Night Ranger- Quake on the Lake 7/17/10

After 11 years of living 1/2 mile from the Pontiac Lake State Recreation area, we finally have attended the Quake on the Lake festival. All it took was adding some live rock & roll, the capable promotion talents of Joe Nieporte of FunFest Productions, and some decent weather to get the dogg and his friends to attend. for those of you unfamiliar with the Quake on the Lake, it is a 3 day Hydroplane Racing mecca on the fastest one mile track in North America. During the past 2 years, 17 world records have been set on Pontiac Lake, in 5 different boat classes. This year they added a carnival midway and a stage for both local and national acts. This is a wonderful venue for family fun!

Saturday was a hot, humid day, where you might be better off laying in air conditioned splendor, reading a good book. However, when its hot outside, this Dogg wants to play. So after an afternoon of horeshoes, bar-b-que, and about 5 gallons of homemade Sangria, the lovely BLT, your ever loving Dogg, Jamie, Scott, Paul, Jane, Cameron and the Hawg, loaded up the van and went to see an evening of what we hoped was good music.

First of all, MAD PROPS to Joe Nieporte for hooking us up with awesome VIP seating under a canopy and directly accross from the "Hard Luck Vodka" girls. Hot they were and the non-stop free samples of their flavored Vodka just added to the night!

The Love Junkies performed their usual high energy set bfore a crowd numbering in the dozens. Good sound and good fun for all. Then came Send More Cops who were average at best and really not worth seeing in a venue like this. A band we have never heard of came on next, Mid Life Crisis and let me tell you, they had the Dogg howling (or maybe it was the Vodka). A strong set of covers kept the crowd of 2-300 rocking from the first note. As it started getting dark, a fabulous U2 Tribute band, Zooropa took the stage and were worth the price of admission by themselves. Spot on Bono vocals, strong Edge guitar riffs and a steady and powerful rythem section kept everyone dancing from beginning to end. Awesome set gentleman! At 10:00 the original Night Ranger took the stage and the crowd was approx. 1,500-2,000 strong. Jack Blades still has it going on and the entire band was jammin like it was 1988 all over again. High energy, great guitar, pounding drums and a thumping bass makes this Dogg a tail waggin fool (or maybe it was the Vodka). During the late 80's and into the early 90's, Night Ranger could sell out arenas annywhere on the planet. When Jack left for his 5 year stint in Damn Yankees, Night Ranger took a hiatus. Well, tonight was their night to shine again. All the hits, a couple obscure "B" sides, a Damn Yankees tune or two kept us all "Rockin in America". Well done mates!

Weather B
Crowd B
Atmosphere A
Sound B
Line up B
Lighting C
Staging C

Overall the Dogg gives it a strong B. A fun time on the cheap.