You didn't see that on a Fleetwoood Mac DVD (Kid Rock)

Livia · #1 05-14-2006, 01:59 PM

Rock pays tribute to roots with eye candy galore
My friend Kenny was there - he's the drum tech for Peter Frampton's drummer.

I'll have to ask him about this, I'll bet he was thrilled, he loves Jenna Jameson!

Review

AUBURN HILLS
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, May 14, 2006
By Doug Pullen
[email protected] • 810.766.6140
AUBURN HILLS - Bob Seger didn't make a surprise appearance, but Jenna Jameson did as hometown hero Kid Rock wound down his winter tour with two sold-out shows this weekend at The Palace.

Friday's opening show slightly varied from tour stops Jan. 28 and Feb. 3-4 at Joe Louis Arena, part of the Motor City's Super Bowl revelry and the occasion for Seger's rare appearance for encores of "Rock and Roll Never Forgets." A 17-camera crew was on hand to capture everything from the performances to the tailgaters (who were few and far between given Friday's unseasonably cool weather) for a DVD due this fall.

Porn star Jameson bumped, grinded and almost popped out of her tiny, two-piece black outfit in a performance Rock called "the first rock 'n' roll pole solo" during a rowdier-than-usual version of the '70s Bad Company hit "Feel Like Makin' Love."

Jameson, whose image routinely is splashed across the large video screen during the song, spiced up a show that started with an adrenaline rush but ran out of steam near the end of its nearly 2-hour run.

"You didn't see that ... on a Fleetwood Mac DVD, I tell ya," Rock joked after Jameson sashayed off the stage in her red platform boots.

Visuals have played an increasing role in Rock's well-honed stage show in recent years. Pole dancers (plucked from local topless bars), splashy video images and lots of pyro are all part of the eye candy. But it's Rock's endearing, over-the-top personality and the muscular backing of his Twisted Brown Trucker Band that consistently make the biggest impression.

Friday's 15-song set highlighted Rock's evolution from rapping, rocking party animal to Southern-rock loving everyman and sensitive, somewhat lonely balladeer. It paid tribute to his rock and rap roots, honored fallen music heroes (including slain Detroit rapper Proof) and even worked in a nod to the Detroit Pistons, in whose house the concerts were staged.

The show included a few changes from recent shows - including Rock saying he would honor his mom Saturday by performing the first song she taught him to play, Jim Croce's "Leroy Brown."

Rock said in an interview last week that the shows and DVD mark the "end of an era" for him. It's time for him to "buckle down" and write material for an album of classic-sounding rock, and, he suggested, become a more mature version of rock 'n' roll's favorite party animal. He also talked of retiring elements of the stage show he's been honing for eight years.

The show-closing "3 Sheets to the Wind (What's My Name?)," in which he takes turns playing everything from turntables to banjo, should be one of them. It has lost its novelty factor and sucked some of the momentum out of the show's finish.

British rocker Peter Frampton opened the show with a fun, relaxed 45-minute set drawn from his 1976 "Frampton Comes Alive!," the best-selling live album in history. It was hard to tell who had more fun, Frampton and his three-piece band or the audience, which happily sang along to etched