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Buffalo NY-Classic rock icons, Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades brought their side project Shaw –Blades to the Buffalo, NY area last Saturday night. The duo played an intimate MTV unplugged style all acoustic set to the delight of the sold- out, appreciative audience. Shaw –Blades is currently touring in support of a recently released cover CD “Influence,” which consists of some of the biggest rock hits from the 60’s and 70’s. They plan on playing additional dates after their summer touring commitments to their full time band’s Styx and Night Ranger (respectively) have been satisfied.
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Shaw -Blades with additional guitarist Will Evankovich, from American Drag (check out his band at www.myspace.com/americandrag) played a two hour set that had the audience in the palm of their hand from the moment they walked onto the onstage. The crowd dug the laid back living room stage set up that had a couch and love seat for anyone willing to chill out with the band as they performed.
The show started with a short version of “Fade Away,” which quickly went into the Seals and Crofts classic “Summer Breeze.” If anyone was worried that Shaw’s performance was going to suffer because he was fighting a touch of the flu, their worries were quickly extinguished. Shaw shone like on diamond on this evening, his rendition of “Your Move” by Yes was absolutely phenomenal. Blades was no slouch either, his harmonies were amazing and his rocking rendition of “Rock in America” brought the house down.
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Shaw-Blades played a good mix of classic Styx, Night Ranger and Damn Yankees songs through out the evening. They had a good laugh with the audience when they explained the experiences they had back when they both played in the Damn Yankees with Ted Nugent. They jokingly ribbed on Nugent for his lack of songwriting contribution to the Damn Yankees and his hunting lifestyle. Also Shaw said the Nugent would kill him for playing his solos on “High Enough” on his mandolin. Nugent wasn’t the only one the jokes were directed to, Blades consistently egged Shaw on. At one point Shaw sarcastically said to him “I’m in Styx, I don’t have to take this.” One thing is for sure, if Shaw or Blades ever get tired of being musicians they could easily become stand up comedians.
During the evening, Shaw- Blades also played a few songs from their 1995 debut CD “Hallucination.” The duo joked about how poorly it sold. They asked the audience if anyone there brought it and three people raised their hands, Shaw joked “That’s more than I thought we sold.”
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One surprising song that was played was the Night Ranger classic, “Sister Christian,” this was a track that Night Ranger’s Kelly Keagy was responsible for writing and singing.
The most stunning highlight of the evening was when Shaw-Blades performed the Simon and Garfunkel classic “Sound of Silence.” It was really one of those magic moments when a band truly connects with their audience. When this song was performed everyone was in complete awe. Although the version they do on CD is very good, you must hear the live version of this song to hear how Shaw-Blades brilliantly capture the subtle nuances and haunting melodies.
The band ended the evening coming back for two sets of encores which featured “Blue Collar Man,” “Norwegian Wood,” “Take it Easy” and the final song of the evening “Crystal Ball.” This truly was a show to be remembered and not to be missed. www.myspace.com/shawbladesinfluence
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