BAD COMPANY : LIVE AT RED ROCKS

BAD COMPANY : LIVE AT RED ROCKS

Live for the Music
Feel Like Makin Love
Gone, Gone, Gone
Burnin' Sky
Electricland
Ready for Love
Crazy Circles
Seagull
Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy
Shooting Star
Movin' On
Can't Get Enough
Bad Company
Rock Steady

Label : BMG

Length : 72 minutes

Venue : Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Colorado, USA

Recording Date : May 15, 2016

Release Date : January 12, 2018

NTSC : 16:9

Review (Christian's Music Musing) : Paul Rodgers is one of my favorite male rock vocalists. So I was intrigued when a live album from Bad Company popped up under "New Releases" in my Apple Music last week. It turns out that while Live At Red Rocks appeared on iTunes and I assume other online/streaming platforms on January 12, it first went on sale exclusively at Wal-Mart last September. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, the CD/DVD set captures a May 15 show during the band's 2016 U.S. tour with Joe Walsh at the breathtaking Red Rocks Amphitheatre close to Denver. A concert review in the Denver Post noted that Walsh opened the night backed by a 10-piece band, telling the audience, "We'll get you sweaty and Bad Company will finish you off." This must have been one hell of a show! Rochester, N.Y. classic rock radio station WCMF 96.5 FM noted that while co-founder and ex-Mott The Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs is credited on the recording, he was no longer part of the band's lineup due to health issues. Rich Robinson of The Black Crows stood in for him. Also on guitar was touring musician Howard Leese, formerly with Heart, who has played with the Paul Rodgers Band and Bad Company since 2008. According to Wikipedia, the band's current lineup also includes Simon Kirke (drums), another co-founding member who played with Rodgers in Free; and Todd Ronning (bass). Time to get to some music. Feel Like Makin' Love is one of Bad Company's best known songs. Co-written by Rodgers and Ralphs, the tune is included on the band's second studio album Straight Shooter, which appeared in April 1975. It was also released separately as a single in August that year. Burnin' Sky is the title track from the band's fourth studio record from March 1977. It was written by Rodgers and also came out separately as the album's second single. Paul Rodgers is one of my favorite male rock vocalists. So I was intrigued when a live album from Bad Company popped up under "New Releases" in my Apple Music last week. It turns out that while Live At Red Rocks appeared on iTunes and I assume other online/streaming platforms on January 12, it first went on sale exclusively at Wal-Mart last September. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, the CD/DVD set captures a May 15 show during the band's 2016 U.S. tour with Joe Walsh at the breathtaking Red Rocks Amphitheatre close to Denver. A concert review in the Denver Post noted that Walsh opened the night backed by a 10-piece band, telling the audience, "We'll get you sweaty and Bad Company will finish you off." This must have been one hell of a show! Red Rocks Amphitheatre Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Col. Rochester, N.Y. classic rock radio station WCMF 96.5 FM noted that while co-founder and ex-Mott The Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs is credited on the recording, he was no longer part of the band's lineup due to health issues. Rich Robinson of The Black Crows stood in for him. Also on guitar was touring musician Howard Leese, formerly with Heart, who has played with the Paul Rodgers Band and Bad Company since 2008. According to Wikipedia, the band's current lineup also includes Simon Kirke (drums), another co-founding member who played with Rodgers in Free; and Todd Ronning (bass). Time to get to some music. Feel Like Makin' Love is one of Bad Company's best known songs. Co-written by Rodgers and Ralphs, the tune is included on the band's second studio album Straight Shooter, which appeared in April 1975. It was also released separately as a single in August that year. Here's a fairly decent video clip. Burnin' Sky is the title track from the band's fourth studio record from March 1977. It was written by Rodgers and also came out separately as the album's second single. Seagull is one of the acoustic tracks of the set. Another Rodgers/Ralphs co-write, it is the closer to Bad Company's eponymous studio album, which appeared in June 1974. During this live performance, Kirke joined Rodgers, Leese and Robinson on acoustic guitar and threw in a nice solo. Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy, another Bad Company classic, is from Desolation Angels, the band's fifth studio album released in March 1979. The tune, which was written by Rodgers, also was the record's lead single. The last track I'd like to highlight is Bad Company, the title track of the band's eponymous debut record. Co-written by Rodgers and Kirke, the song also became the album's third single. Rodgers' website currently lists four dates for 2018. One solo show is coming up this Saturday, January 20 in Bensalem, Pa. The remaining dates are Bad Company gigs: two in Florida in mid-February, and one in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic at the end of April. The last show sounds like an attractive proposition to me, especially with an outside temperature of 19F as I'm writing this!

Concert Review (The Know - Denver) : On Sunday night at Red Rocks, Joe Walsh and Bad Company rolled out a torrent of classic rock singles for the second stop on their fittingly titled One Hell of a Night tour. Deciding which act to bill as the headliner must've been a tough call, but Walsh strode on first in black leather pants. "Good morning!" he said to the crowd at dusk. "We'll get you sweaty and Bad Company will finish you off." Backed by ten musicians, including two drummers and four vocalists, Walsh opened with "I Can Play That Rock and Roll." Yes, he can. His set spotlighted tunes from his solo career, the James Gang, and Eagles songs including "Life in the Fast Lane" and "Take It To the Limit," dedicated to his late bandmate Glenn Frey. Walsh, an irreverent candidate for President of the United States in 1980 and vice-president in 1992, remains the brash and colorful character of old. Showing his chops on an impressive array of custom guitars, he performed a slide guitar solo snippet from "Bolero." His singular vocals were intact, as well as his quirky sense of humor. "If you don't know the words, sing something else. Anything. I don't care. Or just yell." Which fans did, even if most did know the words to "Life's Been Good To Me," "In the City" and more. Walsh, who once called Colorado home, did "Rocky Mountain Way" as his encore. It was a tough act to follow. Bad Company worked through their steamy hits "Feel Like Making Love," "Ready for Love" and "Shooting Star" before a cold rain began to fall. Paul Rodgers, one of rock's best frontmen, sounded strong as ever. By the time Bad Company did "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy," people were, in fact, "dancing in the aisles and singing out loud." Hard rock softened during a seductively layered all-strings version of "Seagull," with four players, including Rodgers, strumming acoustic guitars. The band's key, self-titled moment came during the encore when Rodgers sat at a grand piano and pounded out the iconic opening chords of "Bad Company." The Brits finished with "Rock Steady." One hell of a night, indeed.