Melodic Rock Fest 4 roared into Arlington Heights, Illinois last weekend and I had the pleasure of having all access for the event.
First off I'd like to say that Stan rarely performs live in the states outside of Botcon so this was certainly a treat. Melodic Rock Fest was held at House of Music and Entertainment AKA H.O.M.E. Bar. It was located in a small shopping center and seemed like a neighborhood pub, until you walked in. Over the past 14 years I have gone to hundreds of concerts and I have to say this was one of the cooler venues yet. The front half was a restaurant (with beer drafts right at the table
) and the back section, which was located in a separate room, was the concert venue.
There was a good crowd for the size of the venue, maybe 50 to 80 people (I am horrible at guessing crowd sizes by the way). Some people in the audience were not familiar with Stan, but as soon as you mentioned the songs he wrote and who covered them, everyone knew who he was. One of Stan's songs, entitled "Love Don't Lie" was covered by the late 1980's band House of Lords (who were discovered and signed by Gene Simmons of KISS). Another song, entitled "All American Boy" was covered by the band Y&T, who just celebrated their 40th anniversary (Their big hit in the 80's was a song called "Summertime Girls").
Some fans in the audience were wearing Transformers shirts (myself included) but tonight wasn't about the Transformers, it was a chance to see one of the most under rated singer/songwriters/guitarist in the melodic rock genre.
Stan took the stage around 9:15 PM with his backing band, Talon. He started his 75 minute set with the title track off his latest album, "The Ultimate". As the night went on, everyone had their fists up in the air and was really getting into the music, which was awesome to see.
He dove into his back catalog and broke out some songs from his Stan Bush and Barrage days like "Heaven" and "Primitive Lover"...which if you are a fan of melodic rock, I highly suggest you check out the album "Stan Bush and Barrage"
Set List:
The Ultimate
Heaven
Something To Believe
Heat of the Battle
Unstoppable
Primitive Lover
Love Don't Lie
I'll Never Fall
Thunder In Your Heart
Dare
The Touch
------
In This Life
Here are a few photographs from the evening. Videos will be coming soon!
