Faster Pussycat and Dizzy Reed Concert Review
FASTER PUSSYCAT AND DIZZY REED RENDEZVOUS FOR GEORGIA DOUBLE BILL
Show Date: May 19, 2011
Location: Augusta, Georgia, USA
Venue: Sky City
Reviewer: Patrick Rogers of www.lokalloudness.com
Photographer: Jolee Alyssa
Band Websites: www.fasterpussycat.com – www.myspace.com/fasterpussycat
Many moons ago, when I was just a confused and shaggy-haired glam rock lovin’ teenager, I got possibly the coolest birthday present ever — a pair of tickets to see Faster Pussycat and Motley Crue live. More than just passage into my first ever face-to-face night of rock and roll, the tickets bumped my coolness level up a couple notches and even helped to sway this cute girl at school into finally going out with me. To be honest, I couldn’t even tell you that girl’s name, but I’ll never forget Tommy Lee getting arrested for ‘dropping trou’ on stage — it was an incredible night. That night I became an official Faster Pussycat fan for life.
Twenty plus years later Augusta, Georgia finds itself in the middle of a sort of rock and roll resurgence, mainly thanks to the efforts of Rock Bottom Music’s Jonathan Karow. Having already convinced the likes of L.A. Guns, Bang Tango, John Corabi, and Adler’s Appetite to swing through town, you just had to know that it would only be matter of time before Karow would attract a touring double-bill — or even crazier — put one together. On May 19th at Sky City, Augusta fans got just that — a crazy Karow concoction of Faster Pussycat and Guns N’ Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed.
As all of his events do, the day started off with a 5:30pm all-ages meet and greet at Karow’s music instrument store Rock Bottom Music. The Nightrain car made an appearance followed by Faster Pussycat, Dizzy Reed, and local openers G-City Rockers, keeping things on track right up until the 7pm soundcheck.
Just minutes after nine, Augusta’s own G-City Rockers took the stage and used a mix of Guns N’ Roses/Backyard Babies inspired originals and covers to kick-start the early crowd. The band’s clever use of the opening licks from Faster Pussycat‘s “Bathroom Wall” over one of their own tunes was a nice touch and their hard as nails version of Charlie Daniel‘s classic “Long-Haired Country Boy” was a fitting set closer.
Kicking off with the Guns N’ Roses classic “It’s So Easy”, Dizzy Reed and his ‘All-Star Band’ (as they were billed) filled their set with three GnR tunes (far fewer than advertised and far less effective than the live versions played by Adler’s Appetite at the same venue just a couple months earlier), a few cool originals, and some fun covers — most notably a wicked version of The Beatles‘ “Come Together”. It was a solid set that, at times, seemed lost on an audience that just a short while earlier were primed and ready to rock during the local opener’s set.
Having seen Faster Pussycat several times over the years I wasn’t the least bit surprised when singer Taime Downe appeared in full military garb and a powder white face. This also didn’t seem to surprise the audience nearly as much as set opener “Bathroom Wall” being played much slower and chunkier. Luckily for the older fans in the audience most of the remainder of the set stuck close to the original versions of Faster Pussycat classics like “Slip Of The Tongue”, “Nonstop To Nowhere”, and “Babylon”.
But as much as Taime and co. brought the rock, perhaps the highlight (or shall I say highlights) of the night involved a short, bald, bearded guy jumping on stage to sing along during “House Of Pain” and “Don’t Change That Song”. Taime Downe even pulled the guy (who I found out later was an Augusta punk-rocker named Philip) close and shared his mic during the latter tune after which Philip did a flip off the stage — classic.
Overall the show was simply a fun night of rock and roll — which is how it should be. Dizzy Reed and Faster Pussycat both put on slamming sets filled with a ton of great rock and roll while local opener G-City Rockers held their own with the big boys — and actually, in the eyes of some in attendance, even managed to top Reed and his ‘All-Stars’. That of course is just a matter of opinion — at the end of the day all that matters is that a room of rock-starved fans got to feast on a fun night of loud, obnoxious, old school rock and roll… and loved it!
