About the Cleveland Concert

[sthom3521]

Wow! They were ON tonight and loose! Wally's night too with perfect guitar line on "If you change your mind." I think I heard him say "perfect." I have never heard him sound better.

And to Marc and family. I really enjoyed meeting you guys. We will stay in touch.

Steve

[MJ]

Glad to hear you had a great time - I look forward to hearing everyone's reviews!!! Keep them coming!

[hollies65]

One of the best concerts I've ever seen. Opening the show with 'Tonight' and just steamrolling after that. There were approx 2200-2300 strong there and the crowd gave The Raspberries plenty of love. What blew my mind was a GREAT Raspberries version of 'That's Rock & Roll'... I mean it was great. Met Danny S...Austinberries...Tim From Wisc...Chris Hess DianeD and many other...all top notch people. I had to leave early because of a sitter problem...BUT I left later than I was supposed to so I could hear 'Ecstasy' What a show!

[Trindy]

I can concur...whoo boy, what a wonderful show!

I have one thing to say and I told Bernie this and quite a few other people: I never want to hear these guys say again that Cleveland doesn't appreciate them! I was proud of my city tonight. They turned out in droves for this one. More so than I even thought they would.

Set list:

Tonight
Play On
It's Cold Outside
I Wanna Be With You
Let's Pretend
Ticket To Ride
Nobody Knows
If You Change Your Mind
That's Rock 'N' Roll
All By Myself

Intermission (requested by Playhouse Square, as Eric said)

Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)
Party's Over
I Can Remember
Last Dance
I'm A Rocker
Should I Wait
I Don't Know What I Want
Ecstacy

Encore

Substitute
Go All The Way

The venue was perfect (isn't the whole Playhouse Square complex something?), the seats were packed, and people were springing up out of their seats after every song...standing Os all night...those in the cheap seats were clapping their hands and the rest were rattling their jewelry...it was fantastic. No sound problems, no equipment problems. The boys were all in fine form--Wally's guitars doing their banshee wail and hypnotic chime, Jim pounding holes through the floor, Dave just being the amazing Dave, the Overdubs once again giving a stellar performance, and Eric was on a great magical wavelength (you should've heard his lion's roar: "I want it NOOOOOOOOOW!..."). He did have another senior moment with the lyrics to "If You Change Your Mind" but just sang the third and fourth lines of the first verse where he would ordinarily put the ones from the second verse he sang the first time out...nice save! He also came close to knocking over his mic stand during "I'm a Rocker" but all went well. And I never heard a crowd go as nuts over "All By Myself" as this one. And I'm here to tell you: "That's Rock 'n' Roll," when performed by these guys, is just too cool. Could this be the mystery "third song"? I don't know. All I know is, I had no idea when I posted the information about the pre-show get-together that when for some reason I decided to start out by saying "Well come on, everybody, get down and get with it," I was channeling something...

Speaking of Otto Moser's, I don't think they know what hit 'em. We'll have to see if they ever let us in again...LOL. The group there was incredible...we must have had what, 45 people, maybe 50. Unbelievable. The one of my sisters who was able to attend, and my cousin, even joined us, and Marcus, thanks again, and you know for what! Diane, thanks for the buttons! Everyone else, thanks for your company, and I'll see some of you at the Rock Hall tomorrow at 11! Right now, I gotta rest...zzzzzzzz...

[Trindy]

Oh, and one more thing...when I saw them in New York the first night, I noticed they played a foreshortened version of "I'm a Rocker," in which they didn't pass solos around during the bridge. Tonight they went back to the extended version with the guitars taking turns soloing (and Billy's harmonica too, of course). Sounded fantastic.

[chris hess]

dittos to everything above..YOU'R ALL classy people and new friends..and yeah,what a frickin rockin night..the band was hot to say the least..i'll never forget it as long as i live.thank you..lol,chris

[chris hess]

trindy and hollies,i gotta agree w/you.."that's rock n roll" blew me away too!! i thought it sounded so "natural" as a band to play that..it rocked better than ever as far as i'm concerned!!lol,chris

[MAM]

AND, Wally went back to playing his Flying V the majority of the time, just like in the old days!

Sounded GREAT! The sound system was kickin' butt too. What a fabulous concert. We were smiling and singing all the way home. Thank you Eric, Wally Dave & Jim .... wonderful show!

[GMan]

Oh man!!!!!!! That's really great to hear. I'm glad everyone got a chance to see Raspberries rockin' the joint!! Eric promised a kick ass show and it sounds like he made true on his promise!!

[marie]

This was my first Raspberries concert and was THE best concert I have ever attended. The crowd was huge and completely energized. The sound was amazing and the venue was perfect.When Eric did the extended version of ABM people were just flipping out. Also during ABM, I loved how people were screaming for Jim just before the drum solo (is that part called a solo?). I had to have good seats for this show and it was worth every penny to be able to see the the band members up close. I was right in front of Wally, and I think he must have had many relatives in the audience, because at one point a woman shouted out "good job uncle Wally!" I am delighfully hoarse today from screaming after every song. It was an experience I will never forget.

[Tiggsherby]

I wished I'd have been there, sounds like it was phenomenal!

...will we get another chance to see them again anytime soon....???

[Jenny309]

Wow, last nite at the State Theatre was really a very good performance. Iv been to FOUR (4) Clev shows thus far. AS OF NOW, the band appears Polished, tight and HIT all their lines perfectly. They are ROAD-Ready, lol if they decide to "TOUR". I thought all the guyz looked very good, esp Eric, he is just darling for a man in his 50's and Eric continues to defy his critics because he sings as well as he did in his 20's, BRAVO !!! We were sitting in a Loge front row, upper-deck, infront of Mezzannine seats and it was simply amazing. I couldnt believe my ears when Eric sat down to play "All By Myself" Billy Sulivan & Wally shared lead and it was haunting as I listened to their guitar solo's. I am very glad to see some of Eric's solo masterpieces beggining to surface into Raspberries LIVE shows. The Band & Supporting musicians looked and performed flawlessly. NOW, for GLITCH's...some minor P.A. QUE problems. Im not sure if the person directing the P.A. had a good "FEEL" for Raspberries songs or atleast how they sound on CD/Vinyl or possibly the song list was changed. Sometimes Wally's LEAD guitar Mic was BURIED or Lead Vocal or HArmony was BURIED, and Im not sure what the Crowd down below heard, but aside from subtle Mis-Que's with the MiC's my husband and I were very pleased. One thing that really bother's me is when Wally get's upset on stage, ie. They Opened with TONITE...just and amazing intro. It was perfect and near flawless, but for some reason Wally was reacting very Oddly/Angrily on stage. It appeared so Unprofessional. The poor Roadie ran out to fix the problem that was obviously MINOR during the song, but what disturbed us was that you could actually see Wally aggressively interact with his Roadie...that tongue-lashing could have waited till the end of the song Wally, certainly NOT during the Intro to the show. Moreover, I dont think Eric appreciated the few Rowdy Fans yelling-out obnoxious BLURTS inbetween songs or during Erics delicate Piano solo's/ intro's. Overall, you could not hav noe asked for a more perfect venue for a LIVE show. We've seen many LIVE musical performances at the State Theatre and even Seinfeld a few years back. The Raspberries State Theatre concert was worth every penny, Nice Job Guyz! xxox jen

[Keith Nivan]

Great news!

Wish I could have joined you guys for the show in my long lost and loved Hometown.

"K"

Berries: "Won't you please come to Chicago ..."

[LC]

Trindy, Steve, Jenny, Mam, Hollies65, Chris---thanks for the quick reports on the show! Man, I wish I could have made it....

Trindy, that set list looks like the one we saw in NY, right? Except with the addition of That's Rock'n'Roll, and with songs maybe moved around a bit....

Anyway, sounds like a great time was had by all. Glad to hear Cleveland "gave it up" for Raspberries.... A sold-out show would have been the ultimate, but 2000-2200 ain't bad at all.

Onward and upward!

[hollies65]

I didn't even notice Wally yelling at a roadie... Oh well, what seems minor to a person watching may seem like a much bigger deal when you're a player playing before thousands in your hometown.

[Trindy]

I didn't notice it either...and I don't think they had serious sound issues...then again I'm not a purist on this stuff...maybe every once in a while someone got a little buried but not enough to bother me, and certainly it wasn't like the Nautica show where you could tell it was Amateur Night on the board...it was just fantastic.

[marvin]

So "That's Rock and Roll" finally got it's Raspberries baptism, and I missed the ceremony!?! Well here's hoping for another chance.

[chris hess]

i did notice wally goin off a li,but it did'nt seem that bad..the sound,i,along w/hollie,walked around and listened from different angles,and thought it was pretty flawless myself..actually pretty damn awesome..and the sounboard was so small it was freaky!! lol,chris

[chris hess]

by the way,who was the great young lady from canada who had everyone sign her poster?..her name slips me now(sorry) but she was a joy(and friend too) to talk to..so much young enthusiasm and kindness!!lol,chris

[MAM]

It appeared as though the wireless system for Wally's guitar was cutting out during the first few measures, but it was fixed instantly. Yeah Marv, "That's R&R" sounded killer! Wally did a great opening for it that was pure rock and roll.

Only issue I had with the PA was I couldn't hear the bass vocal part that Dave sang on "Hit Record". Other than that the PA was pretty much spot on.

Who was the guy with the cool homemade shirt with all the Raspberrie album covers on it? That was sharp!

Oh yeah, there was the idiot sitting directly behind me who kept yelling "Eric!" throughout the evening. Somebody shoulda stuffed a sock in her mouth.

Absolutely the best I've ever heard them, and I've heard them a buncha times.

[John Shaft]

Everybody pretty much nailed it on the head! This show ruled. Period. It was great to see them on a big stage and everything that one would have wanted to hear was played. On top of that it was my birthday and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday gift! A big thanks to all who came up and said hello (I guess the Purple Hat makes it easier to find somebody) and a BIG thank yo to Kathy for buying me a martini for my birthday! A good... no GREAT time was had by all!

Cheers,

JS

[marvin]

So good to hear that everyone had a great time and that the band was 'on.' Congratulations to everyone involved!

[MJ]

I just heard from DianeD about the show - if everyone is as thrilled and excited as she was to experience it - I am so happy for all of you!!! They just seem to be getting better somehow after each show!!! How can they possibly top themselves now??? I don't know but I WANNA SEE IT LMAO!!!................

[Tim From Wisconsin]

Well... I made it back safely driving back to Wisconsin. With the impending winter storm in the mid-west, I left my Hotel at 3:45am and got here about 7 1/2 hours later. It was clear sailing until Indiana, then it was on and off snow the rest of the way. I decided to swing by my office to put a quick post on the Board before I go home and pass out!

As everyone has mentioned, it was an amazing show. I concur that Wally was not "mad", he was just trying to alert someone that his guitar was cutting in and out at the beginning. I was in the 2nd row directly in front of him, and there was not a bit of anger from him - just a few seconds of frustration.

Not knowing that they were going to do the show in 2 parts, I took a peek at the set list on the stage before they started and I was upset at all the songs they were going to "skip" - Once I knew there would be a second list of songs placed for the next set, I felt a little stupid - but happy.

From beginning to end, the show was fantastic! I loved seeing the guys having some laughs on stage - It was fun to watch Eric doing the "Beatle head shake" during "Ticket To Ride" and looking over at Wally laughing! As others have said, the shows seem to get better and better. These guys don't just play the songs, they attack them with such power that you can't help but get swept up by them - It was hard to stay seated during most of the show!

To all of the fellow Board members I saw, you are some fantastic people (If I start naming people, I know I'll forget someone)! I can't wait to spend time with my Raspberries family again soon.

To the band... I can't even think of the correct words to thank you for coming together for these shows - This would include the Overdubs and the crew!

Tim

[Leff'tHome]

The show was just plain awesome! "That's Rock and Roll" just blew me away but so did everything else the guys played. Tim, didn't your mom ever tell you not to peek? Santie won't bring you any surprises! Glad you made it home okay -- now get some sleep!