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Setlist
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Still going after over thirty years, the down boys are still serving up their musical cherry pie- but is that pie still fresh, or now completely stale…?
Los Angeles glam metal band Warrant has been around since 1984, with its biggest success happening in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, and amazingly, all of the living members of the best-known lineup, are still in the band today.
Singer Jani Lane left a few times in the 2000s and passed away in 2011, with ex-Lynch Mob singer Robert Mason taking over the lead helm, since 2008. Headlining Mystic Lake Casino’s Rock, Brats and Beer Festival, the band still proved to be a live crowd-pleaser.
Though I’d seen the band numerous times in their heyday (including being at the Kansas City show where their ‘Heaven’ video was filmed), I had yet to see them since their reforming and with Mason on vocals. Drummer Steven Sweet was notably absent, still recovering from a surprise burst appendix the week before, though the band was still firing on all cylinders.
The five-piece opened their eighty minute set with ‘Big Talk’, from their 1989 Columbia Records debut, going next into the title track, with guitarists Joey Allen, Erik Turner, and Jerry Dixon still occasionally posing and moving in sync, like they did some three decades ago.
The band’s breakout debut single, ‘Down Boys’ was next, with the blonde Mason shaking his hair to and fro and more than ably taking on the vocals, authentic to the version people associate from hearing on the radio.
Mason’s voice has more range than Lane’s did, though is more of a pure screamer, versus Lane’s more nuanced vocals, especially on the ballads, but Mason is no less an entertaining showman and he obviously controls his any vices, much more than Lane ever could.
Mason needed no reminder as to where he was either, as the band’s outdoor stage faced the casino hotel, with its logo in fire red blazoning the night. While most bands still frown on use of cell phones and filming, Mason encouraged everyone to take out their phones and film during ‘Heaven’, hoping they’d post the clips on social media and sing along to the song in the process.
Though the band hasn’t released an album since 2011’s Rockaholic, they are putting the finishing touches on a new studio release due in 2017, and played the opening ‘Sex Ain’t Love’ from the most recent album, which was well received by the mostly middle-aged, beer-drinking crowd and featured an extended guitar solo.
With so many radio hits played earlier in the set, the last third dragged a bit, with ballads ‘I Saw Red’ and ‘Blind Faith’ (the latter dedicated to ailing drummer Sweet) sandwiching ’32 Pennies’, the first song on the first Warrant album. “Would you like to take a trip? …someplace hot and swampy”, Mason asked before the backwoods guitar intro of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ started up.
After teasing guitar licks of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Mason asked everyone to sing along to the evening closer, ‘Cherry Pie’, which most in the crowd were happy to oblige, easily recalling the chorus and unforgettable (for better or worse) music video.
Warrant had more than done their job on this crisp fall evening- rocking out with a beer-drinking, bratwurst-eating crowd in a casino parking lot, taking many back down to memory lane with the songs you could not escape on radio twenty-five years ago, and reminded everyone that there was even more new music to come.
Though musical tastes have come and gone, the band is still entertaining, and unlike some contemporaries of their era, still retains a key lineup and certain freshness which makes catching them live, worthwhile.
Los Angeles glam metal band Warrant has been around since 1984, with its biggest success happening in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, and amazingly, all of the living members of the best-known lineup, are still in the band today.
Singer Jani Lane left a few times in the 2000s and passed away in 2011, with ex-Lynch Mob singer Robert Mason taking over the lead helm, since 2008. Headlining Mystic Lake Casino’s Rock, Brats and Beer Festival, the band still proved to be a live crowd-pleaser.
Though I’d seen the band numerous times in their heyday (including being at the Kansas City show where their ‘Heaven’ video was filmed), I had yet to see them since their reforming and with Mason on vocals. Drummer Steven Sweet was notably absent, still recovering from a surprise burst appendix the week before, though the band was still firing on all cylinders.
The five-piece opened their eighty minute set with ‘Big Talk’, from their 1989 Columbia Records debut, going next into the title track, with guitarists Joey Allen, Erik Turner, and Jerry Dixon still occasionally posing and moving in sync, like they did some three decades ago.
The band’s breakout debut single, ‘Down Boys’ was next, with the blonde Mason shaking his hair to and fro and more than ably taking on the vocals, authentic to the version people associate from hearing on the radio.
Mason’s voice has more range than Lane’s did, though is more of a pure screamer, versus Lane’s more nuanced vocals, especially on the ballads, but Mason is no less an entertaining showman and he obviously controls his any vices, much more than Lane ever could.
Mason needed no reminder as to where he was either, as the band’s outdoor stage faced the casino hotel, with its logo in fire red blazoning the night. While most bands still frown on use of cell phones and filming, Mason encouraged everyone to take out their phones and film during ‘Heaven’, hoping they’d post the clips on social media and sing along to the song in the process.
Though the band hasn’t released an album since 2011’s Rockaholic, they are putting the finishing touches on a new studio release due in 2017, and played the opening ‘Sex Ain’t Love’ from the most recent album, which was well received by the mostly middle-aged, beer-drinking crowd and featured an extended guitar solo.
With so many radio hits played earlier in the set, the last third dragged a bit, with ballads ‘I Saw Red’ and ‘Blind Faith’ (the latter dedicated to ailing drummer Sweet) sandwiching ’32 Pennies’, the first song on the first Warrant album. “Would you like to take a trip? …someplace hot and swampy”, Mason asked before the backwoods guitar intro of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ started up.
After teasing guitar licks of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Mason asked everyone to sing along to the evening closer, ‘Cherry Pie’, which most in the crowd were happy to oblige, easily recalling the chorus and unforgettable (for better or worse) music video.
Warrant had more than done their job on this crisp fall evening- rocking out with a beer-drinking, bratwurst-eating crowd in a casino parking lot, taking many back down to memory lane with the songs you could not escape on radio twenty-five years ago, and reminded everyone that there was even more new music to come.
Though musical tastes have come and gone, the band is still entertaining, and unlike some contemporaries of their era, still retains a key lineup and certain freshness which makes catching them live, worthwhile.
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Setlist |
Warrant |
Warrant |
Warrant |
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Warrant at Mystic Lake Casino, Prior Lake, MN (15 Oct 2016) |
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