Sometimes a good show rolls into town on a Tuesday night. You may have to work the day of and the day after. So, what do you do? Skip the show and let work dictate your fun? Maybe waste some precious vacation or sick time? Well personally, I will not be a slave to the grind! I go to that damn show! And that damn show this time, was Sebastian Bach (of Skid Row of course!) at Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT.

Sebastian Bach has to be one of the greatest vocalists of the 80s and 90s. He was 19 when the first Skid Row album came out, and now he’s 56. So depressing because that means the album is 35 years old. I’ve seen the post break-up Skid Row a few times (and hung out with them once), and Sebastian twice (sorta) before tonight. The first time I saw Sebastian was in 2006 when he ran out on stage at the Hammerstein Ballroom to sing one song with Guns n Roses. That was unexpected and pretty awesome (and still a couple years before Chinese Democracy was ever released).

The next time I saw him, he was the opening act for a yet-to-be-reunited Guns n Roses stop in Worcester, Mass. This show was at “the DCU Center” but as Sebastian said that night, “The DCU Center!? What the f*ck is that!? This is the Worcester Centrum!” Add 16 or so years to the mix and I was glad to go see him again! And this time from only about 4 feet away.

First up was a band called The Bites. They definitely had a few fans in the crowd that knew all their songs and rocked out. I didn’t know this band, nor did most of the crowd, but this didn’t stop them from having fun and putting on a good show. They were an energetic band who ran around, told lame jokes, and played good ole gritty rock n roll. I’m glad to see rock bands still out there doing their thing.

Sebastian was next. If you ask me, he’s a rock star! When MTV still played music videos, he was all over that channel. Add this to all his various acting gigs (Gilmore Girls for one – though I’ve never seen an episode, and a bunch of Celebrity Reality shows), and he’s been well known for a long time.

He opened the show with a new song, What Do I Got to Lose? It’s a good tune off his newest solo album Child Within the Man. Next was an old favorite; Slave to the Grind. He started talking to the crowd at this point, and to my enjoyment, continued to chat throughout the night. He said the hardest part about doing Slave at this point in his career is trying too hard not to headbang. At 56, he said his back hurts too much to headbang or wear cowboy boots. Many more age jokes aimed at himself took place throughout the night.

The whole show, he was smiling, laughing, telling jokes, telling stories, and seemed to genuinely enjoy being on stage. It never felt forced or seemed as if he was going through the motions like many aging rockers. He also made it clear that unlike new music acts, “I don’t need a laptop to do my concerts!” Good ole rock n roll!

He did Here I Am, Big Guns, and Sweet Little Sister. After Sweet Little Sister he introduced the band and apparently his drummer is also the drummer for Franki Valli. So what do you with that info? You break into Oh What a Night. He pulled it off nicely.

Now, generally I try to keep my posts fairly clean so I’ll just point out that this next part is a quote. Before the next tune he said, “This next song is gonna make you cum in your pants!” Laughter ensued. “I actually came in my pants earlier which is why my pants are so sparkly.” More laughter. “I know one of you fuckers will have this posted on Blabbermouth tomorrow! Fucking Internet!” A lot more laughter. Then he played 18 and Life and it was awesome.

If you’re familiar with Skid Row then you know Sebastian had some amazing “pipes” as he calls them when it came to those loud, high, long notes. That dude has some crazy vocals. Like I said, he’s one of the best vocalists of the 80s and 90s if you ask me. He said it had taken him a good month to get his “Road Pipes” in shape and was happy with his performance. When there were epic notes coming up, he definitely hit them and held them. However, he may have skipped a line or at least a few words in the song prior to the harder parts. Many times, in a comical way, he took a big deep breath and feigned being winded after these epic notes were hit. He also snuck in some jokes about being light headed after these notes.

The show continued with Can’t Stand the Heartache, Piece of Me, Everybody Bleeds (new tune), Rattlesnake Shake, and The Threat. When they got to Monkey Business next, we got half the song. Then they transitioned into Rush’s Tom Sawyer, then came back and finished Monkey Business. After this was I Remember You but before playing it, he made mention of many rockers who have passed over the years like Eddie Van Halen, Lemmy, Neil Peart, Taylor Hawkins, Dio, and more. He briefly sang some Dio, then did a verse of Iron Maiden’s Children of the Damned.

After this they goofed around with another new one called (Hold On) to the Dream. He claimed the drummer didn’t know this one so it was going to be a rehearsal/workshop. They played a couple versus, had some more laughs, and eventually ended the set with Youth Gone Wild. No encore, but it wasn’t needed. With all the chatter, intros of songs, stories, and more, the show ended on a high note. There are more stops left on the tour, so get out there if you can. \m/