Okay, I must admit I went begrudgingly to Jack’s Third Show with my friend Brad. It wasn’t the bands so much as the idea of driving down to Irvine… after an early day of Northwestern Football… 5-0 for the first time since 1962, baby!!! The line up… The Psychedelic Furs… okay, they have a few great songs… Twisted Sister, yeah, not so much… Fun, but silly… Blondie. Okay, I like Blondie. REO Speedwagon… I like their music, but my friend Brad plays them non-stop so I’ve hear it all… over and over and over… although, I have gotten him to a few Bruce shows and he now adds that into the mix. Billy Idol… yeah, I guess. Devo… I’ve never seen them before and even though the woman next to me told me they look like old, fat dads now, I was kind of excited to see them.
We get down to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre… formerly Irvine Meadows, and find a ton of booths and stands selling food and pricey drinks… but the parking was free… nice touch… and you were actually allowed to bring in one sealed bottle of water… we didn’t… and a baggie filled with food… didn’t do that either, so that’s our dumb fault. The first booth was for an Orange County Spa and I was all too happy to let the girl slather me with sunscreen… nope, did not bring that either.
The crowd was crazy eclectic and ranged from the very young, to our age of classic rockers, to a bit older. Lots of tattoos and lots of drunken, rebel yelling. And it was a little odd to see the two women in front of us getting their 60 year old moms stoned. But not too odd to see another young woman take her tube top down several times. Nice. I should have been a rocker!
The Furs were pretty good, except the vocal mix was off and the lyrics were hard to understand… and dang, they must have all been hot as they were all dressed in black. We both dug Richard Butler’s black jumpsuit. If only my mechanic could sing like that!
I wanted to walk around during Twisted Sister’s set and get some free shit that I did not need, but Brad convinced me to stay. And you know what… and get ready because I am going to curse here… I have no choice because that is what Dee Snider did… they were fucking awesome, and easily the highlight of the night. The drummer looks like he has seen a bit too much of the hard rock side of life, but Dee looked great, and when he said, “Not bad for fifty fuckin’ three years old” I nearly fell out of my seat. Man, I better get to the gym. They rocked hard and were having such a good time, you could not do anything other than rock right back and have a great time doing it. They also made a point of saying it was a no-cursing show… yeah, right with Dee at the mic. So in order to avoid arrest or at least make us all accessories (I think he was joking) Jay Jay made the crowd all shout “Oh Fuck” so we could join him in the slammer.
Blondie – After being a bit pitchy on her first number, she sounded great for the rest of the set.
REO – Always good and they did all their hits… although, I could easily skip a few of the new songs. And Kevin loses me when he gets preachy. His out of breath, talking falsetto lacks the resonance it needs to be taken seriously.
Billy Idol – Definitely had the most people on the sides of the stage to watch him, and he and the guitarist Steve Stevens definitely rocked. And yes, a bra made it’s way on stage, which he used to wipe off some sweat and then toss back to it’s very happy owner.
Devo – You know, they were the headliners and most of the crowd started leaving as they came on. That was rude. Although, I have to say… they did look like fat dads, and while it is hard to deny the musical prowess and the genius of Mark Mothersbaugh… after Whip It, we decided to hit the road, too… along with what seemed like a mass exodus. I felt kinda bad, but we were exhausted and still had an hour and a half ride ahead of us. And it seems they would have been a better fit after Blondie. Ah well. You can’t always get no… satisfaction. Hey, hey, hey…
All in all, it was a great day… and yes, Twisted Sister was fucking great. Man, it feels good to toss out a few F-bombs.
Marc's Muse 
Wait. Twisted Sister? This from the guy that turned me on to John friggin MAYER? Come on. They’re second only to Kiss. To say that they were the show stoppers, is to say you must have been real tired, and breathing in a lot “contact high” smoke. They’ve only got two songs, dude! The rest is filler. I lived in the same town as Dee Snyder. Baldwin, NY. Some of the kids I knew were in bands with him. Or not, because the general knowledge back then was that he sucked, pretty much. I was only about 12 and knew that. He used to deliver the Long Island Press newspaper to our house and it was my job to pay him (with my mom’s money of course) which I did reluctantly. He used to wear braces that rather resembled the track of the Long Island Railroad, and would eat Peanut Butter, Cream Cheese and Jelly sandwiches every single day, which would then get all stuck in said braces. You CAN’T make this kind of stuff up, people. You had to be there to believe it. And it’s all true. He had a pair of bell bottom jeans (remember those?) which eventually got too short for his growth spurt or whatever, and his mom sewed fabric “fringe” from the bottom of a couch around the cuffs to make them “longer.” Swear to god. Geeky then, geeky now. But hey…clever businessman, excellent career, big contributor to the music biz (speaking out against Tipper Gore in 88 or whenever that was, with Zappa) and really, an all ’round nice guy. I was speaking to one of my friends who was actually in the same grade as him, and he told me that Dee (Danny, in reality) actually considered thinking about possibly attending a recent class reunion, maybe. Unfortunately, he couldn’t because of scheduling conflicts. But hey! Someone got the email to his manager’s cousin’s nephew and sent an email that “Dee” or someone like him actually possibly answered. So, come on.
Hey Marc,
I was at Jack3 and agree with most of your comments on the day. I enjoyed TS too although never having been a big fan when I was younger. Dee looks better now than he did 20 years ago. Back then I considered him the 2nd ugliest man next to Pete Rose. I loved Blondie she’s an ICON like Chrissie Hyde and Annie Lennox but you’re right about the starting pitch. You are also right about Reo, they should have stayed with their hits, the new songs bite. They really stuck to the old school of rock finishing every song with the big drum fills. I think the highlight of the night was Billy Idol’s ‘White Wedding.’ We also left during Devo. It’s hard to watch a group of guys turn into your Uncle Clem. They should have kept running footage and images up on the board and not close-ups of them actually playing, they also should have lost the colored jumpsuits and worn black ones. Anyway, had a good time.
D
Oh and by the way, Billy Idol didn’t get the bra, it was REO – go figure?
Actually, they BOTH got bras. Kevin didn’t play with his as much. But hey, that’s what was hot back in the day.
I did not turn you on to John Mayer! Ewww… Okay, I like 5 songs of his, so get off my back! Yes, Twisted Sister has 2, maybe 3 “hits” but he looked great… well, aside from the face… he obviously works out for two hours a day and gives us younger guys hope that it’s not too late to get our rocker on… But the reason they made an impact is that they were having so much fun and being silly and not taking themselves seriously… and it is clear that he is a good guy… good to hear you say that… even with his blue streak of cusses… and the band has done a hell of a lot for the FDNY, especially in the weeks and months right after 9/11. So I say I am gonna take it! But we’re not gonna take this financial mess. See how I did that? Nice, huh?
Dude…you made me listen to John Mayer at your house. Don’t deny it.