(Images and video: NYCDreamin Archives)
A warm May spring Staurday and the Gorgeous One and I had two things on our minds - Cheesburgers and Rock and Roll. About 4:30pm, we pulled out from home and headed for our favorite local cheeseburger spot, Lions Tap in Eden Prairie, about 10 minutes away. We've written and raved about the place previously, you can read that HERE.
After bacon cheeseburgers, crispy seasond fries and root beer, we were back in the car making the roughly 45-minute drive to Medina. The skies stayed sunny the entire way and it was enjoyable to fianally be able to roll the windows down a bit get some fresh air while road tripping. In shot order we arrived at the venue, the Medina Entertainment Center, commonly known locally as the Medina Ballroom. We were last here one year ago, on May 14th, 2010 for a bill featuring Ratt and Knight Crawler, who also also happened to be opening tonight's Tesla show. Additionally, Tesla was actually the last concert we saw, on a frigid cold evening back in January 2011 at the Treasure Island Casino.
Anyway, on to tonight's show...
We picked up our tickets in advance a few weeks ago to avoid missing the show in the event that it was a sell out...
After a solid set of material consisting of both originals and covers by local metal veterans Knight Crawler, followed quickly by a set changeover, came the evening's main event. We managed to squeeze ourselves into the second row before Knight Crawler had even started and remained there for the duration of the evening, and as soon as the lights went out, I grabbed the old Nikon, and JUST FOR YOU PEOPLE, I started filming so we could bring it to you here! And happily, we managed to get the entire show...so, without further ado, here are Tesla, as they were on 05/07/11. I'm not gonna review the show, you can watch and see for yourself that it was a good show and a great time. Enjoy...we did!
After the show, while we lingered about waiting to get an autograph from vocalist Jeff Kieth at the merch booth, I spotted a guy holding a rolled up piece of paper. I aksed him if it was the set list, he says "yeah..." so I asked for a photo. So there you have it...18 songs of pure kick ass rock and roll from Tesla...we both thought it was a great show.
It was announced that after the show singer Jef Kieth would sign autographs at the merch booth. Most people left to go home but quite a large number stayed on to meet Jeff and shake his hand, etc. Well we cruised right over after the announcement was made and were like 3rd in line. In no time things were out of control with people cutting the line and standing around the other side of the table trying to get in front. The number of people buying CDs and shirts for autographs was impressive but they all wanted to be first. About 20 minutes go by and, as promised, Mr. Kieth is whisked into the room, flanked by a body guard, cheered on by the adoring Tesla fanatics. He gets behind the merch booth to begin signing and it becomes clear in about half a minute that things are very poorly organized and it's gonna be a mess of people shoving shit in his face and yelling at him to sign thier shit. I'm glad we are near the front. It STILL takes us quite a while to get to him, the line is being cut by all kinds of people trying to get ahead and not much can be done.
He finally grabs my CD, which I've been patiently waiting with, and signs it and says thanks for coming...no time tonite for a photo like with Frank and Dave back in January at the Casino show. No problem. Pretty cool just to get an autograph I don't already have...
Autograph obtained, I was trying to get one more good photo before we left and I managed to snap this one, which I thought was pretty funny, considering he wasn't mad or anything, despite the obvious disorganization of the whole thing...it looks like he wants to kick someone's ass...
Having been fully rocked and rolled, we headed back to the car and eased out on the road, passing a few police cars who were towing a vehicle from just outside the Medina Center, a D.W.I. no doubt, ourselves sober and safe with no worries, rolling down the windows a just a crack to enjoy a bit of the fresh night air and the quiet ride home discussing how good the show had been with my lovely concert-going companion...
Next show for us..."Ramones Mania 2011" - May 13th in Minneapolis.
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