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I recently attended Cruefest 2008 at Blossom Music Center, a few miles south of Cleveland.

We had decent seat, a bit left of center stage, and just behind the VIP front-row area. I guess we were about 25 feet from the stage. We weren’t close enough to get any good photos with the disposable cameras that security let us have, but we were close enough to see everything we wanted to see. It was a cool day (for Auguts,) we had seats to sit in between bands, and concession lines were not too long. Also, the acoustics of the music center were much better than the other places I’ve seen live acts in recent years, so all in all it was a very enjoyable experience.

I’ve been to many music festivals, and most times, the bands leading up to the main act do not get into their performance as much as they would if they were headlining their own show. They play their songs, get through the set, and get off the stage so the next band can set up. This was not the case at Cruefest. Every band played like they were the only act of the night. They interacted with the audience and showed a lot of personality. It was awesome.

Trapt kicked off the fest at 5:00 PM. I’ll try to refrain from trash-talking these guys, but I just can’t get into them much. The band did a great job, and some of their music is pretty good. They can rock hard when they want to, and it’s all good – right up to the moment their singer opens his mouth. He tries really, really hard, but he’s just can’t cut it as a hard rock singer. His voice sounds like Bryan Adams on estrogen pills. His stage persona is George Michaels on testosterone pills. He just looks and sounds like a total pussy who’s trying so hard to look and sound tough. I was glad when their set was done, because I felt bad for the guy – out there in his tight clothes, singing through gritted teeth, flashing the huge pewter rose/belt buckle. I could tell he thought he was fooling us, but anyone with eyes could see he was just acting tough, and it was a piss poor acting job. All in all, they reminded me of a bunch of guys who just weren’t quite queer enough to be a boy band.

Next up was a band named Sixx AM. I don’t know a lot about these guys, except the bass guitarist (and the primary creative force) for the band is Nicky Sixx, of Motley Crue fame. The drummer for Poppa Roach played with them when I saw them. I have no idea who their singer or lead guitarists are. They have only one album, so their song list was limited, but let me say that these guys ROCK. I was extremely impressed with their act. All of them played very well, and the singer has a set of pipes on him. Most of their songs deal with drug abuse, a culture of which I am not a part, but I enjoy them anyway. They have well-written lyrics and very good hard rock music. I wished they had played longer.

Poppa Roach came next. I never cared for them much, mainly because I don’t like the singer’s vocal style, and I don’t like a lot of their lyrics. He’s always talking about how tough his child hood was, or how much he hates his dad. Whatever. I always figured the guy for a pussy. When he took the stage, I was convinced of it. He had this emo hair cut going on – solid black, short and spikey everywhere except for the bangs, which he kept pushing out of his face or plastering to the side of his head. The short hair combined with his herky-jerky stage moves, beak-like nose, and half-assed head banging to create a very convincing chicken impersonation. He looked just like a chicken strutting in place, like he was a chicken trying to do a moon-walk. I just couldn’t take him seriously, especially while he was singing about how much he hated his parents. However, he did launch into the audience, ditching security as he went waaay back in the back, among the fans. I’d never seen a singer go that deep into the crowd before. I don’t know if he’s got guts, or if he’s just crazy, but I’ll give him some respect for that, whether I want to or not.

Buck Cherry came next. I’d never seen the band before, and now they’re on my very short list of bands that I’ll see any chance I get, regardless of the day of the week or cost of the ticket. They were awesome. “Awesome” doesn’t do them justice, but it’s the only word I have right now. The lead singer is this tall, pale, lanky bean pole of a dude whose appearance did not fit his voice. I was expecting someone shorter and thicker, I guess. But the dude can sing, and his band can play. They rocked the house with every number, even the slow songs. They finished their set with an extended version of “Crazy Bitch” that I will remember for the rest of my life – partly because it was just so totally sweet, but also because he kept telling us to shake our asses, and then he’d try to shake his, but the skinny fucker didn’t have an ass to shake. It cracked me up every time he tried. If you like rock n roll and have not seen Buck Cherry, you need to get tickets and go the next chance you get.

Motley Crue finally took the stage, leading in with “Kickstart Your Heart.” They started off rocking as hard as they could, and they never let up. They played one hit right after another, all the old favorites. The music and pyro kept my heart racing every second of the show. Vince, Tommy, and Nicky looked good for old rocker dope-heads. Mr. Mars played exceptionally well, but he looked exceptionally bad. He’s been fighting hard against a hereditary spinal disease, and it shows. I wondered if he was going to make it. He did, and never missed a beat, but he barely moved all night. He stood in one spot and let his fingers do their thing. They played three songs from their new album and finished with an encore performance of “Home Sweet Home.” Other highlights included Tommy’s interlude with the Tit E. Cam where girls were plopping out their titties for his camera. Some of them were nicer to look at than others… He also took a swig out of a bottle of Jagermeister and passed it back. You couldn’t have paid me to drink after him. God only knows what diseases he’s got, but I wouldn’t trust Jager to kill them.

It was a great show, and I hope they do it again next year.

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