Jump to content
Hamer Fan Club Message Center

Saw Great White Last Night


Recommended Posts

Last night Great White played at Isothermal Community College in Spindale, NC.  The promoter is out of Asheville, NC.  He is new at concert promotion, and seemed panicked at times over ticket sales according to a resident of Facebook.  She told the guy that putting on a show in a venue without alcohol is going to cut down some attendance.  On Sunday night many people do not want to stay out late because they have to be at work Monday morning.  Arena bands can get away with that while bands that play smaller venues cannot.  Some people from the Asheville area had seen Great White open for Skid Row in Cherokee, NC on July 20th.  About 300 people were at the show last night.  

The opening act was Bending Fate, a cover band from Charlotte.    For a cover band they got a really good response.  They started off with Loverboy and ended with Metallica.  It worked. 

Great White had done a brief meet and greet before the opening act played.  The meet and greet through the show promoter was different than the type the band sells.  There was no swag.  Nothing would be signed.  All you got was a quick hello and photo.  I won a couple of entries to the meet and greet, so I got my photo taken with the band.  I need to stop doing that because I look dorkier and dorkier each time my photo is taken. 

Few of the 80's bands still look like they did 30 years ago, and I am long over that.  Three members from the band's heyday are still there hovering around 60 years old.  The two newer members are still in their 40's or 50's.  What matters is whether or not they can still play the songs right, or if they are just going through the motions for a paycheck.  I saw a great show last night. 

Mark Kendall had a with what looked like a 1/4" maple top on an ash body with two humbuckers.  There was a metal plate on the headstock that said RH Custom.  Michael Lardie only played a Telecaster that I assume was a Fender, and there was a Yamaha Motif series keyboard.  Scott Snyder played a Spector Coda 5 string bass.  Audie Desbrow played a set of Yamaha drums.  The band flew in, so some of the gear could have been provided locally.  There were Marshall and Ampeg stacks for the guitars and bass.  There was a Kemper amp on each side of the stage. 

077.JPG

My seat was on Mark Kendall's side of the stage which made me happy because he was who I wanted to see.  In a time of shredders he was playing hard rock.  To me that was cool, so I always liked him.  He had stage right to himself even though he moved around.  Kendall got to wail a lot.  He was not phoning it in. 

Something that I noticed about Mark Kendall was a bit of a shake in his left hand.  At first it seemed like it could be his vibrato, but as I kept watching I noticed there was a shake in his hand.  His thumb would shake when he was not grabbing the neck.  His right hand was solid, but he may have had a little shake once.  If I had known I would have been looking for that at the meet and greet.  Kendall's playing was great. 

Mitch Malloy is the new guy on vocals.  That show in Cherokee a month ago was his second show with the band.  Now after a dozen shows he is right at home in the band.  Not once did he touch a musical instrument.  He sings and hits his notes.  He also looks like he did 30 years ago, skinny and with all of his hair.  Lots of hair. 

176.JPG

The setlist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

Something that I noticed about Mark Kendall was a bit of a shake in his left hand.  At first it seemed like it could be his vibrato, but as I kept watching I noticed there was a shake in his hand.  His thumb would shake when he was not grabbing the neck.  His right hand was solid, but he may have had a little shake once.  If I had known I would have been looking for that at the meet and greet.  Kendall's playing was great.

In recent videos and photos, he reminds me a LOT of Billy Gibbons. Somewhat frail looking (aging is the equal opportunity destroyer) and visually incongruent with what you hear coming from his hands.  Glad he gets credit for leaving it all on stage and giving a great sounding performance. I must admit that it's amusing to see all of these '80s guys playing rather spartan instruments compared to what they played in their hair metal days. 

 

3 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

My seat was on Mark Kendall's side of the stage which made me happy because he was who I wanted to see.  In a time of shredders he was playing hard rock.  To me that was cool, so I always liked him.  He had stage right to himself even though he moved around.  Kendall got to wail a lot.  He was not phoning it in. 

Totally agree on Kendall's playing being a breath of fresh air back in the mid/late '80s.  Slash got more notoriety and money, but Kendall was effectively doing a similar '70s time warp with his style.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mitch was that guy who was supposed to be the VH singer or something like that. I remember his Youtube video. 

Not sure if you remember when they first hit the scene they were more metal sounding at first, at least this first song I heard of theirs on KSJO (San Jose) back in the day...

Did anyone else ever hear this one before?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It did burn.  I do not make jokes about it because I would have been one of those people who got in line early and got as close to the stage as possible.  I would have been one of the people farthest from the doors or denied access to the exit nearest to the stage by the bouncer who refused to let people use a fire exit when the building was on fire.  I wonder if that guy died in the fire or now wishes he had died in the fire. 

Videos are out there with burn victims.  One who lost all his fingers got a hand transplant. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being that a member here lost somebody in The Station fire, that was incredibly uncool, so offending post deleted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I liked Mark Kendall's playing from when I first heard Stick It on the radio back in the early 80s.  His tone and playing matured over time.  He had a lot more depth than many of the guys out there. I agree that Kendall should be much better known. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Tortious said:

Are there 2 different 'Great White's' now? Jack Russel's and this one?

Yes.  There was no band for a short time, so Jack Russell went out as "Jack Russell's Great White."  Then the band got back together.  There was a fight over the name.  Jack Russell was fired, but gets to use his "Jack Russell's Great White" name for his own shows.  Three original members are in Great White.  Jack Russell has the bass player from the band's peak period. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Steve Haynie said:

Yes.  There was no band for a short time, so Jack Russell went out as "Jack Russell's Great White."  Then the band got back together.  There was a fight over the name.  Jack Russell was fired, but gets to use his "Jack Russell's Great White" name for his own shows.  Three original members are in Great White.  Jack Russell has the bass player from the band's peak period. 

This guy?

latest?cb=20120604034628&path-prefix=en

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...