The Metal Files

What a fun night in general. When this tour first got announced, I had no real intentions of seeing this show, mainly because of location, I’m not much of a Cinderella fan and I’ve seen Guns and Pussycat several times. Then Shawn Duncan (Odin/DC4) joined Guns on drums and my decision to attend was made. I’ve been friends with Shawn for a long time and hadn’t seen him in several years.

I got to the venue pretty early to try and hang out with him. He said the bands have been pretty strict on COVID protocols but he’d figure it out. Fortunately was outside when I rolled up and we hung out for a bit and got to catch up. Love that dude.

As we were standing outside their bus, my friend Kurt walked up who is a manager at the venue. I had no idea. We first met at a Drivin’ ‘n Cryin’ show years ago. We also got to catch up, I introduced him to Shawn and we hung out for a bit and drank a beer in the parking lot. He handed me a VIP wristband, too. SWEET!

Shawn needed to get ready for the show and I needed to get to will call for my ticket (Thanks Shawn!). My old friend Robyn was working the guest list table, saw the wristband and just walked me into the venue ahead of the line. Feeling like a true VIP at this point. She showed me around the venue and let me know what access the wristband gave me, which was pretty much side stage view, but that also gave me a spot to sit if needed. It was great to see her, too.

BFF Lisa and her husband Matt get in and we’re all seeing friends all around. I got to see several folks I hadn’t seen in years which was nice.

Pussycat comes on and sound pretty good, maybe better than I have heard in years. The 2 newer guitarists were smashing the backup vocals perfectly. Taime’s voice sounded good, too. Clean living has helped him a lot.

Guns came on and I went to the side stage area so I could watch Shawn play. The whole band sounded great and he’s a perfect fit with them on drums. Tracii is such a great player, too. I’ve always felt he deserved more recognition. Great set overall.

I went back out and found Lisa and Matt. Kurt had hooked me up with another VIP wristband when I told him that she was a huge Cinderella fan. “I got you, no worries.” So off we went to side stage to watch Keifer. He put on a solid set and his backing band was great. The drummer is a beast. Tom’s a talented guy, can seemingly play anything well, but I’ve always hated his voice. I was surprised that he’s been able to maintain that screech so well, though. Lisa really enjoyed the set, so that’s all I cared about.

After the show, said goodbyes to some friends and the 3 of us went to bus area to say goodbye to Shawn. Security tried to give me some guff but we didn’t go anywhere. haha. Shawn came out, I introduced him to Matt and Lisa, gave him a hug and we left.

It was a great night overall. The Haute Spot is a great venue overall. Even tho it was so hot out, the trees, fans and misters kept it comfortable enough.