PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews: Riverside Casino

Showing posts with label Riverside Casino. Show all posts

Sunday, January 14, 2018

#314 : Bob Dorr and the Blue Band - “The Last Goodbye” Tour

Bob Dorr and the Blue Band - “The Last Goodbye” Tour

w/ opening act Duke Tumatoe

Live @ Riverside Casino & Resort Show Lounge

Jan 13, 2018

Riverside, Iowa

By Phillip Smith; Jan. 14, 2018

Saturday, January 13^th, Bob Dorr and the Blue Band performed their “Last Goodbye” show at Riverside Casino. Following a couple of terrific sets from the wonderful Duke Tumatoe, who captivated the crowd with “Give Me Back My Wig”, “You Don’t Drink Enough” and “Tie You Up”, Bob Door and the Blue Band tore through three exhilarating sets of music to the largest audience I have ever seen at the Show Lounge.

Bob Dorr kicked the first set off with the swinging “Don’t Sting, Bite or Bug Me” which was followed by slough of sweet tunes of which included “3 AM Backdoor Baby” and “Bottle in the Kitchen”. To commemorate Bob’s sixty-sixth birthday which fell on January 12, the band played “Happy Birthday Blues” before working their way down the set list to hammer out splendid covers of Sam and Dave’s “Soul Man”, and Van Morrison’s “Domino”.

The second set broke open with a fabulous jam on “Not Fade Away”. Cathy Henry gave a captivating performance singing Etta James’s “Blues is My Business”. One of the biggest highlights for me was hearing “Elvis in Paraguay”. It was fabulous. Ralph Stephens joined in on washboard and Bob broke out the zydeco tie for a rousing jamboree on “They All Asked For You”, which melted quite nicely into a medley of “Iko Iko” and “Jambalya”. The set closed out with a riveting delivery of “Mustang Sally”. It was an instant crowd pleaser.

Set number three included fun songs like “Drugs Drugs Drugs” and the high energy horn-heavy ska tune “Arc Welded”. It was absolutely wonderful. Also included in this final set was “Nadine”, which was immediately followed by “The Last Goodbye”. The performance was outstanding. Bob Dorr and the Blue Band kept the electricity going through the night, winding down with “Bobby’s Blues”, and landing on “Mojo and the Say So” for a grand ending. For the encore, they returned to play “Any Ordinary Man”, which brought the show to its final close. It was a magical evening indeed.

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all photos by Phillip Smith

Duke Tumatoe

Bob Dorr and the Blue Band

Bob Dorr

Jeff Petersen

Cathy Henry, Doug Norton

Jeff Petersen

Bob Dorr

Doug Norton

Bob, Cathy, Doug, Jeff

Bob, Cathy, Doug

Nolan Schroeder, Bob Dorr

Bob Dorr, Doug Norton

Jeff Petersen

John Rohlf

Bob Dorr

Jeff Petersen

Bob Dorr

Ralph Stephens

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Collective Soul live at Riverside Casino and Golf Resort Jan. 28, 2017

Riverside, Iowa

By Phillip Smith; Jan 29, 2017

Saturday, January 28, Collective Soul (front man Ed Roland, his brother, rhythm guitarist Dean Roland, bassist Will Turpin, lead guitarist Jesse Triplett, and drummer Johnny Rabb) hit the ground running with an outstanding performance of “Heavy”, bringing a surge of energy and excitement to a sold out show at Riverside Casino and Golf Resort. This was my sixth time to experience them since 1995, and it was so good to see and hear them again. Ed was in rare form and Triplett was tearing it up on guitar

After tackling “Contagious” with a big bowlful of grit, Ed switched over to acoustic guitar to play the “AYTA (Are You The Answer?)” from their 2015 album, “See What You Started by Continuing”. It sounded terrific. With Ed still on acoustic, he segued in to “Shine” with a mini intro of “Amazing Grace” before the band burst fully into “Shine”. Camera phones all over the venue rose into the air to capture this one played to perfection. Ed poured everything he had into the song, jumping high in the air in ways I could never accomplish. The crowd totally in his hands, the song ended with heavy thrashing and audience accompaniment.

Before beginning “Draw the Blood”, a song so new, it had only been played live once before, Dean unfortunately fell ill and sadly was unable to continue on for the evening. After checking with him to make sure he was alright, Ed and the band continued on through two other newer songs, “Pieces” and the melodically spacey “Rule #1”. As the oh-so familiar riff of “Precious Declaration” tears through the speakers, the house rises, only to remain standing through the rest of the show. “December” opens to a wave of whistles and applause and climaxes with Ed doing a Chuck Berry “duck walk” across the stage. They played through an amazing “World I know” and rock anthem “Gel”, putting a big smile on my face. Still feeding on the frenzy started by “Gel”, Rabb blessed us with a fantastic drum intro on “Where the River Flows”. This is Rock and Roll at its finest.

Just before closing the night with their last song, “Run”, Ed commented, “It’s been 23 years now. Not bad for the one hit wonder of 1994.” As the song came to its end, Ed was the last to leave the stage, still strumming his acoustic guitar and marching off, like the troubadour, into the dark, disappearing off to back stage.

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Photos by Phillip Smith

Ed Roland

Dean Roland

Will Turpin

Ed Roland

Jesse Triplett

Ed Roland

Will Turpin

Ed Roland

Dean Roland

Johnny Rabb

Jesse Triplett

Johnny Rabb / Will Turpin

Jesse Triplett

Ed Roland

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Blue Öyster Cult & April Wine - Live @ Riverside Casino, May 14, 2016

May 14, 2016 – Riverside, Iowa

By Phillip Smith; May 15, 2016

It was a great night for rock and roll as iconic rock legends Blue Oyster Cult and April Wine descended upon Riverside, Iowa to play a sold-out house at Riverside Casino. Canadian rockers April Wine took the stage first, rolling the show out with “Anything You Want” off their 1982 Power Play album. The band is guitarist/vocalist Myles Goodwyn (the only remaining original member left), guitarist Brian Greenway (who has been with the band since 1977), bassist Richard Lanthier, and drummer Roy “Nip” Nichol. After tearing through a very tight “Sign of the Gypsy Queen” and crowd favorite “Just Between You and Me”, they laid down the law with “21^st Century Schizoid Man”. It was heavy and delicious. Lanthier’s monster bass sounded so good alongside Myles Goodwyn’s mind-melting guitar. Lanthier later delivered a killer bass solo on “Crash and Burn”. Excitement filled the air as the opening riffs of “I Like to Rock” spill out. Playing hard and heavy, the band was totally in sync and sounded very nice indeed. Nichol peeled off a tremendous drum solo, part of which was barehanded. It was quite impressive. Winding things down, the guys played “Before the Dawn” and ended the show with “Roller”. I loved the sound of the dual guitar on this one. It was terrific.

Blue Öyster Cult hit the ground running with a fabulous convergence of guitars on “The Red and the Black”. Their two original members, front man/lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Eric Bloom, and guitarist Buck Dharma are joined by guitarist Richie Castellano, drummer Jules Radino, and bassist Kassim Sulton. BOC delivered deeper cuts such as the medieval themed “Golden Age of Leather”, and the poppy “True Confessions” prior to cutting their way through a ripping and fantastically tight “Burning For You”. From their self-titled 1972 album, we heard the hypnotically heady “Then Came the Last Days of May”. The performance was mesmerizing and Dharma’s guitar was smoking. Of course, no BOC concert would be complete without the rock and roll anthem “Godzilla”. Dharma played this iconic song with precision while Bloom’s vocals fell right into the pocket. This was such a treat to hear. Without missing a beat, the set ended with a beautifully played “Don’t Fear the Reaper”, conjuring up memories of days gone by. Just when the show was thought to be over, BOC returned for an encore, blessing the audience with one more song, “Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll”. Sulton’s colossal bassline was played with true grit as this magnificent song and the evening ended with a barrage of guitar goodness.

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