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Ted Nugent
June 19, 2008
The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
By Dan Wall
Set List: Star Spangled
Banner, Snakeskin Cowboys, Wango Tango/Sweet Sally/You Really
Got Me, Free For All, Stormtroopin’, Dog Eat Dog, Klstrphnky,
Need You Bad, Weekend Warriors, Wang Dang Sweet Poontang/Bo
Diddley/Lay With Me, Rawdogs and Warhogs, Love Grenade, Soul
Man, Hey Baby, Fred Bear, Cat Scratch Fever, Stranglehold.
Encore: The Great White Buffalo. 2 hours.
Anyone out
there who thinks that Ted Nugent opened his recent San Francisco
show with an acoustic set or appeared with a jazz ensemble
hasn’t been following along for the last four decades.
Nope, it was
pretty much status quo for the legendary guitarist/hunter/mouth,
who first appeared as a solo artist in this city nearly 33 years
ago around the corner at Winterland. That night, Nugent nearly
stole the show from headliners Aerosmith-legend has it that
Nugent’s extreme volume cracked the ancient ice arena’s roof and
pieces of it fell on the sold-out crowd. (I was there, and
didn’t get hit by any plaster, but can say it was one of the
loudest shows I’ve ever seen, even today).
Nugent hit
the stage in his typical hunter garb, long hair tied back and
flying, in front of way too many amp stacks for an 1100 seat
club (but so Nugent). His band, drummer Mick Brown of Dokken and
bassist Greg Smith, were so tight that you can just see drill
sergeant Ted bull-whipping the boys during rehearsals. It was
loud, nasty, controversial and naughty-which pretty much
describes every show the legendary guitarist has performed
around here.
I think one
of Ted’s big problems today is simply-how does Nugent outdo
Nugent? He’s played huge stadium shows, festivals (rumors also
flew in 1978 that he was so loud at the second Cal Jam that he
could be heard in Riverside, over 15 miles away) and every arena
on the planet. He’s had hits, failures and fights with just
about every musician he’s ever played with; he even started a
melodic rock band with Jack Blades and Tommy Shaw and made that
a success (you might remember Damn Yankees).
He’s been on
television as a talk show guest and as the host of his own
hunting show. His radio show was very popular in the Detroit
area for many years during the late 90’s, and his Behind the
Music is as legendary for the music he performs as it is for his
huge ego and outlandish statements.
So what can
Nugent do today to top what he’s done in the past? I don’t think
he’s going to get any better as a player, and he’s been pretty
darn good for a long time. Musically, most of the set is pulled
from records nearly 30 years old, and his new music has a hard
time holding up to the classics (not bad, but not “Cat Scratch
Fever” either). The band is tight and he still draws, but not at
the rate he did back in the 70 and 80’s.
Basically
the only thing that Ted can do every night to outdo himself is
talk, and boy, can he talk. His rants are legendary, and he had
a classic 10-minute one here that touched on the diversity of
the City, governor Arnold, fat girls, skinny girls, guns (duh),
bullets, the Department of Justice, politicians, gun permits and
country and western fans (no, these are not Jeopardy
categories).
Who else
could get away with saying this: “I’m going to give the skinny
girls guns. Oh, and the fat girls will get bullets, so they have
something to do.” I mean, everyone, including the fat girls
laughed, but who else would ever say anything like that?
Or talk
about feeling James Brown, Bo Diddley and other famous black
musicians in the room, and then call himself a black man himself
(and us a bunch of crackers-I kid you not). Or rant about
Country and Western fans, and then talk about playing a country
song, which turned out to be “Klstrphnky,” which has nothing to
do with country and western at all.
Nugent is at
his best playing, singing and pulling out his fun bits-the “sexy
guitar lick to “CSF,” or the solo in “Stranglehold, one of the
greatest guitar songs ever written. When he’s playing a song, he
doesn’t have time to stick his foot in his mouth, which he did
pretty regularly during his many breaks here. I found Ted
actually laughing at himself many times, which I think goes to
show just how far Mr. Nugent has to go nowadays to shock his
crowd, because he can’t even shock himself anymore. I can
remember when Ted was shocking just by plugging in his guitar
and playing, and I yearn for those days again. I think he might
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