Here's my review of the last concert OLP performed on #thealtimatetour in Rochester Hills, MI (a northern suburb of Detroit) before the start of #Summersault2019 on September 10, 2019:
6:55pm EDT
1. Drop Me in the Water
2. Do you Like It
3. Innocent
4. Superman's Dead
5. Clumsy
6. Stop Making Stupid People Famous
7. Starseed - preceded by Steve Mazur's excellent guitar prelude he wrote for this song
7:30pm EDT
This was a short, but spirited performance, as other's have mentioned who saw this tour before me. OLP's set started 5 minutes earlier than was stated on the venue website. Thankfully, we were there early to witness every song as others rushed to there seats as the music began. Actual Detroiter's and other's like me who live in Detroit's surrounding suburbs and still consider ourselves Detroiter's, feel our city is the unofficial rock capital of the USA. Lot's of people from this area consider themselves rock aficionados. We feel we have somehow earned the title of best rock audiences in the USA because we have witnessed acts like Iggy Pop, Bob Seger, Grand Funk Railroad, Mitch Rider, The Stooges, MC5 and others grow up here. I've been to concerts were other artists have stated this. I've been to even different concerts where the artists are so pumped up by the energy being generated back at them by the fans from their music, it has sometimes caused longer performances or other unusual things to occur. Now I'm not saying Detroit rock fans are the guaranteed, best in the USA. I'm just saying a lot of us feel this way without stating it. Unfortunately, we have rock snobs who will ignore the opening act or talk with their friends during the opening act's performance slot. This blows my mind when fans do this. Stay out by the bar and don't ruin the band I wanted to see the most.
By now you're thinking, "what the hell does this have to do with an OLP concert review?" Well two funny things happened during OLP's last song of the night. I will tell you about them and back up one with photos. As I already said, this was a spirited OLP performance. From the first song to the last, the band was on full acceleration. There was no easing into this one! As each song ended, the cheers began to get louder and more and more people were standing and dancing as the OLP show progressed. Just before Starseed began, Raine had enough of our rock snobs! Raine grabbed his microphone from the stand and went around the stage pointing at people and telling them to stand up. This is a direct quote he made with slight annoyance in his voice. He said, "Stand up! What the hell! This is a rock concert!"
Now the entire audience was paying attention and participating! Steve launched into his solo guitar prelude he wrote for Starseed which I've really come to enjoy. Near the end of the song about 20 guys mostly dressed in black ran on to the stage and were spraying the OLP band members with muticolored Silly String. Raine and everyone else in the band was covered in the stuff as Starseed finished.The guys who rushed on stage were members of Live, Bush and their Roadies. Apparently, these three bands enjoy touring together and this was a practical joke on OLP and Steve's hometown appearance.
Here are some great photos taken by my wife. I thought I recorded 3 OLP songs on video, but I only got one. I've had my Pixel 3 XL for over a year and I still can't wrap my 57 y/o head around pushing the right buttons at the right time. At least I know how to share on this website.
Here is my recording of "Do You Like It". I know the words to most of the songs so it took everything I had in me to try and bite my tongue while recording. Unfortunately, you can here my loud, scratchy, hoarse voice a few times instead of Raine's melodic tones. Check out Duncan's leap at the 1:48 mark:
















