Reviewed: March, 2023
Released: 2009, Eagle Vision
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: JP
Back in March of 2020 I was laid-off because of the pandemic and I spent my free time writing a series of 50 DVD reviews called the Covideo Chronicles. It was fun and productive! What comes around goes around and in February 2023 I have been laid off again! Over the past three years I have accumulated another stack of about 25 DVDs to review. Additionally, it has long been a personal goal of mine, and Metal-Rules.com, review every Hard Rock and Heavy Metal DVD on the planet. Over the years we have reviewed hundreds of stand-alone DVD’s, more than almost every other Metal webzine. So instead of sulking and/or wasting my time I’m going to review as many as I can in the month of February. It’s cold outside here in Canada so it beats going outside and/or looking for work! Feel free to enjoy all the reviews in this feature.
Good old uncle Ted. Love him or hate him, let’s set aside his politics for a moment and focus on what he does best, play old school Hard Rock. This concert was filmed on Independence Day (naturally!) in 2008 on his home turf in Detroit, Michigan.
This two-hour concert serves as a 60th birthday, 40th anniversary celebration. Even more impressively it is a visual documentation of his 6000th concert. The music industry has evolved where bands don’t play that many concerts anymore. To get to 6000 concerts hard touring 70’s bands such as Rush, Aerosmith, Kiss, and so on consistently played 150+nights a year, often more. It is a momentous occasion and deserves to be captured.
The DVD is a standard single-disc with a two-page booklet with an essay from Ted in his usual, charming and off-the-rails style. There are no bonus features, just the concert, but you can select your audio preference.
The extended five-minute intro is something to behold. The stage is flanked by members in the armed forces in uniform, a giant 4th of July cake is wheeled onto the stage. Perhaps to no one surprise a hot chick in an American flag bikini comes out of the cake as Nugent storms the stage to air raid sirens and plays an elongated sol filled, raging version of ‘the Star-Spangled Banner’! He then rips into an almost speed Metal version of ‘Motor City Madhouse’ and we are off to the races. I was impressed by the overall heaviness of the concert, propelled in part by ‘Wild’ Mick Brown of Dokken fame.
It is a multi-camera shoot, maybe a dozen angles, including many fly-over shots of the 20,000 strong crowd in the amphitheater bowl. What I appreciated is that he hit many aspects of his career, all the way up to his most recent at the time LOVE GRENADE.
The concert was well-structured with solos, guest stars, cover tunes, and Ted patented stage raps making its two-hour run time blaze by. He still managed to pack in 21 songs! I might have given this a bit of a higher rating if there was some bonus stuff, but this is about as stripped down and raw as you can get and I wouldn’t expect anything more from Ted.
Oddly enough Ted Nugent never really embraced the video revolution and he hasn’t shot that many videos or released that many home videos in his long career. If you are only going to get one, you might as well check out this one that sees him at the height of his power. They don’t make rockers like Nugent anymore.
Line Up:
Ted Nugent-Vocals, Guitar
Greg Smith-Bass
Mick Brown-Drums
Track Listing:
1. Ted Nugent Intro
2. Star Spangled Banner
3. Motor City Madhouse
4. Wango Tango
5. Free-For-All
6. Stormtroopin’
7. Dog Eat Dog
8. Need You Bad
9. Weekend Warrior
10. Love Grenade
11. Honky Tonk (with Joe Podorsek)
12. Wang Dang Sweet Poontang
13. Bo Diddley / Lay With Me
14. Baby, Please Don’t Go
15. Geronimo And Me
16. Jenny Take A Ride (with Johnny “Bee” Badanjek)
17. Soul Man
18. Hey Baby (with Derek St. Holmes)
19. Cat Scratch Fever (with Derek St. Holmes)
20. Stranglehold (with Derek St. Holmes)
21. Great White Buffalo
22. Fred Bear Jam
23. Outro
