Night Ranger at the M3 Rock Festival
To my ears, and eyes, Night Ranger was the greatest surprise out of all of the bands at the M3 Rock Festival. From the opening moments of Night Ranger’s set where Jack Blades, Brad Gillis and Joel Hoekstra stood ready for attack over the the band’s stack of EVH Amps, I knew that this was going to be a rockin’ show. I had no idea that Night Ranger would be this good! I don’t know if being televised on HDNET had anything to do with it or not, but Night Ranger definitely brought their “A” game to the M3 Rock Festival.
Night Ranger’s set was awesome, and to me, they were easily one of the best bands on either day of the M3 Rock Festival. By the time Night Ranger finished their set which included the songs “Lay It On Me”, “Sing Me Away”, “Rumors in the Air”, Growin’ Up in California”, “Secret of My Success”, “Touch of Madness”, “Sentimental Street”, “Eddie’s Coming Out Tonight”, “High Enough”(Damn Yankees), “Four in the Morning”, “When You Close Your Eyes”, “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me”, and after a brief intermission, an encore with the songs “Sister Christian” and “(You Can Still) Rock in America”. I haven’t listened to Midnight Madness for a while, so getting to hear “Touch of Madness” live was a real treat!
Brad Gillis was an absolute monster on guitar. He is a tremendously under rated player that deserves more respect. I love how Kelly Keagy came off of the drum kit to sing a couple of songs. Jack Blades is a fantastic front man with great energy, and a voice that is absolutely perfect! Kelly Keagy still sounds great too. Joel Hoekstra is a lot of fun to watch. He looked like he was having a great time!
At the end of the set, I found myself upset and embarrassed that I had never seen Night Ranger live before. After their M3 performance, I will gladly drive out of my way to see Night Ranger play. I hope they get a chance to return to M3. They easily could have been the headliner Friday night. They put on an excellent show, and I won’t ever forget it!
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NR rocks!
Sure shit Night Ranger rocks live Rob – and they always, always have! There are so many, many 80s bands that really can’t pull it off live anymore – singers in particular – Dokken, Ratt, Van Halen, Slaughter – voices shot. Real travesty seeing these bands. Then there are bands like NR, Y&T, Stryper, & mighty Maiden who blister & whose singers can still nail a show.
I had the pleasure to finally see NR myself 2010 at Minot, ND Festival. Awesome!
They are on my must see list now!
I watched Night Ranger on Hdnet Friday night and watched them again Monday night since I had recorded it.Great show by a great band.Not just another nostalgia act going through the motions.I saw them three times back in the day(Dawn Patrol,Midnight Madness,and Seven Wishes tours).They kicked ass back then and they still do now.Very underrated band.
Rock On \m/ !
Scott
I’ve been seeing them live since 1987…last time was last Nov…they always KILL it onstage!!!!
I won’t ever miss them again after seeing how good they ere at M3!
Oh Ya, Great review and pics Rob. Thanks for sharing Brother. 🙂
Your welcome! =)
I was at my Moms while the M3 concert was on. I happened to catch Quiet Riot and Lynch Mob. But had no idea Night Ranger was going to play or I would have made more of an effort to see them. Love their music!! \m/
I watched Night Ranger again on the HDNet broadcast and they sounded pretty amazing. =)
Thank you very much for sharing these AWESOME pictures of NIGHT RANGER at the M3 Rock Festival…. COOL PICTURES…
PEACE 🙂
ANGEL
I totally agree Rob! Big surprise at how much ass Night Ranger kicked!
High energy and sounded great! I’m not a big fan, but loved the set and much respect for them!