section, Ian shouted, "this is for Jim, this is for Jim." Ian tossed part of a broken tambourine into the audience before the song ended and the band left the stage, at 9:35.
Band manager Tom Vitorino appeared at the mic and asked "Are you guys ready to go home? The band's right over there ... let them hear it." Sounds of thunder wafted out to signal their return to the stage for the now eponymous, Riders On The Storm. Ian said "We do this because we love it" ......
There was something going on right in front of the stage which caused Ian to enjoin someone in that area to 'leave the guy alone' several times. We couldn't see what was occurring, but Ian jumped down from the stage into the pit area, followed by Tom Vitorino. When that was over, a guy managed to make his way onstage to share a dance with Ian ... he was really good and security allowed him to continue dancing. A teenage boy in a 'young lion' shirt joined him dancing onstage, then a few more young guys. A few females eventually made it up there too, but by the time the song ended there were several dozen enthusiastic young men getting into the ROTS groove onstage. (A private shout-out to Clark, who made it on-stage for his second time ... the first being in Sioux City, Iowa). As the dancers left the stage at the end of the song, Ian thanked them and said it takes courage to dance!!
Ray asked the crowd what they wanted to hear before they tore into Light My Fire. As he has been doing, Ray played parts of his solo standing, or with his right foot, or with his right knee ... just rocking out as much as he could before he said "It's Robby's turn." Robby inserted the usual pieces of Elinor Rigby and My Favorite Things. They all crouched before Ian's return to vocals to finish out the song.
At 10:05 the band members linked up and took their bows for the crowd before exiting the stage. One more show to go, next Tuesday night in Lancaster, California, before they take a much-deserved break from touring for awhile.
by Ida 8/18/05
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