Date: Friday, March 22, 2019
City: St. Charles, IL
Venue: Arcada Theatre
Opening act(s): TD Clark
Headlining act: Last In Line
Last In Line Setlist:
Landslide
Stand Up And Shout
Straight Through The Heart
Year Of The Gun
Holy Diver
Black Out The Sun
The Last In Line
Martyr
Starmaker
Evil Eyes
Egypt (The Chains Are On)
Rainbow In The Dark
———————
Don’t Talk To Strangers
Devil In Me
We Rock
Notes:
- The concert was originally scheduled for March 29, but was rescheduled due to Def Leppard’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
- Third band with which I’ve seen Vivian Campbell perform, as I’ve seen him with Def Leppard 57 times, Thin Lizzy once, and now Last In Line three times. I’ve also seen him perform live with Leppard openers in 2003 (Ricky Warwick) and 2011 (Evan Watson), making Vivian the musician I’ve seen perform the most.
- Last In Line also featured original Dio (and former Black Sabbath) drummer Vinny Appice along with Andrew Freeman on vocals and Phil Soussan on bass.
- First time seeing “Landslide,” “Year Of The Gun,” and “Black Out The Sun” live.
- I saw “Black Out The Sun” performed live at soundcheck before the April 21, 2018 show at the same venue.
- The set featured six original Last In Line songs along with nine Dio covers (five from 1983’s Holy Diver and four from 1984’s The Last In Line; no songs from 1985’s Sacred Heart, the last Dio album to feature the original lineup, were performed).
- Concert #123; Last In Line concert #3.
- Show #3 at this venue; first since April 21, 2018.
Videos:
Review:
Fresh off the release of their excellent sophomore album, aptly titled II, Last In Line returned to the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, IL for the third time in three years.
But it wasn’t without a lot of last minute work put in by the venue, which was closed down by the city just a day ago due to safety code violations. The closure on Thursday forced the postponement of a Jackyl concert. Those violations were remedied on Friday in time for the venue to pass inspection and reopen, allowing the Last In Line show to go on.
The venue is interesting, to say the least, since it dates back to the 1920’s. In some places, that shows, so I’m not surprised if there are any types of building code violations. But the historical aspect makes it a neat place so hopefully all of its issues are cleared up so it can continue to operate.
Last In Line is the only band I’ve seen there so for, but they have certainly brought along some interesting opening acts… The 2017 show featured a local performer and his band doing a selection of covers. In 2018, rock guitarist Michael Angelo Batio put on a circus act performance with some of the craziest guitars I’ve ever seen.
For 2019, we wound up with TD Clark… He’s a rock guitarist that normally tours with The TD Clark Band… But apparently they were called to open this show on such short notice that the band couldn’t make it. Instead, TD Clark took the stage by himself and played guitar along to recorded backing tracks.
It was somewhat bizarre to watch but he was certainly a good guitarist. There were no vocals on any songs, though he did banter with the crowd between songs. There were definitely some douche bags in the crowd shouting nonsense at him.
There were a few Spinal Tap-esque moments, including Clark getting his guitar wire wrapped around the mic stand and then pulling it over in the middle of a song (but he caught it!) and someone shouting “nice catch!” only for him to start talking about his vest. At first I thought he was jokingly mistaking ‘catch’ for ‘vest’ but it turns out he was completely sincere.
Despite the douche bags in the crowd, he had a pretty good reception, especially for a guy shredding guitar by himself on stage.
Last In Line took the stage around 9:15 and opened with “Landslide,” the lead single from the II album.
That was immediately followed by two Dio classics, “Stand Up And Shout” and “Straight Through The Heart.” Of course that really got all the old metal heads in the crowd going.
Guitarist Vivian Campbell was once again having the time of his life on stage. His cancer diagnosis was over six years ago now and it hasn’t slowed him down at all. Obviously he loves his time in Leppard, but Last In Line allows him to return to his roots and stretch his wings with more challenging material to play. Not to mention, it’s all his own.
Speaking of which, another new song, “Year Of The Gun,” followed and sounded great live.
Considering the set remained unchanged between the 2017 and 2018 shows, it was nice to get at least a few different songs this evening.
Each new song was smartly followed by a classic, and “Year Of The Gun” was followed by the metal anthem “Holy Diver.” It’s always a highlight of the set and tonight was no different.
Over the last two years, I’ve been fortunate to have the chance to do the VIP experience for Last In Line, which featured attending soundcheck, a meet & greet, photos, and autographs. This year I wasn’t able to make that happen, as Brittany and I will be making the trip to Brooklyn, New York to see Def Leppard’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. In fact, tonight’s Last In Line show was originally scheduled for March 29 but had to be moved up a week due to the ceremony.
So with the wife’s PTO limited for this month, I had to sacrifice the VIP for this show. Last year, we were treated to a performance of “Black Out The Sun” nearly a year before the song’s release on II. Tonight, it was included in the setlist as the third and final song from the album to be featured.
Band introductions followed along with the band and crowd singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to vocalist Andrew Freeman, as today was his birthday.
“The Last In Line” once again featured a huge singalong from the crowd.
I had peeked at the set from the band’s last run in February, and it suggested a 14 song set. But thankfully there was one surprise left, as “Martyr” was unexpectedly played.
Perhaps they had been playing that song on the last run too, but the only set I looked at didn’t include it and I was happy to hear it again.
Granted I would have liked to have heard some different stuff from Heavy Crown, but oh well.
One song that can never leave the setlist is “Starmaker,” which is still the band’s best song as far as I’m concerned. Bassist Phil Soussan took to the mic to honor late bassist Jimmy Bain, whose photo was shown on the screen before the song was dedicated to him.
A double-dose of tracks from Dio’s The Last In Line followed as “Evil Eyes” and the epic “Egypt (The Chains Are On)” both gave Vivian a chance to unleash.
The main set closed out with the metal classic “Rainbow In The Dark” before a brief encore.
The band returned with “Don’t Talk To Strangers” before returning to their debut album Heavy Crown and their first ever single, “Devil In Me.” Only six of the 15 songs in the set were Last In Line originals. I get that the majority of the crowd will likely be there to hear the Dio material, but honestly I’d much rather hear this band’s originals. The biggest Dio songs should remain of course, but hopefully this band will focus more and more on their own material as their discography grows.
The set once again closed with “We Rock,” only this time Andrew jumped off stage and ran through the crowd. So even though I didn’t get to do the meet & greet this time around, I still got a high-five from him… A very hard one at that.
Following the song, the band said their goodnights.
The crowd was once again excellent, as they have been all three times Last In Line has performed in this venue. I wouldn’t be shocked if they returned next year, hopefully with a different setlist (featuring more Heavy Crown and II songs along with some different Dio material, if necessary).
As usual, it was a fantastic show. Vivian is one of my favorite guitarists and I’ve been very lucky to see him in multiple bands, showing off his full talent in more ways than one.
Now, back to the day job as he and the rest get cemented in rock history…
Venue News:
Arcada Theatre OK’d for weekend shows, but ‘there’s still a way to go’ with building
The show will go on … for now.
St. Charles officials have given operators of the Arcada Theatre a temporary occupancy permit for the weekend.
“The critical issues, that required the theater to be shut down, have been addressed,” St. Charles Fire Chief Joe Schelstreet said. “There’s still a way to go with this.”
Inspectors will be back on Monday to go over more work that needs to be done, city officials said.
The city ordered the 93-year-old theater shuttered Thursday, causing Arcada CEO and President Ron Onesti to postpone a rock concert slated for last night. The temporary pass was granted hours before Friday’s concert, Last in Line, made up of members of several classic heavy metal bands, took the stage. The venue’s other performances this weekend will be allowed as well.
Three major changes were required to get the theater’s doors open, Schelstreet said.
First, a number of rows of seats were removed to allow for “better egress” in case of emergencies. Additionally, the audience will be briefed before each show about how to locate appropriate exits during emergencies.
And finally, an electrical panel that was missing a secured cover in the basement has been fixed.
“We’re safe and ready to open,” Onesti said.
The theater was the subject of several safety complaints dating back to November, city officials said. In recent weeks, firefighters and Nicor responded to a gas leak outside the theater during a show.
City officials ordered the inspection after complaints about overcrowding, not being able to hear fire alarms during shows and accessibility of exits were investigated and found valid late last year. Onesti said the other complaints had been remedied or were misunderstandings. The overcrowding complaint resulted when a comedian went 45 minutes long on his set late last year and the theater was filled while people coming for the second show were being let into the lobby.
An independent third-party inspection was done nearly two weeks ago. The inspector recommended closing the venue until some life-safety issues were remedied.
Schelstreet said once the city received the recommendation, they acted on it.
Inspectors complimented Onesti’s quick response to their concerns.
By Jake Griffin @ The Daily Herald, 2019
Links: Setlist.fm
TurnToDust86 