Rockin' Out: Kix @ The Crazy Donkey 03/05/10

Normally I start off my concert reviews with some terrible pictures of the band or bands taken with my Blackberry, but for this one I wanted to share images of the ticket stubs from the last time I saw Kix play live. It was at The Patriot Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA on December 28, 1991. Not only was it a great, great show, but my friend Matt and I were lucky enough to meet Kix's singer Steve Whiteman right after their set and get his autograph on our ticket stubs. This was not an easy feat at a 10,000 seat arena, but we pulled it off and were over the moon about meeting the guy. Now here I am about 19 years later writing about seeing Kix at a less than 1000 capacity rock club on Long Island. Like 99% of the bands lumped into the "hair metal era", Kix is well past their height of popularity, but I'll be damned if they don't still play like they are playing to 10,000 people regardless of how many are actually in the room.

And now the crappy Blackberry pics:





Friday night or Night #1 of what had come to be known as "Metal Weekend", Kix came out swinging and didn't stop until the final notes of the live favorite "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" from their debut album. With the exception of a brief drum solo from Jimmy Chalfant and a guitar duel between Ronnie Younkins and Brian Forsythe (who have really mastered the art of stealing Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood's fashion sense), it was a greatest hits parade for Kix fans in attendance as the band mostly stuck to material from their two best albums (and most well known), Midnite Dynamite and Blow My Fuse. As evidenced by a few of the above photos, you can see that the band even got some scantily clad women to dance around with them during a song or two just like it was the 80s. My guess is that the girls dancing had absolutely no clue who Kix was (and could probably care less too) and it was actually fairly creepy to watch the guys in the band (who have to be at least in their late 40s, early 50s at this point) ogle at these 20-something women while they danced. Regardless of the creepiness factor, it was still all in good fun from the vantage point of the crowd and did nothing but aid the atmosphere of an already fun rock n roll show.

This show really took me back to my youth and I had a great deal of fun watching these "old guys" kick out the jams like they were still in their glory days.

I've written more extensively about Kix in an old post, so check that out if you want to know more about the band and their music. If you consider yourself a fan of 80s hair metal and 70s hard rock, then they are absolutely essential listening.

And just one random side note, I hope that Kix's singer Steve Whiteman starts eating some more because that dude is unnaturally skinny. Like, unhealthy looking. Somebody needs to get that guy on a cheeseburger diet ASAP.

"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah"



"Don't Close Your Eyes"



"Midnite Dynamite"