Saturday 20/10/07 The Doobie Brothers, Kansas, Marshall Tucker Band, Loverboy, Starship, Derringer @ Tucson Electric Park, Arizona

It’s a bright sunny day and KLPXfest is about to turn this stadium upside down with an outstanding line up of some of the best musicians ever to set foot on a stage. The bands today represent mass amounts of gold and platinum albums and their sounds are a major part of the foundation of today’s new rock.

Derringer starts the festivities and does a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan with the sweet and low down ‘Pride And Joy.’ His guitar work is mighty and our hair stands on end. Rick and Charlie Torres face off, their sensational guitar work rips through the air bringing the audience roaring to their feet. There’s a lot to be said about over 40 years of practice and grand masters like these guys are few and far between. This Derringer song is now Ohio’s state song and unforgettably fun, ‘Hang On Snoopy’ gets the happy going, the crowd sings, smiles and is lovin it. Rick’s voice is prime and ‘Rock And Roll, Hoochie Koo’ steals the show.

The third incarnation of Jefferson Airplane, Starship features lead singer Paul Kantner. His steely fine voice makes one feel the vastness of space and the loneliness of the stars as ‘Jane’ hits us with nothing less then perfection. He’s enjoying this and smiles whilst ‘Fooled Around And Fell In Love’ adds to their dramatic substantial presence. The roots of rock-n-roll never seem to fade with ‘Find Your Way Back’ and make the event already worth the ticket. ‘We Built This City’ is sung by everyone then a rousing farewell erupts from the crowd.

One can find their southern rock influence in today’s new groups such as Shinedown and The Marshall Tucker Band continues to tug at our hearts and wail with ‘Dog Eat Dog World.’ Their harmonies fan the flames of ‘Fire On The Mountain.’ The four guitars line up and southern flavored blues gets 'Ramblin’ off, builds and their sound becomes huge ending with intense, extended vocal runs. Drums roll, the flute flies and ‘Can’t You See’ is answered by a mob yelling back “what that woman does to me!”

From Canada, Loverboy is cheered onto the stage and ‘Take Me To The Top’ explodes in hard rock instrumental glory. Mike Reno shouts “It smells pretty good out there!” as the odor of herb fills the air…some things never change. The first song they released, ‘The Kid Is Hot Tonight’ has us dancing and the audience keeps yelling throughout this piece. They finish their set with ‘Working For The Weekend’ in a glorious fun style and he leaves the stage waving “Until next time!”

 To see a gallery of the action, CLICK HERE