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KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
I saw Styx last week at The London Palladium and they were fantastic and on top form. Great vocals, musicianship and sound and their average age is around 60.

Tomorrow, it's Toto and at they, too, were on top form they last time I saw them at The royal Albert Hall and always deliver. I've seen them countless times since the 80s and I've never seen or heard a naff show. Crystal clear sound.

Two years ago, it was Night Ranger and they, too, had so much energy and delivered a flawless show.

FM, Dan Reed, Foreigner, Journey ( a little hit and miss) etc all seem to be playing well.

Any fans of this genre?


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Comments

  • bloodandtearsbloodandtears Frets: 1645
    Me.. I went to HRH AOR just to see Night Ranger in realty.. the other bands were great and a bonus.

    Journey are historically a fantastic band but I haven't made the effort to catch them with Arnel... The Journey Through TIme stuff I've watched on YouTube is awesome.

    I was very late to the party with Styx, "Castle Walls" was the first song I heard on the radio and was my entry point. "Blue Collar Man" and "Renegade" are naturally favourites.

    Tommy Shaw's voice is right up there for me.. which led me into investigating the music of the Damn Yankees; again some great tunes.

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  • jonevejoneve Frets: 1467
    edited June 2019
    Yep! Love the 80's AOR bands but there are some newer ones who are great too. W.E.T., Work of Art and (to a lesser extent as they're not "new"), Harem Scarem. Also, W.E.T. are more of a "supergroup" but still relevant. 

    Work of Art's album "In Progress" is, a masterpiece. Their first album (Artwork) is still great but VERY Toto influenced (not a bad thing). 


    If you claim to like AOR and don't like these songs, there's no hope for you: 






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  • bloodandtearsbloodandtears Frets: 1645
    Yep.. these are on my rotation list for sure..   Work Of Art especially great..
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  • KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
    edited June 2019
    I was at that HRH AOR show and I used to go to Firefest. Great festivals and when the line up is right, it's fabulous value. I was even at the first incarnation, Gods of AOR, when Marcie Free was Mark Free and heard him sing the Signal stuff. Now that's an AOR classic album.

    @bloodandtears - although not an AOR band, did you catch Aaron Buchanan at the HRH gig? That was a performance and a a half. What a frontman!

    Harem Scarem are superb and guitarist, Pete Lesperance is a bit of unsung hero. Those first 2 albums are have some very well-crafted songs.

    I've heard of the other bands and Work of Art are like the lovechild of Toto and Journey have really lost it. Arnel is good but crikey, no one does Steve Perry like Deen Castronovo and whilst we're there, a thumbs up to Revolution Saints.

    There are so many bands, like the once mighty Giant, but I still think this genre has it's supporters and loyal fans and that's also helped by the Frontiers label and Sweden seems to churn out a lot of these bands, too.

    As to Tommy Shaw's voice last week, it was stunning and he can still do it. No lowering the key, not reaching the notes and you should check out the rig breakdown for Styx. No amps or cabs on stage and they feed their heads, amp units to Palmer Speaker emulators.

    The FM, Dan Reed Network and Gun gig at the end of the year promises to be a good one.
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  • bloodandtearsbloodandtears Frets: 1645
    edited June 2019
    I did catch Aaron Buchanan but the vibe (and his history) bypassed for some reason; probably drunk.

    I want to see Styx at some point but there are rarely here... I knew nothing about the London gig (not that I could have made it). Jack Blades is a good foil for Tommy in Damn Yankees.

    Giant - Dan Huff is a genius, nuff said.

    Check out Eclipse too.. a recent AOR band.



    Oh, and if you get chance, try and catch the Jimi Anderson Group.. they do covers of that genre to a tee.


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  • pmbombpmbomb Frets: 1169
    edited June 2019
    good lord, Night Ranger are still going? I thought they vaped into obscurity 30 years ago I think I had their first album on vinyl.

    think I had a very worn copy of Foreigner 4 too.

    these bands were all over Kerrang! mag back on the day, it was very influential.

    good on'em, old boys keep rocking!
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  • westwest Frets: 994
    I really liked the scottish band 'strangeways native sons' album it was the sountrack to a very cool time/period  in my life...

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  • KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
    Ooh, some corkers coming out of the woodwork, like Strangeways. I believe the singer, Terry Brock was at one time being considered for the Journey job.

    Danger Danger (Andy Timmons & now, Rob Marcello - great players) and Tyketto - both still going.

    If you like this stuff, some mates have a theatre show cover band called Leather and Lace and they're worth checking out on FB for dates as they play all around the country
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  • FelineGuitarsFelineGuitars Frets: 11495
    tFB Trader
    I saw Terry Brock do an acoustic set at the Winterstorm Festival in Troon, Scotland last November , followed by Queensryche's Geoff Tate doing the same . Both were excellent.
    I'm a big fan of many bands that get classed as AOR and lean slightly towards ones that rock a bit more rather than endless keyboard heavy ones. 
    Paul Sabu, King Kobra, Loverboy etc 

    Been seeing a great band called Collateral who have been chosen to open the Bon Jovi cruise in the Mediterranean, and have some good tours coming up with Dave "Bucket" Colwell, Piston, Danny Vaughn and possibly Glenn Hughes later in the year as well as a slew of festival dates




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  • KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
    edited June 2019
    Toto were sensational tonight.

    Great playing, great sound at Royal Hospital, Chelsea (outdoors) and it works very well.

    They're just on a different level!

    Anyone else go?
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  • Philly_QPhilly_Q Frets: 22516
    I liked a lot of these bands back in the 80s and I still have some affection for them, but I find much of it hard to listen to now.  I played an Only Child CD not long ago and almost threw up, it was so sickly sweet.

    I still like some of the slightly harder rocking stuff - Saraya, Shadow King, Valentine... Winger are still fantastic.

    And I'm a big fan of Tommy Shaw's singing, the guy's amazing.
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  • VibetronicVibetronic Frets: 1036
    Kebabkid said:
    Ooh, some corkers coming out of the woodwork, like Strangeways. I believe the singer, Terry Brock was at one time being considered for the Journey job.

    Danger Danger (Andy Timmons & now, Rob Marcello - great players) and Tyketto - both still going.

    If you like this stuff, some mates have a theatre show cover band called Leather and Lace and they're worth checking out on FB for dates as they play all around the country
    Rob Marcello is great. He did a fairly obscure side-project thing years ago called 'Marcello/Vestry' - well worth checking out (one I actually bothered ordering from Japan to get it early!). Also the stuff he did with Chris Laney is good too ('Laney's Legion' - bit hit and miss but the good bits are cool). 



    Danger Danger-wise - check out the Defiants. It's Bruno from DD and Paul Laine (ex-DD), plus...Rob Marcello. One album so far, another out this year. It's basically DD type stuff and is possibly even better. 



    Then there's Ted Poley's (again, Danger Danger) solo stuff. Some isn't so good, some is excellent. When he first left DD, he did a project called Bonemachine and their album Disappearing Inc. is one of my favourites. Think you can still get it now: 



    I've spent far too long collecting this stuff!
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  • hollywoodroxhollywoodrox Frets: 4082
    Love all this stuff. FM nightranger, journey etc
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  • hollywoodroxhollywoodrox Frets: 4082
    Damn yankees, bad English ,mister mister, 
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  • KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
    These festivals are always good fun, although the strength of the line-ups is always variable from year to year and I used to go to the Firefest one in Nottingham. However, you do walk away with a couple of new bands and the British contribution is decent.

    Thing is, with the HRH stuff,  nearly everyone wins tickets (free entry for the weekend) and so it just your accommodation and travel to take care of. I reckon they probably rely on people booking, staying and eating at the holiday camps and around March time, ordinarily, they'd be empty and so it's a winner for them.
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  • KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
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